"The motion was made by David Barboza and seconded by Mary Parella". Following Mary Parella's vote to reinstall Frank Silvia on the BCWA board based on "institutional knowledge" leaves me believing she is a career politician and votes accordingly in these quasi matters.

BCWA was, and remains, a mess as a quasi. Institutional knowledge has been code for "how far can rate payers and taxpayers be duped". The facts speak for themselves:

Since 1993, BCWA has NEVER had an audit of the $ millions in taxpayer and rate payer spending under the Bristol County Water Supply Act;

The 1998 $5 million cost overrun on the East Bay pipeline similarly NEVER faced an audit or review as to why the geology under the East Bay turned out to be such a surprise to BCWA (we are still paying off that debt);

BCWA's legal expenses are a huge problem promoted largely by those on the board with so called "institutional knowledge";

Pay and benefits at BCWA remains some of the most generous anywhere;

Eminent domain practices have been abused by BCWA at taxpayer expense (most sitting on the councils know of what I speak, but will deny it);

The B&E audit was so watered down that it left out most of that which was the reason for an audit, yet still found plenty to talk about.

Institutional knowledge is the problem and always will be with these quasi government operations intent on one thing, taxpayer supported bond money.

An issue that should be asked of this "consortium", and of our councils, is whether all East Bay taxpayers are going to be asked to bail out the Portsmouth wind tower problems.

There is a lot of future money at stake fixing and maintaining the Portsmouth wind tower. Politics being what they are in the East Bay, does future public bond money include a fix for that problem?

Very interesting that this Council and State follow the prediction of, one of the Founder’s fears, Just as they did with the recent "pure Democracy” Bill, and I quote;

"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." --James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788.

It would appear it is time to replace any one who votes for approval of this. If they still vote to approve, then they are slapping voters in the face and obviously have a 'Holier than Thou Attitude".

Why they think they are more intelligent then the Founders is beyond belief. To Mr. Marshall, whose favorite phrase of words the past few years has been "We need to make sure due diligence needs to be done". He should re-read the definition of the word "diligence" as he seems to not have a clue of what it really means. Would not hurt to have him study the federalist papers, Constitution and the founders, to see what a Republic is either. Maybe this will help also.

re•pub•lic noun \ri-ˈpə-blik\
Definition of REPUBLIC
(2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.

How is that for the truth, backed by, lets see, oh FACTS!!!!!!!!

the following letter was delivered to the Bristol Town Clerk on April 2nd from Mr. Nicholas Ratti, Jr. regarding the EBEC resolution. He was very concerned about this bill and wanted his concerns to appear on the april 4th agenda.

Re: Agenda Item K6, April 4, 2012

Honorable Members of the Council:

I implore you to refrain from approving or signing the resolution upcoming item K6 regarding the East Bay Energy Consortium, at least until the matter has received full, transparent, due process, at the the state level and everywhere.

The proposed action literally SUBERTS the Rhode Island state government, in ways that could have catastrophic effects. IT IS A MUCH FURTHER OVERREACH THAN YOU EVER INTENDED IT TO BE. AT LEAST ONE OF THE 'WHEREASES' OF THE RESOLUTION IS TOTALLY FALSE.

(to be continued)

(continued)
Here are just a few examples of charges that have already been made in opposition to it:
It would violate Federal Law as set forth in FERC regulations, specifically ------
It would violate the \Commerce Clause of the US Constitution.
It would essentially create a new tax designed to transfer funds from citizens --- with no public benefit.
IT WOULD GRANT TO THE CONSORTIUM THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN111
It would BYPASS THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION!!!

Your approval of this now would be buying a pig in a poke.
NEITHER YOUR CONSTITUENTS NOR RHODE ISLAND RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN GIVEN ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THIS YET.
Acting rashly on this would be the most irresponsible thing you could do. Don't do it!
I'm rushing to get this reply to you on the same day I heard about it.

(continued)
Sincerely, Nicholas Ratti, Jr.

Now, Go to the Bristol Town Council meeting of April 4th at http://www.bristolri.us/videos/brtc04-04-12.wmv
and start watching at 2:03 (two hours, three minutes) and see how this sincere request for special attention was received.
Bear in mind, the viewers or the people in attendance do not SEE the letter. They do not know about the "elephant in the Room"... the eminent domain clause. At this point it is up to our Town Council members to glean this information from letter and bring it to the forefront. What happens? David Barboza asks Dian Williamson if the letter has any validity. She says "I don't know". The Town Solicitor responds that he does not think there is anything to worry about with the Constitution... and that yes, it is correct in stating that there would be no PUC control. NO-ONE mentions the eminent domain issue!
If Mr. Ratti had not contacted me and given me a copy of the letter, I would not know what it contained.
This is disingenuous at the very least, and covert at the worst! Bristol will be revisiting this on Wednesday, May 16th and I hope many of you will attend.

Just heard that Portsmouth Abbey Turbine is offline... Turbine blades are falling apart due to UV radiation. Blades are not safe to use.

Have heard from someone who visibly saw the Abbey turning today around 3:00pm. All is currently well at the Portsmouth Abbey.

For those of you who would like to see the Bristol Town Meeting that discussed EBEC the link is at http://www.bristolri.us/videos/brtc05-16-12.wmv. The discussion starts at 2hors,32 minutes in with a ten -minute commercial by Ken Marshall for the project. He takes full credit for the concept and keeps referring to it as an "idea". Please remember that he fully supports this entity that puts your property in jeopardy, along with the knowledge that it will account to no-one if he runs for any other office.
You will see David Barboza state that the council did not know about the eminent domain clause when they voted. This is repudiated later. They all knew exactly what was in the bill when they voted to support it. That is, IF they read the bill.
It appears that the absolute nightmare of Studio 38 has put the final nail in the coffin for this bill. But we still must stay aware.

Please note that at 3hrs55min there is a discussion about whether or not the bill can be amended after it's passed... They infer that it can... and it cannot! Once it is an entity and has floated bonds.. nothing can change it! Nothing! There is amazing pressure to just get this through.. Any ideas why?

On the Studio 38, I read on channel 12, that they had a meeting today that was suppose to be open, however when Shilling got there, they immediately went to Private executive session with Chaffee and the EDC. Kind of makes you figure the 50 million is down the drain. Thanks Shilling and the scammers in the Statehouse.

Thanks EDC for helping out the businesses in Bristol and Warren that closed, and around the State with that $125 million we put into the pot, oh wait, that’s right only $50 million left, because you gave $75 Million to Shilling and paid off his personal investment of $4 million the day they cashed the check, not to mention the over 400 jobs that were just transfers from the company in MA.

Maybe if they did pass the bill, that $50 million would go to the EBEC, for the Tiverton project. Oh wait the estimate on that is now over $60 million. Hmmmm what to do, what to do.

Yet another reason to stay out of private business with taxpayer money, be it utility or gaming.

Recent article in Projo By Alex Kuffner
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Islanders will start paying less for electricity this summer under a proposal for new rates filed by National Grid on Monday.
Rates have been generally going down in recent years, driven by the tumbling price of natural gas, which has made it cheaper for utilities around the country to generate electricity.
Starting July 1, the bill for a typical Rhode Island household that uses 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month will decrease by 6.3 percent, falling from $78.45 to $73.49, according to the filing submitted to the state Public Utilities Commission.