Environmental plan
Often we talk about the need for long-range economic planning in Rhode Island. Just as important is an overall environmental plan, one which members of the Conservation Law Foundation suggest is long overdue, and one that is directly related to our economic well-being. ”People who build high tech industries are quality of life people,” suggested Robert H. Russell, a lawyer and director of CLF’s communications in its Boston office.
Russell and Leslie Urgo, CLF’s Rhode Island coordinator, suggest that an environmental plan doesn’t only mean preserving trees or waterfront. It also means a sound public transportation system, agriculture and aquaculture. It means understanding the impact of development of a port at Quonset Point, and even exploring whether it is better environmentally to move the Providence Port and its tanks to Quonset.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
”Preserving the environment is about an integrated plan,” Russell said. “It is not about saving trees and then killing them with groundwater runoff. The transportation sector is the largest single polluter in Rhode Island.”
The plan, Russell suggests, should “create economic links that are environmentally responsible.”
And Urgo believes that, to be successful, Gov. Lincoln Almond has to lead the charge.
The governor has clearly demonstrated through his active support of a bond issue to buy and preserve vacant land, his appreciation for the environment. Therefore we believe it is consistent with that position that he become an advocate as well for long-range environmental planning.
We’d like to see the governor include groups like Grow Smart, Statewide Planning, the Department of Environmental Management, Save the Bay, CLF, RIPTA and other transportation agencies, to begin the process of developing a long-range environmental plan for Rhode Island that Urgo suggests works “toward a Rhode Island of the future that we want to live in.”
A dredge report
Dredging may not be a sexy political issue, guaranteed to grab a four or five column headline screaming across the front page of your daily general interest newspaper. Instead, it is a complex subject that requires time-consuming research to comprehend.
But the subject of dredging the Providence River seems to be in a state of never ending studies, allowing silt to build up to such a level that area marinas are finding they are losing slips to the point of jeopardizing the overall viability of their businesses.
With the economy at an all-time high and the boating industry – primarily its manufacturers and suppliers — enjoying the benefits of that prosperity, it is unfortunate that a lack of dredging has put a damper on what should be the best of times for all of our marinas.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering a plan to dredge 4.3 million cubic yards of sediment from the shipping channel. It won’t release its final Environmental Impact Statement until the spring of 2001, leaving many marina owners wondering how to cope with another summer in which they are seemingly at war with the build-up of silt along the bottom of the river.
Many marina owners are considering digging their own way out of their problem, literally. It will be costly – too costly for some.
Meanwhile the state has the ability to approve an in-water disposal site for dredge spoils – something that has been done in Connecticut, Maryland and Massachusetts.
The Marine Infrastructure Maintenance Act, adopted in 1996, directs the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council to find in-water disposal sites that marinas could use. CRMC hired a consultant to study the four sites. A report came back last summer, suggesting additional study. And the newest report is due this spring.
It’s ironic that these same state officials that have condoned delays in dredging the bay, were among those that were vocal over the last year in their concern that a port at Quonset Point might be detrimental to recreational activities on the bay. Nothing has been more detrimental to some than the failure to move forward plans to dredge the Providence River.
