Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin today announced that he has directed $250,000 in settlement monies from a Clean Air Act lawsuit to support the repair of the Town of Portsmouth's wind turbine. The non-taxpayer funded grant was announced at the Tuesday meeting of the Portsmouth Town Council.
The Town of Portsmouth is seeking financial assistance with the repair of their 1.5-megawatt wind turbine located at Portsmouth High School. The wind turbine was operational and ran successfully from 2009 until early 2012. In 2012 the wind turbines' gearbox suffered a significant, premature failure. The gearbox must be replaced in order to return the turbine to service.
"The Town of Portsmouth was one of the first municipalities in Rhode Island to advance the State's objective of promoting renewable energy and reducing emissions of air pollutants," said Attorney General Kilmartin. "It is, therefore, in the State's interest to support these efforts so that Town and State may continue to obtain the benefits of local renewable energy and reduced air pollution."
The funding is contingent on the Town of Portsmouth obtaining the remaining funds for the repair work as well as demonstrating feasibility of the wind turbine.
This funding stems from a 2007 court order resulting from a lawsuit brought by Rhode Island, other states, and the federal government against American Electric Power Service Corporation (AEP). Rhode Island and the other plaintiffs alleged that AEP constructed and modified numerous power plants in the Ohio River valley without the permits required under the Clean Air Act, causing increased smog in Rhode Island and other states. Under the court order, AEP paid a $15 million penalty and committed $60 million to perform or finance pro-environmental projects, of which $24 million was distributed to eight states to fund pollution reduction, renewable energy, green building, and other environmental projects.
Rhode Island's portion of the initial settlement was $1.2 million, distributed through five annual installments of $240,000 through 2012. In 2012, a revision was made to the AEP consent decree to give Rhode Island an additional $714,000 to fund public air pollution mitigation projects. Under the revised consent decree, AEP agreed to reduce its total sulfur dioxide emissions (of their pre-2007 baseline) by approximately 90 percent by 2029.
In previous years the Attorney General has leveraged these court-ordered monies to reduce state energy costs and harmful air pollution through the installation of wind turbines at Fishermen's Memorial State Campground and East Matunuck State Beach, as well providing for upgraded air emissions devices on state-owned heavy equipment. Additionally, in 2012, a $1.2 million solar roof project on a RIPTA building in Providence was funded through these monies.