March 24, 2016 – RI Future

March 24, 2016May 3, 2016

Questions raised about Invenergy’s Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Kingston, Rhode Island, March 22, 2016 — On October 29 of last year, Invenergy Thermal Development LLC filed an application with the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board to construct a fossil fuel —mostly fracked gas— power plant in Burrillville, RI, the so-called Clear River Energy Center (CREC). At its open meeting on January 29, the siting board excluded numerous groups from formal participation in the review of the CREC proposal. Among those groups are the Burrillville Land Trust, the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats and an array of grassroots organizations including Fossil Free Rhode Island.

Last year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a build-out of the compressor station in Burrillville which started in the fall of 2015 and is part of an interstate pipeline expansion called the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project. This project has been highly controversial. In New York, the expanded pipeline would pass within 105 feet of critical infrastructure at the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

In response to this situation, last month Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York directed four New York state agencies to perform an independent safety risk analysis and asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to halt construction of the pipeline until this review is completed.

Invenergy’s CREC proposal, which capitalizes on the AIM pipeline expansion, raises serious concerns about the cumulative impact of these various projects on public health in Rhode Island.

Last week, in an email to Directors Janet Coit of the RI Department of Environmental Management and Nicolle Alexander-Scott of the RI Department of Health, University of Rhode Island physics professor Peter Nightingale raised a number of questions about the cumulative impacts of fracked gas infrastructure developments on public health in Burrillville, RI. Among these are Spectra Energy’s AIM Project, Invenergy’s CREC, and Access Northeast, a project of Eversource Energy, National Grid and Spectra Energy. In addition, on December 1 of last year, TransCanada applied to the Energy Facility Siting Board to build yet another gas-fired power plant, Ocean State Power Phase III, in Burrillville. TransCanada seems to have abandoned the project for now, but who knows for how long?

Nightingale wonders: “How can a modeling done at average temperature and humidity conditions capture the true episodic nature of the impact of CREC and the other nearby pollution sources on public health? Human health is highly susceptible to episodes and these are smoothed out by taking averages. Temperature, humidity and sunlight fluctuate wildly in Rhode Island and, due to climate change, they are expected to vary increasingly fiercely during the lifetime of the proposed Clear River Energy Center.” Nightingale refers in this context to research by Hansen and Sato that found a more than ten-fold increase in weather extremes that occurred during the last 45 years, a time span comparable to the expected life time of the power plant Invenergy is proposing.   [3]

As part of the regulatory process of the siting board, Invenergy submitted a report produced by the ESS Group, an environmental consulting group, that claims to take into account the polluting background effect of other sources in Rhode Island near Burrillville. Data required for this was, as the ESS study mentions, supplied by the Department of Environmental Management. Obviously, no information is available yet for the new situation that was created by the 2015 compressor station build-out that is part of the AIM Project.

The environmental impact study performed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission before it approved the AIM Project pipeline expansion last year lists Providence County as “moderate nonattainment,” which means that the air quality is below the standard required by the Clean Air Act. The same federal study shows that the noise level of Spectra Energy’s compressor station was above the legal limit even before the last build-out started.

In addition to the public health risks posed by CREC, it is clear that building a 1-gigawatt fossil fuel power plant in Burrillville will be a serious impediment to the growth of green energy in Rhode Island and neighboring states. As Marie Schopac of Charlestown, a member of Fossil Free RI, remarked: “The financial investment in the wind farm will be all for naught if a gigawatt fracked gas power plant is built. Rhode Island needs a coordinated energy policy.”

Clearly, all of the above raises serious questions about the validity of the assessment of the impact of the newly proposed power station.

Hansen’s latest: Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms Video Abstract
Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions

March 24, 2016May 3, 2016

Power plant already adversely affecting Burrillville property values say realtors

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

During public commentary at the Burrillville Town Council meeting Wednesday night, two real estate agents talked about the negative effect the proposed gas and oil burning Clear River Energy Center is already having on property values in the town.

Jeremy Bailey, from Acumen Group Real Estate, testified that he recently had a prospective buyer from Riverside about to put half down on a $449,000 piece of property on East Wallum Lake Road.

“He liked everything about the property,” said Bailey, “But before the conversation ended he asked, ‘Where are they putting the power plant?’”

Bailey pointed up the road and explained that the proposed construction wasn’t too far away. By the time he finished the buyer backed out, saying, “Nah, I’m not interested anymore.”

