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 Burrillville Democratic Town Committee voted unanimously to endorse three candidates for town council. All three oppose the $700 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant proposed for the town by Invenergy and supported by the present town council.

“In all these cases,” said Committee Chairman Stephen Mulcahey, “we have candidates who are committed to opposing the proposed power plant. In addition, these candidates have the experience and capacity to govern past this one issue”.

The three candidates are:

• Jim Alix, a retired school counselor (MSW). He and his wife, Kathy, a retired school teacher have been residents of Burrillville for over 30 years. Jim has been an active member of the Burrillville Parks and Rec program as well the Burrillville Extended Care Program.
• Michael Dutilly, a career firefighter and union president of the Harrisville Fire Department. Mike is a lifelong resident of Burrillville and a graduate of Burrillville High School. Mike is married and has a newborn baby boy.
• Bob Perreault, a multi-generational Burrillville resident. Bob is a retired Zambarano Hospital employee where he spent his career caring for patients. Bob was a Therapeutic Services provider and has a keen sense of empathy for our fellow residents at Zambarano Hospital.

It is thought that Councillors Nancy Binns and Kimberly Brissette Brown will not be seeking re-election. The only councillor up for re-election is Council President John Pacheco. Councillor David Place, not up for re-election, has plans to run for state representative, against Cale Keable. It’s unclear how this race would affect the make up of the Town Council.

A new Burrillville Town Council may come too late to have an impact on the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB)’s decision regarding the plant. Close observers say the current make up of the Town Council supports the plant 4-3, with Stephen Rawson, David Fox, Place and Binns in support and Pacheco, Brissete Brown and Michelle Bouchard against.

At the same meeting, the Burrillville Democratic Town Committee gave its endorsement for reelection to State Senator Paul Fogarty and State Rep. Cale Keable, who made an unsuccessful play in the State House to pass legislation that would give voters in Burrillville the opportunity to vote on any tax treaties the town council negotiates with energy companies in the town. That bill died in the Senate under “curious” conditions.

At the most recent Burrillville Town Council meeting, Council President John Pacheco said that “As a town council, we did not know this plant was actually going to happen until the Governor announced it.”

Pacheco was not quite telling the truth.

Videos from February and March 2015 town council meetings show that local elected officials – both the council and legislators – have been paving the way for the controversial Invenergy power plant for months before Governor Gina Raimondo officially announced the project, contrary to recent statements by the Council President.

Governor Gina Raimondo announced Invenergy’s plans to build another power plant in Burrillville on August 4, 2015. The town council met with local legislators Paul Fogarty, Cale Keable and Brian Newberry to discuss the idea seven months earlier.

On February 23, 2015 Burrillville Town Manager Michael C Wood, at a “special meeting” of the town council, said, “We’ve had some conversation. There’s the potential for a new power plant to come to Burrillville.” Present at this meeting was the entire Town Council except for Stephen Rawson and Donald Fox.

This special meeting was between the town council and state Senator Paul Fogarty, Representative Cale Keable, and Representative Brian Newberry. The meeting was held to discuss state level legislation of interest to the town council with their state representatives.

Wood told the council and legislators he wanted to “make sure that the existing [state level] legislation we have will allow for the siting and construction of the new power plant in the town.” The legislation concerns Burrillville’s ability to enter into tax agreements with power companies and can be seen here.

“It would be appreciated, Cale,” said Wood, talking to Rep Keable directly, “making sure that that legislation, as written, will allow the town to potentially entertain the possibility of a new power plant.”

“Okay,” said Keable, “We’ll look at that.”

As can be seen from this screen shot from earlier in the video, this meeting was poorly attended.

At another “special meeting” on March 18, 2015, Town Councilor Stephen Rawson talked about Burrillville water contaminated with MTBE. Several years ago some of the well water in Burrillville was contaminated with MTBE, a virulent carcinogen that some residents say sparked a cancer cluster in the town. The water that Invenergy wants to use for its cooling system will come from this MTBE contaminated well water.

Though Invenergy claims the water will be filtered and the water will be pure enough to dump in the Clear River when they are done, no one seems quite sure if the science adds up. Note also that as far as I have been able to tell, no one has attempted to use MTBE contaminated water to cool a power plant before.

In the clip below, Rawson says that, “Years ago Mike [Town Manager Michael Wood] had tried to make a proposal, and it was a good one, to run that water up to the [Ocean State] power plant as cooling water so the wells would be flushed and probably get rid of the MTBE that’s in the ground water.”

Rawson notes that Harrisville, which has authority over this situation, blocked this proposal.

Town Councillor David Place then says to Wood, “you and I had that discussion with that new power plant going in, of bringing back that idea of running a line to the new power plant and doing the exact same thing when that new power plant comes in. I think you said that that discussion had come up.”

“They have already reached out to Mike Kirkwood [General Manager of the Pascoag Utility District],” said Wood, “I don’t know about Harrisville…”

“They shouldn’t be involved at all,” said Place, because the wells and siting of the power plant will be entirely inside Burrillville, and Harrisville will have no control over the decision.

“To get to your point, Steve,” continued Wood, addressing Rawson, “that probably will happen, and that will help the well situation…”

Later in the same meeting Town Manager Wood says, “We need to set up something, maybe not right now, to deal with the new power plant… some professional help… to negotiate a deal with them.”

“How soon is that going to be done?” asks Council President John Pacheco.

“Not right away,” answers Wood, “But it should be on our radar screen. Probably within a year.”

“I’m sorry,” says a female town councilor (either Kimberly Brissette Brown or Michelle Bouchard), “What power plant are you talking about?”

“Invenergy,” answers Wood, spelling it out for clarification. “I-N-V-E-N-E-R-G-Y.”

The discussion then turns to the protesters who walked 28 miles, from Burrillville to Providence, in protest of the expansion of the compressor station in Burrillville. Wood laughs when he is asked, “Did those protesters ever make it to Providence?”

Contrary to Council President John Pacheco’s statement last week, the videos make clear that not only was the town council, as a whole, aware that Invenergy was planning to build a power plant in Burrillville, they have been actively involved with the project for months prior to its public announcement.

It also appears that Town Manager Michael Wood suggested the idea of using the MTBE contaminated water to cool the plant, one of the most controversial and potentially dangerous aspects of the plan. If the water isn’t filtered properly or cannot be filtered, dangerous levels of MTBE water will be dumped into the Clear River or released as airborne steam, potentially threatening the health and safety of thousands of Rhode Islanders.

At no time is the idea of not bringing the new power plant to Burrillville discussed by the Town Council. The idea of opposing the plant never seems to have occurred to them.

Many voters in Burrillville are aware of these videos and their faith in their Town Council and state representatives has been severely challenged or even shattered.