Compiled by ecoRI News staff

April 26, 2024

URI Launches Initiative to Study PFAS in R.I. Water Systems

KINGSTON, R.I. — The state of Rhode Island mandated testing of public drinking water systems for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” last year. To assistance with that effort, the University of Rhode Island has launched an initiative that will research the prevalence of PFAS in other sources, including ground and surface waters.
 
PFAS have been used for decades in consumer products such as coating on nonstick cookware, on clothing and carpets to prevent stains, and in firefighting foam. These forever chemicals degrade slowly in the environment. Human exposure is widespread and may lead to such health impacts as cancer and reproductive issues.

The URI Water Quality Program will evaluate the prevalence of PFAS and its sources and pathways in two small or disadvantaged Rhode Island communities at the sub-watershed level. Funded by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency, the project will explore best practices for treatment of PFAS and an outreach and engagement program for residents in the two pilot communities.

In the fall, URI researchers will identify the two communities — e.g., a school district, senior housing complex, or mobile home park — with differing levels of PFAS contamination in the public water system that serves them.

The selection process will also take into account the size and makeup of the communities’ populations. For this project, the EPA strongly favors that the money be applied in small communities, usually fewer than 5,000 people, that include marginalized or disadvantaged populations, according to Lisa Philo, co-director of URI’s Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program.

In each community, URI researchers will test multiple areas — private wells, small public water systems, surface waters, and onsite wastewater — to evaluate the prevalence and sources of contaminants and understand the pathways contaminants travel in surface and groundwater.

While the state monitors public drinking water systems, the URI project will also test private drinking water sources in the sub-watershed to understand potential sources of the contaminants in the home.

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April 25, 2024

Public Discussion About Proposed New Bus Hub Set for May 13

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and Next Wave Rhode Island Partners are seeking public input on the development of a new transit center.

The first in a series of “Transit Talks” public engagement sessions related to this project is scheduled for Monday, May 13, from 4-7 p.m. at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, 1 La Salle Square. At this session, representatives from Next Wave Partners and RIPTA will discuss the project’s objectives of “enhancing ridership experience and expanding service.”

The interactive event is expected to provide RIPTA riders and members of the community with an opportunity to share their opinions and feedback on a proposed new bus hub to replace Kennedy Plaza, as well as their priorities regarding amenities that this transit center should provide. Translators will be available for those who speak Spanish and Portuguese. Refreshments will be provided.

A consortium comprised of the Marsella Development Corp., the Gilbane Development Co., the Gilbane Building Co., Plenary Americas, CUBE 3, and Next Wave Partners was selected in August 2023 by RIPTA to design and build a new transit center.

Using a progressive public-private partnership model, RIPTA and Next Wave Partners will work together in two phases to complete the new bus hub. This approach will ensure RIPTA has input at all stages of the development and can access the private-sector funding and expertise needed to successfully deliver a project of this scale, according to state officials.

RIPTA and Next Wave Partners plan to host additional public engagement sessions this spring and summer. In an effort to reach individuals who are not able to attend these in-person sessions, outreach will also include a statewide survey to collect additional community input.

For more information, click here.

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April 24, 2024

New Study Confirms Warming Ocean’s Impact on Ocean Quahogs

A new study examining the fossil record of ocean quahog, one of the longest-lived species in the sea, further confirms that climate change is negatively impacting the distribution and growth of shellfish across the Atlantic.

The study, published in Continental Shelf Research, is the latest funded by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries, and draws on one of the largest available samples of ocean quahog shells, some of which are hundreds of years old and predate the Industrial Revolution. It confirms that warming temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean are causing ocean quahogs to grow slower and causing their range to contract.

The study looked at ocean quahog growth rates and compared those rates of growth with known climate conditions, such as historic cold periods such as the Little Ice Age and a warmer period known as the Medieval Warm Period. It finds that ocean quahogs once were found well inshore of their present distribution when climates were much colder than today, and that during these times they grew as fast or faster than today.