2016-03-22 Burrillville 002 — Outside the Burrillvile Town Hall

After the meeting Bailey told me that the buyer told him to let him know how the March 31 public hearing on the power plant goes.

Paul Lefebvre, another realtor and owner of Acumen Group, testified that when he heard about the proposed plant two years ago, he didn’t think much about it. He couldn’t see any way that the Town Council might support such a plan. But recently he learned that the power plant has the support of both Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Governor Gina Raimondo, and it now appears the power plant is being “forced on the town.”

“Which is insanity,” said Lefebvre, “I don’t see any benefits for the town. I see all detriments. Nothing good, only bad.”

Speaking about the effect the proposed power plant is having on property values, Lefebvre said, “We’ve lost some interest and lost one sale at the company I own because of the talk, the perception, of this thing coming to town.”

“What surprises me,” said Burrillville native and retired schoolteacher Chuck Boucher, “is that the political system seems to have cut us out of the process. I was under the impression that we were a democracy… I would like to think that when Governor Raimondo hears the situation out here that she realizes that it will adversely affect everyone’s property values. It will adversely affect everyone’s health. It will adversely affect the community at large. I would like to believe that she cares enough about her constituents to reconsider locating something of this size in a rural area that’s known for being pristine.”

Kathy Martley, founder of Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE), asked the Burrillville Town Council to consider a resolution similar to the one Providence City Councillor Seth Yurdin submitted to the Providence City Council last week that was adopted unanimously. Yurdin was concerned about the health, environmental and safety effects of the proposed Fields Point Liquefaction facility to be located in South Providence.

“As a Burrillville resident and tax payer, I urge you to pass the same resolution to stop this project,” said Martley, until health, environmental and safety studies are done.

Jeremy Bailey pointed out that the power plant wants to tap into the town well and the sewer system. “At a minimum,” said Bailey, the Town Council could speak to state and federal agencies and ask them to, “hold off on entertaining or approving” the power plant.

In the past the Burrillville Town Council has claimed to be powerless against the corporate might of multi-billion dollar fossil fuel companies like Invenergy and Spectra, but as Martley, Bailey and other residents speaking before the Town Council last night pointed out, there is plenty that can be done on a local level.

Video of all who testified on the proposed power plant here:

March 24, 2016March 24, 2016

UPSTREAM supports Rhode Island’s effort to increase private investment in recycling system

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Today in the House Lounge, the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee is holding a public hearing on House Bill 7896, an act relating to Extended Producer Responsibility, introduced by Rep. Chris Blazejewski (D-Providence).

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a public policy approach that creates a framework for consumer goods companies to mitigate the environmental impacts of their products and packaging. Around the world, over one billion people live in jurisdictions where consumer goods companies that put packaging into the marketplace help pay – either in part or in full – for the costs of collection, recycling and litter prevention.

Though programs such as this have been implemented throughout both the developed and developing world, the most analogous one is in place in British Columbia. Across that province, local governments no longer pay for their recycling collection programs out of taxpayer dollars. Instead, they are paid for the service they are providing by the industry which sells the packaging, or municipalities have allowed that industry to take over their contracts with private haulers. In either instance, EPR has resulted in significant cost savings to local governments.

Beginning with the study commission created by S3073 (2012), Rhode Island legislators have been grappling with how to divert more material from the landfill into the state’s recycling systems. Given the stagnation of municipal recycling rates, limited life for the Central Landfill, and the ever-changing type of material being put into our recycling system, there is a clear need for action. Legislative backing of EPR programs for paint, mattresses, mercury thermostats, mercury auto switches, and electronic waste in the past decade have proved to create new management systems without increasing program costs for municipalities.

“Everyone wants to boost recycling and prevent litter. The good news is that we know how to do it,” said Jamie Rhodes, Program Director for UPSTREAM and Warwick resident. “The bad news is that many of these ideas cost money, and that money has to come from somewhere. It’s fair for that funding to come from the companies who put the packaging out there in the first place.”

“It is time for the state to step in and support the invaluable programs that our cities and towns have developed over decades,” continued Rhodes. “Tipping fees are being raised, recycling rates are stagnant, and new material is being put into our recycling stream that does not match the investments made at RI Resource Recovery. An EPR program that covers what is collected in our curbside programs and at transfer stations will bring producers into the conversation about the critical role that they must play in partnership with local governments to reduce waste, reuse goods and recycle materials.”

