Rhode Island Recycled Metals Misses Another Licensing Hearing
South Providence residents want the Board of Licenses to take a stance on the new junkyard application. The board argues that the buck doesn’t stop with them — it’s up to the state.
March 28, 2026
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PROVIDENCE — Monica Huertas headed to City Hall on March 26 with the intention of hearing a ruling.
A scrapyard a mile away from her home on Ohio Avenue applied for a municipal junkyard license to operate on the waterfront near the Port of Providence. Rhode Island Recycled Metals was scheduled to appear before the Board of Licenses. But officials said they were unable to attend due to a “pending matter at the court”— leaving the board to issue a third hearing.
After posting the agenda, the board’s administrator received 39 emails from people asking members to reject the license. A handful of people who oppose granting the license attended the March 26 meeting to express their frustration about the board’s decision to delay the vote and the environmental impact the business has on their neighborhoods.
The board’s hands are tied in a “catch-22” situation. It lacks jurisdiction over environmental violations, and Rhode Island Recycled Metals is tied up in two Rhode Island Superior Court actions that could impact the board’s decisions.
“If it were me, I’d be showing up to the court,” the board’s administrator, Jose Giusti, said during the recent hearing.
The business is involved in Superior Court cases with the Department of Environmental Management and with the city.
Louis DeSimone, the board’s attorney, advised the members to wait before granting or denying a license until they receive direction from the court.
“I think given the fact the Superior Court’s involved in two actions, with all due respect, I don’t think this board is going to be able to solve the problem,” DeSimone said.
The problem with Rhode Island Recycled Metals started one year after it opened its doors on Allens Avenue in 2009. DEM cited the company for dismantled car fluids leaking into upper Narragansett Bay from its property. The agency cited the business again in 2014 for discharging runoff into the Providence River and failing to have metal operation permits.
The attorney general and DEM filed a suit in Superior Court a year later, following failed efforts to resolve the issue. A judge appointed a special master to oversee the business’s remediation and redevelopment.
Critics said the site’s cleanup and remediation efforts have moved at a snail’s pace.
DeSimone said the special master remains in charge of the site, and the board’s licensing action doesn’t cover the special master.
History of delays
Rhode Island Recycled Metals was scheduled to appear before the board March 12, but the company asked for a continuance.
Huertas, founder of the People’s Port Authority, said the company’s decision to postpone hearings is a known tactic it has used for more than 10 years.
Adewole Akinbi, the board’s vice chair, agreed. Akinbi said Rhode Island Recycling Metals did the same thing for three months when it was forced to apply for a municipal license in 2024.
An attorney withdrew the license after the company kicked the can down the road as far as they could, according to Guisti.
“We’re aware of this game,” said Akinbi, adding that “as our counsel said, it’s not up to us — it’s a state thing.”
The withdrawal prompted Mayor Brett Smiley to issue a cease-and-desist order. The company’s attorneys responded by claiming its state licenses are sufficient.
The city is in an ongoing court case with Rhode Island Recycled Metals. A status conference is scheduled for April 13, according to Jillian Barker, senior assistant city solicitor.
A third Board of Licenses hearing is scheduled for May 28.
“They’re not going to wear us down … and we’ll be here every time that we have to be here,” Huertas said.
This sounds sickenly like the history of Morley Field–kick it upstairs; delay, delay, delay; potential for further environmental decay; “it’s not my jurisdiction” (why is the potential pollution of the Moshassuck River downstream from Pawtucket not the jurisdiction of RIDEM?) and so on and so on. It isn’t just a S. Providence issue, it’s our STATE. RIPTA gets reduced to people who have no other transportation instead of providing a benefit for all; Morley Field gets reduced to one Pawtucket neighborhood in spite of the effect on the surrounding cities and common resources; the continued degredation of the port gets reduced to S. Providence. When “outsiders” protest, Mayor Grebien sweeps aside massive protest from the affected neighborhood and blames the proverbial outside agitators. We don’t live in bubbles.
The4board of licenses is a totally corrupt organization. They missed the hearing pull their license and who cares about the courts, The board of license shoul fdjust say they violated thier license and close them down. Cowards.
The City council shold pass an ordinance. you violate the license and miss the hearing, you lose the license. And you close down until you can meet all the right standards.