BURRILLVILLE, R.I. - Perhaps not many outside of northwestern Rhode Island could even place Burrillville, population roughly 16,000, on a map, but the prospect of a 1,000-megawatt gas and diesel oil-burning power plant barely three miles from Douglas, Massachusetts, and Thompson, Connecticut, has raised concern from residents in the tri-state area about the potential impact on air quality and water supplies reaching beyond state lines.

The application filed last October by Chicago-based Invenergy Thermal Development LLC to build the Clear River Energy Center power plant is in the advisory opinion period before the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board, a three-member board appointed by the governor.

Advisory opinions and public comment, which may be submitted by non-Rhode Island residents as well as those with local ties, are due at the agency by Sept. 12. The siting board is expected to make a decision by February.

Invenergy representatives have said the $700 million investment in the combined-cycle plant will bring more than 300 construction jobs and some two dozen permanent jobs to the region.

The plant is also projected to save consumers money - although the amount has been debated at public hearings - and reduce overall regional emissions of greenhouse gases by replacing older, inefficient plants that are coming off line in the next few years, such as Brayton Point in Somerset.

"I'm for the health and safety of every single Rhode Islander," Rhode Island Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, a Democrat, told more than 600 people packed in the Burrillville High School auditorium last month. "I'm for a good environment for every single Rhode Islander. I'm for green energy and moving as fast as we possibly can away from fossil fuels. ... But I'm also for keeping energy prices as low as possible for the people of Rhode Island."

The project is strongly supported by the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council.

A number of residents from Douglas and Thompson, which are within the five-mile significant impact zone of the proposed Clear River Energy Center, have been working with environmental groups to sound the alarm to non-Rhode Islanders.

The 50-kilometer, or 31-mile, impact zone for monitoring emissions reaches Worcester, Holden, much of southern Worcester County and stretches east toward Framingham and Foxboro.

"Massachusetts and Connecticut don't have any standing, but we get the residual," said Douglas resident Lisa Mosczynski. "Here is the problem: Massachusetts residents don't know anything about it. This is a huge impact and there's no neighbor review?"

A major concern is that Wallum Lake, a valuable recreational resource and wildlife habitat shared by Douglas and Burrillville, could be affected by the power plant, which would be located just south of the lake, off Wallum Lake Road in the Pascoag section of Burrillville.

"Siting that plant in Burrillville will have negative repercussions for the rest of the state, the bordering states of Connecticut and Massachusetts and the New England region as a whole," wrote John Marsland, president of the nonprofit Blackstone River Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone, in a letter to Energy Facility Siting Board Chairman Margaret Curran last month. "Depleted aquifers and surface water can impact not only human life but the entirety of our ecosystem, in northwestern Rhode Island and beyond to the outer reaches of the Blackstone watershed."

Invenergy proposes to treat and use for its cooling-water supply a Pascoag Utility District well that was closed in 2001 after it was discovered to be contaminated by methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive that leaked from a nearby gas station storage tank. MTBE has been linked to harmful health effects and potentially to cancer in high doses, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Once it's used, the treated water would go through Burrillville's wastewater treatment facility, which discharges to a tributary of the Blackstone River.

Not only are area residents concerned that re-opening the contaminated well could harm other aquifers and the watershed, but that the well would not provide enough water and the power plant would draw on other resources, particularly in drought periods such as this summer.

The Harrisville Fire District, covering a section of Burrillville, and the Burrillville Conservation Commission have filed concerns with the Energy Facility Siting Board that water resources could be severely strained by the power plant.

In late July, Ocean State Power, which operates another combined-cycle power plant in Burrillville, stopped drafting water from the Blackstone River because of low river flows and had to rely on a holding pond where truckloads of water are brought in and stored.

"Invenergy has not said what they plan to use as backup water," said Richard Dionne, vice chairman of the Burrillville Conservation Commission. "At one hearing, one of the town's consultants said there's a possibility that Wallum Lake could be used as a secondary source."

Paul A. Roselli, president of the nonprofit Burrillville Land Trust, told the Douglas Board of Selectmen in July, "Suggestions are to use water from Wallum Lake if that well runs dry. There's a national park where the power plant is."

