During a Woonsocket City Council meeting Monday evening it was revealed that the City of Woonsocket is in some kind of negotiations with Invenergy regarding its proposed $700 million fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant. When the question was brought up, City Solicitor Michael Marcello answered only that the city council had been briefed in closed session and would not directly answer the question. As to the question of a power plant being built in the city, Marcello gave a direct answer: No.

City Councillor Daniel Gendron put an item on the city council’s agenda because of the number of calls he had received based on the rumors that such a deal was in the works. He also said that he prepared his question carefully, “so that I could read the question and give the administration [of Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt] the opportunity to answer that question definitively. So what I would like to ask, and I’m asking this of the administration and of my fellow councilors, but specifically the administration. I was hoping the Mayor would be here to respond but, in her absence, somebody in the administration could answer.”

Gendron asked two questions. The first concerned rumors that Invenergy was in negotiations to locate the power plant in Woonsocket, as an alternative to locating the plant in Burrillville, where there has been fierce local and statewide opposition. The second concerned the possible sale of water to Invenergy, for the plant planned for Burrillville.

“My question is a simple question,” said Gendron, “Has the administration had any discussion or communication with Invenergy or anyone else with respect to either siting a power plant in the city or about acquiring water from the city to be used in connection with a power plant?”

Council President Robert Moreau suggested City Solicitor Michael Marcello answer the question. Gendron repeated once more that he was going to address it to the mayor, but would be satisfied with an answer from Marcello.

“Councilor,” answered Marcello, “as you know you are a member of the council and you were briefed by the administration in closed session.” The closed session Marcello refered to took place at 5:30pm, shortly before the 7pm city council meeting. “The reason that we have a closed session,” said Marcello, “is to keep communication closed until such time as the law requires us to disclose it. I will say that emphatically, that there have been no discussions with the administration, that we’re aware of, that I’m aware of, to relocate the power plant within the City of Woonsocket.

“But with regard to your second question,” said Marcello, “you received a briefing in closed session, and that’s where that information must lay right now. In closed session.”

To the residents of Burrillville who had filled the city council chambers, this was confirmation of weeks of rumors.

“At the direction of our council I will not taint the sanctity, if you will, of the executive session meeting and I will not pursue this any further at your direction Mr. Marcello,” said Gendron.

“In summary,” said Council President Moreau, “that was pretty much what you’re going to hear about it tonight from this council because we had an executive session and the City Solicitor explained that we need to abide by that forum.”

“I put this item on the agenda tonight,” said Gendron, “for discussion purposes… that is what precipitated the executive session that took place prior to this meeting.” The item was “an effort to bring out the truth,” said Gendron. “I think that we needed to start this talk, we needed to squelch some of the rumors.” The solicitor denied completely that there was a power plant coming to Woonsocket, said Gendron. Before today, “none of [the city council] knew what was going on, and that was the benefit of the executive session.”

To the dozens of Burrillville residents and anti-fossil fuel activists from around the state, the city council meeting confirmed the existence of the “third option” ominously hinted at by Attorney Richard Sinapi at a meeting of the Harrisville Fire District and Water Board back in August. At that time Harrisville voted not to sell water to Invenergy, and it was known at that time that Pascoag was also going to vote against selling the power plant water.

Rumors had been swirling for weeks that Woonsocket was in negotiations with Invenergy regarding water. RI Future had put in an Access to Public Records Act request with the city on September 23rd regarding this issue. BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion), took to Facebook to ask people to call the office of Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt “and urge her to stop negotiating a water deal with Invenergy.”

The time frame on any potential deal between Invenergy and Woonsocket is difficult to determine. Yesterday Invenergy was given ten days to prepare for a “show cause” hearing with the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB). EFSB board member Janet Coit, who noted that Invenergy lacks a water plan said that, “from the perspective of the board, we have a big gap.” As part of the show cause hearing, Invenergy will have to submit their new water plan. Though Councillor Roger Jalette, (who is running for Mayor of Woonsocket) said that Invenergy might be making their case before a new city council after the elections in four weeks, Invenergy might not have that much time to wait until after an election.

