Invenergy is searching for the water they need. An Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request from RI Future has revealed that Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Badelli-Hunt’s office has had two meetings with Invenergy officials. On September 7 there was a 30 minute meeting and on September 20 there was a 60 minute meeting. Other meetings may have occurred since then. We know from statements made at the October 3 Woonsocket Town Council meeting that these discussions were not about siting the plant in Woonsocket. These discussions, assumed to be ongoing, are about water. Whatever bargaining position Invenergy has in their discussions with Woonsocket, or any other entity contemplating providing the water Invenergy needs, will be enhanced by the existence of an approved tax treaty.

Passing a tax treaty will send mixed signals to the rest of the state. On September 22 the Burrillville Town Council issued a strong statement in opposition to the proposed power plant. They sent out missives to cities and towns through Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts asking for other town and city councils to pass resolutions in solidarity with Burrillville. So far at least four municipalities have done so, Lincoln, Glocester, North Smithfield and Middletown. How foolish will these councils feel if Burrillville proceeds to negotiate with the company they’ve asked for support in opposing? How eager will other municipalities be to pass their own resolutions going forward?

Jerry Elmer, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) believes that the Town of Burrillville “is under zero obligation to enter into a tax treaty,” adding, “By ‘zero obligation,’ I mean: zero legal obligation, zero ethical obligation, zero political obligation. The Town has tax laws on the books, and those existing tax laws will determine Invenergy’s tax obligation if there is no tax treaty.

“Invenergy can (and likely will) make all kinds of threats about what will or will not happen in the absence of a tax treaty, but the threats are empty,” continues Elmer, “The bottom line is that: (a) The Town can simply choose not to enter into a tax treaty. (b) If the Town chooses not to enter into a tax treaty there is nothing that Invenergy can do. (c) If the Town chooses not to enter into a tax treaty, it is virtually certain that Invenergy will go away.

“But can’t Invenergy sue the Town of Burrillville to try to force the Town to enter a tax treaty?” asks Elmer, before answering, “Technically, the answer is “yes,” Invenergy can sue the town – and, yes, the town would have to spend some money to defend such a lawsuit. But Invenergy could not win such a lawsuit.  Remember what law school professors like to say: ‘You can always sue.’ I can sue you for wearing a blue suit (or for your taste in movies). But just because one can bring such a stupid, frivolous lawsuit does not mean that one can win such a stupid lawsuit.

“So, too, with Invenergy and a tax treaty.  The Town of Burrillville can decline to enter into a tax treaty with Invenergy, and there is nothing Invenergy can do to force the issue.

“The message to each and every member of the Town Council is simple, so simple it can be put into a single sentence: ‘Vote down any tax treaty.’ Or: ‘Don’t even vote on a tax treaty.’ Or: ‘Don’t vote on a tax treaty, and don’t approve a tax treaty.’ None of those sentences is complicated; none of those involves weird, technical legal mumbo-jumbo.  Everyone can understand the point.”

Attorney Alan Shoer, of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, has been representing Invenergy during their application process in front of the EFSB. A look at Shoer’s bio page on his law firm’s website runs down his skills and accomplishments. Shoer is presented as an expert in “all aspects of energy, environmental, and public utility law.” He has “experience in wind, solar, hydro and other renewable energy matters,” and “has represented developers, investors, contractors, utilities, and municipalities in several successful and innovative sustainable energy projects.”

Note what Shoer does not include in his online resumé: Anything at all to do with his strong advocacy for companies that want to expand Rhode Island’s dependence on fracked gas.

Like Governor Gina Raimondo, who never misses an opportunity to publicly champion wind and solar power but downplays her support of fracked gas, and like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who humbly accepts the laurels heaped upon him for his environmental activism in the Senate but can’t find the time to publicly oppose fracked gas infrastructure in his own state, Alan Shoer seems to want his paid advocacy for fossil fuels companies like Invenergy to go unnoticed.

And this is for a good reason: Twenty years from now, no one will want their name to be attached to the moldering LNG monstrosities, brown fields and contaminated properties left in the wake of the coming fossil fuel collapse. Who wants to tell their children and their grandchildren that they helped destroy the environment when they knew the world was under threat and they knew that they were championing a dying and deadly industry? Carefully shaping their public image today is a way, hopes Raimondo, Whitehouse and Shoer, of shaping the way history will judge them.

But we won’t let the world forget their part in this, will we?

