CREC – RI Future

April 15, 2016May 3, 2016

Burrillville Town Council can stand up to Invenergy

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The revelation that the Burrillville Town Council, under the leadership of John Pacheco III, has been engaged in ongoing negotiations with Invenergy LLC over potential tax breaks for their Clear River Energy Center gas and oil burning power plant, came as a surprise to many Burrillville residents Wednesday evening. Burrillville Town Solicitor Oleg Nikolyszyn, in a comment on the piece that broke this story objected to the word “secret” saying that the negotiations he and Town Manager Michael Wood were engaged in were “due diligence” and “not behind anyone’s back, or in secret, but openly.” He also says that, “Until now, the Council has not been engaged or negotiating with Invenergy.”

Nikolyszyn feels that he and the Town Manager, “would be remiss if we did not take into consideration what financial benefit the Town would receive.” They are doing, “what professionals are expected to do in a business environment.” At the meeting Nikolyszyn said that the town had a “fiduciary duty” to enter into negotiations.

That’s not what the law says.

Conservation Law Foundation senior lawyer Jerry Elmer maintains that, “one of the most effective ways that the Town Council can seek to prevent the siting of the Invenergy plant is to deny Invenergy the tax treaty it seeks.”

Not entering into a tax treaty with Invenergy will not necessarily stop Invenergy in its tracks, the plant could still go forward and pay higher taxes to the town, taking a hit to their profitability in the process. Elmer reminded me that the profitability of the plant has already suffered two recent hits “when (a) Invenergy cleared only one of two turbines in the February 8 Forward Capacity Auction; and (b) the SENE zonal clearing price had zero premium over the clearing price in Rest of Pool, unlike the previous two auctions in which our zone cleared at a huge premium.”

How many more hits to the plant’s profitability can Invenergy afford?

At Wednesday evening’s Town Council meeting Nikolyszyn was correct when he said that Burrillville has no say in whether or not the plant gets approved for Burrillville. As Elmer helpfully explained,

The underlying reason that the General Assembly created the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) by enacting the Energy Facility Siting Act (EFSA), was that it was assumed that — whenever any major power generation facility is planned to be built anywhere — the local residents in the local town would oppose the plant because of local impacts. The purpose of the EFSA is to take the power out of the hands of the local officials, who may be subject to constituent pressure to oppose the plant. That is the reason that all the opinions that the EFSB gets under the EFSA (from DEM, OER, Town of Burrillvile, etc.) are advisory opinions only. The final decision to grant or deny a permit to build the plant rests solely with the EFSB. This was the purpose of the law.”

However, “it is in the sole discretion of the Town Council whether or not to grant a beneficial tax treaty to Invenergy. The Governor cannot force them to do that. The EFSB cannot force them to do that.”

Pacheco and other Town Council members said over and over that they need to be neutral ahead of any reports that their boards are preparing for the EFSB, because it was the Town Council that nominated the members of these boards. This is of course nonsense. Governor Gina Raimondo, who nominated the members of the EFSB board, has been a major proponent of the plant. Where is her neutrality? Why is she not afraid that her support for the project will affect the people she’s nominated to board positions?

This pretension of neutrality merely shields the Town Council from their responsibility to their constituents, who overwhelmingly do not want this plant. Nikolyszyn might think this is all business as usual but he forgets: government is not business.

The Town Council would be completely in their power to pass a resolution declaring that they will not, under any circumstances, engage in a tax treaty with Invenergy. The company could then decide to go forward with the plant or not, but not only will their profitability suffer, so will their public image.

Reaching a deal with the Town will give Invenergy and Governor Raimondo political coverage. With a tax treaty in place it will be harder to say that the plant was forced on the Town against the will of the people since the company negotiated with the representatives of the people for an “equitable” deal.

Democracy will have worked, supposedly.

Not engaging with Invenergy sends a strong message that this plant is not wanted by the people of Burrillville. The plant can then only proceed against the will of the people, against the wishes of a democratically elected government. A Governor that blatantly disregards the will of the people in such a situation is a tyrant. A company that builds an unwanted facility against a community’s interests is not a community partner but a despoiler.

Now is not the time for wishy-washy politics, business as usual and secret (not secret) negotiations.

