Power Plant Agreement

By ENTERPRISE STAFF REPORT
Posted Feb. 26, 2015 @ 11:45 am
Updated at 12:02 PM

BROCKTON – Mayor Bill Carpenter announced Thursday he has signed a deal with the group proposing a 350-megawatt gas-fired power plant without the City Council’s support.
After a 10-year battle over the issue, the deal could pave the way for Brockton Power and Brockton Power Co. LLC to move ahead with its project provided it dropped a $68 million lawsuit against the city, and agreed to other mitigating factors.

Agreement has been signed without the CC approval apparently. Article goes on to say CC still has final approval on selling the water. Though it's not necessarily relevant, wonder how the Gaming Commission will view this when they go to award license, A city in which the officials can't get along could be an issue?

Obviously both sides have legal opinions. IMHO, Mayor is forcing CC to be the bad guys. We don't have the money to fight this. But if CC sues the Mayor can say hey look I wanted to settle they didn't. But legally I guess he can sign but CC doesn't have to sell the Water , so it appears we are back to square one?

From Enterprise, 2/26 Enterprise Staff:

In January, the council made a decision not to settle. The Enterprise reported last month that Carpenter was considering striking a deal with the developer without the City Council, the legal ramifications of which remain unclear.

It’s also not clear what the mayor’s move would mean when it comes to accessing the city’s water supply, which the power-plant developers need for the plant. The City Council has maintained it has final say on that matter.

In a strong council - weak mayor, form of government, I can't see how its possible. Time will tell. It looks like it may be an interesting Spring in the Brockton Courts.

Looks like the Mayor is trying to appease his backers/masters

Or, trying to appease his actual masters. The citizens, who's tax money is being spent to fight a battle without their consent.

The issue of using city water is blocked as I understood it by the State. Not, sure why the additional water wouldn't be pumped from Dighton to ensure no overdrawing of Silver Lake. The City has final say on sale of reclaimed water from the adjacent treatment plant. If we had abundant water available via. the municipal system, they wouldn't have say-so over the sale of that water. That is a right of the developer. If the water is (readily & safely) available, it cannot be denied. Unless, it posed a threat to the system (overdrawing, lowering pressures below 20-25 psi in the street, etc.)

You always have such detailed information and explain it so concisely. I'm tired of the fight yet I'm torn on the PP. I don't want the Casino in my backyard so I feel somewhat hypocritical to say put it in the backyard of those fighting against the PP. Honestly, just want to stop spending money fighting it. Taxpayers are paying to fight for (Mayor) and fighting against (CC). If the mayor won't approve any more funds to litigate where does the CC get the money? Going to get even uglier.

I try.
But, I couldn't agree more. This is about to get really ugly real fast.

Carpenter says he has an old waste water agreement in the Mayors desk. Approved many years ago by the CC but never signed or Vetoed.
WATD is reporting it.

If it's not signed how could it be legal? Wonder if the surprise person is indeed a former Mayor?

As the current mayor, I'm guessing he thinks he can sign it. Lawyers all over Brockton will be dreaming of the of the dollar signs they will make from this.

Ed Byers and Kate Archard heads must be exploding right now lol.

WATD.com has a report with Carpenter posted where he explains his rationale. COB gets 2.8 and a soccer field when shovel goes in the ground. We get 4 million a year but not until PP is operational which is 3 years. And they drop the lawsuit.

I think the plant would pay R/E tax - a quick check shows Bay State Gas pays for their properties.

It will be interesting to watch the fireworks when the city permits unlimited water use permits for a casino, while denying any water use permits for the PP.

MT - how about Crown Linen's new Oak Street - their first water bill after opening shows 2,631,781 gallons consumed. I have not been able to get my head around a municipal utility refusing service to a land owner.

MT wrote:

Of course, I'll almost guarantee you the casino would be designed with a central plant including cooling towers for water cooled chillers. It takes a lot of water to cool 1,000,000 sq. ft. of highly occupied buildings.

A utility company can refuse you water service, or require you to provide supplemental storage if your draw from the system could damage said system. The municipal water provider is required to maintain a system that is sized to allow for growth and support of all, however, if the water doesn't exist, no one can force them to allow a hook-up. That water service is supporting all other businesses and homes. We don't have a separate hi-zone for sprinklers, so there is not only a quality of life issue, but also life safety concerns. Not just sprinklers, but fire dept. pumper trucks. Can't fight a fire, if the power plant, casino, whomever, is drawing too much.

On projects I have worked on, we have been forced to provide on site water storage tanks and pumping stations (for fire water), even after proving that the system would not be lowered beyond the fire marshal's low limit. They have a good amount of power in those situations.

These are some of the reasons why it was important (aside from the State mandate) for Brockton to find additional water sources besides just Silver Lake. For a community, especially and urban center, to grow and attract new businesses, one of the biggest needs is a reliable water system.