“This study is further confirmation that ocean temperatures are continuing to move away from the conditions where ocean quahog thrive, which has long-term implications for both the species and the fisheries that depend on them,” said Alyssa LeClaire, a coastal ecologist at NOAA Fisheries and the lead author of the study.

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April 18, 2024

RIPTA Survey Says Rate Your Satisfaction

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority invites the public to participate in its 12th annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. Passengers, whether they ride frequently or infrequently, are invited to take the online survey, which is available through May 5. The survey is available in English and Spanish. Each participant will be eligible for the chance to win a RIPTA prize pack that will include $70 of bus fare value on a Wave account.

RIPTA is proud to be one of 19 transit agencies nationwide offering the survey this year, prepared by the American Bus Benchmarking Group. The group is a consortium representing mid-sized transit agencies that are seeking to improve their operations by working collaboratively and measuring each other against uniform performance measures. The combined result of the surveys from the participating transit agencies will help establish best practices in public transit.

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April 15, 2024

R.I. Food Policy Council Wants to Improve Municipal Composting

The Rhode Island Food Policy Council is seeking a contractor to support outreach to the state’s 39 municipalities to assess their interest in initiating or expanding food scrap composting.

The Central Landfill in Johnston is projected to reach full capacity in 10-15 years. Among the waste being buried in the landfill annually includes about 100,000 tons of food scrap, making this resource one of the top materials being dumped in Rhode Island’s waste stream.

When organic waste such as food scrap is buried and starts decomposing, it releases methane — a greenhouse gas that is much more dangerous than carbon dioxide for the climate.

Concurrently, there is a strong and growing need for high-quality compost that can improve the state’s soil fertility.

The Rhode Island Food Policy Council wants to grow municipal food scrap composting volumes by supporting cities and towns in learning about and implementing food diversion strategies.

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April 13, 2024

North Atlantic Right Whale Spotted Entangled in Fishing Gear Off Block Island

An April 9 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aerial survey reported an entangled North Atlantic right whale swimming about 50 miles south of Block Island. The whale has been identified as adult male #4143. He was first seen as a calf in 2011 and most recently seen gear-free in Cape Cod Bay in March.

Right whale #4143 has rope coming out of both sides of its mouth. The rope also trails beyond the flukes, but the rope does not wrap around the whole body, according to NOAA. The federal agency noted the whale’s overall condition is good, and he was observed feeding during the aerial sighting.

Given the long distance from shore, marine experts were unable to safely travel to the last known location of the whale during daylight to attempt a rescue. NOAA Fisheries and its partners will monitor this whale and attempt to respond to the entanglement, if possible, as weather and safety conditions allow.

After reviewing this new entanglement, NOAA Fisheries biologists have made a preliminary determination that it meets the unusual mortality event criteria as a morbidity (sublethal injury) case. Right whale #4143 is the 126th right whale and 52nd morbidity case in the ongoing North Atlantic right whale unusual mortality event.

So far this year four North Atlantic right whales have been confirmed dead — one likely from entanglement in fishing gear confirmed to be from Maine and three from vessel strikes.

“We can hardly get through a week without hearing about yet another North Atlantic right whale killed or struggling to survive amid the deadly obstacles we throw at these animals,” said Ben Grundy, oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m so tired of watching right whales go extinct in real time from painful and predictable threats like fishing gear entanglement, while the federal government does almost nothing. The fishing industry has no excuse for refusing to cooperate on this problem and legislators should stop falling for bogus arguments and enact protections for right whales immediately.”

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April 8, 2024

$54 Million in Federal Grants to Fund R.I. Transportation Upgrades, Climate Resiliency Projects

The state of Rhode Island will be receiving four grants totaling $54,750,800 from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation grant program.

