There were tears, anger, accusations, offers of forgiveness and just straight up fireworks at the Burrillville Town Council meeting Wednesday night. Town residents came out in force to the first meeting held since the Senate Judiciary Committee very publicly killed the Keable/Fogarty bill that would have allowed voters in Burrillville the opportunity to approve or reject any proposed tax treaties with energy plants in the town.

This bill was important because Invenergy has plans to build a $700 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant in the town, and the residents of Burrillville don’t completely trust the town council to negotiate in their best interests. As the residents of Burrillville descended en masse to the State House to testify in favor of the bill, the town council issued first a a press release then an official resolution opposing the legislation.

Various timelines have been floated as to how this press release/resolution came to pass. On June 9th I sent a request to Burrillville Town Clerk Louise Phaneuf asking for a copy of the video of the June 7 town council meeting. I was informed that there was no video, since the camera was malfunctioning. I followed up by asking for a copy of the minutes. Phaneuf wrote back, “Thanks for your request for minutes. I will forward a draft as soon as I have it ready. However, there was no discussion of the press release at that meeting.”

That’s not what Town Councillor Kimberly Brissette Brown said when she emotionally recounted the story of the press release at Wednesday’s town council meeting. She said that it was at the June 7 town meeting that it was decided to issue the press release. It wasn’t decided by a vote, she said, nor was it an agenda item. The next night, at a regular town council meeting, the council went into executive session and turned the press release into a resolution.

Meanwhile on June 8, the residents of Burrillville were at the Senate Judiciary Meetting, having the press release sprung on them by Senators Frank Lombardi and Steven Archambeault. They proceeded to use the press release/resolution to humiliate the Burrillville residents, providing ad hoc civics lessons on representational government and generally putting the people of Burrillville on the defensive. “It was humiliating,” said Burrillville resident Kathy Sherman.

The way this resolution was produced, potentially without proper public notification, potentially without being properly put on the agenda, and potentially not being voted on properly either in open or executive session, may well be illegal and violations of the Open Meetings Act. As Barry Craig, Burrillville resident and retired lawyer, pointed out, the Open Meetings Act has provisions that allow members of the public to hold the individual members of the town council financially liable for attorney fees if they sue and win, which might become an expensive proposition for them. (See video 01 below)

Craig ended up in a shouting match with Town Councillor Donald Fox, who objected to being characterized as “lazy” for helping to make an end run around the people in addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee and possibly violating the Open Meetings Act. “You violated the law!” shouted Craig, “Does that mean anything to you?” (See video 26 below)

Fox retorted that Craig was “out of order”.

Kimberly Brissette Brown’s address to the people of Burrillville needs further consideration as well. (See video 03 below) She begins by saying that since Invenergy won some forward capacity obligations in the recent the ISO-NE, the company is on the hook for potentially millions of dollars if the plant is not built. One big question: Why should anyone in Burrillville care about bad decisions made by a Chicago based energy company? How is it possible that Burrillville should be liable for Invenergy’s bad business decisions?

It was an unusual night, because individuals on the town council became unusually chatty. Nancy Binns spoke, (See video 15 below) saying that no on on the town council “is wildly enthusiastic about this power plant.” Does this mean that at least one member is moderately enthusiastic?

Steven Rawson spoke (See video 25 below), but only after telling the audience that if they dared interrupt him, he would stop speaking. He then defensively spoke about his years of service for the town, but addressed no pertinent issues.

In fact, every member of the town council said at least a few words, even Michelle Bouchard, who used to be referred to as “the one who never speaks” by some residents when we talked about town council meetings.

Gone was the united front the town council used to show in the past. Gone was the idea that the town’s attorney, Oleg Nikolyszyn, could speak for the council.

It was Debbie Krieg (See video 07 below) who took Oleg to task for a video in which he claimed Cale Keable brought Invenergy to the town. Even if that’s true, said Krieg, Cale Keable has more than made up for it by changing his mind and listening to his constituents and fighting hard to prevent the power plant from coming to town.

Krieg also revealed that that through her APRA request she had learned that high priced consultant Dyana Koelsch, hired to facilitate communications between the town council and residents, was pulling in $200 an hour for her work. Some in the audience audibly gasped. “These are tax payer dollars,” said Krieg. “How long is this going to last?”

