Advocacy Groups Urge Public to Help Save Environmental Funding in Rhode Island Budget.
Some 20 environmental groups are imploring their supporters to contact their members of the House ahead of its marathon budget vote scheduled for June 22 and ask them to restore $12.5 million to Rhode Island’s energy-efficiency program.
Gas and electric customers pay for energy-efficiency programs when they pay their utility bills.
In a letter, the coalition asks legislators not to defund a flourishing program.
“A cut of $12.5 million from our state’s ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs will hinder growth and significantly impact savings for residents and businesses.
Energy efficiency is Rhode Island’s ‘first fuel’ and its lowest-cost energy resource.” Save The Bay wants the House to add two jobs proposed in Gov.
The environmental group also wants the House to restore $5 million “scooped” from the Narragansett Bay Commission to the General Fund.
Farm events.
Land trusts worry that the legislation allows this new class of “secondary agricultural operations” to trump local planning and zoning boards.
The Land Trust Council and the Rhode Island Farm Bureau say business interests crafted the bill without input from farmers.