To the editor:

The South Wind Power group made an impressive presentation in Bristol last evening, however the presenters were obliged to note that the proposed power delivery to the Brayton Point Power Station can only happen by dredging up the Sakonnet River. Dredging is their only option.

This mega project with huge upfront public investment could potentially be completely stopped by the Department of Environmental Management due to the obvious pollution hazard to shellfish. It is astonishing that these engineering experts don't seem to know exactly what is on the ocean floor of our waterways after the past 100 years of dumping our untreated waste there.

That means we will need to relinquish the eating of Calamari Rhode Island's national dish, or risk being severely poisoned as a result. Also in our future electrical rate we will be paying hefty indemnification to the entire RI shellfishing network, a Heritage industry and cultural trademark of our state which we cannot afford to lose.

The really annoying thing is that this state has rejected a perfectly viable option of purchasing cheaper and readily available Hydro power from our northern neighbor Hydro Quebec. Eight years ago I was informed at the Statehouse that we were not buying cheaper power from Quebec Hydro on the basis that we needed to encourage local innovations in wind power.

In counterpoint, practical Massachusetts just signed a 20-year deal with Hydro Quebec to cover all their energy requirements. Rhode Island wind power should not look to them as a potential purchaser. That then leaves us solely on the hook to buy our future energy at twice the going rate for neighboring states with no backup power source in case of failure. That is a death knell for any future manufacturing entities or future industrial expansion in our home state.

When people say Rhode Island is anti-business, what they really mean is that our state has made some seriously flawed gambles, and placing all our chips on developing unaffordable wind power instead of cheaper and readily available Hydro power from Quebec is certainly one of them.

George Burman
Bristol Harbor Board Advisory Commission