If the Burrillville Town Council can’t take a stand, it’s time for the citizens of Burrillville to find new Town Councillors.

April 1, 2016May 3, 2016

Power and justice

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I went to the hearing in front of the Rhode island Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) in Burrillville on March 31 about the proposed Clear River gas fired power plant. Hundreds of people turned out. When we arrived at 5:45 we had to go beyond the High School parking lot into the neighborhood to park. Upon walking up to the school what you saw were about 100 guys in union t-shirts. Inside, the room got very full and I heard that 100 more people stayed outside. There were at least four police officers at the event to help keep the peace.

Invenergy provided the usual dog and pony show. Too many slides full of words. The guy needed an energy boost and a much better power point. He pretended to address the issues, but did not. You could tell he really did not want to be there. He was introduced by the company’s local RI lawyer one of the usual faces I see at the State House. I do not think the lawyer was very happy to see the sea of humanity opposing the project either.

Testimony from the public was OVERWHELMINGLY against the plant. The two towns folk who spoke in favor had nothing to say and were roundly booed. The rank and file union guys were a mixed bag. Some spoke for jobs and some where incoherent. The union leaders were more articulate, but still stuck in the old paradigm. The opposition to the plant was lead by folks who live right in the neighborhood of the proposed plant. Noise, light pollution, toxics, odors, water and the destruction of their dreams and relatively pristine community were cited repeatedly. Many of the local residents also spoke passionately about climate, and the larger context, as did a few of us outsiders.

If public opinion matters, then the EFSB has an easy decision. NO. if the political fix is in and the powers demand that it get built, the EFSB will be shut down as useless. If they can not determine that the plant will prevent us from ever meeting our greenhouse gas emissions goals, pollute the local environment, and create all sorts of hazards and burdens for the community, the EFSB is hiding. If they want to drown Providence they are fools.

I think what I took away from the hearings the most is how out of touch the union leaders are with where the economy is going and where their future jobs are going to be. I worked in construction for many years. It is an honorable way to make a living. But the unions need to learn to stop building things that are bad for communities because that eventually undercuts prosperity and their support in the community. They need to say no to the corporate criminals and stand with communities against destruction. They need to stop being dependent upon corporate criminals for their work and start developing their own projects. They should act more like a cooperative rather than pick up the dregs from the rich and tell communities that this is the way to create jobs. It harms their workers to be seen as harming communities. And in a low growth environment, they need to be even more careful.

There is a lot that needs to be built right now. We need housing that people can actually afford to live in. We need non polluting energy sources, new storm water management systems, better roads, bike paths and rail corridors. But all the union executives seem to do (and maybe this is because the most visible private sector unions are in construction, and the only projects big enough are those that are based on the public’s money) is shill for the worst corporate criminals: in this case an industry that has lied about the harm it does for the last 50 years, that knew greenhouse gases were going to cause big problems, and hid the information.

You have to ask why the pipe-fitters and the steel workers, with their pension funds, do not invest directly in their own workers. Why are they not building their own wind farms or their own solar arrays? Have they bought into the ‘subservient to capital model’ that tells them to be shills for every stupid project that comes down the road so their members can get jobs?

Of course the politicians are also to blame. They refuse to understand the political and economic climate. They think they can muscle communities for corporations and base their careers on looting communities to benefit the rich. When will they get that taking care of communities, ecological healing and economic justice are the road to prosperity, not burning dinosaurs to make the climate as hot as when the dinosaurs lived? And how can anyone who lives in Rhode Island not realize that pretending real estate development is economic development is a scam. Even the World Bank, IMF and OECD tell us that subsidizing the rich works AGAINST community prosperity. But then again, an analysis I read of the World Economic Forum in Davos pointed out that the politicians and the corporate criminals they consort with are the only ones in the whole world who are not ready for a new economy based on justice and healing ecosystems.

I said one thing at the end of my three minutes that I think I will repeat here. If we stop this power plant, it will be a shot heard round the world. The fossil fuel industry must be stopped. Stop the coal mining, stop the pipelines, stop the fracking, stop the building of new infrastructure that ties us into the old system for the next 40 years. If we stop this plant it will be a beacon for people around the world that the empire can be stopped. That we can have a green future.

