The Rhode Island Sierra Club strongly praises the bold climate leadership of the nine Providence legislators who publicly expressed their opposition to National Grid’s proposal for a $180 million fracked gas liquefaction facility at Fields Point in the Port of Providence.
Last week, Providence State Representatives Aaron Regunberg, Joe Almeida, Grace Diaz, John Lombardi, Chris Blazejewski and Edie Ajello, along with Providence State Senators Juan Pichardo, Gayle Goldin and Harold Metts submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) describing their deep concerns with National Grid’s proposal. We wholeheartedly agree with their statement that this project represents a boondoggle for ratepayers, an unjustifiable safety risk for the local community, and the kind of unacceptable doubling down on fossil fuel infrastructure that will guarantee we blow past our legally mandated emission reduction goals. And we are proud to see so many legislative leaders refusing to condemn our beautiful state to a future of climate catastrophe.
Unfortunately, the same can not be said of Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza. Rather than making any effort to live up to his rhetoric on climate change, Mayor Elorza has chosen to partner with National Grid and help them advance their proposal with tacit support and active negotiations for a Tax Stabilization Agreement to smooth out the utility’s tax payments over time.
Stopping climate change is the moral crisis of our time – and it will only be possible if we end these vast investments in new fossil fuel infrastructure that guarantee our addiction to fossil fuels continues past our planet’s point of no return. We all need to join in this fight. Rhode Island Sierra Club pledges our support for elected officials who take this moral imperative seriously, like the nine Providence legislators who came out in opposition to the LNG proposal last week. And we condemn in the strongest possible terms the cowardice of self-proclaimed climate leaders who choose to give in to the fossil fuel industry. Mayor Elorza, your actions speak much louder than your words – please, do the right thing and join your legislative delegation in standing up for Providence’s current and future citizens.
A group of Providence elected officials announced their strong opposition to a proposal by National Grid to develop a new fracked gas liquefaction facility at Fields Point in South Providence. Citing concerns ranging from costs to ratepayers, safety risks and climate impact, the legislators — including Representatives Joseph S. Almeida (D-Dist. 12, Providence), Grace Diaz (D-Dist. 11, Providence), Aaron Regunberg (D-Dist. 4, Providence), Chris Blazejewski (D-Dist. 2, Providence), Edith H. Ajello (D-Dist. 1, Providence) and John J. Lombardi (D-Dist. 8, Providence) and Senators Juan Pichardo (D-Dist. 2, Providence), Gayle Goldin (D-Dist. 3, Providence) and Sen. Harold M. Metts (D-Dist. 6, Providence) — called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject National Grid’s application, and warned the City of Providence against signing a tax stabilization agreement with the utility to facilitate the project.
“No matter how you look at it, this project is a money-maker for the utility at the expense of our community and our state,” said Representative Almeida. “National Grid is asking us, the ratepayers, to foot the $180 million bill for this project, for what? So they can increase their own profits by exporting LNG out of the state! This does nothing to benefit our constituents, and it does nothing to benefit my neighbors on the South Side. All this proposal will do is transfer money from ratepayers’ pockets to National Grid’s coffers, and we’re not going to accept it.”
Rob Goldman is running as a Democrat against incumbent Grace Diaz in District 11. He’s running on a platform of universal healthcare and a $15 minimum wage with a call for increased education spending.
Providence Mayoral candidate Jorge Elorza campaigned on Broad St. Monday afternoon in the company of Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, visiting businesses and glad-handing pedestrians along the way. State Representative Grace Dias led the tour and State Senator Juan Pichardo came along for the stroll.
Closer to downtown Providence, also on Broad St., Buddy Cianci, the once and (he hopes) future mayor was followed by a small group of reporters as he campaigned, but I was more interested in watching Elorza take half of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation on a tour of a vibrant, yet financially struggling part of the city.
“He’s just complaining,” said Representative Dias, roughly translating the words of a man who stopped the delegation in the Family Dollar parking lot. In Spanish, the man had asked Elorza and the senators if they will be out walking in his neighborhood when his vote wasn’t needed. To be fair, Dias wasn’t being condescending in dismissing the man’s question. The political reality is that these visits are made to secure votes and listening to the concerns of voters is a secondary consideration.
After all, the clock is ticking, and the mayoral campaigns needs the support of engaged voters, not the marginal, the forgotten and the underclass. As Elorza’s campaign passed by, the man didn’t look up from his shopping cart and trash can. There are two worlds here: the world of the political campaign and the world we live in. Rarely do these worlds communicate, which is a shame.
