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PROVIDENCE, R.I.

A Chicago-based company that plans to build a natural-gas-fueled energy facility in

Rhode Island said Tuesday that the project will reduce harmful emissions, cut energy

costs and create more than 300 jobs.

Invenergy CEO Michael Polsky was joined by Gov. Gina Raimondo to unveil details

about the $700 million Clear River Energy Center to be built in Burrillville. The

company must receive approval from the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board

 before moving forward with the project.

The 900-megawatt plant would displace less-efficient power plants in the region, thereby

decreasing emissions of harmful pollutants, and would not increase electricity

consumption, Polsky said.

Invenergy estimates the facility will help Rhode Island residents save $280 million in

energy costs from 2019 to 2022 between the reduction in prices and the efficiency of the

 plant.

"We have a problem today: Our prices are too high, supply is too low and we have

climate change reality. This project is one piece of the puzzle," Raimondo said.

Clean-energy facilities such as Clear River Energy Center are necessary as the region

transitions away from fossil fuels like coal and oil, Raimondo and Polsky said.

"Natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel you can have," said John Niland, director of

 business development for Invenergy. "It's certainly much more responsible and friendly

than other alternatives."

President Barack Obama on Monday unveiled a plan to dramatically cut emissions from

U.S. power plants.

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Under the new regulations, which Obama touted as the most important step the country

has taken to combat climate change, states are being asked to cut carbon dioxide

emissions by 32 percent by 2030.

Both Raimondo and Polsky said the Clear River Energy Center fits in perfectly with

Obama's plan.

They also said that the facility would provide millions of dollars in revenue to the town of

Burrillville and that building the plant would create more than 300 jobs. The plant would

employ about 25 full-time workers.

But not everyone is happy about the project.

Members of Fighting Against Natural Gas, or FANG, and the community organization

Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion rallied outside Tuesday's event to protest natural

gas infrastructure in the state.

Burrillville resident Christopher Currie, one of several protesters, said he was opposed to

the plant because hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract oil and gas from rock

 by injecting high-pressure mixtures of water, sand and chemicals, is harmful to the

environment. Currie said he'd support a wind farm or another project that instead relied

on renewable energy.