The R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council may soon gain some new members, but questions about how the agency operates are likely to continue to swirl.
Last week the Senate held hearings on Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee’s five picks for the council, including four new faces and one reappointment. Environmental and good-government groups hailed the appointments to the half-vacant council as long overdue but said lawmakers still must tackle difficult questions about the agency.
“A lot of the issues and many of the setbacks the council [have] faced in the last couple of decades has less to do with particular personalities or managing styles than with the overall structure of coastal management in the Ocean State,” said Tricia Jedele, director of the Conservation Law Foundation’s Rhode Island office.
The 16-member council initially comprised eight gubernatorial appointees, four lawmakers and four General Assembly appointees. The 2004 Separation of Powers amendment to the state constitution led to the removal of lawmakers and their appointees.
Since then some CRMC observers have accused the council of being adrift, making inconsistent decisions, having a tense relationship with its staff and fumbling on key issues, such as missing a deadline to oppose a liquefied natural gas terminal in Mount Hope Bay.
A report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last summer expressed concern that a dearth of members limited the council’s ability to operate and that the agency lacked the legal resources to navigate environmental laws and regulations.
New faces alone will not necessarily address those concerns, said Jane Austin, a senior policy analyst at Save The Bay. The environmental group has been urging lawmakers to establish a commission to study the coastal-regulation process.
How the CRMC regulates the coastline has been a hot-button issue of late. Eroding shoreline in South Kingstown led the CRMC to allow temporary barriers to protect a road and structures.
Environmental groups charged that the decision went against a staff recommendation, conflicts with previous decisions and serves as a mere Band-Aid to the larger issue of beach erosion. And they worry that it could set a precedent.
The Matunuck debate, however, is far from over and will likely involve Chafee’s new nominees, should they be confirmed.
The nominees – expected to be voted on this week by the Senate – are political science professor Tony Affigne; businessman Guillaume de Ramel; B+H Shipping Group CEO Michael S. Hudner and tax professional Anne Livingston. Chafee also nominated Raymond Coia for another term.
Not returning for another term is Michael Tikoian, a council member for 17 years and the chairman for the last 15.
Tikoian, recently appointed to the R.I. Board of Governors for Higher Education, said he requested that Chafee not reappoint him to the CRMC. And he defended the work of the council composed of volunteer members.
“We’ve worked really, really hard over the years,” Tikoian said.
During his last meeting, Tikoian acknowledged some council decisions were unpopular and caused emotions to run high.
Tikoian said that during the last 17 years, the CRMC oversaw the dredging of the Providence River, established a clean-marina program, simplified dock regulations, leveraged millions of dollars for habitat restoration and established regulations for aquaculture. The council also adapted the state’s first ocean Special Area Management Plan.
Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown, who chairs the committee that vetted the nominees, said new members alone are unlikely to mollify concerns about how the agency operates. She’s been pushing legislation that would set up a joint commission along the lines of the ones advocated for by environmental groups. Her bill would also shrink the council from 16 members to a dozen.
Well-intentioned people serve on the council and on its staff, but they have not demonstrated an urgency to address broad policy questions, such as beach erosion, Sosnowski said.
Sosnowski said a study commission could explore new laws, council structures or staffing needs. Her bill has passed the Senate but remains stalled in the House.
Since its report last August, NOAA has been monitoring the council’s progress in addressing the federal agency’s concerns.
Allison Castellan, a NOAA coastal-management specialist that participated in the evaluation, said the agency was pleased to hear about the governor’s nominations, despite them coming three days after a NOAA deadline to fill the seats.
“We recognize that politically and legislatively things can take a little bit longer” than anticipated, she said.
The agency is also studying CRMC’s plans to address NOAA’s other concerns. The council is sending its contracted legal consultant to agency headquarters several times a week to address concerns that staff lacked access to a lawyer. It has proposed having state hearing officers handle appeals instead of the council’s own legal counsel because NOAA charged that the current setup leaves the council without a lawyer to present its case.
If the CRMC still has not made enough progress by the next NOAA review – expected in about three years – NOAA could decertify the CRMC and sever it from federal money.
Some CRMC observers think that implicit threat was enough to motivate Chafee to submit nominations and may be enough to persuade lawmakers to reform the council. Already, lawmakers appear poised to confirm people to seats lawmakers once held.
“Why now? I don’t think it’s coincidental, the timing with NOAA,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. “I think the handwriting was on the wall; if they can’t get something done legislatively the feds have a pretty big stick they can wield.” •