“The largest companies in the US and the world already operate under and support these programs as part of doing business in most of the world,” concluded Rhodes. “Companies like Unilever, Coca-Cola, Apple, General Mills, GE, or any of the other thousands of companies that comply with these requirements, know that this program is the cornerstone of the Circular Economy, which is critical to creating a sustainable consumer-driven future.”

[From a press release]

March 24, 2016

Millennials rally for repro rights and Planned Parenthood at the State House

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Planned Parenthood of Southern New England held a Reproductive Freedom Lobby Day at the State House yesterday, perhaps coincidentally coinciding with the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in Zubik v Burwell, in which various religious non-profits and colleges, including the Sisters of the Poor, are arguing that the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate should not apply to them on First Amendment, religious freedom grounds.

Zubik is the reason the anti-choice group RI Right to Life took over the main rotunda, holding what was essentially a religious service in the center of the State House.

Above the Mass being conducted on the rotunda, outside the House and Senate chambers, nearly two dozen millennials in bright pink Planned Parenthood tee shirts held signs and met with their representatives to make the case for preserving their reproductive health care choices. After the House and Senate went into session they marched to Governor Gina Raimondo’s office to deliver a letter encouraging her to support a woman’s right to choose.

Let’s be clear: As the Supreme Court case shows, for those opposed to reproductive rights, the issue is not simply about abortion. It’s about controlling women’s bodies, enforcing gender stereotypes and exerting religious control over all aspects of our healthcare. After the Mass in the rotunda and the Rise of the House, Barth Bracy, director of RI Right to Life, argued in the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee against legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to make important end-of-life decisions and against a bill expanding the duties of physician’s assistants.

There is no area of our lives, no decision we can make, that RI Right to Life and the Catholic Church do not want to control for us.

Fortunately a group of fearless millennials and long time supporters of a woman’s right to choose let our representatives know that our rights are not up for discussion or debate.

2016-03-23 Planned Parenthood State House 009 — Meanwhile…

March 24, 2016March 24, 2016

An ode to stamps: ‘Thousands of Little Colored Windows’

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

When I was a boy I had a next door neighbor who had shelves in his office lined with stamp albums. He gave me and my brother a starter album and a few stamps each and we were on our merry way. From time to time I find a stamp in the mail that I like and I archive it with a bit of nostalgia for this childhood hobby.

Students in Brown’s Museum Collecting and Collections class know this nostalgia. Professor Steven Lubar’s class curated the University stamp collection for an exhibition of postage stamps until May 13, 2016 at the John Hay Library.

“Their research uncovers the breadth of the collections and highlights the numerous ways in which postage stamps and postal history hold relevance to social history, political and cultural studies,” says a preview of the show.

Said another way: You can learn so much about a person based on the stamp they use. I always get a little kick when Ray Rickman drops an envelope in the mail for me because he quite often decorates it with the visage of an important figure in American black history. It was Ray who gave me a Martin Luther King, Jr. stamp that I treasure and put beside my Rosa Parks ikons.

From stamps, you can learn if a person prefers Elvis or Jimi Hendrix. Try gleaning that from their email address! There are Soviet stamps that carried images of Palestinians, Nelson Mandela, and Che Guevara! Stamps provide these small opportunities to understand the effort a government makes to tap into a populist current within the culture and utilize it so to encourage investment in infrastructure (which the postal service is, by the way).

The insight into the statecraft of a given year a stamp is issued and the psychology of a given sender (especially if they are one of those diabolical masterminds who only buys stamps featuring finches, a true sign of megalomania) is fascinating. Did you know that the person who is constantly sending you mail using Disney characters might in fact be a certifiable serial killer? I’m not sure either but anyone perverted enough to buy those stamps must be a little Huey, Dewy, and Louie upstairs! When you begin seeing correspondents sending you stamps featuring the Olympic emblem and various sports, you can easily build a computerized database of people that know where you live who got beat up by the jocks in high school and might go postal in a relatively short time!

Considering the major disappointment that came to baseball card collectors when the steroids report showed there had not been a valid World Series in my lifetime, I am very proud I stayed with philately instead of that philistinism. I know for sure I will never hear about the Postmaster General using the juice!