Little Rhody has a future as a leader, but the economy that gets us there is not the one that Governor Wall St is leading us towards. We have reminded her of this before, and I hope she gets a clue soon.

April 1, 2016May 3, 2016

Public comment on Burrillville power plant: Video

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Here’s the full video from the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) public comment hearing held in the Burrillville High School auditorium last night. You can read the report and see pictures from the hearing here:

Labor, citizens clash over power plant in Burrillville

Labor, citizens clash over power plant in Burrillville

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For full video of all public commentary, see here.

It has been a long wait, but the people of Burrillville finally got their chance to speak out on the Clear River Energy Center (CREC), Invenergy’s proposed $700 million gas and oil burning electrical plant last night. The Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) held the first public comment hearing in the Burrillville High School auditorium, which holds 600 people. More than 100 people were outside, unable to get in. Hundreds of people signed up to speak, only 48 people got to do so.

The EFSB board is made up of Margaret Curran, chair of the RI Public Utilities Commission and Janet Coit, director of the Department of Environmental Management. The third seat on the board has recently been filled, since Parag Agrawal has been hired as the associate director of the Rhode Island Division of Planning. He begins his new job on April 18, so should be at the next EFSB hearing.

Tensions were high in the auditorium. Michael Sabitoni, president of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council and over a hundred union members arrived early, and many Burrillville natives resented their presence. One speaker from Burrillville claimed that the union members were “intimidating.” A union speaker objected to this, calling the accusation of intimidation, “B.S.”

As near as I can tell, the eight speakers in favor of the power plant were all union members. They made their case based on the 300 construction and 24 permanent jobs that would be created. Sabitoni said that he’s run into meetings like this before, where a community shows up to complain about a large project to be built in their town. He dismissed the concerns of Burrillville citizens as NIMBYism.

Donna Woods was the first speaker, and she was set the tone for the evening. She said that there is a fear that the decision to approve the power plant has already been made, despite Curran and Coit’s insistence to the contrary. During Wood’s testimony, Curran broke protocol and addressed Wood directly, insisting that no decision has been made.

“Many of us feel that we’ve been screaming underwater,” said Woods, “This is real life stuff and we’re really afraid.”

2016-03-31 Burrillville EFSB 021 — Janet Coit and Margaret Curran

Residents of Burrillville and the surrounding communities are worried about the noise, air pollution, water pollution, the destruction of a pristine environment to make room for the power plant and their property values, which are already dropping. But many speakers spoke of the environmental dangers of fracking, about helping to prevent global warming and sea level rise, and about our greater duty to future generations.

Burrillville has experienced environmental disaster first hand. Well water was contaminated years ago with MBTE from a leaking gas station gas tank. MBTE causes cancer, and many in the auditorium last night have friends and relatives who suffered and died. Between the gas pipeline compressor stations, the Ocean State Power Plant and the MBTE disaster, many residents feel, in the words of one speaker, that, “Burrillville has given enough.”

Invenergy began the public comment hearing with a presentation. I wrote about this 30-60 minute long presentation and questioned the need for it here. Curran introduced the presentation saying it would last 20 minutes, but in fact it lasted longer, much closer to the originally estimated 30 minutes. After cutting the presentation short for time, Curran said that the full report was on the EFSB website, which is a point I made in my piece. An additional six members of the public could have spoken had Invenergy not been needlessly granted that time.

The frustration that the citizens of Burrillville feel about the proposed Invenergy power plant and the EFSB process is only expected to magnify over the next weeks and months. Frustration with their elected leaders in the Town Council, General Assembly and state wide offices is widespread and no one should be surprised if Burrillville seeks change in the upcoming elections.

The next public comment meeting is scheduled for 6pm, Monday, May 23.

February 16, 2016May 3, 2016

Recent power auction proves Burrillville power plant unneeded

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The Clear River Energy Center, a gas and oil fired energy plant proposed by Invenergy for Burrillville, Rhode Island is not needed, according to the results of ISO New England Forward Capacity Auction, the results of which were released last Monday. The results of the auction means that cost of energy in Rhode Island in 2019-2020 will be reduced and these lower costs have nothing to do with the energy offered by Invenergy.

