Burrillville Power Plant Battle: Who Will Win?
GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
Burrillville Power Plant Battle: Who Will Win?
Rhode Island State Representative Cale Keable introduced a measure to give local control to the residents of Burrillville to ultimately decide the proposed energy plant’s fate that was approved by the full House 64-7, but a companion measure introduced by Senator Paul Fogarty stalled in Committee, being held for further study.
The proposal for Invenergy was first introduced in 2015 with the support of Governor Gina Raimondo; the environmental website EcoRI stated this week it believes Raimondo would veto any local-control measures that makes it way through the General Assembly.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I think it's important to remember that Democrats in Rhode Island aren't like Democrats in other states. People like Raimondo often oppose the national Party's core priorities,” said Sam Bell, State Chair for the Progressive Democrats of America. “So it is unsurprising to see [Raimondo] supporting the fossil fuel industry.”
Parsing the Proposal
URI Distinguished Professor of Business Edward Mazze cautioned of the precedent of allowing local control over a negotiation already in process.
“The location of a $700 million power plant in any location is as much a political as an economic/environmental issue to local residents and their local government and state representatives,” said Mazze. “For Rhode Island this is an opportunity for Invenergy with operating projects in six other states to build a clean natural gas facility using efficient technology that will reduce electricity costs in the future. The project would create over 300 construction jobs and about 20 full-time jobs when the facility goes on-line in 2019.”
“For local residents and their elected officials, this project presents a number of concerns which have to be answered, among other questions: (1) does the project impact the value of their homes, (2) are there potential health effects, (3) would the natural resources in the area be in jeopardy, (4) will the construction and operations of the facility cause traffic or congestion problems, (5) will "climate change" affect the importance of this facility in the years ahead and (6) does this this facility increase the state's reliance on natural gas for power generation at too high a rate when other energy alternatives may be better,” continued Mazze. “Keable and Fogarty are representing their constituents - this is important. Many of these questions may have been answered when the facility was announced and those in favor and those against are not budging from their positions."
The opposition to the power plant has been strong, and includes Facebook pages “No New Burrillville Power Plant” with 730 members, "Keep Burrillville Beautiful" (2,895 likes), and "Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion" (828), to name a few.
While the Burrillville Town Council recently opposed the Keable and Fogarty legislation, the Burrillville Democratic Town Committee came out against the power plant proposal itself. Democratic Party Chairman Joseph McNamara supported the residents’ right to vote on the issue, per the town Democrats’ decision.
“The Burrillville Democratic Town Committee has long stood for protecting the basic rights of homeowners and working families, always advocating for protection of the safety and welfare of residents, a clean environment and the proud rural community in which they live,” said McNamara, sharing the following:
Citing the major disruptions the Invenergy’s $700 million Clean River Energy project would create upon that community and its families in its multi-phase project, consisting of “two single shaft “H” Class combined cycle units with output up to 1000 Megawatts, air cooled condensers and duel fuel capability (natural gas and oil back up)..scheduled for a June 2019 commercial operation date for Unit 1 and 2020 for Unit 2, the Democratic Town Committee resoundingly opposed its construction and went on record to encourage the Energy Facility Siting Board to deny Invenergy’s request to locate in Burrillville, Rhode Island
GOP v. Speaker, Senate President Not on Record
The head of the the Rhode Island Republican Party said that they oppose allowing for local control.
"I don't see the proposed power plant as a partisan issue and as such the RI GOP has no formal position on this project,” said RI GOP chair Brandon Bell. “Clearly we have a need for more generation sources in order to help lower consumer and business rates but each project must be evaluated on its own merits. It would be premature to conclude whether the project's pros outweigh its cons."
“The RI GOP is however very concerned about Rep. Keable’s legislation that is "designed" to block the project. This is bad legislation that interferes with the siting process for power plants. Legislation like this will send a terrible message to businesses who may wish to come to Rhode Island,” said Bell. “It demonstrates that what matters most is not how it impacts the State but how it will impact the political self interest of members of Speaker Mattiello's democratic leadership team such as Keable. Particularly troubling is that Cale Keable's proposed legislation is obviously a pure political ploy to allow himself to play the hero to his constituents when he knows full well the bill will never become law. If he truly wanted to stop the power plant project he has the influence to do it but he surely knows his own legislation sets a terrible precedent. I think it is deceptive and irresponsible for Rep. Keable to play on the emotions of his constituents and to get their hopes up for his own electoral gain by pretending to push for legislation that he knows cannot and will not pass."
Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello voted for Keable’s measure; Senate President Terersa Paiva Weed has not taken a position, despite the controversy.
“I can't speculate about the potential for the legislation moving forward. There was lengthy testimony at a hearing last week and the bill was held for further study,” said Greg Pare, spokesperson for Paiva Weed. “The Senate President has not taken a position on the legislation at this point.”
FY17 House Budget -- Winners and Losers
Winner
National Grid
When controversial Article 18 got pulled from the budget on Tuesday, critics had lauded the removal of the provision, which appeared to benefit a single wind farm - and the substantial political donor who owned it. But the real winner here is National Grid, the company owned by the British Energy Conglomerate, who would have had to force electric rate payers to pay millions more to connect renewable energy projects to the power grid and pay a greater share.
The battle is not over, however; Speaker Mattiello said that after having received feedback on Article18 and that he "reached the conclusion there are pieces of the article that do not need to be in the budget." Given the level of scrutiny is it highly unlikely the measure will see light of day as a stand-alone measure before the session adjourns, but it can't be ruled out.
