Glocester Town Council passes resolution opposing Burrillville power plant proposal
GLOCESTER – The Glocester Town Council has passed a resolution supporting neighboring Burrillville’s opposition to Invenergy’s proposed $700 million natural gas- fired power plant in Pascoag.
At the council’s meeting on Oct. 6, Council Chairman Walter M. O. Steere III made the motion to pass the resolution, which was approved unanimously by the four other members of the board, including William E. Reichert, George O. Steere Jr., Edward C. Burlingame and Steven A. Sette.
After months of taking a neutral stand on Invenergy’s proposal, the Burrillville Town Council last month officially adopted a resolution opposing the plant. The town asking cities and towns throughout the state to do the same. Glocester is the first and only municipality to take that action so far.
Glocester will send a copy of its resolution to the Energy Facilities Siting Board ( EFSB), the state agency charged with reviewing Invenergy’s application.
Several residents from Burrillville were at the Glocester council meeting last Thursday urging the panel to support Burrillville’s opposition to the plant.
“We in Pascoag don’t have to imagine what it would be like to be poisoned by a giant. We were poi- soned,” said Burrillville resident Raymond Trinque. “We had the largest MTBE spill in the history of the United States in Pascoag just a few years ago. This is not an ‘in my backyard’ issue, it’s an ‘in all our backyards issue.”
During the meeting, Reichert and Councilman George Steere squashed rumors that they have been talking to Invenergy officials about the possibility of selling water and oil for the plant. Steere, who owns water rights in town, said he won’t sell a single gallon from his property to cool a power plant. Reichert, owner of Reichert & Sons Fuel Oil Inc., says his small fuel business is neither willing nor able to supply diesel oil to the plant.
Last week, EFSB voted to issue an executive order demanding that Invenergy show cause as to why the docket for its proposed power plant shouldn’t be suspended until such a time as the company can produce a water supply plan.
The show cause hearing is slated to take place today at noon at the state Public Utilities Commission office in Warwick.
The EFSB will also consider a motion filed by the town of Burrillville to dismiss Invenergy’s application.
The motion was filed by the town’s attorney Michael R. McElroy on the grounds that the application is incomplete and does not include information regarding all required support facilities, including water resources.
Over the summer, both the town’s Planning Board and Zoning Board rejected Invenergy’s proposed natural gas-fired power plant in Pascoag in advisory opinions submitted to the EFSB. Both panels cited serious concerns about water usage, noise, traffic and the potential of the plant to negatively impact the environment
Before that, Harrisville Fire District Operating Committee voted 5 to 1 to reject the company’s proposal to pay for a new well and purchase water to cool the plant. And following that vote, the Pascoag Utility District Board of Utility Commissioners formally voted against Invenergy’s proposal to reactivate and use water from the two Pascoag Utility District wells that were contaminated with MTBE in 2001.
McElroy said in his motion. “Invenergy’s application originally envisioned the use of water from MTBE polluted Well 3A of the Pascoag Utility District. However, on Aug. 19, the Pascoag Utility District’s Board of Utility Commissioners voted not to supply the project with water and terminated its letter of intent with Invenergy, thus closing the door on Invenergy’s planned used of Well 3A.”