Two stories within the last two weeks have not contained good news for the Ocean State.
Most recently, The Washington Post crunched the numbers and reported that Rhode Island saw the greatest average temperature increase among the 48 contiguous states, rising 2 degrees Celsius from 1895 to 2018.
The results of warmer air temperature are multifaceted. Its effects can be quite negative, from more and more destructive storms to the loss of cold-water fisheries [lobsters are already decamping from Narragansett Bay] and the inundation of low-lying areas.
The report from The Post followed on the heels of news that the U.S. Department of the Interior has put a hold on the construction of the $2.8 billion Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm in waters off Martha’s Vineyard, pending an extended environmental review [something Interior already had examined].
The review, if it goes too late in this year, will keep Vineyard Wind from claiming wind-energy construction tax credits that expire at the end of 2019, which in turn makes construction of the electricity-producing renewable energy facility less likely. It also calls into question the construction of Revolution Wind, the project slated to be built in federal waters between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard that is expected to produce enough electricity to power one-quarter of a million homes in Rhode Island.
If Vineyard Wind and then Revolution Wind and other projects like them on the East Coast are not built, it is difficult to imagine that temperatures will not continue to rise and Rhode Island will avoid bearing the brunt of the issues it presents.