There was also the hint that this issue may have implications for Woonsocket’s mayoral race between Jalette and Baldelli-Hunt, as Jalette said he is sympathetic to Burrillville’s cause.

During the public commentary period, the Woonsocket City Council was given a taste of what the Burrillville Town Council has been experiencing for nearly a year, that is, speaker after speaker objecting to new fossil fuel infrastructure being built in our state at a time when climate change threatens us all. “We don’t want it in our backyard,” said Ray Trinque of Burrillville, “and we don’t want it in your backyard and we don’t want it in anyone’s backyard…”

Burrillville resident Denise Potvin was born in Woonsocket and has family there still. Potvin said that Alan Shoer of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, one of Invenergy’s attorneys, “conveniently happens to be an attorney for the City of Woonsocket’s water department.” She mentioned that attorney Richard Sinapi is an attorney for Harrisville and large labor union with an interest in seeing the power plant built. “A lot happens behind the curtain,” said Potvin. She ended by suggesting the council educate itself by reading articles like this one on RI Future.

City Council Vice President Albert Brien interrupted public testimony and explained that right now, there was no proposal before the council.

Councillor Roger Jalette is leaving the city council as he runs against Lisa Baldelli-Hunt for Mayor of Woonsocket. “I want you to know that I am very very sensitive to your plight,” said Jalette. Jalette warned that there will be a new city council in four weeks, after the election, as neither he nor Council President Moreau will be on the council.

Burillville resident Jeremy Bailey pointed out that City Solicitor Michael Marcello is also a Ste Representative. Rep Marcello voted against a bill in May that would have allowed Burrillville residents to vote on any proposed tax treaty the town made with Invenergy. Rep Marcello was one of two representatives to attend the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs & Issues Breakfast Thursday morning where Invenergy‘s director of development John Niland was the guest speaker.

At the Superior Court of the District of Columbia yesterday, #Sidewalk7 members Claude Guillemard of Baltimore, MD, Ellen Taylor of Washington, D.C., and Donald Weightman of Philadelphia, PA, said that they would go to trial, set for Dec. 8, for their May 9 blockade at the FERC.

Peter Nightingale, of Kingston, RI, was arraigned only yesterday because he was out of the country during the first court date. He says he intends to go to trial. BXE and other groups have long criticized the agency for rubber-stamping fracked-gas pipelines, compressor stations and export facilities that it reviews.

“We have been charged with unlawful entry,” Weightman said, “but the real crime is the unlawful entry of methane and carbon dioxide into our air, the unlawful entry of toxic waste into our water, and the unlawful entry of global warming into the future of our world. The real weapon is fracked gas; FERC is the real defendant; we will charge FERC with the commission of a crime.”

The other three #Sidewalk7 activists – Melinda Tuhus of Connecticut, Clarke Herbert of Virginia and Linda Reik of New York – agreed to perform 32 hours of community service and to stay away from the 800 block of 1st Avenue NE, the area of the FERC offices, for four months.

The court actions yesterday were part of the ongoing resistance to fracked-gas infrastructure, including demanding a halt to expansion of Spectra’s AIM Project pipeline. #StopSpectra activists have declared a “state of emergency” in advance of a noon press conference Thursday outside the Manhattan offices of Sens. Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. The senators wrote a letter to FERC on Aug. 3 calling for construction to stop. In February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo also asked FERC to postpone the pipeline expansion.

After the court hearing, New York, BXE, and Fossil Free Rhode Island activists hand-delivered invitations to the press conference to the senators’ Washington offices.

The pipeline “would bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania to New England, despite a report from the Massachusetts Attorney General that shows no need for this gas,” the letter said. “In NY, if completed, the AIM Pipeline would carry gas through residential communities and within 105 feet of critical Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant safety facilities.

