The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (RIPUC) today ruled against Conservation Law Foundation (CLF)’s motion to dismiss National Grid‘s proposed pipeline tariff and instead issued an indefinite stay. CLF argued that National Grid’s plan to charge electrical consumers to underwrite and guarantee profits for its proposed ANE pipeline is no longer viable given a recent Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that declared such pipeline tariffs unconstitutional under state law.
Since National Grid’s plan required the consent of all New England states, CLF moved to dismiss the docket here in Rhode Island, yet Meg Curran, chair of the RIPUC, didn’t agree that the project was necessarily dead, saying she still had questions about the project. Curran felt that National Grid’s offer to withdraw their application and refile at a later date or accept a ruling that the docket be put on hold were better options.
RIPUC board member Herbert DeSimone Jr agreed. He said that dismissal would not be appropriate, and withdrawing the application would create “unnecessary redundancies” upon refiling, as all the evidence heard to date would have to be heard again and all motions re-decided. DeSimone suggested that the RIPUC issue an indefinite stay in the proceedings, with the caveat that National Grid file a progress report on January 13, 2017.
Curran and DeSimone then unanimously voted in favor of the plan. Marion Gold, the third member of the RIPUC, had recused herself.
The meeting was attended by representatives from and members of People’s Power and Light, the FANG Collective, Food and Water Watch, Toxics Action Center, Fossil Free RI, NoLNGinPVD and the RI Sierra Club.
“The Commission’s decision to delay this proceeding is a step toward the inevitable death of the pipeline tax. Forcing Rhode Island electric customers to foot the bill for a gas pipeline we don’t need defies our best interest and our laws,” Megan Herzog with the Conservation Law Foundation said. “Both Massachusetts and the federal government have rejected the project, and we will keep fighting until Rhode Island follows suit.”
“Rhode Island consumers should not have to take on the long-term risk of a new, unnecessary natural gas pipeline. We must protect electric customers from being charged for a natural gas pipeline, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has already done this by deciding that the unprecedented cost-recovery scheme proposed by utilities is illegal, according to Mass. law,” said Priscilla De La Cruz of People’s Power and Light, also in attendance.
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.
[From a press release]
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