“I believe she has a six month contract,” said Council President John Pacheco.

Also discussed was Monday night’s planning board meeting. Residents were extremely unhappy with the performance of the ‘experts’ hired by the town. They were unhappy with the way that meeting was conducted. They were especially unhappy with the idea that opening a well contaminated with MTBE may possibly poison the Harrisville water supply, or that Invenergy might have to draw water from Wallum Lake to cool its generators.

Perhaps the most startling new piece of information to come out of Wednesday’s town council meeting is the fact that Governor Gina Raimondo‘s planned July 18 trip to Burrillville to face residents might not be set in stone. Council President Pacheco said that when he reached out to the governor’s office, he could not confirm the date because her people said her schedule was “in flux” and he was told that the governor’s people were handling all arrangements.  (See video 36 below)

The town council ended the meeting by voting to go into executive session, where they could discuss the Invenergy power plant away from the townspeople, which isn’t quite irony, but close enough.

Below is the full video of the meeting as pertains to the power plant.

The meeting was held at the Burrillville High School, and was four hours long. The meeting did not end. Invenergy still had expert witness testimony to present, and 30 Burrillville residents had signed up to testify, only to never get their chance to speak. In the end, a decision was made by planning board chairman Jeffry Partington to continue the meeting on July 11.

This meeting was held to discuss Invenergy’s proposed fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant. The Town of Burrillville and Invenergy had both hired experts to delve into the power plant’s plans and provide opinions as to whether or not the power plant would be able to control for such issues as air quality, water use and quality, noise levels, traffic and wetlands impact. The sometimes technical details were presented in a way that could be generally understood by a layman, and both the planning board and Invenergy’s lawyers were able to ask questions.

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 issuing a resolution last week, a resolution that many feel gave the Senate Judiciary Committee in the RI General Assembly the excuse it needed to vote down legislation that would have vastly improved the town’s position regarding the power plant.

Before Craig could rise to speak, it was learned that Nikolyszyn had in fact recused himself from the proceedings, hence Michael McElroy’s appearance at the hearing, waving to his buddies from Invenergy.

The town called its expert witnesses to give their reports and answer questions from both the planning board and Invenergy’s lawyer, Elizabeth Noonan.

David Hessler discussed the noise the plant would emit during operations. The noise ordinance in Burrillville establishes a very low goal of 43 decibels, a goal Invenergy says it will be able to reach. Though Hessler says he is “leery of [Invenergy’s assumptions in their model” regarding operating noise levels, he is confident that “Invenergy will do whatever they have to, to meet the limits].

“It may be difficult and it may be expensive,” Hessler cautioned, adding, “I think it can be done.”

Later Hessler admitted that he had “never seen a power plant meet the noise levels” but reiterated that he thinks this plant can be designed to do so.

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.”

Eric Epiner was up next, talking about air quality. Power plants like the one proposed for Burrillville are designed to fire pollutants through extremely tall stacks and released high into the atmosphere. Spinner expects that the impact on local air quality will be insignificant. However, the power plant plans Invenergy has submitted so far contain numerous errors and inconsistencies, as well as missing documentation. “We can’t say with certainty what the health risks are,” said Epiner.

The pollution from this plant, says Epiner, will not fall on Burrillville, but on people fifty kilometers away.

Tom Hevner was then questioned about the 40,000 gallons of ammonia to be stored on site. Invenergy’s plans call for 19 percent concentrations of ammonia, because 20 percent requires federal oversight. Ammonia, when released into the air, is extremely deadly, whether the concentration is 20 or 19 percent.

Hefner recommended that the Pascoag Fire Department be consulted on how to deal with such chemicals should they be stored on site, and also suggested that there may be other, less hazardous chemicals that Invenergy might use instead.

James Jackson was called upon to discuss the impact the new power plant will have on traffic in Burrillville, especially during the plant’s construction. He seemed to think that the impact would be minimal.

Jackson also spoke on the impact the plant might have on nearby wetlands. Right now water run-off from the plant is designed to be put in a pool that will directly abut the wetlands. Jackson said that the storm water run-off issues were not clearly resolved in the plans. The plan seems to call for storing toxic waste water next to a protected ecosystem. “I just don’t feel comfortable with this,” said Jackson.

