Doing nothing is not a solution
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
Heather Low’s application to serve on the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) opens with a letter crediting her grandfather, a retired Navy veteran and avid boater, and childhood summers spent along the Kickemuit River in Warren, for her lifelong love for fishing and conservation.
From SteveAhlquist.news
Low, 51, of Coventry, has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science. She’s active in the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association, and, since May 2025, has also served on the CRMC’s Fishermen’s Advisory Board, representing recreational anglers in the agency’s negotiations with offshore wind project developers.
Low wants to join the politically appointed full council to share her perspective as a conservationist and angler.
She sent in her application the day before Thanksgiving. Since then?
“I’ve heard nothing,” Low said in an interview Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the March 1 deadline for Gov. Dan McKee to name seven new members for the state coastal resources panel passed without any appointments or even public mention of prospective candidates.
Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for McKee’s office, said the process is “underway,” but did not offer details in an emailed response Wednesday.
A 2025 law mandating new council members aims to bring expertise and fresh blood to the volunteer panel while solving a quorum problem resulting from recurring vacancies. Most of the panel’s 10 members do not have professional experience in coastal matters, which has led to criticism when they make decisions that contradict recommendations by the agency’s expert staff.
Fed up with the lack of action in revitalizing the council, advocates are reigniting calls to get rid of the appointed council and hand decision-making power to the agency’s staff.
“The House’ 2025 bill did not fix what was badly broken — the Council,” Topher Hamblett, executive director of Save the Bay, said in a March 5 statement. “Even if the most highly qualified people were appointed, they would be operating in a structure that is inefficient, lacks accountability, and is ill-equipped to deal with the threats and challenges facing Rhode Island’s coastal communities. It is time to do away with the Council and all of the politics that go with it.”
Joining forces
Save the Bay has thrown its weight behind legislation to merge the CRMC into the state’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM).
The bill, introduced in February by Rep. Jay Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, calls for a separate coastal resources bureau within DEM with its own deputy director and staff, including a designated attorney, a position missing from the agency’s existing structure.
A 10-member community advisory board including local government leaders and public representatives, appointed by the governor, would offer input and public hearings on agency decisions. But unlike the existing, appointed council, it wouldn’t have final decision-making power.
“I have enormous respect for the director and his staff,” Edwards said in an interview. “I think if we just concentrated on them, and let them do their jobs as professionals, we would have a much better organization.”
The appointed council, in contrast, has “a long history of not doing the right thing,” Edwards said.
Putting the CRMC under DEM, which is an executive branch, rather than an independent agency, also forces accountability for the entire administration, said Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat who will be sponsoring companion legislation.
“That’s really the main thing is we need to have a way to hold them accountable,” McKenney said in an interview.
Among the most high-profile examples: the protracted battle with Quidnessett Country Club over a rock wall built without permission along the North Kingstown country club’s shoreline in January 2023. The 600-foot-long rock wall is still standing, despite violating state coastal protections for sensitive waters. Critics say the delayed enforcement — the agency only took legal action in January — reeks of favoritism to wealthy and politically connected property owners, at the expense of environmental protection and public access.
But calls to abolish the council have failed to gain traction on Smith Hill for the last three years.
Edwards introduced similar legislation in 2025, but it failed to advance. Instead, lawmakers passed what supporters viewed as an incremental improvement: replacing the 10-member panel with a seven-member council (also reducing the quorum requirement from six to four people) with required expertise in environmental and coastal issues. The membership change, signed into law by McKee on June 30, calls for the new appointees to be seated by March 1, 2026, though it lets existing members keep serving until their replacements are named.
Rep. Alex Finkelman, a Jamestown Democrat who sponsored the 2025 legislation, said he was frustrated no new members had been named.
“I’ve been given no indication by the governor’s office that they’re not going to make appointments,” Finkelman said. “I’d imagine they’re going through the vetting process now. If we’re dragging this out into summertime, you’ll certainly hear me making more noise about it.”
The waiting is the hardest part
Jed Thorp, advocacy director for Save the Bay, was not optimistic.
“Adding qualifications was only going to make it harder for them to find people to serve on the council,” Thorp said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s already hard to find people to serve, as we can see from the vacancies.”
The council has had three open seats since March 2025. Thorp said he is aware of several people, including Low, who applied over the last year.
“This is a failure by the governor,” Thorp said of the lack of appointment action.
Low said she resubmitted her application last week and contacted her state representative and senator.
Sen. Leonidas Raptakis, a Coventry Democrat, was unaware Low had reached out until he was contacted by Rhode Island Current Wednesday. Rep. Thomas Noret, a Coventry Democrat, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“I’m frustrated,” Low said. “But I am still committed. I want to do it, or at least have somebody with similar credentials to have our community be heard.”
McKenney expects to submit his companion to Edwards’ bill by the end of the week.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Valarie Lawson remained noncommittal on pending legislation, awaiting the standard committee vetting process.
Kimberly Keough, a spokesperson for DEM, said in an email Wednesday that the agency was aware of the legislation but did not take a position on it.
Laura Dwyer, a spokesperson for the CRMC, did not respond to requests for comment on the legislation.
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Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
