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EBEC bad!!!!! Very BADDDDDDDDDDD.

This is an organization, that will raise its ugly head again and again to do nothing but scam the taxpayers yet again out our hard earned money. Beware the wolf in sheeps clothing, promising streets of gold on green energy that will never happen with the government or taxpayer money involved.

The lies will continue and the nepotism and corruption by politicians to extend favors to the chosen few will also continue. Rember Studio 38, BCWA, EDC, Portsmouth Turbine, Solyndra, Amtrack, High Speed Rails, and so much other waste currently on the government books by these parasites of the night draining your tax monies.

All politicians who support this, should be voted out of office with no pension, no benefits and a good spanking for being theives of the taxpayers money in my opinion.

Well said.

I have a long post but well worth the time it takes to read it. It is the OSTPA weekly newsletter focusing on EBEC.

In last week's Alert, OSTPA discussed the issue of municipal public employee
health care benefits and suggested that you find out what your school
committee and town/city council have promised our public employees. This
Alert addresses the third issue for your consideration, the East Bay Energy
Commission (EBEC) and the potential cost to taxpayers for wind turbines.

“EBEC should take into account that owning and operating Wind
Turbines is a complicated operation and there are significant
risks in developing any project of this magnitude.”
Statement from the EBEC Phase II Wind Energy Project Feasibility Study,
Final Report, October 2010.

August is the month the results from the Met Tower feasibility study for the
proposed site of the Tiverton wind turbine will be reported. What follows is
some background on the wind turbines currently erected in our state.

On July 17, 2012, the Governor announced a new website,
www.rienergy.org, where the public can obtain “one-stop-shopping” for RI
energy information. The website claims that there are 10 wind turbines
operational in RI with additional turbines under consideration. This website
has not been updated for the Portsmouth High wind turbine that stands idle,
awaiting major repairs.

Continued:

Continued:
On the “Wind” webpage of the Governor’s site there is a table that lists the
siting considerations for building wind turbines. The very first consideration
is the structural consideration. “While extremely infrequent, turbine blades,
mechanical parts, and other small parts from a turbine can potentially
fragment and fall. Ice that builds up on turbine blades can break off and fall.
If the turbine is operational, ice can be flung at a distance from the turbine,
potentially damaging nearby residences and/or injuring people or animals.”
That’s it. There is no mention that if/when there are malfunctions, they will
be very costly. It should also be noted that wind turbines have an expected
shelf life of 20 years.What happens to those turbines at the end of their life?

The website states that “occasionally, proposals have been met with
opposition from community members concerned about the impact of
turbines on day-to-day life and the environment.” It makes no mention of
the concern about the risk and the cost associated with building and
maintaining a wind turbine, nor does it mention the concerns about the
expected return on the investment.

To be continued....

Continued..
There is, however, a link within the wind page that lists all 10 RI turbines,
along with the savings and total cost.

New England Institute of Technology Turbine, operational since 2009.

Total savings: (not annual, total) : $28,516
Total cost: $455,256

Shalom Housing Inc. Turbine, operational since 2010,

Total savings: $5,064
Total cost: Unknown, Shalom’s cost was $10,000 (does not include a grant
that was used to build the turbine)

Fisherman’s Memorial State Park Turbine, operational since October, 2011

Total savings: $7,280
Total cost: $625,000

Portsmouth High School Turbine, operating since 2009,

Total savings: None recorded, however it is noted that last fiscal year the
high school netted $175,000. Fast forward to 2012, repairs needed on the
gearbox will wipe out any and all profits to date. See articles below.
Total cost: Not disclosed, (reported that funding for the turbine was from a
low interest note of $400,000 from the Renewable Energy Fund (this fund was
created with legislation that charges National Grid customers an extra fee)
and a $2.6 million zero interest municipal Clean Renewable Energy Bond
(Federal) which is a fund also subsidized by other taxpayers.

to be continued...

Continued...
Portsmouth Abbey Turbine, operational since 2006.

Total savings: Unknown - disclosed wind revenues for first year only, 1/4 of
which came from tax credits (other people’s money).
Total cost: $1 million - $450,000 came from the RI Renewable Energy Fund
(again, the fund that you and I pay into every time we pay our electric
bill).

Middletown-Aquidneck Corporate Park Turbine, operational since October,
2009.

Total savings: Reported “half of the company’s electric bill” (which doesn’t
really quantify the savings for the public).
Total cost: $550,000 (of which, $250,000 came from the RI Economic
Development Corp, another taxpayer funded organization).

