CRANSTON – According to the Cranston City Council, the R.I. Resource Recovery Corporation owes $2 million in back charges and has suggested it will take legal action if the quasi-state agency does not pay.
“This was never intended to be released in this particular manner,” said Evan Kirshenbaum, Cranston’s deputy city solicitor, who was not in attendance at last week’s council meeting where the announcement was made, but has formed part of the discussions with RIRRC’s attorney.
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Cranston sent the agency a letter on July 20 with an invoice totaling $2,096,598.31. The city arrived at the figure by analyzing the capital, operating and maintenance costs of the excess loadings impact on the Cranston Water Pollution Control facility from the discharge of wastewater from RIRRC’s Central Landfill.
Nevertheless, it seems to be a case of miscommunication between the two parties.
“We got the bill, and we were surprised by it,” Michael O’Connell, executive director of RIRRC, told Providence Business News. “We’ve requested a number of documents to verify that we do indeed owe that amount and have not heard back yet. There has been a general lack of responsiveness.”
“If we owe it, we’ll pay it; if we don’t, we don’t,” added O’Connell, noting that he has never received a similar bill since he has been with the agency. “Right now, we’re just waiting for the additional information.”
Cranston alleges that the operating and maintenance costs, coming to $437,254.52 since 2005, are for excess loadings of nitrogen, in the form of TKN and biochemical oxygen demand, beyond the threshold of what the city deems as “reasonable” or “average conditions.”
The city noted $6.6 million in capital costs for a facility upgrade related to a permit change in 2005. The costs for RIRRC, pro-rated based on the agency’s percentage of nitrogen loading compared with the total load, were calculated at $1,659,343.78.
RIRRC plans to leave the Cranston facility and connect with the Narragansett Bay Commission wastewater facility in about a year and a half, O’Connell said.