This is why Invenergy would be foolish in suing Burrillville. Not only can they not win, as Jerry Elmer points out above, but in doing so they will be exposing themselves as the villains they are. Burrillville may have to spend money defending themselves against such a lawsuit, but I will bet that most or all of the money Burrillville needs to defend themselves could come from something like an online GoFundMe effort. Fracked gas is enormously unpopular in New England, and becoming more unpopular by the day. Only those who continue to believe the lies of the fossil fuel companies, (and they’ve been lying for decades about climate change, as it turns out) that is, the most gullible or ideologically pathological, believe that fossil fuels are the future.

About 244 years ago, a group of Rhode Islanders in Warwick stood up against British tyranny and torched the Gaspee, starting a series of events that led to the American Revolution. Today, in Burrillville, a group of Rhode Islanders is standing up to the fossil fuel oligarchy and when they win, it will mark a turning point in the climate change battle, and the effects could be as significant as those at Gaspee Point in 1772. Rhode will become, in the words of Timmons Roberts, writing for the Brookings Institute, “a leader of a new energy age for the U.S.,” instead of “a middling actor locked into fossil fuel infrastructure for decades.”

The Burrillville Town Council has an opportunity Wednesday night to save the town, the state, and the world.

Be there.

In response to the massive destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, where it is estimated that at least 350 thousand people are in need of immediate aid, Bernard Georges, of New Bridges for Haitian Success here in Providence, has begun collecting donations of supplies and money to help.

The materials will be sent to Belle-Anse, Haiti. Georges’ organization has partnered with ARAB (Association des Rassembleurs pour L’Avancement de Belle-Anse) to deliver the much needed aid.

“People are homeless,” said Georges, “there’s no communication and no food. We are afraid that a lot of diseases may come. We are asking people to support us and to give a donation.”

Bottled water, non-perishable food items and supplies can be dropped off at 603 Elmwood Ave Providence, RI 02907 or A & G Multiservices Center LLC, 608 Charles Street, Providence RI 02904.

You can donate straight up cash on-line here, or mail a check to payable to New Bridges for Haitian Success, Inc. here:

New Bridges for Haitian Success
P.O. Box 27552
Providence, RI 02907

Please include your full name, address and phone number and note that the contributions are for aiding Haiti.

I know Bernard Georges personally as a good man who will make sure this aid gets to where it needs to go. Please help.

Below, Bernard Georges makes his appeal on video, and after that there are more pictures from Haiti in the aftermath of the storm.

“For more than three decades, ExxonMobil has devoted its resources to deceiving the public about climate science while using its knowledge about climate change to advance its business operations,” said CLF president Bradley Campbell. “Communities were put in danger and remain in danger, all to cut costs for one of the most profitable corporations in the world. It’s time to make Exxon answer for decades of false statements to the public and to regulators and ensure that its Everett facility meets its legal obligation to protect thousands of people and the Boston Harbor estuary from toxic water pollution.”

In March of this year, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general seeking to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for campaigns to deceive customers, shareholders, and the public about climate risk. While CLF is the first organization officially to file a civil lawsuit against ExxonMobil for this deceit, many other legal actions are likely to follow.

Damali Vidot, Chelsea City Councilor-At-Large, commented, “As a mom and a representative of my community, I feel I have a responsibility to protect my kids and those I serve against the impacts of pollution in our water. I’m standing with CLF today because I believe Exxon must be held accountable for its actions.”

CLF’s trial team for the case will include nationally renowned attorney Allan Kanner of the Louisiana-based Kanner & Whiteley, whose firm has represented states and other plaintiffs in landmark cases against major oil companies, including claims arising from BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill.

Andrew Bacevich, a noted scholar, author, and critic of U.S. imperialism, will be  speaking on U.S. policy, or lack thereof,  in the Middle East on October 6 from 7-9 pm at the Westminster Unitarian Church, 24 Kenyon Street in East Greenwich, RI. This public presentation will be based largely on his most recent book: America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History. Among his eight other books is the important Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. There will be a Q&A period.

Prior to a distinguished academic career, Bacevich served in the U.S. Army, retiring with the rank of Colonel. His son, Andrew Bacevich Jr., was also in the army but was killed in Iraq by an IED. Dr. Bacevich had expressed strong opposition to this disastrous war prior to his son’s death.

In addition to the books, Bacevich has written many articles that have been published in various magazines and journals and has appeared frequently on a variety of news shows. He is a Professor Emeritus of Boston University and also is an associate editor for Harper’s Magazine.

This event is being organized by the Rhode Island Anti-War Committee, Pax Christi Rhode Island, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Tuesday Interfaith Peace Group. Cosponsoring and hosting is the Social Responsibility Committee of Westminster Unitarian Church. Light refreshments will be available and attendees are encouraged, if possible, to bring cookies or some type of simple finger food to share. There is ample parking in the Church lot.

