Energy and the Environment
The environment has never been an abstract issue for me. My father and stepmother own and operate an organic farm in Middletown, and I work for a nonprofit whose mission is to build political power for climate action from the grassroots to the halls of power. Climate change is an existential threat, and we need to take bold steps in order to minimize its impacts.
As your State Representative, I will fight to:
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Rhode Island needs to join the growing number of states that are creating Climate Superfunds, modeled on the success of the toxic waste superfund program, to require fossil fuel companies to pay into a state fund that will cover the cost of implementing climate resiliency and mitigation initiatives. Big Oil is directly responsible for increases in extreme weather and sea level rise, and it should be responsible for funding the cleanup of the problems it’s exacerbated.
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Clean energy is more cost-effective and sustainable than fossil fuels, and we need to continue our investment in transitioning to it, including compensating for Donald Trump’s elimination of the federal tax credits for residential solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs) by adding comparable incentives to the state tax code.
We are not currently on track to meet the Act on Climate’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Correcting course will require us to accelerate our shift to clean energy solutions such as solar, offshore wind, EVs, and electric heat pumps — and that acceleration will only happen if we invest in making those solutions affordable and publicizing state supports for them widely to make all Rhode Islanders aware that they are accessible. Governor McKee’s budget proposes a seventeen-year delay of the deadline for our state to reach its goal of transitioning to 100% renewable electricity sources, which would be a major step back, undermining our position as an environmental leader and imperiling our future.
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We can and must transition to a clean energy future without exacerbating ratepayer burdens.
In 2007, Rep. Ajello introduced a bill that would have guaranteed the Providence Water Supply Board at least an 8% profit and could have raised some water bills by as much as 16.3%. In 2012, she voted for a bill that would have allowed utility companies to pass off the costs of unpaid bills to other ratepayers. (In an extremely rare occurrence, it failed on the House floor.) I will oppose any legislation that prioritizes utilities’ bottom lines over ratepayers’ wallets.
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As the use of generative AI rapidly expands, so does the demand for data centers to power it. Everything on the internet needs a data center, but it takes far more space and power to support AI than it does conventional internet activity. New research from Cornell warns that, if allowed to expand without environmental safeguards, data centers will emit as much carbon dioxide as 5 to 10 million cars and use as much water as 6 to 10 million Americans every single year.
I will work to limit the impact of data centers by pushing to require them to be powered by renewable energy and adhere to strict circular water management standards to limit their water intake.
The expansion of data centers has also raised environmental justice concerns, as new centers are disproportionately concentrated in low-income communities of color and exacerbate problems related to air quality and water shortages in those areas. We must include robust siting protections in the framework regulating data centers to ensure that the environmental damage they cause does not unduly harm our most vulnerable neighbors.