Loser
Statewide Tourism Campaign
There was no last minute relief for the Commerce Corp. The often controversial agency is taking a cut.
Following the ill-fated rollout of the statewide tourism campaign this year, House Finance opted to give money back to the regional tourism bureaus that had been slated to go to the centralized effort.
Mattiello said that the House finance budget is taking $1 to $2 million from the $5 million for next year from the statewide tourism office and giving it back to the regional tourism bureaus. “We had a snafu in the effort. We’ll rely on the locals for the year, and then it will transfer back to state initiative,” said Mattiello.
Winner
Medical Marijuana Growers, Patients
One of the biggest battles of the 2016 General Assembly session started when Governor Raimondo proposed a tagging fee on medical marijuana plants -- to major pushback.
The tax as proposed in the Governor's 2017 budget would have imposed a $150 per plant charge on patients lawfully growing marijuana for medical purposes, and a $350 per plant charge for caregivers, for a projected total of $8.5 million in new revenue.
House finance scaled back the fee-per-plant to $25, to cover the costs of regulating the marketplace.
“Advocacy works. We listened to folks, no one really liked the proposal we received,” said Mattiello. “[As far as] the need of regulations, we’re probably on the low end of that. But we didn’t want to enhance revenues on prescription medications.”
Winner
ProvPort
A surprise amendment that resussciated a dead proposal.
A late session effort by the City of Providence to get a $20 million bond question on the ballot for ProvPort in November initiatially hadfallen flat as a line item in the budget.
Legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio in late May and now a budget article add-on for a bond referendum of $20,000,000 to fund the acquisition, expansion and infrastructure improvement of up to approximately 25 acres of land and facilities located between Allens Avenue in Providence and the Providence River by ProvPort, Inc.
While it appears to be a House Finance budget “loser” the battle is not over yet for the year, as Mattiello said there is still ongoing discussions.
Winner
Business Owners
Mattiello touted in his “pro-business, pro-economy” budget lowering the minimum corporate tax from $450 to $400. This comes a year after the General Assembly lowered it from $500 to $450 last year, taking away at that time the dubious distinction for Rhode Island being the state with the highest corporate minimum tax.
“There are no new taxes or fees,” said Mattiello of the House Finance FY17 budget (apart from the $25 medical marijuana tax).
Loser
School Infrastructure
Raimondo had called for a $40 million school construction and renovation bond to be put on the November ballot, but Mattiello said during a media briefing that the state should wait for the completion of a study expected to show what exactly the construction needs are for the state’s schools.
Mattiello said that there is still funding in the budget for school construction needs, as Raimondo had also proposed an $80 million appropriation for construction and renovation, including of $9.1 million for the school building authority -- but the dedicated bond question that would have increased resources by 50% -- was off the table in the House Finance budget.
Winner
Smokers and Mini-Marts
After years of steady increases in the state’s cigarette tax, smokers got a reprieve in House Budget when the committee rejected Raimondo’s proposal to raise the cigarette tax twenty-five cents from $3.75 to $4 a pack.
Make no mistake about it, this is just as much about the convenience stores not wanting the additional tax on their golden goose - and New England Convenience Store Association lobbyist Brian Goldman just got vetted by Senate Judiciary for his nomination from Raimondo to replace Associate Judge Frank Cenerini, who retired in October 2014.
Loser
Raimondo’s Minimum Wage Hike
Governor Raimondo once again pushed for an increase in the state’s minimum wage, and it appears she will be once again denied by the legislature.
Speaker Mattiello said that Raimondo’s effort to boost the minimum wage from $9.60 to $10.10 an hour would be a no-go. So while it falls in the loss category for those who were pushing for it, it could have been labeled as a win for business owners who have said they couldn’t incur such a mandatory increase.
Winner
Retirees (Pensioners)
“We are giving pension relief to everyone who receives some type of pension income, whether it’s public employees, private, or veterans,” said Mattiello.
Mattiello noted that the tax deduction “will be income tested, [and] you have to be Social Security age to qualify.” The tax exemption is slated to apply to the first $15,000 in retirement income, for those qualifying individuals with incomes of $80,000 or less, and couples up to $100,000.
Loser
Solar and Wind
While the removal of Article 18 was championed as a win against crony capitalism, there was more at stake than just one developer with strong political ties. While the article appeared as of Tuesday looked to be gone from the budget, that did not mean the legislative proposal could not stand alone. EcoRI was quick to point out however all that the article did for provide for a number alternative energy incentives including:
Article 18...would allow loans for projects using net metering and virtual net metering, as well as those priced through the Renewable Energy Growth Program.
Article 18 also includes a five-year extension of the state Renewable Energy Fund, which provides grants for small- and medium-sized solar projects. The funds are collected through a monthly surcharge on electric bills and the pool of funds, currently about $6 million, is distributed to solar developers and installers through the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation.
Article 18 also exempts residential and commercial manufacturers from paying local property taxes. It also establishes a statewide property tax rate for commercial renewable-energy systems. The new tax rate will be determined by the Office of Energy Resources.
Winner
Beach Visitors
Beachgoers get a win.
Everyone who loves the beach gets a win with the the House budget. Speaker Mattiello touting that “beach fees are reduced to the 2011 level” for the coming year.
A season pass for residents would be slashed from $60 to $30, non-residents from $120 to $60, and Rhode Island senior citizens from $30 to $15. Plus, one-time entrance fees would be lowered for residents from $10 to $6 (and senior citizens, down to $3).