“The topic is particularly germane to Rhode Island voters because their state is home to a facility that will help manufacture new nuclear-armed submarines,” according to a news release, making reference to Electric Boat. “In addition, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed serves as ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Rep. James Langevin serves on the House Armed Services Committee.”

One of Wednesday’s speakers, Dr. Lisbeth Gronlund, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said, “As a long-standing member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Reed has an important role to play in ensuring that the U.S. spends its defense dollars wisely. Current plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build a whole new generation of nuclear weapons are not just a waste of money but would undermine U.S. security.”

Gronlund plans to speak about “what President Obama—and the next president—should do to reduce the odds that nuclear weapons are used again. She’ll discuss the administration’s plan to build a whole new generation of nuclear bombs, missiles and submarines, which will cost roughly $1 trillion in coming decades. She also will call on the president to remove land-based nuclear missiles from hair-trigger alert, which sets the stage for an accidental nuclear launch,” according to the news release.

The United States is the only nation to ever use a nuclear weapon. In August on 1945, the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending the war with Japan.

Dr. Stephen Colecchi, the director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace, will also speak at the event in Providence on Wednesday night.

“The Catholic Church at its highest levels has supported nuclear disarmament as a moral imperative for decades,” Colecchi said, according to the news release. “Saint Pope John XXIII called for a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons in 1963.  Pope Benedict reminded us that in a nuclear war there would be ‘no victors, only victims.’ And Pope Francis has asserted that ‘spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations.’”

Bishop Thomas Tobin will be at Wednesday’s event, but it’s unclear if he agrees with Catholic teachings on nuclear disarmament. In May, he expressed some level of support for foreign wars to NBC10.

“Of course I’m against wars, I don’t know anyone who is in favor of wars,” Tobin said. “I think it was St. John Paul who said war is always a defeat for humanity. It’s never good.” But, he added, “Sometimes there are prudential judgments.”

He continued, “The Catholic Church has a long tradition of talking about a ‘just war theory’. It is never to say someone is just in starting a war, but we certainly believe in the right of self defense. What would someone do to respond to the attacks of terrorism, of ISIS, the terrible persecution of Christians taking place in the Middle East, the attacks on our own country or in France or in Belgium? How do we respond to these violent terrorist attacks without having some means of self defense. That’s where I think someone providing legitimate armaments and self defense has a legitimate role to play. Again, no one is in favor of war.”

Tobin sidestepped weighing in on the the other issue the Catholic Church and the Union of Concerned Scientists agree on – climate change. After Pope Francis called upon Catholic churches to take a stand against climate change, Tobin said, ““The pope’s message deserves careful study and prudent discussion by Catholics and all those concerned about this issue.”

TD Bank

At issue is the Dakota Access Pipeline currently under construction from the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota to Peoria, Illinois. DAPL is slated to cross Lakota Treaty Territory at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation where it would be laid underneath the Missouri River, the longest river on the continent.

Organizers contend that construction of the DAPL “would engender a renewed fracking-frenzy in the Bakken shale region, as well as endanger a source of fresh water for the Standing Rock Sioux and 8 million people living downstream. DAPL would also impact many sites that are sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux and other indigenous nations.”

Thousands have gathered to stand against the pipeline in North Dakota, and President Obama has temporarily halted construction, but the fight will continue.

Democracy Now! has provided excellent, in depth coverage of the resistance for those who want to catch up on this important and developing story.

The protest outside TD Bank, organized by the FANG Collective, was entirely peaceful, with dozens of environmental and indigenous American activists bearing signs and leafleting passersby. The crowd grew to take over all four corners at Westminster and Dorrance.

Below is the full video of those who spoke at the event, followed by photos:

Nabisco made the announcement in January.

“They said, ‘we’re laying off 600 people, we’re sending the production down to Mexico, you can basically deal with it,’” explained Nate Zeff, of the BCTGM International Union. Zeff was in Rhode Island to explain the plight of the Nabisco 600, workers who once made products such as Oreos, Honey Grams, Fig Newtons, Animal Crackers and Ritz Crackers in Chicago, who watched as their good paying jobs were sent to Monterrey and Salinas Mexico.

The workers were told that they could prevent the company moving to Mexico, said Zeff, if they would agree to a staggering $46 million a year in concessions, in perpetuity; an impossible demand to make of working class families.