Tom Hevner was brought back to talk about water use and the re-opening of well 3A, the well shut down 15 years ago by court order, due to MTBE contamination. MTBE is highly carcinogenic and Burrillville has paid a heavy cost because of this. Invenergy wants to use this water to cool their plant, promising to purify the water before it’s sent to a waste water treatment facility.

The “treatment scheme” says Hevner, is to draw water out of the well that will be contaminated at a rate of 55 parts per billion with MTBE. Due to condensation, that number will be 200 parts per billion by the time it reaches the power plant. There the water will be run through two Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) filters (though Hevner recommends three GACs) at which point the MTBE should be at “non-detect” levels.

The danger is not in Invenrgy’s water purification system, which Hevner seems to think will work, the danger is back at the well, where pulling water out of the well “might draw back contaminants” that have leeched into the surrounding area underground.

Since the MTBE disaster in Pacoag, Burrillville has been buying its water from Harrisville, across the Clear River. The river acts as a barrier between the two water sources, but, says Hevner, it “needs to be demonstrated that there’s no hydraulic connection” between Harrisville and Pascoag’s water sources. Other wise, there’s a danger that reopening well 3A might contaminate Harrisville’s water with MTBE.

Hefner also thought that the well won’t provide sufficient water for the energy plant, which will need to draw millions of gallons a day. Hefner suggested that the plant might need to draw water from other nearby municipalities, like Harrisville, or even start drawing water from Wallum Lake. This suggestion certainly agitated the crowd.

After a break, Invenergy called their witnesses. Invenergy’s lawyer, Elizabeth Noonan, could not get all her testimony done before 10pm, so after much deliberation it was decided to continue the meeting on Monday, July 11 at 6pm at the Burrillville High School.

To be continued…

Wednesday night’s Burrillville Town Council meeting began on a cautionary note as Council President John Pacheco warned those in attendance against outbursts, threats or cursing. These meetings are recorded, said Pacheco. The last meeting went too far, said Pacheco, and anyone acting that way tonight will be asked to leave. “Keep it civil, please,” said Pacheco.

Pacheco also acknowledged a change of policy regarding public comment under the Open Meetings Act. At previous meetings the town council maintained that they were not allowed to respond to comments and that only items on the agenda were allowed during public comment. Tonight Pacheco agreed that neither of these conditions are required under the law. This meant that tonight’s meeting was much more robust with the town council now having to say that they don’t want to answer certain questions, rather than saying that they are unable to answer.

Residents of Burrillville are up in arms about Invenergy‘s proposed fracked gas and diesel-oil burning power plant planned for the town. The plant’s owners promise lower taxes but residents say it will bring noise and pollution, as well as destroy precious wildlife habitats. The town council has been slow to respond to resident concerns about the power plant, and many feel that Town Manager Michael Wood has been actively working to bring the plant to town, rather than working in the best interests of residents.

Civility was maintained, but the anger of town residents was clearly on display. It was revealed at this meeting that on Saturday a group of anti-Power Plant protesters were asked to leave the Farmer’s Market because of their signs, petitions and tee shirts. This directive, say residents, came from Town Manager Wood. When asked about this at the meeting, Wood said that he only told the police and Burrillville Farmers’ Market Association Market Manager Deb Yablonski to not allow signs, not petitions and shirts. Wood said there is a long standing rule against “politicking” at the farmer’s market.

(When RI Future called Wood’s office earlier in the day to discuss this, Wood was out of the office and did not return our call)

Barry Craig, a lawyer, asked that the Town Council “provide guidance to the town manager” on the First Amendment, including the right to free speech and assembly. Lauren Niedel, a resident of nearby Glocester, rose to object to the word “politicking” saying that opposition to the power plant is not a political campaign.

Burrillville resident Jan Luby rose to express her distrust of Town Manager Wood. “I don’t believe our Town Manager is with us on this,” said Luby, “You’ve lied to us and we’ve caught you in those lies.” Christopher Watson rose to say, “He does not like this town, he does not treat the people of this town with respect.”

It was Jeremy Bailey who brought the conversation about Michael Wood to a boil, calling the town manager “a cancerous tumor.” Noting that he has heard from many people that Town Manager Wood is a bully, Bailey told the people on the stage, which included the entire town council and legal counsel of the Burrillville, “I bet there are people on the stage right now who have been bullied by Wood.” Bailey asked that the town council pass a resolution removing Wood from power, buying out his contract if necessary.