Just last April, Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern line erupted into a giant explosion due to pipeline corrosion, and New Yorkers fear what an explosion of this magnitude could mean in such close proximity to Indian Point. Over the last several years, communities along the pipeline route have risen up against the pipeline, and are counting on New York senators to help stop this dangerous project.”

Activists delivered a letter from Fossil Free Rhode Island to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s office.  The senator is generally considered to be a climate champion, but he supports fracked gas as a bridge fuel. The letter asks the senator to change his position so that it is consistent with science and with the nation’s obligations under international treaties, the Rio Declaration in particular.  The letter ends stating: “As a small step in that direction, maybe you could start by following Bill McKibben’s suggestion, ‘correcting the outmoded way the EPA calculates the warming effect of methane.’”

In June, DeSmog Blog reported  that a FERC employee who was the agency’s project manager for reviewing the then-proposed AIM pipeline had been hired by an engineering company that is one of Spectra’s main contractors. DeSmog Blog reported in May and July that a contractor hired by FERC to conduct an environmental review of a Spectra project was already working on related Spectra pipeline projects. U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey have written to FERC Chairman Norman Bay asking about the “potential conflicts of interest.”

A campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience is also ongoing in West Roxbury, MA, where 165 people have been arrested so far blocking construction of the West Roxbury Lateral pipeline.   Resist the Pipeline is coordinating those actions. In addition, the City Council, mayor, the state representative, state senator and U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch oppose the project.

Boston City Council President Michelle Wu said, “Climate change impacts us all and especially future generations. We need immediate, bold action to transition rapidly away from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy. Building new natural gas infrastructure, such as Spectra Energy’s West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline, is wrong for our communities and wrong for future generations. I applaud the thoughtful, purposeful, nonviolent civil disobedience West Roxbury residents and friends are practicing to accomplish what needs to get done.”

In addition, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled today that the state can’t force residential ratepayers to subsidize the construction of pipelines. “This is an incredibly important and timely decision,” said David Ismay, lead attorney on the case for Conservation Law Foundation. “Today our highest court affirmed Massachusetts’ commitment to an open energy future by rejecting the Baker Administration’s attempt to subsidize the dying fossil fuel industry. The course of our economy and our energy markets runs counter to the will of multi-billion dollar pipeline companies, and, thanks to today’s decision, the government will no longer be able to unfairly and unlawfully tip the scales.”
[Based on a BXE press release.]

The arrests happened on the first day of the Rubber Stamp Rebellion, a week of action protesting FERC’s endless stream of approvals of the fracked-gas projects that plague the nation. FERC’s projects, accepted with nary a whimper of Rhode Island’s congressional delegation,  have gained special notoriety in Rhode Island with Inverenergy’s planned gigawatt power plant in Burrillville and National Grid’s proposed gas liquefaction facility in Fields Point, Providence.

Explaining why he had participated in the blockade, Peter Nightingale, a member of Fossil Free Rhode Island and a URI physics professor, stated that he helped block one of the driveways leading to a FERC parking garage as an act of civil resistance and a symbolic attempt to stop what he calls a crime in progress:

 Our government no longer serves “the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community.”  [See article 10 of the New Hampshire Constitution, the Right of Revolution.]  As trustee of the environment, government is delinquent in its fiduciary duty to preserve a habitable climate for present and future generations.  The pretense that the Paris Agreement of 2015 can be implemented by expanding the fracked-gas infrastructure here and abroad is an act of ecocidal recklessness.”

An employee of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia wrote: “I cannot find Peter Nightingale, Claude Guillemard, Don Weightman, or Clarke Herbert in the system.”   This sound like perfect case of gender bias, except that Claude Guillemard happens to be a woman.  She once was lost but now she’s been found.

