The Fall River City Council Committee on Health and Environmental Affairs met Monday night to discuss the Watuppa Water Board decision to sell water to Invenergy to cool their proposed $1 billion dollar fracked gas and diesel oil burning...
The
Fall River City Council Committee on Health and Environmental Affairs met Monday night to discuss the
Watuppa Water Board decision to sell water to
Invenergy to cool their proposed $1 billion dollar fracked gas and diesel oil burning power plant aimed at the pristine forests on north west Rhode Island.
The Committee, led by Chair
Steven Camara, voted unanimously to pass two resolutions:
- Condemn the water deal with Invenergy and condemn the Invenergy project in Rhode Island
- Support a non renewal of the deal once the deal expires
These resolutions will now go to the full Fall River City Council on May 15th 6pm.
Invenergy's primary water supply deal with the Town of
Johnston is
being litigated in
Rhode Island Superior Court.
Invenergy and their water hauler
Benn Water were represented at the committee meeting by Attorney
Mark Russo. The water contract will be up for renewal, said Russo, in June of 2024, three years after the anticipated June 2021 operation date.
Russo noted that Fall River would be a "contingent supplier" to Invenergy, not a primary source. "On that point," said Russo, "Benn Water has a number of communities that are contingent suppliers in
Rhode Island and in
Connecticut. Probably somewhere between nine and ten. So I think that is an important point to make... What you do is you lease a hydrant and you lease a meter, and that's how you take [the water.] We don't have reserve capacity agreements with these other communities, only Fall River has that."
Meaning that these other communities do not receive additional fees for selling water to Invenergy, as does Fall River.
Here's the full video off the committee meeting:
https://youtu.be/x7Dx9NdC9xc
Opening Statements will be presented before the
Energy Facilities Siting Board (
EFSB) tomorrow as the Final Hearing to determine the fate of Invenergy's proposed power plant begin.
Additional details about the meeting can be found here:
Mayor Correia, Watuppa Water Board Invenergy Deal Condemned by Subcommittee
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