| Dear Neighbors:
I hope you had the opportunity to enjoy PVD Porchfest yesterday afternoon. Now in its third year, Porchfest transforms our neighborhood into our own little Woodstock of creativity and expression. In this week’s letter, I discuss the burial of power lines in India Point Park and the successful implementation of the Act on Climate.
A. India Point Park
Last week, the Senate passed Bill S-981A, which will provide a way to fund the replacement of the current electric power stanchions in India Point Park (and Bold Point Park in East Providence) with underground power lines. As described in the City’s Presentation, the new power line will run underground in Bold Point Park, cross the Seekonk River above ground south of the Washington Bridge, and return underground in India Point Park.
The bill calls for part of the excess cost to be paid for with a 2004 Narragansett Electric rebate that we asked them to save specifically for this project. If other funding sources are not found, the remaining gap will be paid by customers in East Providence and Providence in estimated total amounts of $32 and $77 respectively, spread over a minimum of 36 months each. (The different costs per city are based upon the different costs of burying the power lines in each.)
The House of Representatives has voted their counterpart bill out of committee, and the full House is expected to consider it during the next two weeks. I am grateful to both Mayors and especially to David Riley and the Friends of India Point Park, who have carried this project forward for more than two decades.
B. The Act On Climate
Two weeks ago, the Senate passed Bill S-23, establishing a commission to study the implementation of the Act on Climate. This week, the Senate President appointed the Commission members. The Commission will hold its initial meeting later this year, at which time the Director of the Department of Environmental Management will describe the strategic plan currently being developed by the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4). EC4 expects to complete its plan by the end of this calendar year.
Beginning next January, the Senate Commission will review the EC4 plan with experts and stakeholders to provide necessary oversight, and to recommend any appropriate supporting legislation. For example, I am concerned about the Department of Transportation’s proposed updates to the State Transportation Improvement Plan. According to Figure 2-2, only 3% of future spending is devoted to Transit (compared to 81% for roads and bridges), and according to Figure 2-3, only 6% is devoted to Expanding Transportation Options, while 86% is devoted to State of Good Repair.
These allocations are based on the plan’s assumption that we can comply with the Act on Climate’s emissions reduction mandates in the transportation sector completely through a rapid conversion to electric vehicles (EV’s).
As stated in my February 2 letter, this proposal was always criticized as being unrealistic. If anything, RIDOT’s proposal makes even less sense today given the Trump administration’s policies to remove incentives to the purchase and use of EV’s, as described in this study. |