Attorney Mark Goldstone, a First Amendment lawyer who regularly defends political protestors—includingDouglas Hughes, the postal worker who landed a gyrocopter on a White House lawn—explained  that if a case is “not papered,” the government has decided not to go forward with the charge. This does not guarantee that they could not paper it later, but, as Goldstone added, he has never seen this happen in his 30 years of experience.

Whitehouse mistakenly refered to the sign holders as members of FANG, but of course FANG was in Boston during Whitehouse’s keynote, as can be seen here. Whitehouse seemed to say that while he appreciates the efforts of those holding signs, his priorities are on things other than preventing the expansion of natural gas infrastructure in Rhode Island.

I think the biggest message here, though perhaps not the one Whitehouse intended to deliver, is that the residents of Burrillville can count on getting no help from their Senator on this issue.

They are on their own.

More on the climate conference will be released over the weekend.

Here are Senator Whitehouse’s full comments:

Activists protesting the Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville, Invenergy’s proposed $700 million gas and oil burning energy plant, have been showing up at many of the public speaking events attended by Governor Gina Raimondo and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse over the last few months. Raimondo is on record as fully supporting the power plant, Whitehouse has recently shifted from being for the plant to saying that he has to be neutral.

The protesters have been peaceful and respectful. There have been no efforts towards disrupting events. For the most part protesters silently hold signs declaring their views, only speaking up at the end of the event.

Recently, however, protesters have been excluded from attending these public events and come under increased scrutiny from various law enforcement agencies.

On March 4, Lorraine Savard, a retired public school teacher, went to the Rhode Island State House with her anti-power plant sign, where she expected to be able to hold her sign at the back of the room during the Cherry Blossom Festival, held in the State Room.

“I was allowed into the State Room on the condition that I not wave the sign,” Savard wrote of the incident, “I sat with my sign on the floor next to me. Overstuffed red couch toward the back is where I sat. Sign facing out. It did not take long for the girl to come take my sign and hide it out of sight. I left with my sign.”

Savard told me that “the girl” is the member of the governor’s staff who maintains an office in the State Room at the State House.

In response to an inquiry, Marie Aberger, press secretary for Governor Raimondo, said, “The Governor’s staff did not take a sign away from anyone in the State Room. We are fully supportive of the public’s right to free speech.”

Three days later URI Professor of Physics and occasional RI Future contributor Peter Nightingale attended a NORAD press conference in Quonsett, RI. He stood outside the event with his sign, discussing the proposed power plant with Congresspersons David Cicilline and James Langevin.

Nightingale reports, “Mike Miranda, private owner of NORAD, did get tired with me and my off-topic message. He asked me to leave the event, which he referred to as private. The press was there and my impression was that the public was invited, but I left.”

Nightingale wonders, “how much state and federal money is spent on shuttling our leadership to and from these ‘private’ events.”

The next day, at the Pawtucket Visitor’s Center in downtown Pawtucket, Lorraine Savard found herself unable to enter the building with her sign. “I was not allowed into the press conference this morning. I stood outside with my sign. The Visitors Center is a public place, paid for with federal funds. I’m incensed. I am a pacifist at heart and not assertive enough to have demanded entry. The police came out and asked if it was a peaceful demonstration. I alone was there. How peaceful can it get?”

In this case it was federal law enforcement officers asked Savard to leave the property.

Intrigued by these reports, I accompanied Savard to the State House State Room for the International [Working] Women’s Day Event where Governor Raimondo was going to speak. The woman who uses the State Room as her office did not take Savard’s sign, but did wag a finger and caution her against displaying it. A Capitol Police officer was stationed directly next to Lorraine for the entirety of the event as she stood at the very back of the room.

When the Governor spoke at East Providence High School on March 10, Savard was not allowed on school property. Further, even when she stood off school property, she found herself under scrutiny from two East Providence police officers.

