The latest meeting of the CLG, in Providence on Thursday, featured a panel discussion with representatives from the four companies mentioned above. The panel was pulled together with the help of Douglas Gablinske, executive director of The Energy Council of Rhode Island (TEC-RI) an advocacy group for energy company concerns. Readers of RI Future may remember that Gablinske was a vocal opponent of Cale Keable’s bill to reform the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB).  He was also the only speaker at the RI Public Utilities Commission (RIPUC) to speak in favor of the pipeline tariff.

Gablinske surprised me by asking if I knew about any planned protests or disruptions. I said I didn’t. He asked me specifically about the FANG Collective. I had no idea of what plans they have, if any, I said. Then Gablinske said that he noticed Mary Pendergast on the list of people who had signed up to attend. Pendergast was sitting in the room, and he soon went over to introduce himself to her.

During the course of the presentation there was a disruption. As Invenergy’s John Niland gave his presentation to the room, Mary Pendergast stood and display a small sign that said, “No fracked gas Power plant.” Her protest was silent but it did seem to throw Niland off a bit, as his delivery seemed somewhat distracted.

It was during the third presentation that the disruptions became more pronounced. As Richard Kruse, vice president at Spectra Energy spoke glowingly about the need for bigger and better pipelines in our fracked gas infrastructure future, Kathy Martley of BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion), Keith Clougherty of the FANG Collective and Sally Mendzela stood up.

“Spectra Energy, Energy for Death,” said Martley as I headed for my camera. “Say no to Invenergy and tell Invenergy to go home,” Martley continued.

As the protest continued, Gablinske took the podium and said, “You have a right to be here but not be disruptive” as Clougherty continued to speak.

Lennette Boiselle, an ally of Geblinske and a lobbyist for the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce got up and left the room, presumably in search of security. Readers might remember Boiselle as the person arguing against democracy at the public comment hearing concerning Cale Keable’s EFSB bill.

“The political correctness, of not allowing other people to talk is sweeping through this country,” said Geblinske, “It’s an incorrect assumption, this gentlemen has the right to speak…”

“We’ve been listening to you our whole lives, Pal,” interrupted Sally Mendzela.

Gablinske ultimately offered to set up a forum where “both sides” could be heard but it is unknown if this will actually happen. The protesters took their seats, no one was ejected from the forum, and Kruse finished his talk.

Amazingly, though, that wasn’t the end. During a brief question and answer period at the end of the presentations, Gablinske called on Clougherty to ask a question!

“I would ask for a question, not a speech or a statement,” said Gablinske, when he realized who he had called upon.

Clougherty then asked Niland, Kruse and Bill Malee, a National Grid VP, “Do your companies have any money set aside for restitution for the millions of people who are going to be displaced and killed by the infrastructure projects you all are proposing?”

There is no good answer representatives from these companies can give, yet Niland attempted one. As expected, it was not good.

I found the most interesting talk of the day came from Mary Louise “Weezie” Nuara, External Affairs Representative for ISO-NE.

“The region’s competitive wholesale electricity markets are really designed to maintain reliability through the selection of the most economically efficient set of resources,” said Nuara, but the states “have environmental and renewable energy goals that are beyond the objectives of the wholesale electricity markets.”

What’s happening is that states are setting goals to increase renewables and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (like the goals set out in ResilientRI, but all the New England states have some version of this idea.) ISO-NE is designed to deliver energy as reliably and cheaply as possible. As a market, it cannot deliver renewables or reduce emissions unless those options are cheaper and cleaner. In August, NEPOOL (which represents the interest of the New England states when dealing with ISO-NE)  began looking into how to adjust wholesale electricity markets to accommodate the goals of the states. It is NEPOOL’s goal to develop a “framework document” by December 2 to provide guidance to ISO-NE regarding potential changes. (A kind of advisory opinion, if you will.)

What makes this interesting, to my mind, is that if ISO-NE starts taking the climate change concerns of the states into account, plants like the one Invenergy is planning for Burrillville will have a harder time selling their energy into the markets.

ISO-NE is a little over a decade old, but already it’s finding that its systems are in need of being updated over concerns of climate change. By contrast, the EFSB here in Rhode Island was established thirty years ago, in 1986. The RI General Assembly has shown little inclination towards revising the EFSB’s mandate in lieu of climate change.

Below please find all the video from the CLg meeting except for the closing comments.