Mexican workers are paid a tiny fraction of what United States workers earn, allowing Nabisco to pay starvation wages in one country while wiping out an entire community of workers in another. And lest you think these savings might be passed along to consumers, think again. The money ‘saved’ is funneled directly into the pockets of overpaid corporate executives like Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Nabisco parent company Mondelez International, who made a shame worthy $21 million in 2015.

To counter Nabisco’s move, and to bring these jobs back to the United States, the BCTGM has announced an audacious plan: A targeted boycott of Nabisco products made in Mexico. There are two ways to determine if a product on the shelf is made in Mexico, as seen in the video and picture below. One, the package may simply have the words “Made in Mexico” in the fine print near the ingredients label. Otherwise, check out the “plant identification code.” MM and MS stand for Monterrey and Salinas, Mexico, respectively.

There are a couple of things to note about this boycott. One is that there are still plants in the United States making Nabisco products. This boycott is not against all Oreos, it’s a targeted boycott against Oreos made in Mexico. Note also that it’s not enough to simply not buy the Mexican made products. Take the product to the store manager and tell them why you are not buying.

Sure, the manager will say that they are not responsible for ordering the product, or that they have no control over where the product comes from, but if enough people complain, the complaints will start their way up the chain of command.

Anthony Jackson, a disabled veteran, was also in Rhode Island as part of the tour. He had a job paying him $26 an hour, now that job has gone across the border to a worker who makes less than $100 per week. “This is a $35 billion corporation,” said Jackson, “the Oreo alone made $2.9 billion last year.”

Jackson was at a shareholder’s meeting and asked CEO Rosenfeld why the company couldn’t treat Chicago workers fairly. Rosenfeld said the workers received “fair-market value.”

“To this day we’ve received zero dollars and zero cents,” said Jackson, “So what [Rosenfeld] said to us is that we are nothing.”

Jackson had five requests for those who want to support this effort.

1. Go to fightforamericanjobs.org and learn more about the boycott and the Nabisco 600.

2. Like their Facebook page.

3. Call the number on Oreo packages and complain about the fact that American jobs are being lost even as Mexican labor is being unfairly exploited.

4. Check the label (as seen above) for the country of origin and don’t buy made in Mexico products

5. Tell somebody. Spread the word. “We want to be the first company to bring production back from Mexico,” said Jackson.

“The process of selling this product internationally has become complex to the point that the company has decided to exit the business,” said Textron spokesman David Sylvestre. “Under a different political environment it would have been a sustainable business for us.”

Textron filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that confirmed the Providence-based conglomerate is stopping production of cluster bombs, or what the company calls sensor-fuzed weapons.

On her first night in our city, Malala Yousafzai, youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, ate at the restaurant India on the East Side. In her telling, she ate too much and decided to go for a walk in the park with her father. In the park, she says, “Nobody was even looking at me.” Everyone was too busy playing Pokémon Go. Nineteen year old Malala knew about the game, her brothers play it, but her father did not know about it. They talked to a couple of players, asking them to explain the game. Her father still doesn’t understand the game. Malala doesn’t play but she is happy that the game gets her brothers out of the house, instead of keeping them indoors playing games on the television.

It’s such an ordinary story, yet Malala Yousafzai has not had an ordinary life.

On October 12, 2012, Malala Yousafzai, already an outspoken education advocate, was 15 years old when two members of the Taliban, no older than she, got on her school bus in Pakistan and shot her in the head. As Malala spoke about that day before an audience of 6,000 in Providence Thursday evening, she said, “It was the longest bus ride. I still haven’t arrived at my home in Swat Valley.”

Malala doesn’t remember the day of her attack. She was taken from hospital to hospital before ending up in Birmingham, England. After multiple operations and procedures she says is well and nearly fully recovered. About the men who shot her, Malala said, “The two boys who attacked me are about the same age as me. They were brainwashed. I blame the ideology. Islam doesn’t allow anyone to kill another person. Forgiveness is the best revenge.”

“The terrorists tried their best,” said Malala, “and I realized that even God is supporting me. Even Death is supporting me. Death doesn’t want me.”

When Malala was 11 the Taliban took over her homeland in Swat Valley, Pakistan. The Taliban stopped her education. “Women’s rights and dignity were taken away… That was a very hard time.” On her last day of school, Malala says she “decided to speak out for [her]self and all the girls in [her] community.”

She wrote about life under Taliban control and the need for education for women for the BBC and was profiled and wrote for the NY Times. When her name and the name of her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, a school principal, was revealed on the radio, she became a target.

