The Rhode Island Sierra Club strongly praises the bold climate leadership of the nine Providence legislators who publicly expressed their opposition to National Grid’s proposal for a $180 million fracked gas liquefaction facility at Fields Point in the Port of Providence.
Last week, Providence State Representatives Aaron Regunberg, Joe Almeida, Grace Diaz, John Lombardi, Chris Blazejewski and Edie Ajello, along with Providence State Senators Juan Pichardo, Gayle Goldin and Harold Metts submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) describing their deep concerns with National Grid’s proposal. We wholeheartedly agree with their statement that this project represents a boondoggle for ratepayers, an unjustifiable safety risk for the local community, and the kind of unacceptable doubling down on fossil fuel infrastructure that will guarantee we blow past our legally mandated emission reduction goals. And we are proud to see so many legislative leaders refusing to condemn our beautiful state to a future of climate catastrophe.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said of Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza. Rather than making any effort to live up to his rhetoric on climate change, Mayor Elorza has chosen to partner with National Grid and help them advance their proposal with tacit support and active negotiations for a Tax Stabilization Agreement to smooth out the utility’s tax payments over time.
Stopping climate change is the moral crisis of our time – and it will only be possible if we end these vast investments in new fossil fuel infrastructure that guarantee our addiction to fossil fuels continues past our planet’s point of no return. We all need to join in this fight. Rhode Island Sierra Club pledges our support for elected officials who take this moral imperative seriously, like the nine Providence legislators who came out in opposition to the LNG proposal last week. And we condemn in the strongest possible terms the cowardice of self-proclaimed climate leaders who choose to give in to the fossil fuel industry. Mayor Elorza, your actions speak much louder than your words – please, do the right thing and join your legislative delegation in standing up for Providence’s current and future citizens.
The 
Before the meeting got started though, the planning board dealt with correspondence from Barry Craig, a retired lawyer recently returned to Burrillville. Craig had filed a motion to have the town’s lawyer, Oleg Nikolyszyn, recuse himself because of allegations that he and the town council had violated the open meetings act when 
As loud as the power plant might be under normal operating conditions, it will be louder during start up and shutdown. When asked about Invenergy’s estimates about how long start ups and shutdowns take, Hessler said that Invenergy’s estimate of 10-30 minutes is “too short. There’s no way,” and said “I would not trust [Invenergy’s] numbers.”
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 
Though Speaker Nicholas Mattiello refuses to call them budget cuts, OHIC, the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner, will suffer a 75 percent reduction in staff under the new budget unveiled last week. One health care advocate called the reduction in staff “a complete surprise.”
A demonstration to bring attention to the $100 million fracked, liquefied natural gas compressor station National Grid is trying to build in South Providence was held outside the company’s location at the corner of Allens Ave and Terminal Rd Wednesday afternoon. The demonstration was a 
On Thursday evening members of BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion) and 
WHEREAS, Invenergy’s Clear River Energy has proposed a $700 million project to construct a natural gas-fired electric power plant in the Town of Burrillville, which will consist of two single shaft “H” Class combined cycle units with output up to 1000 Mega watts, air cooled condensers and duel fuel capability (natural gas and oil back up) and is schedule for a June 2019 commercial operation date for Unit 1 and 2020 for Unit 2 and;
The issuance of the press release was likely decided at Tuesday night’s “special meeting” of the Town Council. In trying to access the video of this meeting, I discovered that there was no video. “As the camera was not working, there is no video for the June 7, 2016 Town Council meeting,” according to an email from the town clerk.
The June 2 open meeting of the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) was a rare opportunity to hear board members Margaret Curran, Janet Coit and Parag Agrawal talk openly about their thoughts regarding the process of the board in approving or denying Invenergy‘s proposed fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant in Burrillville. That said, it’s also a bad idea to draw too many inferences about board members thoughts based on their words.
The battle over Invenergy‘s planned fracked gas and diesel oil burning energy plant for Burrillville reaches a fever pitch at the State House this afternoon, starting at 3pm as hundreds of Burrillvile residents hold a rally in the main rotunda announcing their opposition. This is ahead of Burrillville Representative Cale Keable‘s hearing for his bill, 
The people of Burrillville realize something about the the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB), that Margaret Curran, who chairs the board, does not. During Monday night’s public comment meeting, held to decide the fate of of Invenergy’s proposed fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant, Curran several times tried to stop the crowd from rising and cheering and clapping when someone from the public made a particularly smart or heartfelt point during their five minutes before the board. Other times Curran would attempt to cut speakers off, even as the crowd became agitated and yelled, “Let them speak!”
“You’re taking time from other people by going over your time limit,” Curran would say, but Curran didn’t seem to realize that the community of Burrillville is united. Everyone who rose in opposition to the power plant speaks not just for themselves, but for everyone.
Don Allen said if you could pick the worst place to place a power plant based on prevailing winds, Burrillville would be the worst.