Rebecca Tepper, chair of the CLG Coordinating Committee and chief of the Energy & Telecommunications Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office introduced keynote speaker Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner.

Douglas Gablinske, executive director, The Energy Council of Rhode Island

Jeffrey Grybowski, chief executive officer, Deepwater Wind

John Niland, director of business development, Invenergy

Richard Kruse, vice president and regulatory & FERC compliance officer for Spectra Energy

Bill Malee, vice president of regulatory affairs, for National Grid

ISO-NE Q&A

A new report released by Toxics Action Center, Frontier Group, Environment America and more than a dozen community groups across New England finds that burning gas for electricity is as bad for the climate as coal, or worse.

The report, titled “Natural Gas and Global Warming: A Review of Evidence Finds that Methane Leaks Undercut the Climate Benefits of Gas,” shows that older claims that gas has a modest impact on the climate are wrong, as they fail to account for the greenhouse gas effect of methane and high rates of methane leaks from gas infrastructure.

Ben Weilerstein, eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island organizer with the Toxics Action Center, held a press conference outside the RI State House with Kathy Martley of BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion). Martley has been fighting the expansion of fracked gas infrastructure in Burrillville for years, and was the woman responsible for getting Governor Gina Raimondo to visit the town to discuss Invenergy‘s planned $700 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant.

“For years, communities on the frontlines of proposed pipelines, power plants, compressor stations, and LNG terminals have been told by the fossil fuel lobby and politicians that gas is a low-carbon bridge to a clean energy future,” said Weilerstein. “Today, it’s clearer than ever that this is not the case. New fracked gas infrastructure proposed across the region threatens our climate future, our health, and our neighborhoods. It’s time to double down on clean local renewable energy sources right here in New England.

“Methane can leak during every stage of natural gas production – during drilling, processing, and even from the pipeline,” said Elizabeth Ridlington of Frontier Group in a statement. Ridlington wrote the report, saying, “Our review of the evidence suggests that these leaks may have an annual global warming impact equivalent of up to 250 coal-fired power plants, enough to nearly or completely offset any other climate benefits of natural gas.”

Released simultaneously in seven New England cities and towns today, the report emphasizes that methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, trapping 86 to 105 times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year period. Making these findings even more concerning, the report authors found flaws in studies that reported very low rates of methane leakage, finding evidence instead of high rates of methane leaks from gas infrastructure.

Kathy Martley noted that reports like this have been coming out for years, and that it’s time for the Governor Gina Raimondo and Rhode Island Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed to read these reports and act. “For health and environmental reasons we need to stop LNG now,” said Martley.

The people rose and told them their stories, many of which those who have attended meeting after meeting in Burrillville had heard before. But Governor Raimondo was hearing them, in person, for the first time. She told the six hundred people gathered at the Burrillville High School that though she understood the problems with the MTBE in the water,  that to hear the stories first hand was very powerful.

She heard them, she said.

Time and again Governor Raimondo assured the people that the power plant was “not a done deal.” For the first time the governor publicly walked back her support for the plant, saying that it was important that she maintain neutrality during the process of approving the plant. She told the people that there was a process, that the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) was holding a series of hearings and meetings. She urged the people to get involved and let their opinions be known.

Here, I think, Governor Raimondo stumbled. The people of Burrillville could not be more involved in this process. Her visit to Burrillville is a testament to their involvement. The visit is the result of months of work by Kathy Martley of BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion) and Nick Katkevich of the FANG Collective. If anything, the people of Burrillville understand “the process” better than the governor ever will. They attend the meetings of the EFSB, the Burrillville Town Council, the sewer board, the DEM, the DOH and countless others. There are many people in in Burrillville who dedicate every moment of free time, the entirety of their non-working lives, to this power plant.

This is what Invenergy has already stolen from the people of Burrillville: Every free moment of their lives.

Governor Raimondo urged the people to ”trust the process” but if the people don’t trust the process, it’s not out of some perverse anti-authoritarian impulse, it’s out of first hand experience with the very process she’s telling them to trust in. The people understand the process intimately, and they know that the process favors Invenergy, not the people.

Governor Raimondo was not asked to come to Burrillville as an advocate for “the process” she was asked to come to Burrillville to become an advocate for the people.