[Note: Jerry Elmer had this to say in an email received after the story ran: “Energy and capacity are two different commodities. (The third component of electricity price is ‘ancillary services.’) The price of both energy and capacity are elements of the ultimate price of electricity that is paid by ratepayers (electricity customers) but energy and capacity are not the same thing. (That is, energy and capacity are not the same thing as each other; and energy and capacity prices are not the same thing as the price of electricity.) As components of the overall electricity market in New England, energy represents about 80% of the value (price) of electricity and capacity represents about 20%. (Ancillary services are a very, very small part of the price.)]

Forward Capacity Auctions (FCA) are somewhat complicated, and making sense of the ISO NE press release was a big lift, so I talked to Jerry Elmer, senior staff attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), to get my head around it.

“Invenergy is planning to build a 900 – 1000 MegaWatt (MW) plant,” said Elmer, “Only 485 MWs cleared in that auction and got a capacity supply obligation (CSO). So what that tells you immediately is that the plant is not needed in RI. If the plant were needed it would have gotten a CSO of 900 MW.”

Hold up. Let’s take this a little slower.

The way electrical prices are determined in Rhode Island is through a series of annual auctions. Most recently we completed FCA 10 (Forward Capacity Auction 10). Power companies bid to supply energy and ISO NE takes the best offers at the lowest price. The companies in the bidding are then obligated to supply that power during the time period specified and at the determined price. This is the capacity supply obligation (CSO).

In the most recent auction, FCA 10, Invenergy cleared only 485 MWs, about half of what their proposed 900-1000 MW plant could produce.

Under the rules of ISO NE, a certain amount of energy must be locally sourced in each zone. Here in Rhode Island, we are in the South Eastern New England (SENE) zone and the amount of locally sourced power required is 10,028 MW.

As Elmer explained the math, “The zone cleared the auction at 11,348 MW. So do a thought experiment: Invenergy got a CSO for 485 MW. Take 485 MW out of 11,348 MW and you’ve got 10,843 MW in the zone without Invenergy. You’ve got a surplus. You’ve 500 MW more than you need, without Invenergy.”

This is not what Invenergy expected when they presented their plans for the new plant. “If you look at Invenergy’s filing with the Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB),” says Elmer, “they were talking about how desperately the plant is needed, it’s needed in RI to keep the lights on, and that the clearing price of capacity is going to be much higher in RI than in the rest of the ISO NE pool, what they call ‘rest of pool.’”

In the previous auction, Rhode Island did not fare so well. The reason for this is that between FCA 9 and FCA 10 the zones were restructured. “It used to be, up until this auction, there were two separate zones,” said Elmer, “There was SEMA RI (SouthEast Massachusetts and RI), NEMA Boston (SouthEast Massachusetts and Boston), and ‘Rest of Pool,’ but for FCA 10, the ISO collapsed what used to be the NEMA Boston zone with the SEMA RI zone and made one SouthEast New England (SENE) zone.

“The interesting thing here is that Invenergy has been planning this plant for a couple of years and it is true that in the two previous actions, FCA 8 and FCA 9 one year ago, the SEMA RI zone cleared much higher than rest of pool. Invenergy was right about that. So they start this plan for this plant, and they figure that they are going to absolutely clean up financially.

“This is an import constrained zone, clearing price is double what the rest of the pool is, we’re going to put 900 or 1000 MW into this very high priced zone, we are going to make a fortune. This was their thinking.

“Between FCA 9 and FCA 10, ISO NE collapsed the NEMA Boston and SEMA RI zone into a big zone, and now, instead of the zone that includes RI being very constrained with a shortage of power, we now have an excess of power in the zone.”

Drawing the lines of the various zones has nothing to do with politics, said Elmer, “It’s nothing you can vote on or put political pressure on. It’s physics! It’s where the transmission does or does not exist.”

Let’s look at this from Invenergy’s point of view for a minute: Invenergy “thought they were supposed to have 900 or 1000 MW cleared, at a very high price,” said Elmer, “instead only half the plant cleared, 485 MW. What cleared went at exactly the same price as rest of pool, no premium, zero. The rest of pool came out 25 percent lower than last year’s clearing price, and the zone here [in Rhode Island] cleared at about half the price of last years price for this zone.”