The 3 Narragansett Bay Commission Wind Turbines, operating since February
2012. (recent Providence Journal article says it will be Sep. 2012)

Total expected savings: $852,000 (although it doesn’t say over what time
period, but the turbines are expected to produce $800,000 of electricity a
year so the savings will not be annual).
Total expected cost: $12.2 million (funded by a RI Clean Water Finance
Agency loan through RI State Revolving Funds, which sounds like another
taxpayer funded project).

To be continued....

Continued..
Surprise - Can't Afford the Repair Bill
As reported in the Portsmouth Patch (7/10/12), there was a very disappointing
turn of events for the Portsmouth High wind turbine, a turbine that has been
standing perfectly still for over a month now. A representative of Lumus,
the company hired to maintain and operate the wind turbine, stated that the
failed Portsmouth gearbox was the same make as the one that failed in
Princetown, MA. The Lumus representative also stated that gear box failures
have been a national trend. The same representative estimated that it could
cost between $1.2 and $1.5 million to replace the turbine nacelle. Apparently,
this was all too much to handle and the council voted to postpone the turbine
issue to a future meeting, leaving the wind turbine standing still for another
month.

Separately, an article in the Providence Journal, “Costs to Fix Turbine May
Wipe Out Profit”, by Alex Kuffner, explains what happened to the Portsmouth
High School wind turbine. It began faltering in February of this year and
stopped spinning completely in June. It has not been started since.

To be continued..

continued..
The Town
Council learned that the gearbox failed and would have to be replaced for an
estimated $500,000, completely erasing the 3 years of profits. The turbine
was manufactured by AAER, a Canadian-based company, the lowest bidding
company. That company went bankrupt a year after the turbine was
installed. Portsmouth hired Lumus Construction, a Massachusetts company,
paid to maintain and operate the windmill for $33,000 a year. Lumus
explained that the new gearbox would have to come from a German
company that would cost $15,000 just to ship.

Bringing in a crane to remove the blades and nacelle would cost an estimated
$227,000. If the housing for the gearbox needed to be replaced, a Pittsburgh
based company would be called in.

If you are a town or city considering erecting a wind turbine, you may want
to know that there is a national “Wind Turbine Gearbox Health Seminar”
being held this October in Colorado - A ‘must attend’ for any city or town
considering wind turbines.

to be continued..

Continued..
According to a July 19, 2012 article in the Tiverton-Little Compton Patch,
EBEC Continues to Push for Tiverton Wind Farm, although they won’t be
back until after November elections, the EBEC group is discussing refocusing
plans around new state zoning guidelines for wind turbines, which includes
reducing the number of turbines from 10 to 5 and installing solar arrays in
the industrial park. EBEC planners believe the changes would still allow for a
profitable project. The consortium continues to work on other initiatives to
help cut energy costs in the region. Unfortunately for the RI taxpayer, the
governor’s website explains that “due to its northern latitude, low
elevation, and frequent overcast conditions, RI lacks abundant solar
resources compared to other areas of the US.” The next statement sums it
all up. “The economic viability of solar hinges mainly on market forces and
available incentive structures, even in areas with lower resource availability.
In New England, for example, where solar resources are modest, high
electricity prices compared to other areas in the country help make solar
economical.

To be continued....

Continued:
For many years, RI provided a variety of incentives to promote solar,
including a rebate program and 25% state tax credit on photovoltaic systems.
Programs such as these helped a solar market flourish in the Ocean State,
until the elimination of the credit, which shifted the economics of solar
power, making solar development unfavorable in RI”. In other words, once
we stopped forcing the taxpayer to subsidize alternative solar energy, it
couldn’t support itself so it disappeared. Now that we are forcing the tax
payer to subsidize wind power, we will continue that subsidy indefinitely so
it won’t go away.

“The state is committed to investing in energy efficiency as the cleanest and
lowest cost energy resource available.” Unfortunately, the metrics for
“lowest cost available” means the point in time when a gallon of gas costs
an ounce of gold.

To be continued...

Continued..
The question is, do you know enough about wind turbines to make
the right decision? Will your education come too late?
Many people want green energy because they believe it will reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels and foreign countries. Included here is a link to
the 2 minute introduction of a documentary called “WindFall",released earlier
this year,about an education process the residents of Meredith, NY received on
wind turbines, only it was too late for them. (You can read the NPR article
2/2/12, that gives you an introduction to the film and some background on the
wind turbine project in upstate New York).

The OSTPA has ordered the 83 minute movie. If you would like to sign up to
borrow it, please email us at info@oceanstateteaparty.com.

