Wednesday night’s Burrillville Town Council meeting hearkened back to the early days of public opposition against Invenergy’s $700 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant planned for the town. Back then, we saw a public that was distrustful of the town council, and a town council that was not receptive to the idea of opposing the power plant, early on claiming to be powerless against the combined might of Invenergy, Governor Gina Raimondo’s office and regulators.
The town council then took the position, contrary to the Open Meetings Act, that people in the town were only allowed to talk about issues and subjects that were specifically listed on the town council’s agenda, cutting off discussion about the Algonquin pipeline if the power plant was on the agenda, or vice versa. In December of last year, calls from the town council to trust them elicited groans of dismay from the audience.
Then, in April of this year, it was learned that the town council had been in secret negotiations for a tax treaty with Invenergy for months. The town council was still forcing residents to only speak about “agenda items” and working hard to curtail public discussion, contrary to the Open Meetings Act. The growing resistance in Burrillville to the power plant felt disempowered. Not only were they fighting a multi-billion dollar power plant company funded by a Russian oligarch, they were fighting both the state and local governments. The fight seemed impossible and trust between the town council and residents couldn’t be worse. Or so they thought.
At an April 14 town council meeting Council President John Pacheco said that the town council learned about Invenergy’s plans when everyone else did, during a press conference held by Governor Raimondo announcing the plant, saying, “As a town council, we did not know this plant was actually going to happen until the Governor announced it.”
This turned out to be inaccurate. Videos of town council meetings from February and March of 2015, on the town council’s own website, showed the town council and state legislators paving the way for the controversial Invenergy power plant months before the governor officially announced the project. Over time some of the details about how Invenergy approached the town came to light, but the complete story, and who opened what doors to the power plant, has yet to be revealed.
The town council eventually came to a public position regarding the power plant: The town council would put on a public display of strict neutrality, taking no position for or against the power plant, until after all the advisory opinions from various town boards had been completed. This was so as to appear to not influence the outcomes of the various advisory opinions and give the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) a reason to suspect that the opinions might be slanted in some way.
State legislators Cale Keable and Paul Fogarty went a different route. They entered legislation at the state level that if passed, would give voters in Burrillville the ability to approve or reject any tax treaty negotiated between the town council and Invenergy.
The bill passed the House and was due for consideration and a vote in the Senate when the town council passed a resolution in opposition to the Keable Bill at the 11th hour, giving the Senate Judiciary Committee enough of a reason to vote down the bill. The relationship between the town council and residents was now overtly acrimonious. There were tears from Town Councilor Kimberly Brissette Brown and anger and accusations from Town Councilor Donald Fox. Residents spoke of feeling “humiliated” at the State House as the press release announcing the resolution was sprung on them by Senators Frank Lombardi and Steven Archambeault, who treated the residents with risible condescension.
Since that low point, the town council and residents worked to rebuild trust. Residents by this time were long past being held to arbitrary and incorrect readings of the Open Meetings Act. They spoke their minds, expressed their concerns and the town council, to their credit, finally seemed to be listening. They seemed to come together as a town when Governor Gina Raimondo visited to hear resident concerns about the power plant.
After the lengthy process of creating the advisory opinions concluded, the town council passed an extremely robust resolution opposing the power plant and asked other city and town councils in and around Rhode Island to join them in opposition. Many already have and many more are considering joining Burrillville in opposition to the plant. But the Burrillville Town Council’s opposition came with a caveat: They still planned to sign a tax treaty with Invenergy, a tax treaty that the town residents want to hold off on signing.
At issue is the timing. The town council maintains that they have negotiated a solid tax treaty that will protect the town in the event the power plant is built, and guarantee a steady stream of income to the town. The residents want to wait until after the EFSB decides on Invenergy’s application before signing any treaty. Right now, the power plant’s application is suspended, pending Invenergy’s search for a new source of water. Signing the tax treaty, say residents, gives Invenergy extra leverage in negotiating a deal with another municipality, like, let’s say, Woonsocket, to purchase water. The town’s opposition to the power plant must be unified and consistent. Opposing the power plant with a resolution sends one message, signing a tax treaty with Invenergy sends another.
At Wednesday night’s hearing, Attorney Michael McElroy, who negotiated the tax treaty, said that the opposing the power plant and signing a tax treaty were not inconsistent actions and would not be seen that way. “I want to make it… clear that I see no inconsistency between entering into these agreements and dead set opposition to the plant,” said McElroy.
But McElroy is a lawyer. He is not a business man trying to buy water to cool a power plant. What businessman wouldn’t mention the tax treaty as proof that the town council is actually okay with having the power plant sited in their town? The resolution in opposition will be described behind closed doors as merely political theater, something to satisfy the rubes while the real business of government is imposed by the movers and shakers in secret meetings paid for with political contributions.
