Why was the Uxbridge Town Council able to vote against the power plant but the Burrillville Town Council cannot vote against Invenergy Application?

The opinion of Oleg Nikolyszyn, Esq., Burrillville Town Solicitor:

The distinction why the Town of Uxbridge was able to vote against (and deny the building of) their proposed power plant, and why the Town of Burrillville cannot vote to deny the building of the proposed Clear River Energy Center power plant is because the law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not take the power away from the municipalities, whereas the Rhode Island law does (see discussion in Item #3 above). 

The R.I. law makes the EFSB the final licensing authority, and the granting of the permit acts as the granting of all necessary permits, variances, special use permits, etc. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts law (M.G.L. ch. 164, Sec. 69J 1/4) does not have such language. It is the absence of that language in Massachusetts that permits the municipalities that have specialized ordinances to prevail (MGL ch. 40A, Sec 5).  The Town of Uxbridge has an ordinance that permits two power plants for a combined 500 MW (with no plant being larger than 350 MW).  If a proponent of a power plant wants to build a larger power plant than 350 MW, then permission from the Town of Uxbridge is required.  In this particular instance, the Town of Uxbridge denied the request.  And, the M.G.L. does not permit the Massachusetts Siting Board to override the municipality.