The town council took no action on Wood’s contract.

Residents were also concerned that the evening’s “executive session” of the town council, where the public is not allowed to observe, was being called by Wood to fast track a tax agreement with Invenergy for the power plant, ahead of Representative Cale Keable‘s bill that would allow the voters of the town to approve or reject such a tax treaty. Though the executive meeting was called by Wood and did concern Invenergy, residents were assured that no such action would take place.

There were a multitude of interconnecting issues discussed at the town council meeting concerning both the power plant proposed by Invenergy and the LNG compressor station upgrade proposed by Spectra. The compressor station emits a constant noise, which occasionally becomes extremely loud. Loud enough that some residents receive notifications ahead of “blow offs.” Residents fear that the new power plant will add to the noise once constructed, never mind the noise from trucks delivering materials to the build site and the sounds of construction.

Kathy Sherman said that Spectra, in their own materials, acknowledges that they are above the town mandated limit of 55 decibels. During a blow off, where LNG is literally released into the atmosphere to relive pressure in the pipeline, the sound is great enough that Sherman feels it would have given her husband a heart attack if he wasn’t given ample warning. Blow off, said resident Stephanie Sloman, emits 45 thousand tons of LNG a year from that one compressor station in Burrillville.

Spectra plans to build a bigger (and presumably larger) compressor station there soon.

Nicholas Cook gave a demonstration of the noise levels heard by residents. The low tone generated by Cook is not heard well on the recording below, but the sound immediately annoyed town solicitor Oleg Nikolyszyn, who asked that the sound be turned off almost immediately. Imagine that sound lasting from 10pm to 4am, almost every night, said resident Kathy Sherman, who lives 2050 feet from the compressor station.

You can watch Nick Cook’s noise demonstration, and all the rest of the Burrillville Town Council meeting, at least those parts concerning the power plant, below.

“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.

Burrillville itself is speaking through its people, and the Town is saying “No.”

This became very clear when Jennifer Bailey rose, and respectfully requested that her time be give the RI State Senator Paul Fogarty. Fogarty and State Representative Cale Keable have been publicly against this power plant for some time. Last week Keable introduced legislation that would make the approval of the power plant much less likely. Fogarty will introduce the Senate version of the bill today.

As Fogarty approached the podium, the crowd rose in a standing ovation. Fogarty noted the large crowd in the auditorium and the large crowds at previous events as proof that the citizens overwhelmingly don’t want the power plant.

“In all my time as State Senator from Burrillville, I can honestly say I have never seen the citizens come out so strongly and so passionately against something as they have against this proposed power plant.”

Fogarty also noted that the decision to site the power plant in Burrillville falls to “three people who don’t have a stake here.”

“One is from Barrington, one from Providence, and a third person literally just parachuted in from Bridgeport,  Connecticut. Shaping the future of Burrillville should belong to the residents of Burrillville and no one else.” Parag Agrawal, the new Associate Director at the RI Division of Planning, and the third member of the EFSB, is from Bridgeport.

This earned Fogarty his second standing ovation. He received a third as he finished.

This is the second thing Margaret Curran doesn’t seem to understand about this phase of the proceedings that the residents of Burrillville have figured out. The EFSB comports itself as a quasi-judiciary body, carefully collecting and evaluating evidence, testimony and reports before rendering a final decision. Yet ever since Invenergy announced the plant with the strong and unwavering support of Governor Gina Raimondo, the building of the plant has appeared to be a done deal, and all the EFSB hearings have been seen as little more than political theater.

The residents of Burrillville, conscripted as actors in this this production, are changing the script even as the play is being performed. The production is going awry, and getting it back on course may prove to be impossible.

As Fogarty left the podium Curran noted that the next speaker, Jeremy Bailey, had spoken at previous meetings. “Didn’t you already speak?” she asked.

“I have a lot to say but I’m going to respectfully yield my time to our [State] Representative Cale Keable,” said Bailey.

Another standing ovation. Cable wore a green “No New Power Plant” shirt. Last week he introduced legislation in the General assembly that gave more power to the residents of Burrillville concerning any potential tax treaties their Town Council might negotiate with Invenergy. The legislation, if passed, would make the building of the power plant much less likely.