This is great news for Rhode Island, but for Invenergy, not so much. “Here’s the kicker,” said Elmer, “Invenergy got a CSO for 485 MW. That means they have got to build the plant. They are on the hook. They posted a huge bond with the ISO called Financial Assurance (FA) just to be allowed to play in the auction. So now Invenergy has the worst of all worlds.

“It only sold half its capacity to the ISO and at a much lower price than anticipated, but they still have to build the plant, or as an alternative, they could sell their CSO between now and June 1, 2019 in one of the annual or monthly reconfiguration auctions that the ISO runs, and get out of the business altogether and not even build the plant.

“They are now forced to build the plant that will be much less profitable and lucrative than they thought, or get out of it.”

Currently, the EFSB is holding hearings to determine whether or not the plant will be built. In their filing with the EFSB, Invenergy’s two major arguments in favor of the plant were, “The plant is needed for system reliability, to prevent blackouts, to keep the lights on” and “The plant will end up lowering the bill for ratepayers,” said Elmer.

“What the results of the auction shows is that both of Invenergy’s main arguments are just wrong. They are false,” said Elmer, “The plant is not needed for system reliability, it is not needed to keep the lights on and the net effect on the clearing price is either zero or very close to zero because the plant wasn’t needed.”

“CLF is presenting three witnesses to the EFSB,” said Elmer, “one witness for each of the three arguments that Invenergy is making in favor of the plant. We’ve got one witness on the system reliability issue: Is the plant needed to keep the lights on? The answer is no and this auction proves it.

“We have a separate witness on the money issue. Will building the plant save money for rate payers? This auction result says no, the answer is no.

“And then we’ve got another witness on the climate change/carbon emission issues whose testimony is going to be that if the plant is built, it will be impossible for the state to meet its carbon emission reduction goals.”

This information is “absolutely all relevant to the EFSB. In fact, Invenergy is the party before the EFSB that raised these issues! CLF is not raising these issues. We’re addressing these issues because Invenergy raised them. In legal terms, Invenergy opened the door on each of these issues, we’re just walking through it. We’re not raising these issues, Invenergy’s raising these issues. The reason we’ve got witnesses addressing these issues is because Invenergy raised them!”

The arguments in favor of the plant that we are hearing from our elected leaders, such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, that Rhode Island suffers from an energy “choke point” and needs this plant for grid reliability, is simply not true any more, if it ever was. Given this new information, Senator Whitehouse should now feel very free to change his position on the proposed plant.

The low energy prices available now allows Rhode Island the luxury of planning a just transition to renewable energy sources and the time we need to concentrate on efforts to lower the amount of energy we need. Political leadership is needed to take advantage of this opportunity, and should not be squandered on an unnecessary fossil fuel plant that will harm Rhode Island’s environment and keep us addicted to fossil fuels for at least another half century.

February 1, 2016May 3, 2016

FANG confronts Whitehouse over his Invenergy support

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As Senator Sheldon Whitehouse stood up to speak to a room packed with concerned environmentalists and sustainability stakeholders at the #ResilientPVD Sustainability Workshops, held in the Providence City Hall Monday afternoon, climate activists representing FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) and BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion) stood up and silently held aloft signs challenging the Senator on his stated support for Invenergy‘s Clear River Energy Center (CREC) in Burrillville.

The event was not interrupted and proceeded as planned. At one point Leah Bamberger, Providence’s Director of Sustainability, confronted Nick Katkevich of FANG, who was handing out flyers to people in the room. The flyers ask “Did you know?” and answered, “Sheldon Whitehouse supports the massive fossil fuel power plant proposed for Burrillville.” After their brief interaction Bamberger returned to her seat and Katkevich resumed handing out flyers.

Among those standing with signs I recognized Sister Mary Pendergast of the Sisters of Mercy and Burrillville resident Kathy Martley.

Senator Whitehouse came out in support of the CREC power plant in an interview with Ted Nesi. In the interview Whitehouse cited support from environmental groups for his stance, support that subsequent investigation has revealed does not exist.

