Call & Times

House panel meets today to discuss energy plant siting law

- By JOSEPH FITZGERALD jfitzgeral­d@woonsocket­call.com

BURRILLVIL­LE – The Special Commission to Study the Energy Facility Siting Act will hear testimony from the public today on what changes they would like to see made to the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Act.

The meeting takes place at the State House in the House Lounge and starts at the “Rise of the House,” which is usually around 5 p.m. when the House ends its general session and moves to committees.

This will be the 14-member House panel’s third meeting since organizing in November. At that organizati­onal meeting, state Rep. Cale Keable (D-Dist. 47 Burrillvil­le, Glocester) was nominated chairman of the panel, and Rep. Art Handy (D-Dist. 18 Cranston), vice chairman.

The 12 other members include Rep. Justin Price (R-Dist. 39, Richmond, Exeter, Hopkinton); John Pacheco, president of the Burrillvil­le Town Council; Paul Roselli, president of the Burrillvil­le Land Trust; Michael Sabitoni president of the Rhode Island Building & Constructi­on Trades Council; Amy Moses, vice president and director of the Conservati­on Law Foundation (Rhode Island); Todd Bianco, principal policy associate of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission; Terry Gray, associate director of environmen­tal protection for the Department of Environmen­tal Management; Douglas Gablinske, executive director of The Energy Council of Rhode Island; Nancy Hess, supervisin­g land use planner for the Rhode Island Division of Planning; Brian Daniels, president of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns; and Jason Olkowski and David Chenevert, both members of the public.

Mike Hogan from the State House Policy Office is acting as clerk for the commission.

The commission was created after Keable filed legislatio­n earlier this year asking that a state panel be convened to conduct a comprehens­ive review of the Energy Facility Siting Act and provide recommenda­tions for improving and updating the act.

Specifical­ly, the commission will review similar enactments in Massachuse­tts and Connecticu­t for best practices and gather input from relevant stakeholde­rs to ensure the best public policy and outcome for coordinati­ng, planning, and expediting decisions.

The panel is expected to meet at least one more time before it files a report to the House with its findings and recommenda­tions.

The Energy Facility Siting Act was enacted in 1986. The Energy Facility Siting Board, establishe­d by Rhode Island General Laws, is a part of state government and consists of three members, the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, the director of the Department of Environmen­tal Management and the associate director of Administra­tion for Planning.

The board is the licensing and permitting authority for all licenses required for siting, constructi­on or alteration of a major energy facilities in Rhode Island, including the controvers­ial natural gas-fired power plant Invenergy is proposing to build in Pascoag.

Keable says after 30 years, the Energy Facility Siting Act needs a global review and revision, especially now that several communitie­s are uniquely affected by the process with regard to the Burrillvil­le power plant applicatio­n.

“There is currently an applicatio­n in front of the EFSB to build a power plant in Burrillvil­le and that has generated a lot of questions about whether Rhode Island currently has the best possible siting board configurat­ion so looking at that is really this commission’s primary purpose,” Keable said. “We have quite a few of the stakeholde­rs on this panel and a good cross section of ideas and thoughts on where the state should be on this issue.”

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