“We ask the board for one simple thing,” said Keable, “Please, let us alone.”

In all, 38 people spoke during the meeting. Five spoke in favor, 33 spoke in opposition.

David Esten spoke in favor.

John Scott brought up Flint MI., asking “What judge is going to authorize opening a poison well?”

“Governor Raimondo talks about tourism,” said Scott, “Our tourism is camp grounds.”

Ken Putnam Jr is about to be a great grandfather. He said, “I don’t talk like this. A lot of people can’t take the time out to come here. Kill this plant. We don’t need it.”

If Invenergy can’t get the date right for a flier, how are they to be counted on to build a power plant, asked Erin Olkowski.

Stephanie Sloman is an environmental engineer. She strongly believes in integrity. “I found a multitude of contradictions in Invenergy’s application… the plant will use natural gas as long as it is economically feasible. We know what this means… the plant wants to use 19 percent aqueous among a because at 20 it has to be monitored by the DEM.”

“When a monster comes into my house, I have to do everything in my power to slay it,” said Sloman, “my home is not just Burrillville, not just Rhode Island, or even the United States, my home is the world.”

Anita Bevans said Invenergy mislead the town when they said they would conform to local laws. In their application Invenergy said they would defer to state and federal laws.

Jaimie Tessier said that her morality was questioned at the first meeting when a union member said that she would sell out he home for money. Keeping her son, who has a medical condition that keeps him on a respirator full time, is her highest priority she says. “That’s where my morals are. Where are yours?”

“I voted for Gina Raimondo,” sais Frances DiPoiceglia noting they share a common heritage and upbringing, “but after a couple of years, I don’t think I’d vote for her again.”

“Fracking is not needed, and it’s not cool.” Says Frances DiPoisceglia. “We reject the Invenergy power plant.”

Judy Aubin said that she does her due diligence when she is on a board. “I know for a fact that you are over ruled by Gina Raimondo.”

Burrillville doesn’t need industry, said Aubin. The people live here because it lacks industry.

“These people wouldn’t mind a little raise in their taxes to avoid this power plant.”

“I am unaware of any environmental policies recommending the use of natural gas power plants,” said James Libby.

Terri Lacey asked how an area can go from environmentally spectacular and beneficial, as mentioned in a piece by RIDEM’s Janet Coit, to suitable for a polluting power plant.

Earl McWilliams believes that Invenergy has a series of plan B’s in mind for their power plant. He read the application to mean that Invenergy is not responsible for properly cleaning the MTBE water. Once built, if Invenergy needs more water, he sees the company tapping Wall Lake.

Brian Sclofield has a 4 year old daughter and 1 year old son and refuses to take on significant health risk to his children from the proposed plant. If the plant is built it’s not a matter of if, but when he will move.

Lawyer Barry Craig said Invenergy not assuming liability for the MTBE well when opened is grounds for dismissing the application.

“There isn’t a pipeline in this world that doesn’t leak,” said Craig, “We need eco-terrorism insurance in place… There is plenty of clean energy supply out there. There is no immediate need for this plant.”

Christopher Aubin recalled that Invenergy’s Director of Development John Niland said that last year was so mild he wouldn’t have needed to use oil. But diesel fuel breaks down. There’s no way it wouldn’t be burned. “You’re lying!” said Aubin.

“Big companies don’t care about the small people,” said Aubin, “Once you get this plant hooked up, John Niland, what’s your bonus?”

Kevin Frenette wanted to know if the EFSB can help people who are being impacted by these big energy projects. He managed to get Janet Coit to respond, but she still wouldn’t address his concerns.

“So we just get to tell you how we feel and that’s it?”

Meg Curran responded, by saying she can’t respond.

“Your time is up,” says Curran.

The crowd boos.

Leigh Gilbert is in favor of the plant and that said the town needs money, so the town needs the power plant. The crowd tells him to sit down.

Roy Colombe is for the project.

Greg Mancini, a lawyer for the Building Trades, said that many members won’t speak tonight because of the hostile environment created by the opposition. He mentioned the First Amendment and a chilling effect.

Andrew Hessler, 17 years old, said Gina Raimondo is all about fracked gas since Goldman Sachs wrote her a big check. She used to be for renewables. An impressive testimony.

