Dear Neighbors:
I hope you had a Happy New Year, which regrettably has begun with our President ordering the commencement of an undeclared and unjustified war. In this week’s letter, I will discuss the United States Department of Energy’s second “stop work” order for the Revolution Wind electricity generation project and its relation to the State’s economy and planning for climate change.
A. The Revolution Wind Lease and Its Two Stop Work Orders
In 2008, Governor Carcieri led the effort to designate Deepwater Wind as the first company to develop a wind farm off the Block Island shore. That wind farm came online in 2016, and as recently reported in the New York Times, produces electricity for residents at less than one-third the cost of what residents would otherwise pay.
Revolution Wind began its project in 2011, which will provide power for approximately 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut. When the project was 85% complete this fall, the United States Department of Energy ordered a halt to construction, which was overturned in a lawsuit. On December 22, the same Department issued a second stop work order, citing national security concerns that previously had been reviewed and approved by the Department of Defense, and which could have been resolved in the first lawsuit that ordered work to resume. A second lawsuit is pending.
B. The Economics of the Project
This past Friday, I attended a press conference and rally convened by labor and environmental advocacy groups to address the second stop work order. Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation and Governor explained that, once online, Revolution Wind’s turbines will produce electricity at a lower rate per kilowatt hour than what we, as customers, currently pay for fossil fuel generated power. This means the stop work order is costing us what would amount to millions of dollars on an annual basis. The stop work order also caused the layoff of around 1,200 employees.
For these reasons, this stop work order and its predecessor invert the normal debate about renewable energy. It is typical for opponents of renewable power to argue that the additional costs of production in the short term outweigh the projected benefits of clean energy in the long term. In contrast, these stop work orders prevent a reduction of electricity rates upon project completion that will save Rhode Islanders millions of dollars every year, while also causing 1,200 workers to lose their jobs, all of this before one considers the long-term costs of climate change. Our Governor and Congressional delegation pledged to use all available resources to reverse this order, inspiring those in attendance to mobilize and advocate.
C. The Act on Climate
As documented in the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4)’s recently approved Climate Action Strategy, Rhode Island’s transition to wind-powered electricity is a crucial pillar of the State’s commitment in the Act on Climate, to become over time a net-zero carbon state. The Senate Commission to Study the Implementation of the Act on Climate has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, January 28 at 4:00 p.m., at which time EC4 will present the findings in its Strategy. In meetings that follow, the Study Commission will hear commentary from experts, stakeholders and the general public concerning the Climate Action Strategy, with the goal of producing, by the conclusion of the upcoming legislative session, a report with findings and recommendations.