Since her recovery Malala has become an outspoken advocate against terrorism and for women’s rights. She has spoken out against child labor and child trafficking. She became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, sharing the honor with Kailash Satyarthi, a children’s rights activist from India. Malala, ever humble, doesn’t see the Nobel Prize as something she received. She sees it as an award recognizing the importance of children.

Malala doesn’t see herself as special. “There are amazing girls in Swat Valley better than me,” she said, “but their parents did not allow them an education.” Malala’s father supported his daughter’s right to an education. When people ask her father what he did to raise such a daughter, says Malala, her father answers that it’s what he didn’t do that is important.

“I didn’t clip the wings of my daughter,” says her father.

Channel 10’s Patrice Wood conducted Malala’s interview, but at one point, Wood handed over the questioning to Hilde Lysiak, a nine year old reporter who publishes The Orange Street News. Lysiak’s reporting came under fire earlier this year when she covered a murder that took place near her home. Many were outraged that a cute nine-year old girl was covering a terrible murder. Lysiak struck back with a masterful video telling people who didn’t like her reporting, “If you want me to stop covering news, then you get off your computers and do something about the news. There, is that cute enough for you?”

Lysiak’s short, on-stage interview with Malala demonstrates Malala’s commitment to women’s rights and the power of young girls. She was excited to answer Lysiak’s questions. To Malala education means allowing children the right to question and giving them access to critical thinking skills.

“Believe in yourself,” said Malala several times.

Malala is a devout Muslim. She wears a headscarf but balks at covering her face, as is the tradition for many. She believes that women should make their own choices. “Freedom means I wear the headscarf, as is my right,” said Malala. “I don’t feel comfortable covering my face, because that is who I am.”

As for being a young woman meeting with presidents and prime ministers, Malala says she is not afraid of powerful world leaders.  “Am I afraid of presidents?” she asked, “Presidents should be scared of me because I’m speaking for the people.” It is the government’s responsibility to provide “complete, quality education for every child.” And Malala intends to hold governments and leaders to this obligation.

“Terrorists,” said Malala, “understand how important education is.”

In the video below, a choir sings a song written to honor Malala, and she joins them on stage.

“This was inspired by the Providence protests,” said Cole Harrison, executive director of Mass Peace Action, as activists lined the street outside the division of Textron that makes the controversial cluster bombs the Providence-based conglomerate sells to Saudi Arabia and other nations through the US military.

Textron’s cluster bombs became a cause celebre earlier this year after Human Rights Watch produced evidence that Saudi Arabia used cluster bombs in civilian areas of Yemen. Mass Peace Action planned its action to coincide with recent attempts by Democrats in Congress to ban cluster bombs sales to Saudi Arabia.

“We realized it was an activist issue in Congress,” Harrison said. “We hope to help turn the tide on this. We don’t think it’s an issue that people understand very well.”

This was the first action Mass Peace Action has held at Textron Systems. But it won’t be the last, said Paul Shannon of Summerville, Mass. “Our plan is to come back,” he said. “What we might do is start in town and hand out leaflets to people and then have a march. This is really important to get something off the ground here.”

The action attracted older activists, such as Shannon and Harrison, but also millennials like Matthew Hahm, a Boston College student originally from Seattle.

“I don’t agree with what Textron is doing, selling weapons and profiteering off of that,” he said. “They are complicit in Saudi Arabia war crimes, essentially. It’s pretty terrible stuff. Not enough young people care about peace because it seems far off and removed, but if more young people begin to care…”

While this was the first Textron protest for Mass. Peace Action, there have been a different kind of action every month outside Textron Systems for years. John Bach, a Quaker chaplain from Cambridge, has held “silent meeting for worship” once a month there for six and a half years.

“It’s not a politicization of our spirituality,” he said. “It’s bringing our spirituality to a place that is very dark and needs light.”

He said there are between 12 to 18 people who attend. “We circle up right around the sign and we worship in silence,” he said. “It’s called a gathered meeting. The actual worship is creating the time and the space for what we call the spirit, the small still voice, the divine light, the spark of life – whatever it is – to be spoken through us.”

Bach, who spent two years in prison for refusing to be drafted into the Vietnam war, called cluster bombs “particularly gruesome, they are loathsome, they are uncivilized and according to any just conduct of war, which I do not subscribe to because I am a pacifist, you do not do something that kills as many civilians [as enemy combatants].”

Quoting what he called a popular saying from the 1960’s, Bach said, “When they come for the innocent without having to cross over your body then cursed be your religion and your life.”

He added, “The kids in Yemen are the innocent, clearly.”