Additional thoughts:

As people were let into the Burrillville High School, after waiting outside in the parking lot in the ninety degree heat for hours, security informed them that no more than one person would be allowed in the restrooms at a time. Each restroom accommodates at least seven people. I asked the man in charge of security why this was the case. He told me “Security reasons.” I asked how two people in a men’s room might threaten security in a way that one person couldn’t. He became angry and said, “I’m not going to debate you, I already answered your question.”

The event was moderated by retired newscaster Dave Layman, who volunteered for the mission. Layman set the rules for the meeting, but did so in a way that was infantilizing. This wasn’t a high school full of children, this was a high school full of engaged residents who were very familiar with the ways in which public meetings work. This was a high school auditorium full of people who understand how to behave at a public forum, yet Layman decided to devote no small amount of time to explaining the importance of a Norman Rockwell painting about civil civic engagement. It was elitist and condescending and a poor way to set the tone.

But, despite these caveats, once the meeting got under way, it seemed to go well. The people of Burrillville stood tall, hit hard and did not back away from calling the governor to account. She stayed through the end and beyond, coming off the stage after the meeting and greeted the people one on one.

The people of Burrillville have been treated as afterthoughts in this process, then as agitators and then as children. But by the end of the night Governor Gina Raimondo was forced to see them as people, and recognize their full humanity.

Here’s the full video:

Senator Paul Fogarty

Representative Cale Keable

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This may be a career defining moment for Governor Raimondo. Does she listen to the concerns of her constituents, or does she cave to the desires of foreign billionaires? She says that the ultimate decision as to whether the plant gets built is in the hands of the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB), but if she drops her support, that will go a long way towards stopping the plant.

Residents are looking forward to her visit. It’s not often that the state’s leaders get to Burrillville, especially on an issue of such grave concern. Residents are rolling out the red carpet for her visit. She can expect to be well treated.

The residents of Burrillville have been polite to a fault when dealing with Governor Raimondo. Her invitation, by Kathy Martley from Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE) was accompanied by a flower and a home made card. When protesters hold signs at her events, they don’t attempt to disrupt the event, they simply remind the governor of the public’s concern.

This is not to say that Governor Raimondo can expect to charm Burrillvillians into accepting the power plant. The residents there have done their research, and they know that Invenergy has not been honest about the proposed plant’s environmental impact or about the need for the plant in the first place. She should expect to be confronted by the recent RIDEM data requests, which accuses Invenergy of submitting an application that contains, “several confusing and conflicting assertions about the purpose and need for the project.” She should expect to hear about the research that’s been done, the environmental tragedies Burrillville residents have already endured, and a case for saving the world from the ravages of the fossil fuel industry.

But though the meeting is bound to be emotional and the arguments will be made with passion, Burrillville is a town of good people.

Temperatures are expected to reach into the 90’s through the weekend, but the marchers are undeterred. “We want the Governor to know that people from across the State support the residents of Burrillville and their fight against Invenergy’s toxic power plant. This is the Governor’s climate and environmental legacy moment, and the whole State is watching.”  Sherrie Anne Andre, of The FANG Collective, the group organizing the march.

The march will head west on Route 44 and then head north on Route 100. The march will make a stop at the site of a chemical spill in Pascoag before continuing on to the Burrillville High School in time for the event with the Governor.

In 2001, a spill at a gas station in Pascoag led to MTBE, a now banned gasoline additive, contaminating one of Burrillville’s main water supplies. The contaminated water wells were capped by a Superior Court order after MTBE levels in local drinking water soared above the federal legal limit. Invenergy, the Chicago based company who has proposed the power plant, plans to uncap the MTBE wells and use up to 900,000 gallons of the water a day at the plant, drawing the ire of local residents.

“There are many health and environmental concerns with the proposed power plant. But the fact that Invenergy wants to use the MTBE water at the plant, and the lack of any thorough study on the potential impacts of this, is shocking and deeply concerning”. Kathy Martley of Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE), who lives a quarter mile from the site of the proposed plant.

Opposition has been steadily growing to the proposed power plant with hundreds of residents attending recent public hearings on the project. Last month, legislation that would have given Burrillville residents the ability to vote on any tax agreement reached between Invenergy and the town council stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Governor agreed to meet with Burrillville residents after months of protests and actions led by FANG and BASE.

“We are excited that the Governor has agreed to come to Burrillville and meet with those that would be most impacted by Invenergy’s power plant. But beyond just listening to the concerns of residents, we need the Governor to use the visit to revoke her support of the toxic Invenergy project once and for all,” said Nick Katkevich, of Providence, RI from the FANG Collective.

