While there is a cost associated with the R.I. Department of Environmental Management’s recently implemented regulations governing the inspection of the state’s 674 dams, the news could not be more welcome. The state is prioritizing all dams, and 210 deemed to present high- and significant-hazard risks will be inspected by the state at least once every five years. All the others will be inspected by their owners, whether public or private, and at their expense.
The program is necessary and long overdue. Of course, when the bill comes due, not just for the inspections but for the needed repairs to prevent a disaster, this most important infrastructure upkeep will run smack into the state’s fiscal mess.
If it seems that nearly every serious discussion these days revolves around the state’s budget deficit, that’s because it does.
When the R.I. General Assembly convenes this week to start the 2008 session, the first and most important order of business should be fixing the state’s fiscal mess. Now. Not at the last minute, when everyone is beaten down and the latest revenue-backed bonds are sold to plug the hole in the budget. Now. •