URI has developed guidelines for siting and managing renewable
energy projects. There is a workshop on Wednesday, August 15 and August 22,
from 6:00 - 8:00 at URI Bay Campus for anyone wishing to provide comment on
the newly drafted “RI Renewable Energy Siting Partnership Guidelines”. If you
would like some light summer reading, you can read Volume 1, 340 pages,
Volume 2, 610 pages, and Volume 3, 40 pages and provide feedback at
the URI workshops.

It was clear to anyone who watched the evolution of the EBEC legislation that it had no other purpose than to build a crony organization paid for by taxpayers.

I attended the Senate hearing's. When I brought up in testimony the fact that the numbers were not adding up to profitability, Senator Walaska turned to me with a straight face and said that the GA would simply legislate a higher renewable energy charge on everyones electric bill to cover any EBEC shortfalls.

What we heard in the latest Bristol Council meeting was "candidate Marshall" speaking.

WINDFALL, a beautifully photographed feature length film, documents how this proposal divides Meredith’s residents as they fight over the future of their community. Attracted at first to the financial incentives that would seemingly boost their dying economy, a group of townspeople grow increasingly alarmed as they discover the impacts that the 400-foot high windmills slated for Meredith could bring to their community as well as the potential for financial scams. With wind development in the United States growing annually at 39 percent, WINDFALL is an eye-opener that should be required viewing for anyone concerned about the environment and the future of renewable energy.
http://firstrunfeatures.com/trailers_windfall.html
http://windfallthemovie.com/index_1.html

The EBEC is Evil, only personal greed is the scam.

1. Fact; Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely

2. Fact; The EBEC is nothing but a group of people wanting to become a taxpayer utility, that’s a fact.

3. Fact; It is a fallacy that any government or quasi government entity is fiscally responsible, of efficient and not involved in fraud, waste, abuse, favoritism and cronyism; another fact.

4.Fact; Renewal energy is not at the point of viability in any form right now or in the near future to provide the needs of this State or any State to do the Stated goals of the EBEC or even the rhetoric from the Federal Government.

5. Fact; All over this Country, it has already proved itself to be nothing more than a very small player in the energy field, especially when the subsidies are counted in the mix.

6. Fact; Like all major projects of this kind, only advancing technology, and private enterprise can run and build something like this. That is a proven business formula that works.

7. Fact; no Government created agency has ever gone away once formed, unless it was due to illegality. Also none has ever done anything but grow in size, scope of work, powers, cost, and corruption.

8. Fact; The majority of people, support renewable energy, but are smart enough to know that it is a dream right now and cannot be a reality unless new technology is invented to make it cost friendly. One of the main problems batteries for storage.

Well, the Bristol Town Council meeting was very interesting tonight. There was about an hour of discussion on EBEC and many great points were brought up. Mr. Shapiro testified that EBEC had indeed taken a wrong turn somewhere. What started out as a relatively altruistic group changed once big money hit the scene. He pointed out that EBEC was ONLY authorized to do a study... NOT to hire lobbyists, a general manager, expensive lawyers.... NADA! Just a study! Diane Williamson had a pretty rough night fielding questions and I'm not sure she got the memo from Ken Marshall that EBEC was just an idea, and that it's only purpose was to "peak the interest of private industry". She appears to be very sincere in her desire to have EBEC succeed and doesn't seem to understand that things have to be done in sequence, with proper authorization.

David Barboza was his regular mean-spirited self and said something to the effect that I only say anything at meetings so that I can be on camera....

I will post the video as soon as it is available. It's a "must see" segment to this story.

Diane Williamson was not just a poor innocent who only paid bills for EBEC.

In fact, she was the prior EBEC Treasurer and attended EBEC meetings. She knew what was going on.

She has to take some responsibility for participating in a corrupted payment authorization system. This is NOT to say she was financially advantaged in any way. But she knew the rules were being bent by political cronies.

You can see her earlier role as Treas at:

http://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=ebecminutes&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Deast%2520bay%2520energy%2520consortium%2520shapiro%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26sqi%3D2%26ved%3D0CD4QFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdocs.rwu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1022%2526context%253Debecminutes%26ei%3D6HsjUNP4HYLY2AWGyYDYCQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNG3Ax_4B8IhWi_NQR3cQ7MSiP0lMw#search=%22east%20bay%20energy%20consortium%20shapiro%22

This was about building a crony organization and the people who willingly participated. People saw EBEC as a future job for friends and family (or themselves) all bestowed by political power brokers in Bristol (you know of whom I speak).

Thank you Mr. Herreshoff for pursuing taxpayer justice on this important matter.