You can join the Facebook event here.

Here’s the schedule for the March:

July 16th: 9am-1pm – RI State House to Greenville Public Library

July 17th: 3-7pm – Greenville Public Library to Village Bean Cafe in Gloucester RI

July 18th: Noon – 430pm – Village Bean Cafe to Burrillville High School
– Noon-230pm Village Bean Cafe to 24 North Main Street in Pascoag (site of the MTBE spill)
– 230-3pm Ceremony at the site of the MTBE spill
– 3-430pm March from 24 North Main Street to the Burrillville High School

After months of protests, phone calls and civil disobedience from anti-power plant activists and Burrillville residents, Governor Raimondo has scheduled a visit to Burrillville for an open community meeting. The open meeting, which will be held at the Burrillville High School on July 18th from 6-9pm, will focus on Invenergy’s proposed fracked-gas and diesel fuel power plant.

“Since the power plant proposal was first announced last August, we have been asking the Governor to come meet with Burrillville residents. We are happy that the Governor has agreed to this and hear from the people who would be most impacted by the power plant project”. Kathy Martley who lives a quarter mile from the proposed power plant site.

BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion), The FANG Collective and others have been targeting the Governor for several months over her support of the plant. The groups have shown up at dozens of the Governor’s public events with “Save Burrillville: No New Power Plant” signs and have led multiple call-in days to the Governor’s office. On April 19th the groups held a sit-in at the Governor’s office where one person was arrested after refusing to leave. One of the demands of the sit-in was that the Governor travel to Burrillville and meet with residents.

But activists say that tone of the visit to Burrillville will largely be dependent on whether the Governor vetoes or signs into law a Bill moving through the State House that would give residents more control of the power plant approval process. The Bill is being championed by Representative Cale Keable and Senator Paul Fogarty, both of Burrillville.

“We want the Governor’s visit to Burrillville to be informative but also be a celebration of the Keable/Fogarty bill becoming law. This is the Governor’s climate legacy moment. To veto this bill, and take away the voice of Burrillville residents, would forever tarnish her environmental record”. Nick Katkevich of the FANG Collective.

The Bill, which would let Burrillville residents vote on any tax agreement made between the power plant company and the town council, passed the House of Representatives 64-7 and is scheduled for second hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

[From a press release]

After months of trying to get the governor to come to the town through more conventional channels, Kathy Martley, co-founder of BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion), presented the Governor with a flower and a home made card at an event in Warwick. The Governor agreed then to come to Burrillville. On Thursday night Martley followed up with the governor outside the First Unitarian Church of Providence. The governor agreed to set a date and time the following day.

On Thursday evening the governor was noncommittal on the Keable/Fogarty bill and said that she will make a final decision on it once it reaches her desk, but the next day, while taping an episode of Channel 12 Newsmakers with Tim White and Ted Nesi, Raimondo said that she will be “very likely to” veto the bill. The Governor told Nesi and White that she was opposed to the bill’s “retro-activity feature” which changes the process at the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) even as Invenergy, the company that wants to build a $700 million fracked gas and diesel burning power plant in Burrillville, is engaged in the process.

“This isn’t about, necessarily, whether you are for or against natural gas, we have a process,” said Raimondo, “You cannot change the rules of the game halfway through the game if you want to be a business friendly state.”

I’ve talked before about Raimondo and her emphasis of business over democracy. The process that Raimondo is defending is one that favors the interests of billion dollar corporations over the people of Rhode Island. The people of Burrillville are demanding that this process be corrected in the interests of the people.

If given a choice, would you rather live in a business friendly state, or a democracy friendly state?

During the exchange the Governor was given information on the impacts of MTBE contaminated water and she pledged that on Friday she will officially announce the date of her community meeting in Burrillville.

Today, over a dozen national advocacy groups joined local community groups in delivering a letter to Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo asking her to show climate leadership and revoke her support for the proposed Invenergy Clean River Energy Center in Burrillville, RI. The groups noted there are serious concerns about local air and water pollution, and also that methane released from fracked gas is a potent greenhouse gas contributing to the climate crisis. Methane leaks from every stage of the natural gas system, from well sites to processing plants and compressor stations to beneath city streets.