The #ResilentPVD event today is part of a three day series of “charrettes, workshops, and community meetings to explore how Providence’s infrastructure, buildings, and neighborhoods can prepare for the impacts climate change.” An impressive array of sustainability experts from across the country are in attendance. There is a report expected on Wednesday.

Mayor Jorge Elorza introduced Senator Whitehouse as the state’s foremost climate champion though some in the audience were audibly agitated by that designation, with someone commenting that “He supports the fossil fuel plant in Burrillville!” Whitehouse was not visibly disturbed by the protesters, though he seldom looked their way as he spoke.

FANG and BASE are planning to protest at the RI State House Tuesday evening during Governor Gina Raimondo‘s State of the State address Tuesday evening. Governor Raimondo has also been a vocal champion of the CREC plant, as has Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello.

2016-02-01 FANG Whitehouse PVD City Hall 06 — Whitehouse and Elorza

2016-02-01 FANG Whitehouse PVD City Hall 13 — Bamberger and Katkevich

February 1, 2016

FANG needs YOU: To protest Governor Raimondo

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FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) has announced that they and their allies will be protesting Governor Gina Raimondo during her State of the State address because of her continuing support for the methane gas power plant to be built in Burrillville. Raimondo will be speaking the the RI State House before both houses of the General Assembly.

On their Facebook posting for the event, FANG says,

“Right now there are three major fracked-gas projects proposed for Rhode Island. A $700 million fracked-gas power plant that’s been proposed for Burrillville, a $100 million liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in South Providence and a second expansion of Spectra Energy’s fracked-gas compressor station, also in Burrillville.

“The power plant in Burrillville would emit the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of 763,562 cars a year and add more noise and toxins to a community that is already inundated by gas infrastructure. Meanwhile the LNG facility proposed for Providence would be built in a community that already has one of the highest asthma rates in the State.”

People interested in joining this protest can RSVP on Facebook. This is an open invitation to anyone interested in preventing the fracked gas, extraction economy future being foisted upon Rhode Island by fossil fuel companies and some of Rhode Island’s most influential politicians, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Governor Gina Raimondo and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.

More on the fracked gas expansion in Rhode Island:

December 29, 2015May 3, 2016

Invenergy attempts to sideline public input on proposed power plant in Burrillville

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Lawyers for Invenergy have filed documents with the court objecting to the Motions for Intervention filed by several local property owners, activist groups and individuals. At contention is the proposed “Clear River Energy Center” (CREC), a 850-1000 megawatt power plant fueled by imported methane gas, to be built in Burrillville.

The Rhode Island Energy Facilities Siting Board (RI EFSB) has scheduled a preliminary hearing to consider Invenergy’s application for January 12 at 9:30am. Public commentary will not be heard at this hearing, only those parties and participants granted intervenor status by the Siting Board will have a voice in the proceedings.

In their court filing, Invenergy objected to the following groups and individuals’ motion for intervenor status: property owners Dennis and Kathy Sherman and Paul and Mary Boldue; activist and political groups Occupy Providence, Fossil Free RI, the Progressive Democrats of Rhode Island (RIPDA), Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG) and Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE); and Sister Mary Pendergast, as an individual.

Invenergy does not have “specific objections” to the intervention requests of the Town of Burrillville, the State of RI Office of Energy Resources, National Grid, the Burrillville Land Trust or the Conservation Law Foundation.

Invenergy contends that intervention should only be granted to “Parties that have either statutory rights to intervene, directly affected interests that will not be adequately represented by other parties, or special public interests that compel intervention as a Party.”

Invenergy also objects to a separate motion “to extend the intervention period and to postpone the Preliminary Hearing” submitted by FANG and BASE.

In their motion requesting a 45 day extension of the deadline to intervene, FANG and BASE argued that, “At the December 9th Burrillville Town Council Meeting, several residents voiced their confusion with the intervenor process and expressed frustration with the lack of information provided about the process. Residents posed questions to the Town Council that the Council was not equipped to answer.” Note that the Town of Burrillville, though ill-equipped to answer rudimentary questions about the process at the Town Council meeting, is one of the groups that Invenergy says will “adequately” and “capably” represent the public interest.