As far as all the innocents (politicians and cronies) who now claim they did not know that EBEC was "morphing", read the minutes way back in January 2010:

"6. Develop a long term financial proposal, which includes bonding for energy projects."

http://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=ebecminutes&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Deast%2520bay%2520energy%2520consortium%2520shapiro%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26sqi%3D2%26ved%3D0CD4QFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdocs.rwu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1022%2526context%253Debecminutes%26ei%3D6HsjUNP4HYLY2AWGyYDYCQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNG3Ax_4B8IhWi_NQR3cQ7MSiP0lMw#search=%22east%20bay%20energy%20consortium%20shapiro%22

Council President Marshall, why would EBEC be interested in "bonding" projects that the private sector was going to be implementing?

It would be well to know that these politicians need to remember how to govern as they did in the Founders days Mr. Marshall.

The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it." --James Wilson, Of the Study of Law in the United States, 1790

"The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife." --Thomas Jefferson

When it was pointed out last night that EBEC had absolutely NO authority to spend money on project managers, lawyers, or lobbyists, one of the responses was that they may have been "confused" because they had put these perceived expenses down on their grant application... so they "thought" they could spend it. It was clearly pointed out by Andy that HAVING the funds from a grant and SPENDING the funds are two completely different issues. They had NO authority to spend on these items.

Wasn't there a lot of money SPENT on lawyers????

Shouldn't the paid lawyers have advised their client about such matters of authorization to spend?

And wasn't the town's law firm of Ursillo & Teitz in this grant food chain?? Why didn't they cover this "authorization to spend" matter with proper legal advice?

This really is a lot like BCWA in more ways than one.

One of the biggest "bombshells" to drop last night, which many of us knew about beforehand, was that EBEC considered that the met tower results belonged to them and that they do not have to share them. Most members of the Town Council were shocked at that and want to address it at a later date. The conversation on EBEC was over an hour and they felt that they should get on with the meeting.

Diane Mederos signed the Grant application to RIEDC as the Town Administrator for Bristol. The original resolution that the nine towns singed identities that the Town of Bristol will be responsible for applying for funding. Funds will be awarded to the Town of Bristol and processed through a separate sub-account.

Okay... Bristol Town Council Video, Meeting August 8th, EBEC discussion
http://www.bristolri.us/videos/brtc08-08-12.wmv
EBEC starts at 22min36sec Marina Peterson 35min10sec, Adam Shapiro 43min17sec... discussion ends 1hr45min.
Very interesting!

The RI GA EDC EBEC is Still out there and needs your attention. This a product of academia,local brokers of bonds & tax credits, legal industry facilitators, in concert with the RI GA EDC has exhibited an unhealthy evolving agenda. Clearly EBEC is in over reach. Yes, off the reservation from the authorized steps. Clearly independent oversight continues to be lacking in establishment of its accountability and creditability. To regain credibility this EBEC operating unit and all of its members must be disbanded. That is operating accounts frozen, audited vs chartered tasks while operations halted at once. Clearly this EBEC group was assembled on a defective foundation. Clearly its operation appears nefarious at best. Clearly the RI PUC and its on board expertise and independent & credible management is the only proven approach that can secure the confidence of all concerned. Yes, tax payers and rate payers along with the accredited and established public utilities industry that is our present system. This formula has exhibited a predictability and integrity and most important a transparency, but first and last a continued affordability. Addressing the regulation, maintenance and operation for today's privately operated & chartered Public Utilities Industry system and its upgrades including hopefully disruptive technologies now in the labs and fuels is best accomplished by the already in place team.

As A candidate for Tiverton Town Council I will make a pledge to not allow the Project to go in our Industrial Park. I believe there is enough evidence to show this is the wrong direction.
I would encourage private development like Hodges Badge, The Abby school ,North East Engineers that invest their own money to reap the benefit of affordable electric for their companies. Manufacturing in RI could use the boost. I would encourage people to ask candidates their stance on this issue. I can't speak for the TCC candidates , but they seem to be against the public funded version

The disaster at the Portsmouth High School seems to have finally silenced the uninformed (or financially motivated) pro windmill posters.

Reality sometimes has that effect.

Part 1

Frankly I am stunned by the video. I shall now ramble on because there was so much wrong in view tonight and I need to get it out of my system sorry. I can not understand for the life of me why some people just cannot admit when they are, even when confronted with the facts.

It was proven to them that the initial purpose of the EBEC was circumvented and made into being a quasi-utility. It was proven to them, that the EBEC was spending money with out authorization on future phases before even knowing the results of previous phase.

How the hell can you justify forming a company in order to see if it is viable? It makes no sense. You do studies to see if things are viable and cost effective. You do not form the company and then figure how it would work. What fools are going to invest in a company that does not even have a clue if the project will work, the studies of viability or are not complete, they have no sites available to build, or even an agreement with a site, they have no construction bids, they have nothing from National Grid on estimates of cost, no estimates of generation cost and maintenance etc. All they seem to have is the cost of lobbyist, lawyers and State House slinging BS.

