Date set for final public hearing on power plant

Burrillville High will host Invenergy weigh-in Oct. 10

BURRILLVILLE – The state Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) is giving the public one final chance to weigh in on Invenergy's application to build a natural gas-fired power plant in Pascoag.

The EFSB announced Monday that it will hold its last community public hearing in Burrillville on Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 6 to 10 p.m. in the Burrillville High School auditorium, 425 East Avenue, Harrisville.

The four-hour hearing will precede the EFSB’s procedural and evidentiary hearings, which begin Oct. 17 and end on Dec. 18.

Procedural hearings and motions will be held over a period of three consecutive days Oct. 17-19, while final evidentiary hearings will be held Oct. 31; Nov. 1, 2, 10, 20, 29 and 30; and Dec. 4,7, 8, 12 and 18.

The panel has reserved three extra hearing dates in January in case they are needed.

All hearings are scheduled to be held in the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission hearing room, 89 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick. In the past, the panel has live- streamed meetings and hearings to allow the public to observe the proceedings.

The four-hour community public hearing on Oct. 10 will be the last opportunity for the public to testify before the panel in Burrillville. The EFSB, which will have final say on whether the plant is built, had indicated a month ago that it would conduct another public hearing in Burrillville before the evidentiary hearings begin on Oct. 31. This will be the fourth and last community public hearing held in Burrillville since Invenergy filed its application in 2015.

Meanwhile, Aug. 13 was the deadline for agencies, including the town of Burrillville, to prepare and submit supplemental advisory opinions on Invenergy’s new water supply plan for the $700 million Clear River Energy Center.

In March, the EFSB voted to ask for supplemental advisory opinions from the Burrillville building inspector, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Department of Environmental Management, Department of Transportation and Statewide to address the impacts of the proposed new water plan and gaps identified in the original advisory opinions.

According to the EFSB’s rules and regulations, agencies asked to submit advisory opinions on an application are allowed up to six months to do so, but the board has decided to ask for an interim status report on the advisory opinions with final reports due on Aug. 13.

In September of last year, EFSB voted to deny separate motions by Burrillville and the Conservation Law Foundation to dismiss Invenergy’s application. The town’s original motion to dismiss was filed in September on the grounds that Invenergy’s application was incomplete and did not include information regarding all required support facilities, including water resources. The EFSB voted a month later in October to suspend the application and ordered the company to report back by Jan. 11 of this year with a new plan to secure water for the $700 million Clear River Energy Center after two water suppliers in Burrillville rejected proposals to sell water.

On Jan. 11, the last day of the suspension period and the day after the Johnston City Council approved a long-term agreement to sell water to the company, Invenergy filed its revised water supply plan.

The town continues to maintain its position that Invenergy’s new water plan in partnership with the town of Johnston changes the processing methods of the power plant and includes process that were not known to the town, the EFSB, or the other agencies that provided advisory opinions to the EFSB back in September of 2016.

Two months ago, a Superior Court judge denied Invenergy's motion to dismiss two lawsuits filed in April by the Town of Burrillville and the Conservation Law Foundation.

The two lawsuits both seek the same thing: A declaration that the town of Johnston has no legal right under the 1915 Act to obtain water from Providence for the power plant.

Both the Conservation Law Foundation and the Town of Burrillville are asking a Superior Court judge to issue a summary judgment in the matter.