“Support for this project is inconsistent with climate leadership and will move us away, rather than towards, the quick and just transition to 100 percent renewable energy that we desperately need…Promoting natural gas not only will lock in decades more of fracking and contribute to the climate crisis, but it will result in billions of dollars being spent on the infrastructure to support burning gas, preventing us from moving into a sustainable energy future,” said the letter.

Governor Raimondo has spoken out about the need to address climate change, and her desire for the state to become a green energy leader. Regarding Rhode Island’s participation in the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future, Raimondo said, “Already, we’ve taken valuable steps forward to reduce our environmental impact and grow green jobs by supporting the construction of the nation’s first offshore wind facility, investing in renewables, and encouraging clean modes of transportation. More work remains, and this accord acknowledges the challenges we face and our commitment to addressing them.”

“Governor Raimondo can’t have it both ways,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, which organized the letter. “Fracked gas is as dirty as it gets. Burrillville residents deserve better than the Invenergy plant. The climate deserves better, too.”

“There are 300 gas plants proposed across the country,” said Nick Katkevich of The FANG Collective. “Building these plants will lock us in to climate catastrophe and hurt communities facing the onslaught of fracked-gas infrastructure. We need Governor Raimondo to listen to her constituents and drop her support of Invenergy’s proposed power plant.”

“Fracked-gas is not a bridge fuel to a clean energy future – it’s a road block. We need a just transition to 100 percent community owned renewable energy. For this to happen in Rhode Island, Invenergy’s proposed power plant must be cancelled,” said Kathy Martley of Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion, who lives a quarter mile from the proposed power plant site and the existing Spectra Energy compressor station in Burrillville, RI.

Many of these organizations will be converging on Philadelphia on July 24, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to demand that elected leaders including Governor Raimondo take swift action to keep the vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground and commit to transitioning swiftly to renewable energy.

“Governor Raimondo’s decision will not only determine the fate of the project,” said Hauter. “It will also determine whether she is a leader in this revolution, or a follower on the same old dirty path.”

Organizations signing the letter include: 350 CT; 350.org; AnastasiaThinks INC; Breast Cancer Action; Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion; Center for Biological Diversity; Climate Disobedience Center; Elders Climate Action; Environmental Action; The FANG Collective; Food & Water Watch; Franciscan Response to Fracking; Friends of the Earth; Grassroots Environmental Education; Immanuel Congregational Church UCC Environmental Ministry Team; Jewish Climate Action Network; Justice Action Mobilization Network; Justice and Peace Office of the Congregation of Notre Dame USA; National Nurses United; People Demanding Action; Popular Resistance; Progressive Democrats of America; South Coast Neighbors United, Inc.; Stand; Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion; Toxics Action Center; U.S. Climate Plan; and We Are Seneca Lake.

The letter can be found online at: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/rhode_island_powerplant_sign_on_letter_final_5_23_16.pdf

[From a press release]

“We have a lot of worries about it,” said Martley.

Raimondo took Martley’s card and said, “Yes. I will do it… if you will host me at a community meeting in Burrillville I’d be very happy to do it.”

Raimondo has been an unwavering supporter of the fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant since the plan was announced back in August of last year.

Before the event started, outside the entrance to the school, members of BASE approached Representative Joseph Shekarchi, who doesn’t think the RI House will be voting on the plant, but said he is very close to Burrillville Representative Cale Keable and that he would support Keable’s opposition to the plant. Keable, along with Burrillville State Senator Paul Fogarty, wrote a strong letter to the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) in opposition to the plant. The EFSB has the ability to approve or reject Invenergy’s application.

In a Facebook post Keable wrote:

I have been exploring legislative possibilities with the State House legal staff. As the application has already been submitted, there are significant legal hurdles to simply “stopping” the plant. There is no doubt we could seek to change the law for future applications. We will continue to explore all possibilities. Legislation will be introduced shortly and there will be a public hearing scheduled at the State House. We are looking at requesting this hearing on the same day as a planned rally at the State House designed to let the Governor hear our voices. More on that as soon as I know.

On Tuesday, May 10 the EFSB will be holding the second half of its first public commentary hearing, starting from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM in the Burrillville Middle School Auditorium, 2200 Broncos Highway, Harrisville.

On Wednesday, May 11 the Burrillville Town Council will have its regular meeting at 7:00 PM in the Town Council Chambers, 105 Harrisville Main St., Harrisville. It is unclear whether any of the business or public comment will concern the proposed power plant.