Conservation group seeks ethics probe of CRMC

PROVIDENCE – The Conservation Law Foundation today asked the state Ethics Commission to investigate members of the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council, citing “a history and practice of unsupportable decisions in favor of development requests, nearly all of which are linked to former Rhode Island legislators.”

The CLF praised the CRMC’s professional staff but attacked the “politically appointed council,” citing “powerful evidence of a lack of impartiality.”

In a letter to the ethics panel, the conservation group listed 18 CRMC decisions that it said were “in violation of law, unsupported by environmental science or public policy, and … against the scientific recommendation of CRMC’s professional staff.” No credible reason were given for the decisions, the CLF wrote.

In its 14-page letter, the group also asserted that CRMC chairman Michael Tikoian has a longtime business relationship with former House Speaker Joseph DeAngelis, a lawyer with whose positions the panel often has agreed.

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“This record raises serious questions about the integrity and impartiality of the [coastal] council,” said Cynthia Giles, director of the CLF’s Rhode Island Advocacy Center.

Even though Tikoian generally did not vote in cases where DeAngelis appeared, recusing himself “at least 80 times,” Giles said, “such frequent recusal can itself be a violation of the Code of Ethics.”

Cases cited by the CLF in which DeAngelis represented the applicant included:
• The CRMC’s 2005 approval of a house on property in Bonnet Shores, Narragansett, that was 97 percent wetlands, despite the “strenuous” objection of CRMC scientists.

• The 2004 approval of a house near a protected wetland, over the objections of the Town of North Kingstown, CRMC staff and other objectors.

• The 2003 approval of removal of natural vegetation at the top of a coastal bluff, “over CRMC staff’s strong objection and contrary to rules that require perseveration of vegetation for wildlife habitat, pollution reduction and erosion control.”

• The 2002 approval of the expansion of the Greenwich Bay Marina 270 feet into Greenwich Bay, despite staff objections that it would harm “one of the most significant shellfish beds in Rhode Island.”

The foundation raised questions about possible improper influence in the battle over the proposed expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island, as well.

It also cited a 2003 report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in which NOAA listed 10 instances in which the CRMC overruled its own staff to approve development in buffer zones and expressed concerns about the regulatory panel’s impartiality.

The Conservation Law Foundation’s filing with the R.I. Ethics Commission can be viewed in full at www.clf.org.

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