Letter: We need more transparency from Gov. Raimondo

Posted 11/11/19

To the editor:

Governor Raimondo came to Newport to announce her attempt to push legislation to hold National Grid accountable. Please note that this announcement occurred nine months after the …

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Letter: We need more transparency from Gov. Raimondo

Posted

To the editor:

Governor Raimondo came to Newport to announce her attempt to push legislation to hold National Grid accountable. Please note that this announcement occurred nine months after the gas outage. The press was invited. How about the public? 

Governor Raimondo, known locally for here public works signs that proclaim highway projects “On Time and On Budget” before they begin, then met privately with local legislators. The public was excluded. This came on the heels of the R.I. Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (RIPIC) report. 

Was the public invited to comment? Was there an opportunity for the public comment locally? I guess I must have missed it.

What happened to Lt. Gov. McKee’s legislation that died after the Columbia Gas fiasco and the Newport outage? The press ought to investigate that one. Who torpedoed that bill? How much did National Grid’s lobbyists sprinkle the legislature? Why were the supply improvements scheduled for Tiverton and Little Compton abandoned? There was an opportunity for public questioning on that one, perhaps 15 to 20 years ago. Why was the peaking facility at Coddington Cove on the Naval Base abandoned? Why did this corporate dysfunctionalism  manifest itself in Newport and Middletown and not Portsmouth or other communities south of Weymouth?

Why has a peaking facility been established in a residential area of Portsmouth, when there is an inactive one on the base in a non-residential area? The plan is to truck in additional gas supplies through residential neighborhoods. I am sure the neighbors have been properly notified as to what to expect and that a period of public comment has been afforded. I guess I missed it.

Portsmouth should be well prepared for this fiasco. We are still waiting for the Town Center (10years) and improvements to East Road (45 years). Perhaps Governor On Time On Budget avoids East Main Road. We also had the spectacle of tolls on the Sakonnet Bridge. (We were told that it was a done deal.) Plenty of sunshine sprinkled that one! 

And then there was the $145 million attempt to put sewers in the northeast section of Portsmouth and sampling of the surrounding waters results in water shown suitable for shellfish.

Philip Driscoll

169 Immokolee Drive

Portsmouth

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