Access Northeast – RI Future

October 26, 2016

Pipeline tariff killed in Connecticut, Rhode Island an outlier

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The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has decided against the proposal for gas capacity tariffs on the Spectra Access Northeast pipeline. This announcement comes on the heels of decisions by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission rejecting similar proposals. The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (RIPUC) declined to kill the local version of the plan in September, but the plan seems doomed anyway.

“With yet another state abandoning proposals for more natural gas pipeline capacity, these efforts to expand fossil fuel infrastructure in New England have hit a virtually unsurpassable roadblock,” said Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) president Bradley Campbell in a statement. “Without Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Connecticut in the mix, Spectra has lost a whopping 84 percent of the customer base needed to finance this ill-conceived proposal. It’s time to kill this project altogether and look forward to opportunities for the clean, renewable alternatives that our families demand, our markets expect and our laws require.”

It is unknown when the RIPUC will act to reject the proposal here.

August 26, 2016August 26, 2016

Environmentalists hail Elorza’s stance on LNG

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The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island (EJLRI) “is thrilled that Mayor Jorge Elorza listened to the community and is taking a strong stand against fracking, climate change, and LNG production in Providence.”

The EJLRI statement comes in response to Elorza’s announcement that he opposes National Grid‘s proposed LNG liquefaction facility to be located at Fields Point in the Port of Providence.

State Representative Aaron Regunberg, who represents the 4th district in Providence, also hailed the mayor’s announcement. “I am so glad the mayor has joined our opposition to this terrible proposal. It shows the LNG facility is not a done deal. This is a fight we can win, and so it is a fight we must win. Now it’s time for our federal delegation, who I know are all committed to fighting climate change, to put that commitment into practice here in Providence and join our push for #NoLNGinPVD!”

EJLRI echoed Regunberg’s call for more state elected officials to join them in the fight against expanding LNG infrastructure in Rhode Island. “We are very thankful for the support and climate leadership from our mayor and state legislators, and we now call on our federal congressional delegation and Governor Gina Raimondo to join us and stop National Grid’s plans to liquefy and export fracked gas from Providence.”

Monica Huertas, a leader in the #NoLNGinPVD campaign, responded to the news from the mayor’s office by saying “As a resident of the Washington Park neighborhood, I am so thankful for Mayor Elorza to have so willingly come out against ‘LNG.’ We can make a difference in the smallest state and as residents of the capital city we can take the lead on dismantling the old ways of doing things. This shows that he is on the right side of history. After we have won the battle for clean energy, we can look back at this key moment in Providence and be proud that we fought together.”

Meghan Kallman, Chair of the RI Sierra Club said, “The Sierra Club is pleased with Mayor Elorza’s statement of opposition to the proposed LNG facility in Providence. Climate change is one of the gravest threats that our community faces. Infrastructure such as this liquefaction plant, that locks us into further consumption of fossil fuels, is a bad choice for our future. Further, its proposed location would imperil some of the most vulnerable residents of Providence. We are pleased that Mayor Elorza has listened to the concerns of the community and is opposing this wrongheaded proposal.”

“We have to move to renewable energy,” said Sam Bell, executive director of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats (RIPDA). “Certain machine politicians may not believe we need to act to stop climate change, but our state cannot afford not to act. Elorza giving in to the people of Providence and supporting the NO LNG in PVD movement is a big win.”

The EJLRI statement concludes, “The decision to approve or reject National Grid’s proposal is still under fast-track review and likely approval in the Washington DC offices of FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Governor Raimondo, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressman David Cicilline, and other elected officials need to join their colleagues in Providence and make it clear that there can be no more dangerous fracked gas expansion projects in Providence, or anywhere in the state. We stand by no fracked gas LNG in Providence, no fracked gas power plant in Burrillville, and no fracked gas Access Northeast expansion of the pipeline, compressor station, and additional LNG production.

“Rhode Island is making international news as a climate change leader, and we need to be clear that real climate leaders reject fracking and support a rapid and Just Transition to a sustainable future that centers the needs of workers and frontline communities.”

August 3, 2016

People’s Power and Light opposes National Grid plan

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On the evening of Tuesday, August 2nd People’s Power & Light testified at the Public Utilities Commission, on behalf of Rhode Island consumers and electric ratepayers, against National Grid’s proposal to recover costs from the proposed Access Northeast natural gas pipeline through an electricity ratepayer tariff.

People’s Power & Light expressed several reasons why the Commission should reject National Grid’s Request for Approval of a Gas Capacity Contract and Cost Recovery, Docket 4627, and instead seek alternative resources to meet the region’s energy demand during peak winter times, such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, and demand response. We expressed disagreement with the unprecedented proposal that electric customers pay for additional natural gas infrastructure. Why should consumers take on the long-term risk of a new, unnecessary natural gas pipeline?

