“When a fossil fuel company tries to take Providence’s water in order to power a plant we overwhelmingly oppose, we have a right to stand up and fight,” said CLF senior attorney Jerry Elmer. “Today, the courts affirmed that right. Rhode Island is poised to be a leader in clean, renewable energy, and we cannot turn back the clocks by doubling down on dirty fuels that are already on their way out.”
Back in February, President Trump issued an executive order requiring government agencies to review and evaluate all existing regulations on the books. This is all in service to an earlier executive order that says federal agencies must axe two regulations for each new one they create. We have an opportunity right now to speak up… Continue reading Tell Scott Pruitt: You Can’t Repeal and Replace Clean Air and Clean Water
New England has been stepping away from fossil fuels, and our regional grid operator hasn’t been choosing new polluting power plants. So why are energy companies still trying to build them?
“If we knew four years ago what we know now, this project would never have been approved,” said CLF senior attorney Sandra Levine. “With costs skyrocketing while renewable alternatives are cheaper than ever, it’s become increasingly clear that this pipeline is a bad deal both economically and environmentally for the people of Vermont. We cannot give this project a free pass while Vermonters pay the price.”
UPDATE: Victory! On April 11, the Public Utilities Commission announced that it will not issue any contract for a new natural gas storage facility in Maine. The Commission agreed with CLF’s and its staff’s position that the costs of building new natural gas storage facilities would far outweigh any speculative benefits for Maine people. For… Continue reading More Liquefied Natural Gas Storage in Maine? We Don’t Need It!
Big Gas’s claims about a dire need for new gas pipelines in New England are not based in objective fact. As CLF recently noted, electricity prices and demand are down, and we have ample gas available when we need it most. And, more importantly, large batches of clean energy resources will be coming online over… Continue reading More Evidence of Big Gas’s Bad Deal for New England
“President Trump’s decision to roll back EPA’s modest, common-sense climate rules betrays his promises to ‘drain the swamp’ and ‘promote clean air and water,'” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “Instead, fossil fuel lobbyists from the swamp are bending a once-revered agency to their will and reversing essential protections. EPA has a legal and moral obligation to protect the public from climate-changing air pollution, and CLF is ready to enforce that obligation despite the president’s despicable action today.”
“The people of Providence have a right to determine where our water goes,” said CLF attorney Max Greene. “Coercing us into selling off this public resource to power a fossil fuel plant we don’t support is not only irresponsible – it’s illegal. Invenergy’s last hope for this project rests on strong-arming our capital city, and we won’t let them get away with it.”
But opponents of the plant say that renewable sources can fill in any need for new power in New England. The auction results show that there is a surplus of potential power supplies that can step in, according to Jerry Elmer, staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation. In the ISO-NE zone that includes Rhode… Continue reading Invenergy plant in Burrillville fails to sell power to regional grid at auction
… Attorneys with the Conservation Law Foundation see this development as a victory, calling the project dead. The group has been fighting the proposal, citing federal law that forbids charging electricity customers for natural gas pipelines. CLF Senior Attorney Jerry Elmer thinks a new proposal would likely fail for two reasons. “One, it is illegal… Continue reading National Grid Files To Withdraw Access Northeast Project In Rhode Island