You look at all the things above, before you decide to do anything. As mister Shapiro stated that was the original mandate, and Halsey was so correct on it morphing into an abortion raping the taxpayers. Because in the end, that is all this damn EBEC is.

Part 2

I hope the AG investigates the EDC and EBEC on all of this, since it appears the Council Chairman Marshall (I don’t want to discuss this at Council meeting anymore) or Barboza, (people just like to bring this up to be on camera), think a work shop is where to ask the questions. Well I got news for you.

I don’t care if it was 2 dollars or 2 thousand dollars you gave the EBEC. It was my damn tax money and we have every damn right to ask you about where that money went and what the EBEC is doing with it. To pass the buck to the EBEC who has been hiding information for a long time now is disgusting. Same happened with the BCWA.

The town of Bristol is up to their necks in this and the Council is responsible for having information from the EBEC, to answer questions from the taxpayers. That is your job Councilor Marshall.

How dare you or Barboza tell any citizen they have to get the answers from the EBEC meetings? Are the minutes somehow different then the actual meetings? Does the EBEC just keep the Council in the dark? Do you only do your jobs when a citizen has to bring things up like the EBEC and BCWA?

Part 3

I remember 3 years ago outside the Warren Town Hall after a Tri-Town meeting on the BCWA Mr. Marshall. You told me that part of the problem with the Councils is that when the people run for office, many do not realize that the BCWA is an integral part of the town system and “due diligence” (you favorite line you use at meeting I might add) must be done overseeing the BCWA because it affects all taxpayers.

I ask you Mr. Marshall; is not the formation of another Quasi-Government agency, this time with 9 towns involved, something you should be looking at with due diligence before it is even formed by the legislature?

I also take issue with Diane Williamson stating yet again that towns can pull out. Hell all the towns obviously are not in. Newport did not approve of the enabling legislation, other towns did not before it was put forth either. This was not all about “Eminent Domain” as so many seem to think.

That was a small but very dangerous part of it. These numbers of monies being used with out oversight, and it really doesn’t matter whether it is Bristol money or EDC money, it is still taxpayer monies! Your responsibility as representatives of the taxpayers in Bristol, is to the law enforcement of taxpayers monies period

Part 4

This excuse of we only sign the checks, is also BS. If you are signing the checks, then you sure as hell better be keeping records of every check at the town hall! Unless things have changed, every employee and elected official answers to the taxpayers on what they sign in the name of this town or the EBEC, because taxpayers’ funds are involved, local and State.

I would love to know how this Council has allowed money to go through the town, with town employees doing work of signing or authorizing funds to be spent, and you have no clue where it was spent over 3 years now. How does that work? You try to shift the blame on volunteers thought they were doing something to help bring renewable energy to the 9 towns. As Mr. Shapiro stated that was the goal at first, but then the greedy little fingers came in from all over the State.

I found it stunning also, that when he explained it, Mr. Marshall, you did not even comment about him saying the original members of the EBEC have basically all fled because they saw the writing on the wall of a utility being created and pushing business out of the State, which was never included in the mandate of the EBEC original intent.

Part 5

I loved it when you decided to bring up the investor in Tiverton who wanted to build a wind farm with private money. How did you answer that, accuse the investor of shady dealings when he was not there to answer your accusations. Disgusting display in my opinion as Mr. Shapiro pointed out, that was totally irrelevant. At least the guy has a plan that sure as hell is not as shady as the EBEC and your undying support for it in my opinion also.

The Council also needs to quit deriding free speech, even when they don’t like it. Mr. Barboza needs a refresher on it obviously, his constant insinuation that citizens are lying is disgusting. Yes when you say citizens are not telling the truth or are misinformed you are calling them liars. At least we are reading the laws and the minutes of the EBEC. His arrogance and holier than thou attitude is an embarrassment to the town in my opinion.

The only 2 voices of reason on the Council were Mr. Texiera and Halsey. They understand that government needs to stay out of the private sector period and know that taxpayers’ monies are to be cherished not squandered. Ms. Parella seems concerned but also does not speak to the real problem with the EBEC, Nobody seems to know what the hell the plan is. Is it to form a utility or study ways to bring renewable energy through private enterprise? That has yet to be answered for 3 years now!

Yep more to come on this I am sure ;-}

Jack,

If we leaned anything, it is that this kind of project does not belong in the hands of unqualified local volunteers who "work hard" at something they know nothing about.

Just like BCWA, the town councils believed that their only duty was to assign a bunch of volunteer board members, and once done, they could turn their backs on any further responsibility.

