A special Providence City Council committee meeting will be held tonight to vote on a resolution opposing plans by Johnston to sell water to energy company Invenergy. The water is crucial for a controversial power plant proposed for Burrillville.
Over the past few months, Burrillville and Woonsocket have turned down bids from Invenergy to buy municipal water for the power plant project. Johnston accepted the company’s offer. However Johnston buys its water from Providence Water, a quasi-public city agency.
Providence City Councilman Seth Yurdin opposed the agreement. He felt Johnston should not be allowed to buy water from Providence only to turn around and resell it for a different purpose.
“It does seem absurd that one particular town could enter into a contract to supply water to all of Quebec or something like that,” said Yurdin of the deal. “Obviously this isn’t that situation, but there clearly has to be some limit on the amount that can be resold.”
Yurdin’s resolution also directs the city to examine the legal avenues it has to control the way it provides water to other municipalities. He said questions remain as to the abilities of the Providence Water Supply Board in limiting the reselling of it’s water.
Under the agreement, roughly 15-thousand gallons of water would be shipped to the power plant, for a period of twenty years. Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena asserted that the deal is legal.
