Problem is, Wood is wrong.

Wood was speaking to around 150 Burrillville residents at a “Town Council Special Meeting” held to answer questions and concerns regarding Invenergy’s proposed $750 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning electrical plant.

Nick Katkevich, from the Fang Collective, had just read from aloud the relevant passage from the RI General Laws concerning Burrillville and energy plant taxation, as quoted in RI Future:

44-3-30 Burrillville – Property taxation of electricity generating facilities located in the town. – Notwithstanding any other provisions of the general laws to the contrary, the town council of the town of Burrillville is authorized to determine, by ordinance or resolution, an amount of taxes to be paid each year on account of real or personal property used in connection with any facility for the generation of electricity located in the town, notwithstanding the valuation of the property or the rate of tax.

Council president John Pacheco told Katkevich that the item wasn’t properly on the agenda.

Burrillville resident Kenneth Putnam Jr. then rose and asked a follow up question, which provoked Wood’s response.

This exchange was provoked by a piece I wrote, in which I consulted with lawyers on background. To check my logic, I wrote Jerry Elmer, a Senior Attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation for his opinion. Elmer is an expert in climate change and renewable energy law and has literally written many of the laws currently on the books in Rhode Island regarding energy and climate.

Elmer’s response to my query is worth quoting in its entirety:

The Rhode Island state law on this matter is clear and unambiguous, even if not everyone is familiar with the law.  The Rhode Island statute I am referring to is R.I. General Laws § 44-3-30.  That statute gives the Town of Burrillville (which, legally, would act through the Town Council) the right to set the real estate taxes for any electricity generation plant within the Town (including, but not limited to Invenergy) at any level the Town wants.  Importantly, the level at which the Town taxes the energy plant (such as Invenergy) need not be sensible or reasonable.  For example, the Town could legally charge Invenergy $1 per decade in property taxes.  The Town could legally charge Invenergy $1 billion per week (or per day, or even per hour) in property taxes.  One could have a reasonable argument as to whether any of those tax levels I just mentioned are sensible, or whether (or not) they represent good public policy.  But under that statute (RIGL 44-3-30) they are legal.

“It is also important to note that the statute explicitly says that this is true notwithstanding any other state law to the contrary.  Thus, even if someone could point to a different state law on municipal property taxation, the provisions of RIGL 44-3-30 would trump that other (possible) law.  The statute also is true notwithstanding what tax rate the Town of Burrillville has on other properties (like local homes and businesses).  The statute is also true notwithstanding the actual valuation of the Invenergy power plant.

“The short of it is that there is a specific, very detailed, state law that speaks to this exact question, and which trumps other state laws.  By law, the Burrillville Town Council can set Invenergy’s property tax at any level it chooses; and, if the Town Council chooses, it has the legal authority to set that tax rate so high that Invenergy would pack its bags immediately and leave the Town forever.”

Earlier, Councillor David Place interrupted Katkevich, asking everyone present that even if the law as written and understood were true, “How long do you think it will be before that law is changed, if the Governor and the General Assembly want to pass the plant?”

Changing the law in the middle of negotiations to favor one party over another would be a pretty big move on the part of the Governor and the General Assembly, especially in the face of widening opposition to the plant and the rising unpopularity of our elected leaders. And the very idea of changing the law in that way is of dubious legality. But that’s a question for another day.

The “Town Council Special Meeting” was held in the Beckwith-Bruckshaw Memorial Lodge, a place with no microphones. From the beginning people in the back had difficulty hearing the proceedings. Only three Town Councillors, John Pacheco III, Stephen Rawson and David Place, attended. Town Planner Tom Kravitz gave a short presentation and answered many questions from those in attendance.

The general tenor of the meeting was one of distrust and exasperation. For instance, while the Town Council won’t reveal any details of tax deal negotiations with Invenergy, on Dan Yorke’s television show State of Mind, John Niland, Development Director for Invenergy and the company’s public face for the project floated the number $3.6 million a year in taxes and rising, over 20 years. This was more information than has ever been volunteered by the Burrillville Town Council.

The people of Burrillville have real concerns. Time and again Town Manager Wood says he “can’t discuss the particulars” of the pending deal with Invenergy, provoking those in attendance last night to reply that they “get all our information” from John Niland on Dan Yorke. In the video below, a resident points out that in her email exchange with Wood, the Town Manager didn’t seem to realize that her home was in the area determined to be affected by the power plant.

“How can we trust that you have our best interests at heart when clearly, I’m in a severely impacted area, and you’re saying I’m not?”

It gets worse.

Tiya Loiselle is a veteran whose home value has dropped nearly $50 thousand in value since January. She was hoping to build equity in her home, but instead she’s rapidly going underwater, because of the possibility of this plant coming to her town.

As much as the residents of Burrillville seem to distrust their Town Council, they distrust Governor Gina Raimondo more.

Governor Raimondo “has been on the wrong side of a lot of issues because she doesn’t listen to the people,” said one speaker.

“She doesn’t reply to your emails,” said another.

“Did she not say that she would meet” with us, asked a woman, who was answered by another woman with, “I followed up, and sent her a message asking ‘Are you still planning to come to Burrillville?’ and she said ‘You’ll have to talk to my advisory board.’”

“You can’t trust the Governor,” said the first woman, “You understand why you see Trump signs everywhere, because no one trusts the Governor any more.”

Perhaps no one at the meeting expressed the impotence, fear and anger felt by the people of Burrillville better than Deborah Krieg, a “mom from Burrillville”. Her short speech to the Town Council was heart breaking:

You can watch the entire Town Council meeting here:

We’re revisiting this topic so often because WPRO, one of the most influential forces in Rhode Island, has effectively declared a biased and manipulative media war on Gov. Chafee’s decision to ever-so-slightly separate the state from the church.