Here we have a Phase II study that was completed in 2010, and the Bristol Town Council (or any other council for that matter) is just getting around to debating what action needs to be taken based on the Phase II results.

Ken Marshall appears to be the worst baby sitter in the world on a project that he claims was "his baby".

A post from the prior EBEC blog deserves a second posting here (thanks to Manifold Witness for the research). It reads:

Contrary to what Ken Marshall has said recently, the email trail shows that EDC did not want private development of wind turbines.

Katharine Flynn, EDC Director of Business Development wrote to Keith Stokes & Julian Dash. Told them she had met with Andy Shapiro who told her that his company (Apex Wind) was working on an agreement with Tiverton to do a $55M investment.

Flynn wrote, “my guess is that they (“other 8 cities”) aren’t going to be happy”.

Keith Stokes wrote to Katharine Flynn: “I do not believe this. I will reach out this weekend to Tiverton Town Solicitor who is a personal friend”.

Julian Dash wrote to Katharine Flynn & Stokes: “Disaster. It will destroy the EBEC project”…

Julian Dash wrote more choice words.

This doesn’t fit with what Ken Marshall is saying lately.

An example of the invoices that are being processed in Bristol is a "blended rate" for attorney fees. i.e., one rate no matter who does the work - partner, associate, para-legal or office staff! I'd say the lay firm had a pretty good deal there! It is evident that there is no-one in Bristol minding the store. Invoices come in and they are paid... no questions asked.
Councilman Hereshoff requested, at the July 18th meeting, that an effort be made to modify the process whereby some entity other than the Town of Bristol manages the funds. This was not put into a motion, but I believe that it should have been.

We in Bristol need to be especially concerned because it is the Town of Bristol that actually applied for these grants under Diane Mederos's signature. The grant money was awarded to the Town of Bristol who then put it in a "secure" fund to be drawn against by EBEC. However, the responsibility buck stops with the Town of Bristol. They need to divest themselves of this fiasco as soon as possible.

There is a blog for Senator DiPalma on the Newport Patch. Here'e the link
http://newport.patch.com/articles/senator-dipalma-announces-third-term-candidacy-101a1d87#comment_4325884
Please go on to this blog and ask pertinent questions on EBEC. I have posted a question as to whether or not he already has a bill in the wings just waiting for January. It is important that many questions are asked.

Some great comments have been posted on the DiPalma blog Newport Patch! No response yet.

I have learned that the original plan for EBEC was to apply for grant money and then try to get the towns to float bonds for the $60 million.... After realizing that THAT wasn't going to work they then went to work writing legislation with eminent domain power so that they could get low rate bonds... Once again people... this belongs in the private sector!!

Excerpt From EBEC meeting March 5, 2012 Minutes.

Tony DeSisto and Andy Teitz
separately and both expressed their support for EBEC. Moses
informed the group that Ursillo, Teitz, & Ritch also represented the
Towns of Bristol and Barrington. The group discussion focused on
future meetings with other Town Solicitors.

Just what the hell are town Solicitors doing telling Councils what to vote for, or bring up to screw the taxpayers. Though they were advisors on things the public or councilors bring up. They are appointed, they are not elected, they are hired, and work for the taxpayers, and should keep their mouths shut, unless asked a question, not tell councilors what to support, that to me sounds like something unethical and illegal, though I cannot ask my town solicitor if it is true, he is on the list, and has no credibility or trust by me, because of these actions.

Where is the public information put out by the EBEC? No where, they are very secretive in their palns, as the website to this day says their goal was and is to find ways to help towns, not become a utility, that will raise our electric rates out of site.

These are the people to watch. Along with the Town Councilors, State Reps, and evidently unelected Town Solicitors, Special interest group

Meeting Minutes FINAL
Monday March 5, 2012
Present: Jeanne Napolitano, Beth Milham – Newport; Garry Plunkett –
Tiverton; Gary Gump – Portsmouth; Daniel Mendelsohn – ASA; Eric
Busch – Rustpoint; Christine Weglowski Forster – Middletown; Phil
Hervey – Barrington; Caroline Wells – Warren; Jeanne Boyle, Wayne
Barnes – East Providence; Joe Fraioli – Little Compton; Diane
Williamson, Juan Mariscal – Bristol; Tom Moses – Moses & Afonso;
Hannah Morini – RI EDC; Tim Faulkner – EcoRI News, Teresa Crean,
URI/CRC/RESP
1. Call to order/ Jeanne Napolitano: The meeting was called to order
by J. Napolitano at 8:40 AM.

They want to take your money through yet another quasi-government agency, even though they say it is not now. If it is attached to the EDC, then it is a quasi-government agency, since taxpayer funds are involved and have been for 3 years now with the EBEC.

