Temperatures are expected to reach into the 90’s through the weekend, but the marchers are undeterred. “We want the Governor to know that people from across the State support the residents of Burrillville and their fight against Invenergy’s toxic power plant. This is the Governor’s climate and environmental legacy moment, and the whole State is watching.”  Sherrie Anne Andre, of The FANG Collective, the group organizing the march.

The march will head west on Route 44 and then head north on Route 100. The march will make a stop at the site of a chemical spill in Pascoag before continuing on to the Burrillville High School in time for the event with the Governor.

In 2001, a spill at a gas station in Pascoag led to MTBE, a now banned gasoline additive, contaminating one of Burrillville’s main water supplies. The contaminated water wells were capped by a Superior Court order after MTBE levels in local drinking water soared above the federal legal limit. Invenergy, the Chicago based company who has proposed the power plant, plans to uncap the MTBE wells and use up to 900,000 gallons of the water a day at the plant, drawing the ire of local residents.

“There are many health and environmental concerns with the proposed power plant. But the fact that Invenergy wants to use the MTBE water at the plant, and the lack of any thorough study on the potential impacts of this, is shocking and deeply concerning”. Kathy Martley of Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE), who lives a quarter mile from the site of the proposed plant.

Opposition has been steadily growing to the proposed power plant with hundreds of residents attending recent public hearings on the project. Last month, legislation that would have given Burrillville residents the ability to vote on any tax agreement reached between Invenergy and the town council stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Governor agreed to meet with Burrillville residents after months of protests and actions led by FANG and BASE.

“We are excited that the Governor has agreed to come to Burrillville and meet with those that would be most impacted by Invenergy’s power plant. But beyond just listening to the concerns of residents, we need the Governor to use the visit to revoke her support of the toxic Invenergy project once and for all,” said Nick Katkevich, of Providence, RI from the FANG Collective.

You can join the Facebook event here.

Here’s the schedule for the March:

July 16th: 9am-1pm – RI State House to Greenville Public Library

July 17th: 3-7pm – Greenville Public Library to Village Bean Cafe in Gloucester RI

July 18th: Noon – 430pm – Village Bean Cafe to Burrillville High School
– Noon-230pm Village Bean Cafe to 24 North Main Street in Pascoag (site of the MTBE spill)
– 230-3pm Ceremony at the site of the MTBE spill
– 3-430pm March from 24 North Main Street to the Burrillville High School

After months of protests, phone calls and civil disobedience from anti-power plant activists and Burrillville residents, Governor Raimondo has scheduled a visit to Burrillville for an open community meeting. The open meeting, which will be held at the Burrillville High School on July 18th from 6-9pm, will focus on Invenergy’s proposed fracked-gas and diesel fuel power plant.

“Since the power plant proposal was first announced last August, we have been asking the Governor to come meet with Burrillville residents. We are happy that the Governor has agreed to this and hear from the people who would be most impacted by the power plant project”. Kathy Martley who lives a quarter mile from the proposed power plant site.

BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion), The FANG Collective and others have been targeting the Governor for several months over her support of the plant. The groups have shown up at dozens of the Governor’s public events with “Save Burrillville: No New Power Plant” signs and have led multiple call-in days to the Governor’s office. On April 19th the groups held a sit-in at the Governor’s office where one person was arrested after refusing to leave. One of the demands of the sit-in was that the Governor travel to Burrillville and meet with residents.

But activists say that tone of the visit to Burrillville will largely be dependent on whether the Governor vetoes or signs into law a Bill moving through the State House that would give residents more control of the power plant approval process. The Bill is being championed by Representative Cale Keable and Senator Paul Fogarty, both of Burrillville.

“We want the Governor’s visit to Burrillville to be informative but also be a celebration of the Keable/Fogarty bill becoming law. This is the Governor’s climate legacy moment. To veto this bill, and take away the voice of Burrillville residents, would forever tarnish her environmental record”. Nick Katkevich of the FANG Collective.

The Bill, which would let Burrillville residents vote on any tax agreement made between the power plant company and the town council, passed the House of Representatives 64-7 and is scheduled for second hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

[From a press release]

In September, the trio used reinforced pvc pipe to attach themselves to construction equipment at Spectra’s fracked-gas compressor site as part of a growing resistance to the oil and gas corporations “AIM” expansion project. The expansion of the Burrillville compressor station is a key part of Spectra’s plans to transport gas extracted via fracking in Pennsylvania to natural gas export terminals in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. The protesters were charged with misdemeanor trespass and disorderly conduct, the maximum penalty being 1 year in prison and $1000 fine. Spectra Energy is demanding $30,000 of restitution be awarded as part of the criminal case.

“Spectra is spewing toxic chemicals from their compressor stations, damaging communities with their pipelines, all to expand the fracking industry’s profits at the expense of public health, safety and the environment.  Spectra should be the ones paying restitution for the real harm that they are causing” said Matt Smith, an organizer with Food & Water Watch and one of three defendants in the case.

Spectra’s “AIM” expansion has come under fire recently from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as US Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, who have asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to halt construction on the pipeline’s New York segment over safety concerns. Of particular concern is a 2 mile stretch of pipeline that would push volatile compressed gas within feet of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Located just 30 miles north of Manhattan, Spectra’s pipeline expansion near the aging plant creates a situation that puts 20 million residents and the entire economics of the United States at risk. A Spectra pipeline which connects to Spectra’s “AIM” expansion exploded in Salem Township, Pennsylvania last month, creating a massive fireball that left a local resident with third degree burns over 75% of his body.

“These fracked-gas facilities are dangerous on many levels: they are accelerating climate change, constantly off-gas poisonous chemicals, destroying communities where the fracking occurs, and are one shoddy weld away from exploding,” says Keith Clougherty, a defendant in the case.

The Rhode Island portion of the “AIM” pipeline expansion involved doubling the size of an existing compressor facility in Burrillville. The project faced sustained resistance from state wide activists and local community members. In August Invenergy announced plans to build a 1000 megawatt power plant immediately adjacent to Spectra’s compressor station. The fracked-gas used at the plant would be delivered through Spectra’s pipeline system.

Opposition to the power plant has steadily grown in intensity since the project was first proposed. Last week hundreds of people rallied at the Statehouse in support of a bill that would give Burrillville residents the power to vote on any tax agreement negotiated between the town and Invenergy. That same week nearly two dozen national environmental and public health organizations sent a letter to RI Governor Gina Raimondo urging her to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the fracked gas power plant proposal.

Recently Spectra announced plans to expand their Burrillville compressor station a second time as part of the “Access Northeast” project.