ecoRI News in Brief
Compiled by ecoRI News staff
March 14, 2024
Mass. and R.I. Environmental Agencies Join Forces to Penalize Company for Hazardous Waste Violations
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has assessed an $18,400 penalty to a Tennessee-based company for improperly transporting hazardous waste from Plymouth to a disposal facility in Rhode Island.
Following an investigation by MassDEP’s Environmental Strike Force and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Final Forge LLC, was penalized and required to properly characterize and dispose of hazardous wastes.
The agencies began an investigation in January 2023 after Final Forge transported hazardous waste generated at its hangar in the Plymouth Municipal Airport via a rented box truck to Clean Earth’s hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility in Providence. The contents of several 55-gallon drums, as well as gallon- and pint-sized containers of chemicals, were unidentified, and none of the materials had a hazardous waste manifest, as required by law.
The wastes were not accepted for disposal at the facility; however, Final Forge abandoned the wastes at the loading dock and left the site, according to state officials.
The investigation led to Final Forge and its hangar at Plymouth Municipal Airport, where investigators found two additional 55-gallon drums of chemicals that had not been properly disposed of.
MassDEP directed Final Forge to provide waste characterization, manifests, and other shipping records and payment information for the hazardous wastes abandoned at the Providence facility, as well as for the two drums discovered at the Plymouth hangar, to ensure proper disposal. Final Forge must pay $8,400 of the $18,400 assessed penalty up front; the remaining fine will be suspended if the company fulfills its obligations and does not commit further violations.
March 13, 2024
Providence Commits to Carbon Neutrality in Municipal Buildings by 2040
PROVIDENCE — The City Council on March 7 passed a law that commits to carbon neutrality in all city-owned buildings, including schools, by 2040.
Carbon neutrality is a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimizing their environmental impact. Going carbon neutral can involve using renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency, and adopting sustainable practices.
Providence has 122 city-owned buildings with a total of 5.9 million square feet.
“Carbon neutrality is a big win for our fight against climate change but is also a huge win for our kids in school buildings and our municipal employees throughout the city,” said lead sponsor City Council member Sue AnderBois. “This requirement ensures a pivot away from polluting appliances like gas and oil-fired boilers and moves toward energy-efficient upgrades that don’t burn fossil fuels.”
The new law requires electrification and energy-efficiency upgrades in buildings, including electric heating and cooling, electric water heating, and the promotion of 100% renewable energy consumption. The ordinance also encourages the installation of renewable energy infrastructure within municipal buildings.
The city’s three newest schools already conform to the law: they use electricity instead of fossil fuels.
Carbon neutrality was a specific recommendation in the Providence Climate Justice Plan of 2019. It is the city’s first substantive act in implementing a commitment to being a Climate Jobs City passed last September.
March 9, 2024
Sewage Overflow Closes Bristol Harbor to Shellfishing
BRISTOL, R.I. — The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management this morning closed a 458-acre portion of the western side of Bristol Harbor — all waters north of a line extending from the southernmost tip of Usher Point in Bristol to the northernmost tip of Hog Island — to shellfishing.
Per federal Food And Drug Administration guidance for safe shellfish harvest, these waters will remain closed until March 30. The emergency closure includes the Bristol Harbor seasonal shellfish area in the northwestern portion of Bristol Harbor.
More than 4 inches of rain have fallen in the Providence metropolitan area this week, according to DEM. Along with flow restrictions in the Bristol wastewater treatment facility’s main pump station, the rainfall resulted in an overflow of about 180,000 gallons of untreated wastewater that ultimately discharged into Bristol Harbor.
The emergency shellfish closure is necessary to provide adequate dilution volume and time for shellfish in the area to depurate, or cleanse pollutants, which may have been discharged into Bristol Harbor, according to DEM.
Staff at the wastewater treatment facility have set up an additional pump ahead of this weekend’s predicted rain to prevent additional sewage overflows while they continue to evaluate the cause and remedy of the flow restriction.
For more information on the shellfish harvesting classifications, click here, or click here for an interactive shellfishing map.
March 3, 2024
Tick-Borne Disease Confirmed in Kent County Man
The Rhode Island Department of Health reported Feb. 29 a confirmed case of the tick-borne Powassan virus disease detected in a 70-year-old Kent County resident. He began experiencing symptoms of Powassan in late January. He is recovering at home.
Powassan disease is found mostly in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region and in eastern Canada. Some 270 cases of Powassan have been reported in the United States in the past 10 years, according to DOH. Powassan cases are rare, but the reported number of cases has increased in recent years. Last year there were 25 cases of Powassan reported in New England: 10 cases in Massachusetts, five each in Connecticut and Maine, three cases in New Hampshire, and one case each in Rhode Island and Vermont.
“With spring around the corner we all need to be thinking about tick prevention measures when outdoors,” interim DOH director Dr. Utpala Bandy said. “Repel and reduce your exposure to ticks, check your body for ticks, and be sure to remove ticks if you find one on yourself, a family member, or a pet. You may not be able to feel them or spot them right away. The sooner you find and remove them, the better your chances are at preventing the serious health issues caused by illnesses like Powassan and Lyme disease.”