Keep a good eye on these individuals and their actions now and in the future. You can bet this is far from over even if the State comes to its senses and shoots their scam down. History shows these types of people always have a backup plan, because they think the people do not know what is good for them.

Like all to despots and want to be despots, they never give up on their holier than thou schemes.

At last night's Tiverton Town meeting EBEC representatives indicated that they realize that the wind farm concept was beyond their capabilities. They will continue to pursue legislation to be a separate entity of some type so that they can continue to work on energy conservation, street lights, etc. Senator DePalma has not responded to my email asking him if he has a "new" S2870 Sub A waiting in the wings to be submitted in January. This group is not going away. They have smelled the money... and are giddy!

Marina,

Remember the proverb of the camels nose under the tent?

One cold night, as an Arab sat in his tent, a camel gently thrust his nose under the flap and looked in. "Master," he said, "let me put my nose in your tent. It's cold and stormy out here." "By all means," said the Arab, "and welcome" as he turned over and went to sleep.

A little later the Arab awoke to find that the camel had not only put his nose in the tent but his head and neck also. The camel, who had been turning his head from side to side, said, "I will take but little more room if I place my forelegs within the tent. It is difficult standing out here." "Yes, you may put your forelegs within," said the Arab, moving a little to make room, for the tent was small.

Finally, the camel said, "May I not stand wholly inside? I keep the tent open by standing as I do." "Yes, yes," said the Arab. "Come wholly inside. Perhaps it will be better for both of us." So the camel crowded in. The Arab with difficulty in the crowded quarters again went to sleep. When he woke up the next time, he was outside in the cold and the camel had the tent to himself.

The camels at the EDC and the EBEC are already licking their chops to get at the bucket of money built from everyone's electric bill (the renewable energy charge we all are forced to pay).

I have heard from Senator DiPalma today by phone from California. He has assured me that there is no pre-existing bill on EBEC waiting to be submitted in January. If EBEC comes to him with a "new and improved" bill, he will review it and also let us know of it's existence. At the Tiverton town meeting this week members of EBEC stated that they now realize that they don't have the experience required to run a wind farm, but that they still wanted to pass a bill creating an entity by which they could look at other energy projects. Let's watch this closely.

Bristol has pulled their representatives out of EBEC and has voted to oppose any new spending by the group. (See today's Phoenix) Does anyone know what other towns are doing?

Regarding today's article by Eric Dickervitz in the Bristol Phoenix about Bristol pulling out of EBEC, the reporter makes a statement that I "sharply criticized Planner Diane Williamson as the town's representative to the consortium meetings". I feel that this statement is unfair and inaccurate. I, along with several others who have been critics of the power grab of EBEC, have always been very careful to give credit to the original members of EBEC as to their sincerity and determination to find answers on energy conservation. My letter to the editor on the opposite page ends on that note.
Ken Marshall's statement that "No one deserves the kind of treatment that these volunteers have incurred. It is a shame that because of a few unwilling individuals not interested in getting educated by the proper people before criticizing, so many have to suffer." is more spin to take the spotlight off of the fact that this turned out to be a money-grabbing project that would have benefited a few at the expense of many. Politics as usual....

Councilor Marshall appears to lack the quality of character to take responsibility for this EBEC mess.

This was his baby to "baby sit".

Bad public policy is still bad public policy even when done by volunteers.

Have to admit Marina after reading Eric's story, it will take me a bit to figure out just what the Heck Marshall is saying. I thought I confuse people, but wow. YOu would think the council was a Spanish Inquisition that took place at the last meeting ;-}.

FYI Tiverton Town Council Meeting on August 14th re EBEC
http://tivertonvideos.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html
EBEC starts at 2hours 34min.

Please review excellent article by OSTPA on EBEC
http://www.oceanstateteapartyinaction.com/ocean_state_tea_4/August21.html

It responds to the following questions:
Two weeks ago, the Ocean State Tea Party in Action distributed a Sunday Alert addressing the East Bay Energy Consortium (EBEC) and the general issue of renewable energy, specifically wind turbines. Although it is currently a regional issue, it really is a state-wide issue, given that each RI taxpayer will be subsidizing renewable energy.

In response to our Alert, we received a question from one of the EBEC community town council members. The question was asked if OSTPA had any ideas for reducing energy costs for the residents of local municipalities and whether, as an organization whose sole purpose is to relieve the RI taxpayer of the heavy tax burden which has been created over the years, we would support specific ventures like tidal turbines or wave power.

We were also asked whether the OSTPA would support the principles of collaboration/consolidation/regionalization amongst communities, and if so, which policy areas might be most well-suited for this.