People’s Power & Light’s public and written comments:

As a pro-consumer and pro-environment nonprofit organization, we at People’s Power & Light encourage the Commission to reject National Grid’s Request for Approval of a Gas Capacity Contract and Cost Recovery.

The pipeline tax is an outdated approach that conflicts with the widespread sustainability efforts that Rhode Island is already implementing across sectors.

The 2014 Resilient RI Act sets specific greenhouse gas reduction targets at 80% by 2050, with interim targets of 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 45 percent by 2035. Energy planners have an obligation to implement policies and projects that keep Rhode Island on track to meet those goals. As the Ocean State, we are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change; building additional natural gas infrastructure sets us back in the wrong direction and will only serve to increase polluting emissions.

When more consumers learn that they could be on the hook for the pipeline expenses, we can expect to hear more voices of opposition. In our neighboring state Massachusetts, legislation was submitted to prohibit the imposition of a pipeline tax on electricity ratepayers; the measure passed the Senate and a strong majority of the House signed a letter expressing support for the prohibition. We anticipate that a similar measure would see success here in Rhode Island if put to a vote in the General Assembly. Local constituents want to see our state reduce fossil fuel consumption cost-effectively and diversify our local energy mix with more efficiency and renewable sources. A new natural gas pipeline puts the long-term risk on ratepayers who do not want the pipeline in the first place. A recent poll conducted by our sister organization Mass Energy Consumers Alliance demonstrated overwhelming support to ban ratepayer financing of the Access Northeast pipeline. By a margin of over two to one (70%-30%), participants preferred alternatives to natural gas pipelines.

We must protect electric customers from being charged for a natural gas pipeline. Thank you for your time and for the opportunity to submit comments.

July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

RIDEM issues blistering critique of Invenergy’s power plant application

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RIDEM’s third data request to Invenergy, released yesterday, reads as a devastating critique of the proposed $700 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant. If Governor Gina Raimondo was serious when she recently told ecoRI News that, “…if there are issues then the plant won’t go forward,” then the project is dead on arrival.

In addition to “missing info” that renders the application incomplete, on page 3 the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management notes that impact of the the various projects in Burrillville has been fragmented, making the cumulative impact of Invenergy’s proposed power plant; Spectra Energy’s Aim Project; Eversource Energy, National Grid and Spectra Energy’s Access Northeast project and TransCanada’s Ocean State Power difficult to determine.

“For the purposes of comparing costs and benefits to wildlife, all of the existing and proposed work related to increased natural gas operations (processing and transport) in Burrillville should be reviewed as a single and complete project,” says RIDEM, “Piecemeal review of related projects in different stages by different applicants undercounts their cumulative impacts from loss of forests and fragmentation, air, noise and light pollution etc. in an area of the state that has been a longstanding conservation priority.”

On page 7, RIDEM alleges that the “applicant makes several confusing and conflicting assertions about the purpose and need for the project…

“The emissions and cost-benefit analyses both primarily only list benefits. A proper analysis should include costs, yet there is no mention of loss of forests, biodiversity, ecosystem services etc… This seems particularly important since the application notes that the majority of the benefits outlined (e.g. construction jobs and energy costs savings) would be rather short-lived and the majority of the foreseeable costs would be long term or permanent.”

When it comes to selling the idea of a fracked gas power plant, the RIDEM data request accuses Invenergy of circular logic. “A pointed example includes dismissing hydropower in the Power Generation Alternatives section (and omitting it from all other sections) solely because it would not be appropriate on the proposed [power plant] site, which was selected for proximity to the gas line, and then dismissing alternative project locations because they do not have the desired natural gas infrastructure.”

Further, the “premise that natural gas is the only way to meet [New England’s energy] demand is not borne out by the information provided,” says RIDEM.

RIDEM’s report to the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) will be shaped by Invenergy’s answers to these and other questions. Though these questions raise serious doubts about the need for the new plant and Invenergy’s integrity in preparing its application, ultimately the EFSB takes RIDEM’s report as advisory only, meaning the board could choose to approve the project despite these issues.

Yet Governor Gina Raimondo’s words, that “if there are issues then the plant won’t go forward,” ring loudly here. The issues raised in this set of data requests are serious, and the questions raised must be addressed honestly.

June 1, 2016June 1, 2016

Hearing tomorrow for Spectra Pipeline protesters arrested in Burrillville

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Three protesters who locked themselves to construction equipment at the site of a controversial pipeline project in Burrillville, RI are scheduled for disposition/Frye hearing on June 2, 2016 at the Rhode Island Superior Court in Providence.

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.