An executive of Blackstone Heritage Corridor, the nonprofit agency that works with the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park and area communities to preserve the region's natural and cultural resources, was recently briefed by power plant opponents but has not offered an opinion on the project.

The power plant would bring noise and light pollution too, said Jan Luby, a Burrillville resident who spoke with Mr. Roselli to Douglas selectmen. "From Douglas State Park you're going to see it."

The Burrillville Land Trust owns 212 acres of conservation land, including property across from Wallum Lake. According to Mr. Roselli, the plant's proposed location was designated as a natural heritage area by the Audubon Society and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. It is part of the biggest contiguous forest in the Northeast.

Meaghan Wims, a public relations representative for Invenergy, denied the charge about far-reaching water impacts. She wrote in an email: "There will be no impacts on Wallum Lake or any other nearby bodies of water. We will get the water we need from the Pascoag Utility District, and any wastewater we have will be handled like any other businesses' in the town."

Mr. Roselli, of the land trust, has spoken to neighboring towns' boards to inform them of the proposed power plant and has received support from the Thompson Board of Selectmen, which is drafting a resolution opposing the Burrillville power plant to submit to Rhode Island authorities.

Douglas officials said they would share their concerns with Massachusetts state Sen. Ryan C. Fattman, R-Webster, and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which oversees Douglas State Forest surrounding Wallum Lake.

Mr. Fattman said in an interview, "Any proposal that taps into that water (Wallum Lake), I'm vehemently opposed."

He said he contacted an aide to Matthew A. Beaton, secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, who said Mr. Beaton would look into it.

Mr. Fattman said he would submit comments to the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board as well.

Renee King, a physical therapist from Thompson, attended one of Mr. Roselli's presentations at the local library and became "really, really concerned," so she started to do some research.

The Burrillville Clear River Energy Center proposal comes on top of another recent proposal for a 550-megawatt gas-fueled power plant in Killingly, Connecticut.

The two new proposals add to the impact of Burrillville's existing Ocean State Power plant and others from Dayville (Killingly), Connecticut, to Charlton, to Milford and Bellingham.

The power plants are located near Spectra Energy's Algonquin gas transmission line, which provides a fuel source.

"We already have eight power plants in 31 miles. If we get two more, we'll have 10," Ms. King said in an interview. "I believe this is a regional issue. It's tri-state and it's big."

The air quality impacts from more power plant emissions particularly concern Ms. King. She suffers from asthma and has many patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic asthma and end-stage lung cancer.

According to a draft advisory opinion released in July by the Rhode Island Department of Health, the proposed power plant would emit several air pollutants that are known asthma triggers, including nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. The emissions would have a greater impact on children, who breathe more air for their size and have lungs that are still developing.

"Can we afford to take that much more water and that air pollution?" she asked. "This will impact three states. I feel the federal government should step in."

Mr. Roselli also called for federal intervention, but his request for an environmental impact statement for the Clear River Energy Center, sent to EPA Region I Administrator Curt Spalding in March, has gone unanswered.

EPA officials said their role in the project is limited.

"We would not have any permitting role in this case," said Damien Houlihan, chief of the Industrial Permits Section. "If they don't need a permit (from the EPA) to discharge, then we wouldn't regulate any withdrawal of water."

"Our role would be strictly oversight. We would be reviewing it when it goes out to public comment," said Ida McDonnell, manager of Air Permits, Toxics and Indoor Programs.

Ms. McDonnell added that a combined-cycle plant such as the proposed Clear River facility is largely air-cooled and uses little water. And natural gas, its primary fuel, burns more cleanly than coal and oil. "In aggregate, I guess it's cleaner," she said.

The Burrillville Town Council has not taken action on the proposed power plant as it gathers input from departments and residents.

But in a June 18 memo to the Planning Board from Town Planner Tom Kravitz, Mr. Kravitz summarized the frustration echoed at hearings from residents throughout the region. He wrote: "Burrillville is essentially being asked to take one for the team in terms of air quality. And the team is a region of states."