“[I w]as not allowed on the school property,” writes Savard, “The Principal came out to tell me I would be escorted off school grounds if I did not comply. I stood at the end of the drive and was then approached by 2 EP police officers and told not to block the drive. Madam Gov waved at me when her car drove in. There was press there, I took advantage of her interview and the camera when I went back to my car. I lined up the sign to be in line with the camera. As I returned to my car with sign one of the EP police approached. I called to him and said I was leaving.”

Preventing protesters from attending and holding signs at public events is obviously a serious First Amendment issue, but in the cases above, it’s unclear that these events that were open to all or designed to be open to every member of the public. Determining whether a violation of the First Amendment has taken place depends on the facts of each particular incident and on the nature of the forum.

That said, you would hope that in an open and democratic society our leaders would be particularly sensitive to free speech issues and err on the side of allowing non-disruptive, peaceful expressions of critical views and opinions. When the public is disallowed from attending events we become victims of political theater and propaganda. Without true engagement the public will not be in possession of information that an engaged electorate needs.

Governor Raimondo and others, please take note: An informed, engaged electorate is only dangerous to a politician who is more interested in maintaining power than serving the public interest.

Local environmental groups and activists have responded to comments made by RI House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (D District 15 Cranston) made about his support for Invenergy‘s new planned methane gas and oil fueled power plant at the 2016 Rhode Island Small Business Economic Summit.

In the video, Mattiello says, “I’ve been an advocate working with the Office of Energy Resources. I think we have to expand our traditional energy sources and we’re doing so somewhat in Burrillville. I fully encourage that because we have to provide traditional energy as cheaply and efficiently as possible for our ratepayers. However, the world is changing and we have to look at renewables and we have to encourage the growth of renewables. Some people want just the carbon based some people want just the renewables. I think we have to take a practical viewpoint and I encourage both and we’ll grow them both just as fast as we can and let the economy and the marketplace play a little bit of a role. As far as I’m concerned we’re going to encourage the expansion of all forms of energy so that our citizens and our businesses have the cheapest energy available to them so that we can grow and thrive as a community and that our citizens can heat their homes and power their homes as efficiently and cheaply as possible.”

“An ‘all-of-the-above’ approach may provide a good soundbite for Speaker Mattiello,” said Conservation Law Foundation press secretary Josh Block, “but it is an illogical and irresponsible solution when it comes to our energy grid. Renewable energy is the only path to ensuring breathable air, drinkable water and stable energy prices for decades to come, and suggesting we continue building payphones when cell phones are getting cheaper and more prevalent each day defies basic economic and common sense.”

Professor Peter Nightingale of Fossil Free RI says that “Speaker Mattiello does not get it: going green will stimulate Rhode Island’s economy more than his supposedly cheap fossil fuel energy.  He calls himself practical, even as he ignores common sense economics and the laws of nature. Unfortunately, he fits in perfectly with the rest of our leadership as they sell present and future generations down “Clear River” for short-term gain.  Is dark and out-of-state money interfering with their sense of decency and grasp of reality?”

Greg Gerritt, head of research for ProsperityForRI.com speaking only for himself, berated the Speaker’s understanding of economics, saying, “The more I listen to Representative Mattiello the more it becomes obvious that he has absolutely no understanding of how the economy works and where it is going, has no understanding of the relationship between healthy ecosystems and the Rhode Island economy, and no conception that economies are built from the bottom up not the top down.”

Nick Katkevich of Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG) sent a video, saying, “Way back on a hot summer day in June a group of us went to Mattiello’s law office in Cranston over a rumor that he was planning to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Burrillville Spectra expansion. To our surprise he showed up while we were there at his office.”

More on the 2016 Rhode Island Small Business Economic Summit:

Business leaders decide issues elected officials will pursue at economic summit

State leaders demonstrate their priorities, and it’s not you

More on Speaker Mattiello and his economic ideas from the 2015 Rhode Island Small Business Economic Summit:

Mattiello’s ‘dynamic analysis’ is long discredited economics

Governor Gina Raimondo today announced the formation of the Rhode Island Outdoor Recreation Council, touting the health benefits of outdoor recreation and the value of pristine open spaces, even as environmental activists challenged her on her continued support of the fossil fuel industry in Burrillville.