Governor Raimondo, “has a chance to be on the right side of this issue,” said Burrillville resident and Teamster Ron Lizotte.

“My son was affected by MTBE I’m the water,” said Norman Desjarlais, “my grandson is on chemotherapy, which doctors have linked to gas additives.”

Paul Lander of the RI Carpenters Union is for this project, but he was very impressed with the Burrillville resident’s knowledge and passion. He says that we need to hold Invenergy’s feet to the fire.

Stacy Slekis objected to the power plant. She brought a picture from her daughter, asking the EFSB not to “mess up” our town.

Don Allen said if you could pick the worst place to place a power plant based on prevailing winds, Burrillville would be the worst.

“We’re vetting this Governor after the fact,” said Allen, “she has an agenda.”

Lisa Petrie, arrested at the State House protesting the Invenergy power plant, says the goals of the Resilient RI Act van’t be met if this power plant is built.

“We need dramatic cuts in our greenhouse gas emissions starting now, not ten years from now. Now,” said Petrie.

“Prisons create jobs. Wars create jobs,” said Lisa Petrie, “but we can create more jobs through renewable energy.”

“There is no such thing as a clean fossil fuel power plant,” said Mike Lamoureux, “You can tell by all the permits needed to build one.”

Chair Curran asked Paul A. Roselli not to speak, since he had spoken at a previous meeting. “If I had been told that before hand,” said Roselli, “I wouldn’t have put my name on the list. But since I wasn’t, I’d like to speak.”

Cynthia Crook-Pick wanted to speak plainly to the EFSB. The fact this board is the only body that can make this decision is against the principles of democracy and all that this country stands for, she said.

Debbie Krieg told of the battle to close the MTBE well, and worries that “this monster” will be unleashed when Invenergy uses the well water to cool the plant. There has been no site every cleaned up as Invenergy claims it can do.

New to this area, Ewa Roselli says she is really impressed with this community and she is eager to make friends. She asked Invenrgy, “Do you hate us? Why are you wanting to hurt us? How many people here would protest solar?”

“Nobody!” says the crowd.

Deborah Yablonski is from NYC but she’s a Burrillville farmer now. She raises chickens and goats. “I became a steward of the land.”

Thomas Trimble has a map that shows a nature corridor that runs from Canada to Burrillville. The power plant is right in the middle of this corridor.

Lynn Clark said the plant is being proposed for the heart of Burrillville’s forested area. It will have a “direct, negative impact.”

Justin Kelley, from the Painter’s Union, is a friend of mine. He supports this plant. “I’m the guy who looks in the workers eyes when they can’t pay their bills or are evicted from their homes.”

Donald Champiany read Invenergy CEO’S own words against him. Brilliant.

At the second “special meeting” of the Burrillville Town Council, held as a semi-official “workshop” to allow discussion of various aspects of Invenergy‘s plan to build a fracked gas and diesel oil burning electrical plant in the town, the agenda, entitled “Hour on Power II” claimed that the “fundamentals of municipal tax agreements” would be discussed. Potential tax agreements with Invenergy are a very contentious issue, because under state law, as explained by Conservation Law Foundation Senior Attorney Jerry Elmer, Burillville has the right to set the property taxes on the plant at any level it chooses, yet Town Solicitor Oleg Nikolyszyn, it seems, disagrees, maintaining that the Town must negotiate a fair tax treaty with Invenergy.

Expecting that there would be expert legal advice on offer, many residents made the trip to this special meeting, only to find that there were no lawyers or expert advice on offer. Instead, the Town Council introduced Dr. Robin Muksian, a resident of Burrillville who currently serves as executive director of operations for the Providence School Department. She holds a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition. Speaking as someone with some experience in negotiating deals between the state and private citizens, (she claims to have once lost a strip of land to the state in some kind of imminent domain situation) Muksian said that under state law, the town “must” negotiate with Invenergy, they can’t just set the tax at what ever rate they wish. Jerry Elmer explained otherwise, quite clearly, here.

Muksian misquoted the statute, advancing the idea that under state law 44-3-30, Burrillville “must negotiate” with Invenergy for a fair tax treaty, when the law actually states that town may “determine, by ordinance or resolution, an amount of taxes to be paid each year”. The plain text of the law does not contain the word negotiate, and if other laws on the books do contain such a provision, it does not matter, because 44-3-30 starts with the words, “Notwithstanding any other provisions of the general laws to the contrary,” meaning that 44-3-30 supersedes any other laws governing such negotiations.

