Lawmakers pressed to override veto of energy bill

Disappointed supporters of what some are calling a precedent-setting renewable energy bill vetoed by the governor last month (READ MORE) are pushing the General Assembly for an override. Environmentalists and others say Rhode Island otherwise risks falling further behind its neighbors in the development of alternative energy sources.
“Right when Massachusetts is getting ready to give the green light, we’re rolling out the caution flag,” said Matt Auten, an advocate for Environment Rhode Island.
The bill that Gov. Donald L. Carcieri vetoed would encourage private investment in large renewable energy projects by guaranteeing that National Grid will purchase their eventual output. As an incentive to the utility, a small bonus payment for National Grid would be added to ratepayers’ monthly bills.
Carcieri, who said he vetoed the measure “with much regret,” cited three aspects of it as objectionable: the incentive payments, the failure to require that projects be located in Rhode Island and the requirement that the utility purchase 5 megawatts of electricity from a Rhode Island-based solar energy farm.
Legislative have leaders blasted the veto, saying the bill was a delicate compromise five years in the making. Lopsided majorities supported the measure in both chambers; in the Senate, there was only one dissenting vote.
Senate President Joseph Montalbano’s spokesman said a decision will likely be made by the end of this month on whether to try and override the veto, which could be attempted anytime between now and the start of the next year’s session.
A spokesman for National Grid, David Graves, said the utility company was “disappointed” by the veto, but he stopped short of calling for legislators to override it.
Graves also said that National Grid remains hopeful about the prospects for a renewable energy law. “We hope that eventually Rhode Island, sooner rather than later, will get into the renewable business,” he said.
Officials at Allco Renewable Energy Group, the New York-based developer that recently proposed building a $45 million, solar energy farm on 90 acres in Coventry (READ MORE), were also disappointed by the veto, although spokesman Bill Fischer said the company remains committed to developing projects here.
But, Fischer added, “I think it would give pause if the veto’s not overridden. That would be a clear indication that Rhode Island is not fertile territory” for renewable energy projects.
The veto also surprised environmental advocates, because Andrew Dzykewicz, director of the R.I. Office of Energy Resources and the governor’s chief energy adviser, had testified in support of the measure after lawmakers rewrote parts of it to address his concerns.
They warned that, without passage of the legislation, Rhode Island will continue to lose ground in the alternative energy sector to other states, particularly Connecticut and Massachusetts, where an aggressive new renewable energy regime became law last week. (READ MORE)
Without the bill vetoed by Carcieri, Rhode Island will not have the financial and regulatory mechanisms necessary for projects to move forward, Auten said.
“To me, if you want to get projects up and running in Rhode Island, this is the vehicle to do it,” he said, adding: “Everybody is on board except, clearly, the governor at this point.”
Jerry Elmer, a lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation in Providence, also took issue with the governor’s reasons for vetoing the bill.
The foundation has calculated that the incentive payments to National Grid would amount to 13 cents a month for the average Rhode Island household in the early years of the utility’s 10- to 20-year contract with a renewable energy producer.
In addition, Elmer emphasized that the law is designed so that National Grid only receives incentive payments if it actually uses energy from renewable sources.
“This is the first time in the history of the United States that an incentive for the utility was tied not to signing a contract, but to actually getting electrons from a renewable energy source,” Elmer said. “It is a national precedent.”
He added, “This is not about a windfall for the utility. This is about aligning the utility’s incentive with what the General Assembly has already decided is in the public interest. And that’s just common sense pragmatism.”
Patrick Hogan, a fellow at the Pew Center for Global Climate Change in Washington, D.C., said the incentives proposal is “a fairly novel approach” to boosting alternative energy usage.
Elmer also noted that the bill requires renewable energy projects to be of direct economic benefit to Rhode Island residents. As an example, he pointed to the Cape Wind offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Bay, which he said would likely be staged at Quonset Point in North Kingstown.
Neighboring states have required their utilities to purchase a larger percentage of their alternative energy from local solar energy farms, Elmer said, and he predicts the cost of solar energy will fall in the coming years. •