Members of Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG), Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion (BASE) and Fossil Free RI all attended the press conference in the freezing cold Goddard Park Carousel in Warwick, silently holding signs that said, “Save Burrillville.” After Governor Raimondo signed the executive order creating her new council, one member started chanting “No new power plant!” and was escorted from the room.

In a press release, Governor Raimondo said, “All Rhode Islanders should have the chance to enjoy the countless outdoor recreational opportunities in our beautiful state, and take advantage of these resources as they fulfill New Year’s resolutions and lead healthier lifestyles. Rhode Island’s natural assets are unmatched, with amazing beaches, parks, campgrounds, bike paths, the bay and waterways. The State can do more to encourage use of these resources and promote this critical sector of Rhode Island’s economy.”

Raimondo’s staff has not responded to a request to explain how increasing Rhode Island’s dependence on fossil fuels will make for healthy environments in the state.

Raimondo did not engage with the protesters, but exited quickly after the event. One member of FANG waited in line on stage for a chance to speak with the governor but was turned away. Pia told me, “I was very angry I got kicked off the stage and couldn’t talk to my governor even though I was next in line to do so.”

Director Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, of the Rhode Island Department of Health and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian did briefly engage. Among the protesters were Kathy Martley of Burrillville, who founded BASE, Sister Mary Pendergast and Sally Mendzela, who were arrested on Spectra property in December, Peter Nightingale who was arrested on Spectra property in August, and Nick Katkevich who was arrested on Spectra property in September.

In a statement Peter Nightingale said, “Fossil Free Rhode Island will continue to confront the Raimondo administration with the fact that natural gas is more dangerous for the global climate than coal and oil.  Fossil Free Rhode Island will not stand idly by as front line communities and Burrillville in particular are treated as sacrifice zones.”

I’ll have some video on this later today, and will update if the Governor’s office responds.

At the University of Rhode Island’s 19th annual Diversity Week, Peter Nightingale, professor of physics at URI, and climate activist, challenged students’ perspectives on climate change and offered a call to action in order to address environmental racism. The event, “Race and the Environmental Justice Movement,” was held at the Multicultural Student Services Center.

Nightingale began the event with a stark warning: in order to avoid catastrophic climate change, we must reduce greenhouse emissions globally by 7 percent. The U.S. is home to a fraction of the world’s population, it emits 25 percent of global greenhouse gasses. Even though the U.S. is greatly responsible for climate change, it will be the poor of the world, nations with less developed infrastructure, that will bear the consequences.

Nightingale referenced Robert Bullard’s work, “Dumping in Dixie”, in the presentation:

The environmental movement in the United States emerged with agendas that focused on such areas as wilderness and wildlife preservation, resource conservation, pollution abatement, and population control. It was supported primarily by middle- and upper-middle-class whites. Although concern about the environment cuts across racial and class lines, environmental activism has been most pronounced among individuals who have above-average education, greater access to economic resources, and a greater sense of personal efficacy.”

“I’m one of those people who are in a position of privilege,” said Nightingale. It was Nightingale’s privilege that allowed him to be treated politely by police when resisting fracked gas expansion. “Suppose I were half my age, and my color is a little bit darker – would they be equally polite, and nice? No – absolutely not.”

In the fight for the environment, there are the following stakeholders: the environmentalists, the social justice advocates, and the neo-liberal boosters, who, “have as their chief concerns maximizing profits, industrial expansion, economic stability, laissez-faire operation, and deregulation,” said Nightingale, quoting Bullard.

“If you follow the economic discussion in Rhode Island,” continued Nightingale, “all you hear people say is ‘all we need is more jobs, more jobs’ – but when you scrape away the rhetoric, a lot of people of color and poor minorities are being divided among themselves… the elites never mention that it’s all about their profits, about busting unions, about exploiting people – and this is one of the problems we have to deal with.”