The grants were awarded to help fund the installation of a dehumidification system on the cables and anchors of the Mount Hope Bridge; the restoration of the Newport Cliff Walk; the development of a coastal management plan for the town of Warren’s Market to Metacom project; and nature-based, climate resiliency stormwater projects at 97 locations across the state.

The grant program was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and was designed to help ensure transportation resilience to natural hazards, including climate change, sea level rise, flooding, and extreme weather. The application period for this program closed in August.

Here’s a look at how the grant funding is expected to be used:

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will receive $26 million to manage stormwater drainage, reduce roadway flooding, and address climate change vulnerabilities at 97 locations.

RIDOT will receive $750,000 to develop a coastal management plan to address alternatives for three state roadway resurfacing projects along Route 136 to facilitate the town of Warren’s Market to Metacom relocation plan.

The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority will receive $17 million to install a dehumidification system on the cables and anchors of the Mount Hope Bridge. Rhode Island Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse previously secured a $10 million earmark in the fiscal 2023 government funding law for dehumidification work that is currently underway on the bridge, for a total of $27 million. The project will prevent erosion of the cables which has accelerated because of climate change.

The city of Newport will receive more than $11 million to repair and stabilize the two sections of the Newport Cliff Walk that collapsed in 2022. Reed, Whitehouse and Rep. Gabe Amo secured an additional $5 million earmark for Cliff Walk repairs in the fiscal 2024 government funding measure that was signed into law last month, for a total of more than $16 million.

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April 4, 2024

$5 Million in Grants to Electrify Mass. Garbage Trucks, Transit

Grant funding totaling $5.3 million has been awarded to 16 entities to support projects that will further electrify the Massachusetts transportation sector and help mitigate climate change. The funding will support the purchase of electric transportation equipment at Logan Airport, municipal garbage trucks, electric transit buses, onshore port charging in New Bedford, and other transportation equipment across the state.

The grants will fund eight new electric garbage trucks, three transit buses, one school bus, one shuttle bus, nine pieces of airport ground support equipment, and three pieces of airport cargo-handling equipment, according to state officials.

It will also fund installation of a New Bedford marine shore-power site, which allows vessels to turn off their engines while docked and still have use of critical electric-powered equipment. In addition, 75% of the funding will be used in environmental justice areas.

The grants are funded by nearly $2.3 million from the Volkswagen emissions settlement and about $3 million from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Climate Mitigation Trust, created by payments from energy generators that have not met clean-energy requirements.

“We’re putting these dollars to work in our communities to help demonstrate that newer clean technologies are just as effective as their polluting counterparts, MassDEP commissioner Bonnie Heiple said. “Spurring further investment in electric alternatives will bring our climate goals within reach.”
 
MassDEP, which distributes the grants, estimates that this program will reduce emissions by 6.2 short tons per year of nitrogen oxides and 530 short tons per year of carbon dioxide. Nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter, which is linked to short- and long-term respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. More broadly, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming and detrimental nutrient overloading in waterways.

The following entities were awarded funding from the Volkswagen Settlement for electric equipment:

41 North Offshore LLC, New Bedford ($23,229): one shore-power installation.
Baystate Health Inc., Springfield ($500,000): one shuttle bus.
Current Trucking LLC, Boston ($250,000): one transit bus.
Current Trucking LLC, Randolph ($250,000): one transit bus.
Five Star Transportation Inc., Chicopee ($164,748): one school bus.
Joseph’s Transportation, Medford ($500,000): one transit bus.
Massachusetts Port Authority, Boston ($141,300): three forklifts.
Southwest Airlines Co., Boston ($336,969): eight bag tugs.
Southwest Airlines Co., Boston ($105,565): one pushback tug.

The following entities were awarded funding from the Climate Mitigation Trust for new electric waste vehicles: city of Cambridge ($416,991); city of Holyoke ($500,000); city of Medford ($267,000); Republic Services Inc., Fall River ($498,119); Save That Stuff Inc., Boston ($500,000); town of Brookline ($364,511); town of Oak Bluffs ($264,279).