Initial symptoms of Powassan include fever, headache, vomiting, and generalized weakness. The disease usually progresses to meningoencephalitis, which may include meningeal signs, altered mental status, seizures, aphasia (difficulty understanding or speaking), paresis (muscular weakness or paralysis), movement disorders, or cranial nerve palsies. People with severe Powassan disease often need to be hospitalized. There is no vaccine or treatment for Powassan, so preventing exposure to ticks is the best strategy to avoid this disease.
March 1, 2024
Rhode Island to Build Complete Streets Plan
PROVIDENCE — Work is currently underway to create a Complete Streets Plan for Rhode Island. Most streets throughout the state were designed to accommodate automobiles but left out other modes of transit. This new state plan aims to change that, according to the Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning.
In the agency’s March e-newsletter Statewide Planning officials noted the state’s one-mode transportation design is often “unsafe and inhospitable” for “transit riders, pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-car users.” They said this plan will guide the state and its municipalities in redesigning streets to be “complete,” meaning they are safe and accommodating of all users.
A Complete Streets design “is a powerful tool to help reduce fatalities and serious injuries, while creating more sustainable and equitable streets through the addition of sidewalks, bike lanes (or wide paved shoulders), comfortable and accessible public transportation stops, frequent and safe crosswalks, median islands, accessible pedestrian signals, curb extensions, narrower travel lanes, roundabouts,” according to Statewide Planning.
The plan will examine the barriers that exist in Rhode Island to implementing Complete Streets and will outlining policies and strategies to overcome them, according to Liza Farr, the agency’s supervising planner.
Statewide Planning is working with Boston-based Toole Design Group on the plan. The process is being led by an inter-agency working group, with input from stakeholders and community engagement, according to Farr. The planning process will take about 18 months, with summer 2025 the anticipated finishing date. Funding is being provided through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Metropolitan Planning funds under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
If you would like to engage with this plan, email Liza Farr at [email protected].
Feb. 26, 2024
RIPTA Board Approves Driver Pay Increase
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority board of directors voted Feb. 22 to approve a collective bargaining agreement with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Division 618 that would increase the starting driver wage from $21.71 an hour to $25.33. The new wage is in effect.
In addition, the top pay step of existing ATU salaries, other than van operators, will increase by $1, with lower pay steps adjusted accordingly. ATU 618 represents RIPTA’s 488 current fixed-route and paratransit drivers.
The current collective bargaining agreement doesn’t expire until June 30, 2025, but RIPTA reopened the contract early in direct response to the ongoing nationwide shortage of licensed commercial drivers, according to Scott Avedisian, RIPTA’s chief executive officer.
Despite extensive recruitment efforts, drivers continue to retire more quickly than RIPTA can recruit new ones, he noted.
“This crucial wage increase benefits not only our drivers, but our passengers as well,” Avedisian said. “This will enable us to attract and retain drivers, ensuring that the public can rely on RIPTA to be there when the bus schedule says we are going to be there.”
Last month RIPTA announced proposed statewide service reductions, which are a direct response to the driver shortage. The labor shortage, which is affecting transit agencies across the country, has a direct impact on the level of service that RIPTA can provide, Avedisian said.
As part of the initiative to recruit new drivers, RIPTA is hosting a job fair Friday, March 15, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the agency’s headquarters, 705 Elmwood Ave. in Providence. Interested applicants are encouraged to stop by or apply online.
Feb. 22, 2024
R.I. Council Sets Facts Straight About State’s Food System
The Rhode Island Food Policy Council has released a resource designed to help Rhode Islanders make sense of critical trends affecting the state’s food system.
The RI Food System Factbook will be an annual publication, providing a data-driven assessment of the status of Rhode Island’s food system, according to the council. It will incorporate the best available research and data, and will present information on the state as a whole, as well as for each of Rhode Island’s 39 municipalities.
The online resource shares data about 40 different indicators across five areas of food system health and well-being: food economy; food access and security; agriculture and land use; commercial fisheries and aquaculture; and climate change.
The book includes the economic impact of wholesaling and distribution, growth in food processing and manufacturing, the importance of direct sales to local producers, and growth in aquaculture production. It also calls attention to Rhode Island’s high average cost for agricultural land — the highest in the nation at $17,500 an acre — and to the significant risks of long-term food production due to land development and climate change.
The document shares demographic information that reveals how Hispanic, Black, Indigenous, and other Rhode Islanders of color are disproportionately impacted by inequities in income, poverty, food security, and farm and land ownership.
Feb. 16, 2024
New Lab Will Develop Coastal Resiliency Strategies for Ocean State
BRISTOL, R.I. — Roger Williams University has been awarded $1.69 million in federal funding for its new Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science Laboratory that will study human-derived pollutants in the air, soil, and water.
The funding, secured in the fiscal 2023 appropriations law,. will enable RWU to retrofit existing lab space and equip a new, experimental lab outfitted with cutting-edge analytical equipment to examine complex environmental research through the lenses of scientific, engineering, business, sociological, and legal perspectives.
The interdisciplinary Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science Laboratory aims to make its research findings available to state officials and the business community to help inform environmental policies, plans, and workforce development initiatives that improve the ecosystem health and coastal resiliency of Rhode Island communities.
The new lab will work in partnership with the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program on Rhode Island-specific issues and research.
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