PROVIDENCE — In a win for South Providence residents, Rhode Island Superior Court on Dec. 19 upheld a city zoning ordinance, amended in 2022, that bans the bulk storage of liquid propane gas (LPG) anywhere in the city. 

“This decision is a major victory for South Providence,” said City Council Majority Leader Pedro Espinal, who represents the neighborhood where the facility is located. “For generations, the community I call home has endured massive amounts of pollution and devastating health outcomes as a result. Enough is enough. This decision makes clear to Sea 3: no more putting lives at risk just to increase your profits.” 

In 2021, Sea 3 Providence LLC attempted to fast-track a plan to expand its facility on Fields Point Drive, proposing six 90,000-gallon LPG storage tanks and a new rail delivery system. The proposal drew fierce opposition from environmentalists and South Providence residents.

The 10-acre Sea 3 facility receives LPG from pressurized ships and converts it into propane for home heating and generators. The terminal has received shipments to its 19-million-gallon storage tank since 1971, with a brief hiatus from 2016 to 2019, when Sea 3 bought the facility.

In 2021 and 2022, the City Council introduced a resolution calling on the Energy Facility Sitting Board (EFSB) to deny Sea 3’s proposed expansion plan. Additionally, Espinal passed an amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance effectively banning the establishment of any new bulk LPG storage facilities in Providence.  

Sea 3 challenged the amended ordinance in court, claiming it was inconsistent with the city’s 2014 comprehensive plan.

Now, any expansion by Sea 3 will be confined to its original plan, which was approved by the City Plan Commission in 2022, and still will require approvals from city and state agencies, including the EFSB. Any changes recommended during this process could halt Sea 3’s expansion entirely.  

Providence’s 2024 comprehensive plan includes protections for the Port of Providence and South Side residents. The plan prohibits power plants dependent on fossil fuel combustion, noxious or toxic chemical manufacturing, and ethylene oxide manufacturing and storage in certain zones. The plan paves the way for the city to ban future uses that it “determines go against the public interest of (a) public health and quality of life in near-industry neighborhoods or (b) realizing fossil fuel emissions reduction goals in response to climate change.”

Residents in South Providence and Washington Park have long expressed concerns about the health and safety impacts from nearby port activities. Monica Huertas, a Washington Park resident and director of the People’s Port Authority, testified at the 2022 EFSB hearing on the Sea 3 proposal that three out of her four children have asthma, something she attributed to living near the port’s polluting industries.

“One of my children had seven hospitalizations in the course of one year,” Huertas said. “This is the same thing my neighbors all across the South Side and Washington Park are experiencing.”