Kilmartin Won't Continue Lynch's Deepwater Crusade

Outgoing Attorney General Patrick Lynch fired a parting shot today at Deepwater Wind, the company that aims to build a largescale wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.

The AG filed a brief with the state Supreme Court objecting to General Assembly passage of a bill that required the state's Public Utilities Commission to take up Deepwater's proposal for a pilot project off Block Island for a second time - weighing criteria that favored the developer - after initially rejecting it. From the suit:

"When a legislature attempts to give a single failed applicant a customized privilege to re-apply to the tribunal after a final decision, such legislation amounts to an attempt at re-determination of the result in a particular already-concluded case-a violation of separation-of-powers.”

Lynch makes some compelling points. But Attorney General-elect Peter Kilmartin has been clear about his support for the Deepwater project.