Great Newsletter!!

More on Portsmouth Turbine at
http://www.eastbayri.com/news/2012/aug/21/experts-inspect-portsmouths-ailing-turbine/

Bristol Town Council Meeting tonight... on the agenda:
B Old Business
3. Town Administrator Mederos re EBEC Representatives
a. Councilman Herreshoff re EBEC closure perspective

Just before these were to be announced, Ken Marshall brought up two speakers, NOTt on the agenda. The first was Jeanne Napolitano from Newport.... who proceeded to excoriate Andy Shapiro from Warren who spoke at the last meeting as a critic of EBEC as a government funded entity. The second was an attorney from Middletown, I believe the name was Forrester (??) who concurred, and also accused, yet again, the critics of trashing the original volunteers (Diane Williamson, in particular). Of course, it is election year and we have to do whatever we can to erase the horrible implications of the last meeting. Then, to our horror, when Andy Shapiro went to the podium thinking (silly man) that he would have an opportunity to defend himself..... he was denied permission to speak!! I was disappointed that none of the other council members made a motion to let him speak.... but they didn't. I have never been so disappointed in my local town government in my life! Oh, those two agenda items that I mentioned in the beginning... why, they didn't even exist. Just jumped right over them and on to the next item. Never fear, our honorable Town Council Chair is arranging for a workshop on EBEC where all can have their say. Let's see how quickly that is put together.

Just remember folks in Bristol and Warren, Ken Marshall is running for Representative for District 68. He continually refuses to let anyone speak that may have a different idea than he does. Remember the "Spanish Inquisition" speech from the BCWA forum. If he is elected, do NOT expect him to listen to anything you have to say unless he agrees with your views!

Here is a link to the recent Bristol Town Council Meeting where Ken Marshall brings in Jeanne Napolitano and an attorney to excoriate Andy Shapiro for speaking out at the last Bristol Town Council meeting. Damage Control! Election time! yada yada yada.
Here's the link:
http://www.bristolri.us/videos/brtc08-29-12.wmv
Ebec starts at 33 minutes 58 seconds.
Note: they keep saying that Diane Williamson bore the brunt of the criticism and this is patently untrue. First of all, she was the ALTERNATE for Bristol; Walter Burke was the representative. I have not every heard anyone criticize her and I have attended most of the Town Council meetings where EBEC was on the agenda. It's the spin that they want to put on this to make the critics look "mean, horrible and unfeeling"!

With the recent defeat of several high-visibility wind projects in Rhode Island, what is the future of wind energy in the state? Our guests — Stephan Wollenburg, green program director for People's Power & Light, and Benjamin Riggs Jr. a retired business executive from Newport who recently filed a federal complaint against the Deepwater Wind project — debate whether utility-scale wind energy should be part of our energy mix or whether it should be abandoned altogether.
Here is a link to the podcast:http://www.ecori.org/ecori-news-weekly-podcast/

Here is the link to the East Bay Energy Consortium workshop held 10/3 in Bristol.
http://www.bristolri.us/videos/ebec10-03-12.wmv

Please note that in the presentation they refer to going out to bid for construction facets, etc. We know from past testimony that private industry will NOT get involved on a piecemeal basis. Pete Hewett speaks at 37 minutes 42 seconds in to the tape. He is the voice of reason!

The EBEC proponents say they are not yet a legal entity, but as a current non-entity, they refuse to turn over Met tower data to the Bristol Town Council that the taxpayers funded and the Town of Bristol wrote the checks for. This is a scam that will force all state ratepayers to pay three times the going rate for electricity so a handful of towns can skim off some funds for their municipal budgets at everyone else's expense. It is astonishing EBEC has made it this far, even in Rhode Island.

As many of you know, there is a current complaint pending with the Attorney General's office as to whether certain participants in the East Bay Energy Consortium (“EBEC”), the Town of Bristol, and the Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (“EDC”) engaged in fraud and misrepresentation in connection with the funding and expenditures associated with EBEC that approximate $435,000 to date. In addition, an investigation into whether
the EDC and others engaged in an unlawful scheme designed to surreptitiously tax all residents of the State of Rhode Island without their consent for excess utility costs, the profits from which would then be used to the exclusive revenue benefit of EBEC members, all without any intent to further economic development at any level in the State.

Until this complaint is settled I would hope that there would be no further action taken on legislation to create an entity for EBEC.

There is an investigative reporter following up on the EBEC Attorney General complaint.
Link is http://oceanstatecurrent.com/investigative-report/wind-power-proponents-advance-unlawful-scheme-at-taxpayer-expense-ag-complaint-says/