By
FRANK CARINI, EcoRI
Taking
the natural world for granted and abusing its life-support systems is, to put
it succinctly, stupid.
Unfortunately,
the roots of stupidity run deep on Smith Hill. I’m not using the word stupid to
be lazy or mean-spirited. The recently completed 2018 General Assembly session
provides ample proof that collective label is fair, and may fit better than
greedy, corrupt, or ignorant.
The
definition of the word stupid, according to Merriam-Webster: a) slow of mind;
b) given to unintelligent decisions or acts, acting in an unintelligent or
careless manner; c) lacking intelligence or reason.
Exhibit
A
Rep. Michael Morin, D-Woonsocket, actually filed a bill that called for increasing the amount of dangerous flame retardants used in residential upholstered bedding and furniture by 900 percent.
Rep. Michael Morin, D-Woonsocket, actually filed a bill that called for increasing the amount of dangerous flame retardants used in residential upholstered bedding and furniture by 900 percent.
“Beginning on July 1, 2019, no manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer may manufacture, knowingly sell, offer for sale, or distribute for use in this state any residential upholstered bedding or furniture, which contains [one hundred parts per million (100 ppm) was stricken] one thousand parts per million (1,000 ppm) or greater of any organohalogen flame retardant chemical,” according to H8347.
The bill was purportedly submitted to keep children safe — presumably from a maniac with a flamethrower.
Flame
retardants, however, are pollutants that are omnipresent in the environment and
accumulate in the fat of wildlife, pets, and humans. Some are legal for use in
all consumer products.
Others are known to be toxic and banned from certain products, such as children’s pajamas, but are still poured into things as varied as electronics, clothing, upholstery, and commercial textiles.
Others are known to be toxic and banned from certain products, such as children’s pajamas, but are still poured into things as varied as electronics, clothing, upholstery, and commercial textiles.
According
to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, some of the most
common flame retardants have been linked to cancer, lower IQ, and reduced
fertility, and they can harm fetal and child development.
During
the 2017 General Assembly session, a Senate bill would
have banned the sale of bedding and furniture in Rhode Island that
contained organohalogens, an
entire class of chemicals that has been associated with serious human health
problems.
That
bill likely died in committee, or some special Senate study committee that
failed to ever meet missed its deadline.
As
for Morin’s bill, it never made it to committee, and met the same fate as
much-wiser bills that called for the creation of a carbon-fee-and-dividend
program and another that would have made carbon emission targets enforceable.
Exhibit
B
As climate-change pressures mount and the federal government takes a blowtorch to environmental protections, the Statehouse did virtually nothing during the past six months to protect the Ocean State.
As climate-change pressures mount and the federal government takes a blowtorch to environmental protections, the Statehouse did virtually nothing during the past six months to protect the Ocean State.
As
my colleague Tim Faulkner reported, the 2018
General Assembly session was by all accounts unremarkable for environmental
progress. There was no major legislation passed related to climate change,
energy, waste reduction, or environmental justice.
Rep.
Art Handy, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and the Environment, told
the ecoRI News Statehouse reporter that the session was “slow” for
environmental bills.
“Some
(bills) should have had a better shot,” he said.
The
ones that did make it to the governor’s desk were, well, stupid.
For
example, a bill was passed
that requires schools to make their “best efforts” to have students in grades
K-12 take at least one field trip to a nature persevere each year. This kind of
bill is an example of the General Assembly giving its best effort to protect
the environment.
Exhibit
C
The General Assembly and governor couldn’t find $200,000 in the $9 billion fiscal 2019 budget to study a statewide fee on carbon emissions — a study the Statehouse committed to last year. (There are millions in the budget, though, to help a collection of multimillionaires build a new minor-league baseball stadium).
The General Assembly and governor couldn’t find $200,000 in the $9 billion fiscal 2019 budget to study a statewide fee on carbon emissions — a study the Statehouse committed to last year. (There are millions in the budget, though, to help a collection of multimillionaires build a new minor-league baseball stadium).
During
the 2017 General Assembly session, the Legislature passed and Gov. Gina
Raimondo signed a bill authorizing a study to examine a statewide carbon-pricing
program.