Muksian also admitted to coming to the power plant issue late, and that she hadn’t attended any of the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) meetings held in the town so far. This might explain why she thought that residents could bring questions to the EFSB, instead of just comments. The EFSB does not respond to residents at these meetings, yet Muksian said that questions should be brought to the EFSB at these meetings.

Under questioning from Burrillville resident Paul Lefebvre, Muksian at first dodged the question of whether or not she opposed the building of the new power plant. It took Lefebvre several questions before Muksian reluctantly said that she opposes the plant. For some reason she seemed at first to strike a more neutral position.

Most of Muksian’s talk is in the first half hour of the video below. Note that the meeting took place in Burrillville’s beautiful Assembly Theater, which was dark and not kind to video or photography. The Town Council is on the stage, well lit. The rest of those in attendance, not so much.

Many in attendance were asking themselves why Muksian was given so much time to expound on legal issues she was clearly not qualified to speak about. She constantly prefaced her comments by saying that she was “speaking as a resident of Burrillville” and that she wasn’t a lawyer. That raised an important question for the Town Council that went unanswered: Why Muksian and not any other non-lawyer resident of Burrillville?

After the meeting a resident told me that there is a rumor that Muksian is being considered for the position of Town Manager. Michael Wood, the current Town Manager, was not in attendance at the meeting, and Council President John Pacheco, from the stage, made a pointed comment about Wood’s contract being up for renewal in February of 2017. During the meeting, when a resident suggested that Michael Wood be fired, there was a standing ovation.

Wood has alienated many in the town with what one resident characterized as his “imperious” attitude. Further, in the April 23 Burrillville Bugle, delivered to every resident’s mailbox every month, Wood made comments that seemed to indicate his support for the new power plant and disregarded the environmental and health concerns of residents. For instance, he said, “the negative effects of the existing power plant, Ocean State, is not “anything to be overly concerned about.” Many feel that the over all tenor of his comments in the Bugle indicate that he supports building the plant.

As a result, the residents of Burrillville distrust Wood’s judgement when it comes to the hiring of experts to review the proposed plant’s impact on health, environment, wildlife, water quality, noise etc. They also distrust his ability to negotiate with Invenergy wisely, with the best interests of the town in mind.

A breath of fresh air came to the meeting about 82 minutes into it. Barry Craig, an actual lawyer (though not one licensed to practice law in Rhode Island) and a Burrillville resident, rose to call out the Town Council and Town Solicitor Oleg Nikolyszyn on what he termed their timidity in dealing with Invenergy.

Craig attended the first EFSB meeting in Burrillville. He thought, “it was very poorly managed.” He called the set up of the meeting, with the applicants (Invenergy’s Director of Development John Niland and his lawyers) on stage and the residents of Burrillville below them in the seats of the auditorium was “an insult.”

Craig said that to defeat this plant, the residents of Burrillville, through their Town Council, must “vigorously oppose” the plant. Craig came to the special town council meeting last night because he read the legal opinions of Town Solicitor Nikolyszyn, made in response to questions posed by residents. “At best,” said Craig, “I read these responses as being timid, at worst I read these responses as responses that discourage action rather than encourage action.”

For instance, the proper answer to the question, “Can the town council find new solutions to prevent locating the power plant in Burrillville?” isn’t to note that the EFSB has enormous power, the answer, says Craig, is, “Can we find creative ways of dealing with this issue? … Anything that delays this project makes it less likely… Companies like this work on a time schedule. If they can’t get a project done within a particular time frame they move onto the next project.”

One thing that became very clear in last night’s Burrillville Town council meeting is that discussing complex legal issues without lawyers present is a waste of time. Perhaps Muksian’s appearance was an audition for a future job, perhaps she’s just a citizen who waded into waters over her head, but her advice and commentary were worse than a waste of time: They spread dangerous misinformation, misinformation that will weaken the Town’s resolve and ability to fight Invenergy’s plans for the town.

Burrillville doesn’t need more bullshit. Burrillville needs courageous leadership ready to fight Invenergy with everything they have, or they will be living with the first of a series of such power plants very soon.