For instance, Governor Gina Raimondo stated, “I am committed to moving ahead with cost-effective, regional energy infrastructure projects—including expansion of natural gas capacity—that will improve our business climate and create new opportunities for Ocean State workers.”

Nightingale also referred to the President’s Climate Action Plan as the “President’s Business Climate Action Plan” – stating that it is based on the interests of Wall Street, not in science. We are moving away from fossil fuels, and going towards natural gas, essentially replacing carbon dioxide with methane, a gas that is much more potent than carbon dioxide. “Let that sink in – that’s what [Senator] Sheldon Whitehouse is saying we should do and it’s a bad plan”

Not only are we “Dumping in Dixie,” but we are dumping in Providence, we are dumping in Burrillville, and we are dumping globally. From National Grid’s proposed LNG liquefaction facility to the proposed gas-fired power plant in Burrillville, the environment and the people are under assault says Nightingale.

“Who are the people that live next to I-95 in Providence… the people are about to thrown out of their houses… their skin tone is a couple of shades darker than mine.” Nightingale directed attendees to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice website, which shows several environmental and demographic indicators regarding pollution. In the presentation, Nightingale showcased the current indicators for the proposed LNG liquefaction facility at Fields Point location in Providence, and compared the indicators to those of East Greenwich.

Nightingale continued by critiquing Cap and Trade. “We are taking a serious problem [and] financializing it. We’re putting it on the stock market, and we’re allowing people to speculate.” By allowing environmental destruction to continue in impoverished communities, while Wall Street profiteers from the destruction, we thus institutionalize environmental injustice. “We can live yet another day, because we are taking the livelihood from someone else in the Southern Hemisphere.” A prime example of this is the continued deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. Nightingale drew a parallel to Pope Francis’ comments on climate change and tax credits:

The strategy of buying and selling ‘carbon credits’ can lead to a new form of speculation which would not help reduce the emission of polluting gases worldwide. This system seems to provide a quick and easy solution under the guise of a certain commitment to the environment, but in no way does it allow for the radical change which present circumstances require. Rather, it may simply become a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.”

Nightingale concluded by offering a powerful statement from Pope Francis, “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”

One after another speakers from the affected community, environmental activists, concerned Rhode Islanders and elected members of the General Assembly spoke passionately about negative environmental impacts and the explicit environmental racism implicit of National Grid’s plan.

The liquefaction facility is to be located adjacent to one of Rhode Island’s poorest communities, which already suffers from higher rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments. This community has become a sacrifice zone, a place where dangerous chemicals are stored. A representative from FERC admitted that some additional methane leaks are to be expected as a result of this plan, and methane is one of the most dangerous gases contributing to global warming and global catastrophe.

Peter Nightingale, a member of Fossil Free Rhode Island, has been involved in several FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) actions and who was arrested for his peaceful protest at Senator Sheldon Whitehouse‘s Providence office, pulled no punches when he told FERC, “To you who are here silently doing your jobs for this project I have but one thing to say: You are complicit in crimes against humanity and against Mother Earth.”

Monae McNeil, from the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island (EJLRI), a group central to the community’s resistance to this project, said, that this project “puts low-income communities at risk, if something were to happen.” The site of the project is not protected by the hurricane barrier. There was an earthquake near this location in August. A disaster at this facility would affect as many as 140 thousand Rhode Islanders.

Jan Luby pointed out that no storage facilities like this are being proposed for Barrington, Lincoln or East Greenwich. Instead, these projects are proposed for low-income communities where resistance is expected to be minimal.

Greg Gerritt spoke on behalf of the Green Party of RI and Prosperity For RI. FERC, he said, “has never turned down one of these projects” demonstrating that the agency is not serious about climate change.

