“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.”
“With the Senate’s approval, Rick Perry today joins a long list of cabinet members unabashedly hostile to the missions of their agencies, resistant to the laws Congress has charged them with administering, and unwilling to allow science to guide their decisions,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “This is more reckless than extreme partisanship and more dangerous than overblown rhetoric. It puts every American on notice that the rule of law is in peril.”
“Imagine you make the decision to save money by using a clothesline rather than a dryer, but at the end of the month you are billed for the energy you saved,” said Sean Mahoney, Director of CLF Maine. “That’s what the PUC has just done to every family and business that uses solar power. Revoking the incentive structure alone would have been outrageous, but to go one step further and actually charge us for electricity we’re not buying is downright criminal. Once again, we see this LePage-appointed commission kowtow to the whims of Big Gas and Big Oil while leaving the people of Maine out to dry.”
“Today the President said clearly and unequivocally that ensuring Americans have access to clean and safe water is not on his to-do list,” said Christopher Kilian, Director of CLF’s Clean Water and Healthy Forests program. “Repealing this critical protection not only defies the broad-based will of the American people, but it also places our region’s wetlands, streams and coastal estuaries at risk. New Englanders deserve better, and CLF stands ready to fight this catastrophic action at all costs.”
“The Boston waterfront is a public treasure, an engine of tourism and a hub of economic growth, but it all collapses when we neglect our communal right to this resource,” said CLF senior counsel Peter Shelley. “The public has invested well over fifteen billion dollars in the harbor cleanup and waterfront improvements and has a protected privilege to enjoy the benefits of these investments. By approving a luxury residential scheme that essentially privatizes a public resource, the Baker Administration is corrupting a longstanding process designed to protect public interest. The minute we prioritize individual development goals over the public good, we start down a slippery slope that could spell disaster for our communities and our harbor.”
“The Baker Administration is now fully complicit in Mayor Walsh’s unlawful effort to enrich a favored developer using public resources,” said CLF President Bradley M. Campbell. “CLF will now turn to the courts to enforce well-established law and ask the Attorney General to fulfill her duty to protect the public trust. Meanwhile, the City’s unwillingness to stand up for the true stewards of our waterfront – the people of Massachusetts – will again delay needed improvements to this treasured public resource.”
“CLF has been at the forefront of some of Rhode Island’s seminal environmental triumphs, and it is an honor to be leading such an impressive and accomplished team in the fights ahead,” said Moses. “In the past year alone, CLF has held polluters accountable for endangering our waters, protected the people of Johnston from a toxic landfill, and helped bring offshore wind to our state. We are certain to face countless uphill battles in the years to come, and I know CLF is ready to tackle them.”
“U.S. leadership on climate change is essential to protecting the future of our economy and the safety of our communities, and Rex Tillerson now has the mantle of providing that leadership,” said CLF President Bradley Campbell. “We must cautiously, if reluctantly, place our faith in his willingness to put the best interests of the nation above those of the industry he championed his entire career. And if he falters, we are ready to challenge him at every turn.”
“Invenergy is putting the cart before the horse by unveiling an unacceptable plan to take public water without first resolving the huge chunks missing from its power plant application,” said CLF attorney Max Greene. “The company’s plan to build enormous, expensive and unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure flies in the face of state policy and public will, yet they continue to go forward with new plans that raise more questions than answers. It’s time for the State to recognize these repeated and glaring deficiencies and shut down this project once and for all.”
“There is no doubt that a significant investment in clean water is essential for the economy, property values, tourism, recreation and the environment, and the question now is how we are going to get there,” said Rebekah Weber, CLF’s Lake Champlain Lakekeeper. “Today the governor took a big step in the right direction, but his funding plan falls short of what we need to ensure safe, healthy water for all Vermonters. By doubling his proposed investment and extending it beyond the next two years, Governor Scott can send a strong message that ensuring clean water must be a top priority.”