McElroy did his best to sell the tax treaty to the residents. He spent 45 minutes outlining the deal, expressing the need for a treaty. One reason McElroy gave, that didn’t sit well with residents, was that, “I want to get paid.” The money generated by this tax treaty will give the Town of Burrillville the money it needs to fight the siting of the power plant all the way to the Supreme Court, if need be. The lawyers and experts needed to fight such a case cost money, said McElroy, who included himself in those expenses.
McElroy suggested that if the town council did not pass the tax treaty, Invenergy might pull it off the table. He assured the audience that contrary to what Conservation Law Foundation senior attorney Jerry Elmer says, the plant will be built without a tax treaty in place.
Residents weren’t buying it. Towards the end of what turned out to be a five hours plus meeting, it was obvious that the town’s people were not willing to drink the tax treaty Kool-Aid. Forty people spoke against passing the tax treaty. Two spoke in favor of trusting the town council and McElroy’s advice.
Ultimately the town council recessed without doing anything on the tax treaty. There is a plan to take up the issue again next week.
I need a clarification: Did Invenergy elect the Town Council and Manager, and hire the town’s lawyers to represent them? If not, they sure could have fooled me.
The people of Burrillville are receiving a painful civics lesson as to whom the politicians work for, one they were never taught in school.
I wrote this recently and would like to share it here, If I’m allowed. It speaks to the issue above.
Dismiss most of what the presidential candidates have promised because it is essentially feel-good talk. Whomever is elected will ultimately serve the underlying economic order, as it is in every country, and it cannot be any other way.
Producers are in competition not only within countries but between countries. To compete profitably they must continually cut costs, revolutionize production and expand market share, or be taken over or driven under by their competitors. They have no choice. The profit-driven logic and dynamic of capitalism, and its all-against-all compulsions and demands, is what drives and shapes the world’s social relations and order. The self-serving and competitive nature of capitalism also explains why people lie and deceive, and continually seek an advantage over others, and why our concerns do not extend much beyond family. The strong pull of advanced capitalism, and those who benefit, creates willful blindness, pathological self-absorption and denial about the world we are leaving our children and posterity.
This system is what gives rise to never-ending wars, climate disruptions and the despoliation of the earth’s ecosystem. It cannot be modified, reformed or made into something it is not – ecologically or socially conscious – or it wouldn’t be capitalism.
As the ice melts, the U.S. must exploit the Arctic’s natural resources and its oil and gas reserves, or their competitors will. The U.S. must militarily control the geo-strategic land corridors and sea lanes, and the oil and gas pipelines, or another country will. The “choices” countries and corporations make are dictated by a system, and cannot be understood, reduced to or explained by individual motivation, malevolence or greed.
The workings of capitalism itself is what is behind the wars, immiseration, mass migrations and seismic shifts in the world’s social order, alliances and ecological terrain. And it is on a collision course with the planet and people of the earth. The threat of war looms large, as does the potential for the collapse of our life-support systems. If we do not defeat and ultimately dismantle this globalized system of exploitation, parasitism and plunder, we and the planet are in serious peril.
A Halloween Story: The Wicked Witch of the west needs water for one of Satan’s weather weapons…
Attorney McElroy who spoke so eloquently and passionately about Burrillville’s complete disdain for the proposed power plant at the last EFSB meeting, the one where Invenergy was directed to Show Cause which they did not, was NOT the same McElroy who tried to infantalize the opposition with his lame slide show and sell them cheap Kool Aid at the Town Council meeting Wednesday night.
It’s all quite curious. Who’s pulling his strings? Which performance can we count on as being “true”?
Johnnie, well spoken words of wisdom and truth. Unfortunately, we know the answer to this mystery and you identified exactly why. Sad day in Burrillville, Rhode Island and our Nation. One step in reverse.
Does anyone have a better explanation as to why the issue of climate change was never raised during the presidential “debates?” Did it occur to the movie star moderators, who ask the “tough” questions, and those who decide which questions to ask, that climate change is real, urgent and important? Are they just ignorant of the science, or is there more going on here?
At one point, for about 12 seconds, Trump and Clinton both agreed that the most important issue facing the nation is the threat of nuclear war. But neither was asked if they agree with the Obama administration, and the congressional bipartisan support, – and the approval of funding – for the 30-year, trillion-dollar modernization of the US nuclear arsenal. They are developing lower-megaton weapons and nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, weapons which are much more likely to be used and trigger a nuclear exchange. How many Americans even know about this program? And do Americans know that 40 million Russians recently participated in drills at their nuclear fallout shelters, as the US conducts war games on Russia’s western border, and challenges them in Syria, and elsewhere, in a game of brinkmanship.