Kate Schati doesn’t live on the South Side, but she cares what happens there, because “it affects the people who live in Providence with me… I don’t want them to be at risk of a breach or a leak or an explosion or even the normal operation of a plant…”

Ben Boyd: “…we need to be investing in clean, renewable, sustainable energy sources…”

One of the most impassioned testimonies of the evenings came from Stephen Dahl, of Kingston, RI. “Weep, weep, weep, weep,” he began, quoting William Blake on the Industrial Revolution. This was more performance piece as testimony, and was powerful.

Marti Rosenberg lives within the affected community. “This project shows us that the impact of fracking is much closer than we think.” Methane is used by communities near the South Side, but the South Side itself not so much. Instead, this community bears the brunt of the negative impacts of methane gas, and none of the benefits.

Peter Sugrue questioned National Grid’s motives for project. “We will clearly see a rate increase for this $100 million project,” yet all National Grid is promising is a smoothing of price volatility. How does this benefit Rhode Islanders, is that even to be honestly expected and is it worth the cost?

Paul Klinkman

Liberty Goodwin

Karen Palmer

Nick Katkevich of FANG, which has lead several actions against fracked gas infrastructure in Burrillville and Providence, promised resistance to this project in the event that FERC approves it.

Gina Rodriguez-Drix is a resident of Washington Park, a mother of two and a birth worker, is “deeply concerned about the disproportionate effects” this project will have on women and children of color in  her neighborhood and other affected communities.

Julian Rodriguez-Drix is tired. “I’ve got a family with two kids, a full time job, and now it’s up to us to us, spending our free time poring through pages and pages of bureaucratic nonsense that is trying to find ways to justify a facility that you’ve heard everyone here speak out against.”

Representative Aaron Regunberg

Claudia Gorman

Servio

Lisa Petrie

Yudiglen Sena-Abrau

Jesus Holguin

Ana Quezada

Dania Flores is a board member of EJLRI. She spoke to the community (not to FERC) about how National Grid’s plan impacts the Latino community, about how we have our own solutions, and how we need to deport National Grid.

Paul

Beth Milham

Senator Josh Miller

Senator Juan Pichardo

August Juang

Vanessa Flores-Maldonado

Helen MacDonald

Steve Roberts

Susan Walker

Michelle Lacey

Will Lambek

Associate Judge William C. Clifton of Rhode Island’s District Court handed down his verdict against Curt Nordgaard, and Peter Nightingale, who were arrested after locking themselves to the front gate at the site of Spectra Energy‘s compressor station in Burrillville, Rhode Island in a direct action organized by Fighting Against Natural Gas (FANG).

Charges of disorderly conduct were dismissed; charges of willful trespass resulted in a one-year “filing,” which means that these cases will be dismissed if the defendants come into no further conflict with the law.

Nordgaard,  a resident pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, stated after his arrest that “if we had legal means to stop this project, we would use them. Instead we are forced to protect families and communities through nonviolent civil disobedience, in proportion to the severity of this threat.” Nightingale,  a professor of physics at University of Rhode Island and a member of Fossil Free Rhode Island and who was arrested last December during a sit-in in U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse‘s office in Providence, has kept the promise he made at the time: “This pipeline is immoral and unjust, and we will keep taking action until this dangerous project is stopped.”

Nightingale stated: “Under the Public Trust Doctrine, government has a duty to preserve Earth’s gifts for present and future generations. The fact that we cannot use this argument to justify our actions in Burrillville [in Rhode Island’s courts] is but one symptom of the environmental injustice that pervades our system of government.”

“Natural” gas has been touted as a bridge fuel by both the industry and the Obama Administration, but evidence has been mounting since 2011 that, independent of the use to which it is put, it is more dangerous for the climate than coal or oil.  This development, along with a growing awareness of local impacts such as air and water pollution, threats to public health, earthquakes, etc. are continuing to draw unexpected activists into increasingly defiant acts of civil disobedience against fracking and gas-related infrastructure.

[This report compiled from a FANG press release]