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.

Council President John Pacheco III and the other councilors did not seem very receptive to the concerns of the citizens in attendance. In response to questions raised at previous meetings about half the town council recently toured the Spectra plant and examined the work being done on the pipeline. They left satisfied that the pipes were not corroding and that the noise levels were within acceptable limits.

One town councilor said that during the tour they were told that Spectra was digging up some pipelines, so the noise was louder than usual. She seemed surprised that those in attendance laughed. But it was less funny when the town council revealed that all the information they have on Spectra’s actions and all the information they have on safety and public health issues comes from Spectra, and there are no other sources of information available.

“We have no legal authority to regulate or look at their reports,” said Pacheco, “We have to rely on Spectra.”

This was the refrain of the Burrillville Town Council throughout the meeting. Only FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency) can regulate Spectra, claims the town council. Spectra doesn’t even have to obey the town’s noise ordinances. “We don’t have control over Spectra and we can’t enforce local ordinances” against them, said Town Councilor David Place.

Meanwhile the vibrations from the pipeline compressors are so overpowering that plates rattle in the cabinets of Kathy Sherman’s home, who lives across the street from Spectra, she said. She warned the town council that there may be dire impacts on Burrillville due to Spectra’s expansion that have nothing to do with health or the environment.

“When you have people leaving, not paying their taxes, you will suffer for that,” she said.

Said Kathy Martley of BASE, “The value of this town is going into the toilet. I urge you to pass a resolution to oppose this power plant.” The crowd overwhelmingly agreed, applauding and cheering Martley’s words. But the town council seemed unwilling to be moved by their voters.

“FERC and the governor have all the power,” says Councilor Nancy Binns, “we don’t.”

Several times Council President Pacheco tried to close off comment, and several times those in attendance had to insist on being heard. “Why don’t we get to vote on this?” asked a man at the back of the crowd, “Newport votes on gambling over and over again, but we just have to accept this?”

Instead of addressing the man’s concerns, Councilor Stephen Rawson insisted that discussing the new power plant would be illegal, since it’s not on the agenda, only the pipeline expansion is. This was news to Kathy Martley of BASE, who told me after the meeting that she’s pretty sure she asked that both items be on tonight’s docket.

Spectra held an open meeting recently in Burrillville. Residents were annoyed that “union people” holding signs in support of Spectra arrived early and took up all the parking spaces at the too small venue. Others complain that they don’t get proper notification about meetings from Spectra.

“Don’t you get notification of meetings?” asks a councilor.

“NO!” shouts virtually everyone in frustration.

“We asked about their notification process,” says Councilor Donald Fox, “they admitted that they aren’t as good as they used to be.”

Meanwhile, says Kathy Sherman, “No one from Spectra will return calls.”

The Town Councilors don’t want to be discussing this. They claim to be powerless in the face of Spectra. They recommend contacting Governor Gina Raimondo or State Representative Cale Keable. A man behind me says, referring to Keable, “He’s useless.”

Burrillville is home to two interstate methane gas pipelines, two methane gas compressor stations and the Ocean State power plant. Spectra Energy’s compressor station is already being expanded and a second expansion has been proposed. The proposed “Clear River” power plant plans to use Pascoag’s MBTE (methyl tert-butyl ether) tainted water supply for cooling.

In their press release, BASE suggested three things the town council could do in opposition to new methane energy infrastructure:

-Invenergy, the company that wants to build the plant, will try to negotiate with the town for a lower tax rate. If the Town refuses to negotiate with Invenergy and refuses to give them a tax break, the plant won’t be built.

-The Town will be asked by State agencies to submit official opinions about the power plant. If the Town Council says that they are against the plant, the State permits might not get approved.

-The power plant would need huge amounts of water to operate. The town has some power to deny Invenergy access to the local water supply and the pipes that will be needed to transport the water.

Amanda, another member of BASE, wants to know what the town council has done to move Burrillville towards a renewable energy future. After a few minutes of prevaricating, Councilor David Place is forced to admit that they’ve done almost nothing.

Invenergy also builds renewable energy power plants says Amanda, before demanding that the town council tell Invenergy to, “go solar or go home!”

After public comment on the subject is finally closed, and the citizens leave the building and gather outside on the sidewalk, no one seems happy with the performance of the town council. There is anger and frustration and talk of electing town councilors willing to stand with them against Spectra and Invenergy.

“When I started this two years ago, they could ignore me,” says Kathy Martley, of BASE, “They can’t ignore us any more.”