The Chicago-based
company building the Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville, R.I., claims
the natural-gas power plant will save ratepayers millions and reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions. Project opponents are highly skeptical. (Invenergy)
By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI
News staff
PROVIDENCE — The
Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) is challenging the proposed natural gas-fired
power plant in Burrillville, R.I. The Boston-based organization, which has an
office locally, has been influential in crafting renewable-energy policy and
environmental legislation, and has advocated for the state to address climate
change.
Now the advocacy group
says the nearly 1,000-megawatt power plant hinders Rhode Island’s
greenhouse-gas reduction goals. Established in 2014, the Resilient Rhode Island Act requires the state to cut carbon emissions
80 percent by 2050.
“The proposed power
plant, because it would be fired by a fossil fuel, would emit atmospheric
carbon and would consequently have an impact on Rhode Island and global
climate,” wrote CLF attorneys Jerry Elmer and Max Greene in a letter to the to
the state Energy Facility
Siting Board.
Chicago-based Invenergy
LLC submitted plans for
the Clear River Energy Center to the siting board on Oct. 29. A public hearing for the project is scheduled for Jan. 12 at the Public
Utilities Commission office in Warwick.
During a Nov. 19 meeting
of the state Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4), Gov. Gina
Raimondo talked about the need for the state, businesses and nonprofits to make
plans to “meet the challenges of climate change.” This includes, she said,
cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and preparing for sea-level rise.
However, in August,
Raimondo gave her endorsement for construction of the state’s largest power
plant that runs on both natural gas and diesel fuel, and locks the state into
decades of carbon dioxide emissions. Her support for the project comes before
the state can adopt its greenhouse-gas reduction plan.
A study for the plan was
recently awarded to the Northeast
States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM). The nonprofit, which is
overseen by air-quality directors from all six New England states, expects to
complete its plan next fall.
“I do support (the new
power plant),” she told ecoRI News as she left the recent EC4 meeting. “It’s
highly efficient. I support natural gas as a bridge to renewables. And this
particular plant is very efficient and all the more reason I do support it.”
According to Invenergy,
the Clear River Energy Center will be the most efficient in New England and
bring significant savings to Rhode Island ratepayers by producing energy at a
lower cost than existing power plants, especially those that run on coal and
oil. However, none of Rhode Island’s power plants run principally on either
fuel.
From 2019 to 2022,
cumulative savings to Rhode Island ratepayers resulting from Burrillville’s new
power plant are projected to exceed $280 million, or about $70 million
annually, according to the Illinois company.
Invenergy says
greenhouse-gas emissions reductions will be achieved by replacing higher carbon
dioxide-emitting plants, such as the coal-fired Brayton Point Power Station in
Somerset, Mass. The 1,493-megawatt facility is scheduled to close June 1, 2017.
Elmer said these dirtier
power plants rarely run because of the high supply and low cost of natural gas.
In fact, New England’s overall energy mix emits less carbon dioxide than the
proposed Clear River project, according to CLF.
“Building an expensive,
new, long-lived, fossil fuel-fired power plant now would make it impossible for
Rhode Island to meet its climate goals. That is the key issue in this
case,” Elmer wrote in his CLF blog.
Elmer also challenges
the big-dollar savings, saying any financial benefit applies to all New England
ratepayers. The savings to Rhode Islander, he claimed, is likely about 0.5
percent.
“It would be dangerous
and unwise to build a new, long-lived $700 million carbon-emitting fossil-fuel
plant for such a tiny, remote, speculative pecuniary benefit,” Elmer wrote.
CLF has suggested an
agreement with the Clear River project that is similar to the one made for the
proposed 674-megawatt natural-gas power plant in Salem, Mass. The result of a
lawsuit filed by CLF led to a deal that requires the new power plant to reduce
carbon emissions annually. The power plant must also close by 2050.
CLF cited the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Act, which states: “Before approving the construction,
operation and/or alteration of major energy facilities, the board shall
determine whether cost effective efficiency and conservation opportunities
provide an appropriate alternative to the proposed facility.”
If approved, the Clear
River Energy Center is expected to begin construction in 2016 and will be
operational in 2019.