Uphold PUC's rejection of wind farm

The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission made a unanimous decision to deny the contract between Deepwater Wind and National Grid for the Block Island wind-farm project because it costs too much.

Under the proposal, all Rhode Island electricity ratepayers would have been required to pay up to $400 million in over-market costs during the next 20-year life of the contract, in a windfall deal that promised Deepwater investors a 98 percent return. And, the cost of the cable from the wind farm to the mainland was excluded!

In less than a month, Rhode Island Senate Bill 2010-S2819 was introduced to circumvent the PUC ruling. As noted by Atty. Gen. Patrick Lynch, the Rhode Island PUC is the oldest independent regulatory administrative agency in the nation. Before the denial decision, state leadership acknowledged and credited the PUC as "the guardian of our public interest in utility matters" and as "the experts on items of this level of technicality and regulatory significance."

In an about-face, SB2819 proposes a rubber-stamp administrative process that would retroactively undo the seven months of rigorous research, review and analysis of facts as well as public hearings by the PUC that resulted in the determination that the proposal was not "commercially reasonable." This proposed legislation is an end-run - it egregiously and miserably fails the most important test of "good governance."

Some see the Deepwater Block Island wind project as an opportunity to usher in a new source of energy. But in this case, what is on the horizon is a pirate's ship flying under false colors. Flying under an environmental banner should not exempt any project from the scrutiny and analysis due all energy-generation projects.

Bypassing the PUC and its long established process is no way for Rhode Island to begin the very important job of critically reviewing and approving or denying wind-energy proposals that will come before them. For a project of significance, the importance of due diligence especially by elected and appointed officials cannot be overstated. Decisions should not be made based on some theoretical benefit that may or may not occur, such as jobs for Rhode Islanders. The governor, Deepwater and their allies have not conclusively demonstrated, guaranteed nor verified the purported economic benefit. Although many of us want more renewable energy and serious conservation efforts to become the norm, we must not let decision makers abandon fact-finding and thorough analysis.

Many of us believe that a green economy can be strong and sustainable. It is imperative that we move forward on renewable energy and sustainability, but we must critically and objectively evaluate each project on its own merits. In an open and accountable process, all projects need to be analyzed using scientific and social analysis and be held to specific, publicly vetted standards.

The content of both Senate Bill 2819 and companion House Bill 8083 is a serious abridgement of responsible public process, eliminating the requirement for public hearings and the opportunity to appeal a decision as well as putting the final decision in the hands of individual state administrators only answerable to the governor.

I urge anyone who expects, and cares about, open and fair government to contact state legislators and ask them to defeat both Senate Bill 2819 and House Bill 8083 and uphold the PUC decision.

Rosemarie Ives, former mayor of Redmond, Wash., is former chairwoman of the Sustainable Development Task Force for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and initial signatory of the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. She is a part-time resident of Block Island.