The study was supposed to be led by the state Office of Energy Resources (OER), but no money was made available and the bill’s special committee was never created. The report’s deadline has long past.
The study was supposed to be led by the state Office of Energy Resources (OER), but no money was made available and the bill’s special committee was never created. The report’s deadline has long past.
OER’s
commissioner, Carol Grant, has said her office will speak with any potential
funders.
Perhaps Grant should reach out to the members of the legislative commission created to study the impacts of offshore wind turbines for a handout.
Their investigation should be wrapping up quickly, since the state’s Ocean Special Area Management Plan (Ocean SAMP), one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, already addresses that issue.
The Republican Five have linked the death of a humpback whale that washed ashore in Jamestown last summer to the Block Island Wind Farm. No evidence has linked the five turbines to the whale’s death, but these purported Statehouse naturalists are concerned nonetheless.
In
discussing climate change with ecoRI News last
year, however, Morgan expressed far less concern for an extinct land-based
mammal, saying, “Climate change is happening, but human beings are smart, and
we’ll figure it out. Mastodons in Rhode Island couldn’t adapt and died. Humans
can adapt.”
She
supports the expansion of the Algonquin Gas pipeline, telling me last year that
this added fossil fuel will help Rhode Island residents and businesses have a
better life and be more successful.
The
Environment Council of Rhode Island’s most recent biannual Green Report Card gave
Morgan an F. Roberts, Price, and Lancia also earned Fs.
Quattrocchi was elected in November 2016.
Quattrocchi was elected in November 2016.
The
death of the Jamestown whale is one in a spike in humpback deaths along
the East Coast that started before the blades of the country’s first offshore
wind facility even began spinning.
Offshore
wind turbines certainly add to the cacophony of underwater noise created by
boats, ships and barges, sonar, fossil-fuel drilling, bottom trawling, and
military exercises and testing that stress marine mammals and other sea life.
Vessel strikes and entanglements with fishing gear are the main human-caused
killers of whales.
Sea
life also suffers from a growing flood of plastic, such as ubiquitous retail
bags. A statewide ban on plastic checkout bags and Styrofoam food containers
didn't advance this year. None of the Republican Five was a sponsor of the
House version.
Exhibit
D
In support of a bill that advocated grouping the incineration of wood with wind and solar power as a renewable energy, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said, “I don’t think this is an incinerator. It’s a very clean power.”
In support of a bill that advocated grouping the incineration of wood with wind and solar power as a renewable energy, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said, “I don’t think this is an incinerator. It’s a very clean power.”
The
North Providence Democrat must think Rhode Islanders are stupid.
Incinerators
have been banned in Rhode Island since the 1990s. Research continues
to find that burning woody biomass such as scrap and junk lumber speeds up the
release of carbon dioxide, compared to wood that decomposes naturally. The
practice also emits high levels of particulate matter that contribute to air
pollution.
“Biomass
power plants are also a danger to the climate, emitting nearly 50 percent more
CO2 per megawatt generated than the next biggest carbon polluter, coal,”
according to a 2014 study.
“Emissions of CO2 from biomass burning can theoretically be offset over time, but such offsets typically take decades to fully compensate for the CO2 rapidly injected into the atmosphere during plant operation.”
“Emissions of CO2 from biomass burning can theoretically be offset over time, but such offsets typically take decades to fully compensate for the CO2 rapidly injected into the atmosphere during plant operation.”
In
ignoring science, research, and local environmental concern, Sen. Susan
Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown, said during the May 2 Senate vote that approved
the wood-incineration bill, “This process is more efficient, producing more
energy with less emissions, and much cleaner than burning or throwing the wood
away.”
After
Raimondo promised to veto the bill and
its future was put on hold, Rep. Kenneth Marshall, D-Bristol, who introduced
the House version of the bill, said a vocal minority — does he mean those who
have read the research and believe the science? — has otherwise derailed
legislation that benefits the entire state.
“It
seems to have taken a life of of its own with the people against it,” he said.
“They made it appear it was a bad thing.”
The
state’s largest speed bump is in front of the Statehouse for a reason.
Frank
Carini is the ecoRI News editor.
