CLF sues Johnston, Invenergy over water-supply contract

A RENDERING of the proposed natural gas-powered electrical plant in Burrillville. The Conservation Law Foundation has filed a lawsuit against an Invenergy subsidiary and the town of Johnston over a contract that Johnston has signed to supply the proposed natural gas-fired power plant in Burrillville with water provided by Providence Water. / COURTESY INVENERGY LLC
A RENDERING of the proposed natural gas-powered electrical plant in Burrillville. The Conservation Law Foundation has filed a lawsuit against an Invenergy subsidiary and the town of Johnston over a contract that Johnston has signed to supply the proposed natural gas-fired power plant in Burrillville with water provided by Providence Water. / COURTESY INVENERGY LLC

(Updated, 12:51 p.m., 4:28 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – The Conservation Law Foundation is suing the town of Johnston, saying it has no legal right to purchase water from Providence and resell it to a proposed power plant in Burrillville.

The lawsuit filed Monday in R.I. Superior Court stems from an ongoing fight related to a proposed 1,000-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Burrillville. Invenergy LLC, through its subsidiary Clean River Energy LLC, has proposed to build the plant, and in January entered into a water-purchase agreement with Johnston. Clean River Energy is also named a defendant in the lawsuit.

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Johnston purchases its water from Providence Water, a state- and federal-regulated department of the city, headed by a seven-member board of directors.

CLF, a primary opponent to the power plant, claims Providence isn’t obligated to supply water to Johnston because there’s no standing contract between city and the town. It further claims Johnston cannot legally sell water for the use of a power plant, as it violates a state law passed in 1915.

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“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.”

The R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board is still determining whether to permit the proposed power plant, and on Monday met to discuss whether it needs additional information from state and local agencies. The board is scheduled to meet again on March 21.

Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena, who hadn’t yet seen the lawsuit, shot back at CLF.

“We followed the process to the letter of the law, and we feel confident that what we did was correct,” he told Providence Business News. “As far as I’m concerned, I have the right to sell as much water as I want to whoever I want.”

Polisena says that despite the pushback he receives from power plant opponents, his constituents tell him the water-supply agreement is great because it’ll offer tax relief and money for youth sports programs and for the elderly.

“My duty is to the people of Johnston, not to the so-called environmentalists,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Invenergy responded to queries with this statement: “We have full confidence in the validity of our water-supply agreement with the town of Johnston.”

For a copy of the lawsuit, click HERE.

The town of Burrillville, an active opponent of the proposed power plant, has filed a similar lawsuit in Superior Court.

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