The ruling elite cook the planet and plan new wars, and the “debates” focus on poppycock and infotainment. It is disheartening to see so many sincere fools weighing-in, and so animated and eager to debate nonsense.
@Johnnie: Ya this is some puppet show. Trump is just an actor, a show piece. Hillary is the chosen one.
These comments here are getting automatic thumbs ups and downs. What the heck is going on?
I didn’t watch this yet but it looks interesting.
Before the Flood – Full Movie | National Geographic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M
One of our very own politicians talks about climate change in this doc.
Human Extinction By 2030 – Climate Disruption The Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsU5ZG_BPVw
I’m reposting this because it was pushed off the “new comments” screen with a series of posts that say nothing:
Dismiss most of what the presidential candidates have promised because it is essentially feel-good talk. Whomever is elected will ultimately serve the underlying economic order, as it is in every country, and it cannot be any other way.
Producers are in competition not only within countries but between countries. To compete profitably they must continually cut costs, revolutionize production and expand market share, or be taken over or driven under by their competitors. They have no choice. The profit-driven logic and dynamic of capitalism, and its all-against-all compulsions and demands, is what drives and shapes the world’s social relations and order. The self-serving and competitive nature of capitalism also explains why people lie and deceive, and continually seek an advantage over others, and why our concerns do not extend much beyond family. The strong pull of advanced capitalism, and those who benefit, creates willful blindness, pathological self-absorption and denial about the world we are leaving our children and posterity.
This system is what gives rise to never-ending wars, climate disruptions and the despoliation of the earth’s ecosystem. It cannot be modified, reformed or made into something it is not – ecologically or socially conscious – or it wouldn’t be capitalism.
As the ice melts, the U.S. must exploit the Arctic’s natural resources and its oil and gas reserves, or their competitors will. The U.S. must militarily control the geo-strategic land corridors and sea lanes, and the oil and gas pipelines, or another country will. The “choices” countries and corporations make are dictated by a system, and cannot be understood, reduced to or explained by individual motivation, malevolence or greed.
The workings of capitalism itself is what is behind the wars, immiseration, mass migrations and seismic shifts in the world’s social order, alliances and ecological terrain. And it is on a collision course with the planet and people of the earth. The threat of war looms large, as does the potential for the collapse of our life-support systems. If we do not defeat and ultimately dismantle this globalized system of exploitation, parasitism and plunder, we and the planet are in serious peril.
The elected representatives of Burrillville, the Energy Facilities Siting Board, the GA leadership, the governor and big labor all support the Invenergy power plant – despite what they may say, or not say.
Some environmentalists will seek to educate these officials, as if something they say or studies they cite will somehow change their minds. It won’t. When you look at this logically, you have to ask yourself : Why are these people acting irrationally and self-destructively? These people are not acting from ignorance; don’t they have children and grandchildren? Why are they pushing for another power plant that the citizens of Burrillville don’t want, we don’t need and is destructive to our collective environment . A power plant that will add to the air pollution, the carbon footprint and the heating of the planet. This scenario, and others like it, are being played out every single day throughout the US.
This is an expression of the anarchy of capitalist production, and those in power, who do not serve the people but the underlying economic order. If something is profitable it will be exploited, irrespective of the social costs and whether or not it hurts the people and the planet. This is the irrationality and logic of a system that can not and will not leave profitable resources in the ground. We know the fracking process is polluting the air when they drill, and creating earthquakes. And that this natural gas cannot be burned without increasing the earth’s temperature, but it continues despite the fact that we have readily available clean and safe alternatives. – which the system will not exploit until it is as profitable as gas or oil.
We do not even need another gas-fired power plant, as the Conservation Law Foundation has demonstrated, but the push continues from Invenergy and those in positions of power and authority. They not only support this power plant but also seek to upgrade, expand and extend the infrastructure of fracked gas for export. If we bring enough pressure they will be forced to back off – But Only Until Next Time.
People in the US and around the world are fighting this system each and every day, as it spreads itself like some vampire squid or pool of piranhas devouring everything in its path. This system and the amoral, irrational and self-destructive people it creates cannot and will not change of their own accord. The boat we and they are in is listing and beginning to sink but they refuse to throw any of their gold bars overboard. This is the irrationality and compulsions of the capitalist mode of production, and those who serve it.
[…] McElroy may, “see no inconsistency between entering into these agreements and dead set opposition to the […]
[…] back in Novemeber I questioned Burrillville Attorney Michael McElroy‘s contention that there is, “no inconsistency […]
[…] McElroy, the attorney who negotiated the tax treaty between Invenergy and Burrillville and then convinced the Burrillville Town Council over the objections of residents, said at the time that opposing the […]