This is not about a war on Christmas, as Fox News and WPRO suggest, this is about a war on religious freedom.

It’s alright for WPRO to take a strong stand on this or any other issue. It’s not alright for the long-standing and well-respected radio station to allow its employees to lie over the public airwaves about it. In fact, it’s a violation of Cumulus Media’s published code of ethics.

It’s not alright for the self-anointed “station of record” to blatantly and deliberately ignore and stifle views that differ from their own. Indeed, its bad for ad revenue, too.

And it’s not alright when any actor in the local marketplace of ideas goes unchecked. In fact, it’s one of the worst things that can happen to public debate.

Calling a dead fir tree draped with knickknacks a holiday tree is in the best tradition of Rhode Island, a state proud to be founded on the idea that the government should be independent of organized religion. It’s also a more inclusive way to honor everyone during the holiday season.

Furthermore, Rep. Art Handy, a progressive Democrat from Cranston, made the point yesterday that the original notion of a holiday tree is something Christians initially borrowed from pagan solstice celebrations.

The Christian Science Monitor has no problem making such reasonable points in a great piece on the controversy. Rev. Barry Lynn, of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State tells The Monitor:

As a religious person, this idea that somehow anything that government does or what it calls a conifer – Christmas tree, holiday bush – that any of this has any effect on the integrity of the religious impact of Christmas for believers is just shocking, and really meaningless drivel in comparison to all kinds of other matters that do impinge on the sense of the season and the good spirit that may flow from it.

I pulled out that quote because it probably mirrors what the average Rhode Islander thinks about this story. But listen all you want, you’ll never hear these ideas taken seriously on WPRO. Not even during news reports. The closest News Director Bill Haberman could muster up this morning was to say, “we do strive to be different here in our little state.”

He said this just before declaring John DePetro, the meanest, loudest and most disingenuous actor in WPRO’s annual holiday hate spree, as being “Rhode Island through and through.”

The other talk show hosts don’t seem very interested in presenting another point of view either. I called in to discuss this yesterday with Dan Yorke and he kept me waiting through two segments during which he solicited additional callers and replayed audio of the governor. He took my call at 1:43. Some 10 minutes earlier I told his producer that I had a 1:45 appointment. Maybe it was a miscommunication, but maybe Yorke didn’t want to admit he didn’t want to take my call after I have been critical of his colleagues.

That’s why it’s a little useless to continue to put all the blame on John DePetro, though he is the easiest and most obvious target. At this point, blaming DePetro for inciting hate through lies and manipulation is a little bit like blaming a bull for making a mess of a China shop. There’s no reason to expect anything less.

However, as a former employee, a loyal listener and a Rhode Islander who wants to preserve the station’s position in our heritage, I do expect more from WPRO. More news consumers and advertisers should too. I can virtually promise that savvy Station Manager Barbara Haynes and her bosses at Cumulus will listen to us if we make a compelling argument.

Haynes knows well that Salty Brine rolls over in his grave every time DePetro opens his mouth.

Imagine what Salty would think of a WPRO personality using his influence to lead a flash mob at the State House interrupting signing children? You can watch video of DePetro doing this here. At that same State House rally last year, a co-worker said DePetro made an unwanted sexual advance that eventually led to her filing suit against him and WPRO. You can read about that here.

Even his coworkers are now publicly chastising him for his actions last year. Read this from a Ron St. Pierre blog post:

Note to the usual media opportunists who will once again seize the moment to get their pusses on the tube….this time how about you don’t drown out the innocent kids asked to provide the carols at the tree lighting ceremony. You can make your point…and get your mugs on TV….WITHOUT ruining their day.

Rhode Island would be well-served if more people stood up to DePetro’s war on religious freedom. WPRO would do a lot to boost its reputation, as well as its market share, if it led that charge.

Just in case, after Mike Riley berated not only Jim Langevin during the WPRI debate but also the moderators several times too, you needed any additional evidence that this guy can’t get along with anyone he gave it to you on the Dan Yorke show yesterday.

Riley actually had the audacity to berate Yorke this time, the host of the radio show he was appearing on … and he did so for, among other reasons, not asking him softball questions!

“What you really should be asking me is how is Rhode Island going to do better, that’s your job,” he said to Yorke. “My job is to make Rhode Island do better.”

Yorke was asking Riley about an inconsistency between him saying in 2010 that he didn’t believe in money in politics but this time around he clearly does as he is prepared to invest more than a million dollars running for Congress. Riley dismissed the question and called it a “gotcha” question.

The two verbally spar right from the get go, but it gets really heated at about 11:22 in the podcast – when Yorke asked him about the video we dug up of his 2010 campaign for state Senate.

Riley also offered some insight as to why he developed such nasty and untrue attack ads against Langevin.

“I was actually so naive politically as to believe that my ideas would come out through the radio station or through newspapers,” he said when asked why he changed his philosophy about money in elections, “but that actually didn’t happen. I’ve learned a lot about politics.”

He also offered a little insight into what he thinks of the press, too.

“All this side story and all this stuff you hear in the media means nothing,” he said when Yorke asked him what message he wants listeners to take away about him. “What we really need to do is get Rhode Island back on track. And what you need someone to do is get someone in there and work on the economy.”

I’m pretty sure Rhode Islanders – as well as Americans everywhere – don’t think we need Wall Street hedge fund managers like Riley doing any more work on our economy.