Carcieri Accuses Lynch of Playing Politics With Wind Farm

Carcieri Accuses Lynch of Playing Politics With Wind Farm

Gov. Don Carcieri struck back yesterday against claims by Attorney General Patrick Lynch and the Conservation Law Foundation that the new wind farm law is unconstitutional.

Carcieri (pictured left) said the claims were “wholly without merit” and he accused Lynch of trying to use the issue to boost his campaign for governor.

“The Attorney General is using his office to try to score political points and bring relevance to his campaign, instead of exercising his responsibilities to the State,” Carcieri said. “His role is to defend state agencies and commissions, not to challenge them or misrepresent the facts of a case.”

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The law requires that the Public Utilities Commission reconsider the proposed contract between National Grid and Deepwater Wind, after once rejecting it. Carcieri hammered away at Lynch (pictured right) for saying the new law was “an inside deal” tailored to favor just one company—Deepwater Wind.

“The Attorney General is making a reckless charge that the new law was the result of an inside deal tailored to favor one developer,” Carcieri continued. “The Attorney General should know that there was a competitive process to select a preferred developer for the proposed wind farm. The process was open, transparent, and based on competitive scoring of all interested applicants.”

Carcieri said Deepwater Wind was chosen because it had the lowest energy price, the strongest financial assets, and could commit to creating jobs in Rhode Island.

“The Attorney General is either uninformed or misleading the public – which is it?” Carcieri concluded.