The requested extension, maintains FANG and BASE, would allow “interested individuals and parties… more time to learn more about the intervention process, seek legal counsel and draft motions to intervene.”

The Siting Board, according to the motion filed by FANG and BASE, sent out “the first announcement for the public hearing… on November 17th to only sixteen parties, most of whom were local or state government agencies or elected officials. November 17th was one week before the Thanksgiving holiday. The deadline for filing as an intervenor was set as December 22rd, leaving two days before Christmas and one day before Eid Milad ulNabi (the observance and celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s life). Also happening during the intervention period was the Hanukkah holiday from December 7th-14th.”

Residents affected by the proposed power plant’s siting were informed of the process with little time to seek counsel or determine if their interests were to be covered by approved intervenors. At the December 9 Burrillville Town Council meeting, Town Manager Michael Wood told Kathy Sherman that the town council’s job is to represent Burrillville, but that doesn’t mean that the town council will be representing every concern of every resident.

Yet in their court filing objecting to intervenor status being granted to Dennis and Kathy Sherman and Paul and Mary Boldue, Invenergy claims that their interests will be adequately protected by the Town of Burrillville as a Party.

Invenergy objected to Occupy Providence, Fossil Free RI and RIPDA being granted intervenor status because none of the groups is represented by a lawyer. The groups maintain that the rule cited by Invenergy is applicable to Parties, as legally defined, and not to participants. Further, Invenergy claims that the groups will not “be ‘directly affected’ by the project in a manner that will not be represented by other parties.”

Hilariously, one of the Parties that Invenergy claims will represent the interests of Occupy Providence, Fossil Free RI and RIPDA is National Grid, a company with a history of disregarding the concerns of Rhode Islanders and the environment in its endless craving for corporate profits.

Invenergy further claims that “interests related to carbon emissions and the state’s overall energy policy will be more than adequately represented by other Parties” including the Governor’s Office of Energy Resources. Governor Gina Raimondo has very publicly supported the proposed energy plant, so it is highly doubtful that the interests of Occupy Providence, Fossil Free RI and RIPDA will be represented by Parties advocating for her interests.

FANG and BASE were represented by a lawyer in their motion to intervene, but Invenergy says that these “grassroots organizations” will be “cabably represented” by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the Town of Burrillville, the DPUC and the RI Department of Environmental Management.

This is another strange statement, because when I emailed Josh Block, the press secretary for the Conservation Law Foundation, he wrote back saying, “By intervening in the pending Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) docket, CLF will present multiple arguments as to why Invenergy should be denied a permit to build an expensive, long-lived, carbon-emitting fossil-fuel power plant. A proposal such as this which makes little economic or environmental sense has unsurprisingly garnered opposition from a large number of stakeholders, each with unique interests and perspectives. Thus, any assertion that CLF’s participation in the docket is a reason for excluding other intervenors in the process is as misguided as the proposal itself.” (Italics mine)

2015-12-05 FANG Arrests Spectra 022 — Sister Mary Pendergast, in pink, being arrested

Sister Mary Pendergast, explaining her reasons for being arrested during a protest organized by FANG and BASE, said, “Pope Francis has called us all to an ecological conversion and he said it is essential and not an option.” Her motion to intervene has also been opposed by Invenergy, apparently, because her philosophical and theological concerns will be “adequately” and “capably” represented by the corporate and governmental interests of approved Parties, which is errant nonsense.

The fact is that the interests of the people will not be adequately represented in these proceedings if these motions for intervention are denied. The interests of the public are routinely and bureaucratically sidelined by relegating our voices to public commentary hearings with no real power or weight. Invenergy, though, depends on these public hearings to provide the appearance of public input where there is none, saying, “There will be ample opportunity… to provide comments, views, oppositions and data, in the form of public comment, in writing or in public testimony, at the appropriate time…”

This is how the voices of the public are silenced. We are relegated to separate, lesser forums, scheduled after the real decisions have been made. We are allowed to speak only when our objections have been rendered moot. It is only after our rights have been sacrificed to appease corporate power and after our world is destroyed that our voices will be heard, and that will be too late.

The motions for intervention should be granted.