Critics are underwhelmed.
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
The six nominees, all men, are slated for initial confirmation hearings before the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture Wednesday — nearly three months after the March 1 deadline for new appointees to join the volunteer council.
McKee’s office did not respond to requests for comment Monday on the delay or on his choices of candidates. Copies of their resumes or applications were also not immediately available, nor was the total number of applications received.
McKee’s recommendation letters, submitted to the Rhode Island Senate on May 14, do not offer any details about the candidates besides their names, and, when applicable, their professional qualifications.
Requiring the volunteer panel members to have relevant work experience was a central part of the reform effort approved by state lawmakers on the final day of the 2025 legislative session. The law reduced the size of the council from 10 to seven people to fix the problem of recurring vacancies that force meetings to be canceled due to lack of quorum.
The panel already must have representatives from coastal communities of various sizes, but there are no educational or professional requirements despite the technical, scientific and legal nature of its decisions governing public shoreline access and development. The new law requires all six appointees — plus one non-appointed member from the Department of Environmental Management — to have experience in coastal and environmental management. There must be at least one engineer, one coastal biologist, and one representative of an environmental organization.
Rep. Alex Finkelman, a Jamestown Democrat who sponsored the 2025 House bill, said he was glad to see the nominations moving forward. He declined to comment on the candidates.
More changes needed?
Save the Bay insists the modest revamp is insufficient to address the pattern of “missteps” by the politically appointed council. The environmental advocacy nonprofit maintains that the only solution is to get rid of the panel altogether and reshape the agency with power in its administrative, expert employees.
“Anything short of removing the council is not going to improve Rhode Island’s coastal program,” Topher Hamblett, executive director for Save the Bay, said in an interview Monday.
Save the Bay has thrown its weight behind pending legislation that would merge the CRMC into DEM, handing over decision-making power to expert staff. A new, 10-member community advisory board appointed by the governor would include local government leaders and public representatives who could offer input and hold public hearings. But unlike the existing, appointed council, it wouldn’t have final decision-making power.
The bill by Rep. Jay Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, received overwhelming support from coastal advocates during an April 30 hearing before the House Committee on State Government and Elections, where it remains under review. The companion bill by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, has not been scheduled for its initial committee hearing.
Similar measures to abolish the council failed to gain traction on Smith Hill in the last three consecutive sessions, overtaken by competing priorities and hesitancy over the cost of reform: $1.7 million, according to a 2025 analysis by the Rhode Island Department of Administration.
Hamblett, who disagrees with that estimate, hoped the dispute with Quidnessett Country Club over a rock wall built along its shoreline in defiance of state coastal regulations might spur lawmakers to agree to comprehensive reform this year.
“The council has botched this so badly that the AG had to step in and sue,” Hamblett said, referring to Attorney General Peter Neronha’s lawsuit against the country club, filed in Superior Court on May 12.
The CRMC has also filed a counterclaim against Quidnessett for failing to remove the wall and restore the shoreline after nearly three years of debate and enforcement efforts.
“The more these council missteps pile up, within the assembly or broadly, there is a greater interest in fixing the problem that is the council,” Hamblett said.
Hamblett named the high-profile expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island, approved by the council in 2020 but struck down by the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 2022 for failing to meet public transparency requirements in its decision, as another example of another council “misstep.” More recently, in March, a judge tossed a 2023 council decision allowing restaurateur and oyster farmer Perry Raso to expand his oyster farm in Potter Pond. The agency will have to reconsider the application because the council violated procedural rules around public notice, according to the court order.
‘Nothing redeemable’
Hamblett insisted his outrage has little to do with the nominees themselves, and more with the continued existence of the council.
But, “there’s nothing redeemable about this slate at all,” Hamblett said of the list of nominees.
Hamblett expressed disappointment over seeing the name of Ray Coia, who has served more than two decades on the council, including six years as its chairman. State law lets existing members reapply if they meet the expertise qualifications.
“Under Mr. Coia’s leadership, the council has wound up in court and had its decisions remanded,” Hamblett said. “That’s a big problem. I don’t know why the governor would see fit to reappoint him.”
Coia, who works as an administrator at the New England Laborers Health and Safety Fund and as chief judge of Cranston Municipal Court, did not respond to multiple inquiries for comment Monday.
Two former state lawmakers also made the list of nominees, which is “not a good look” for a panel already tarnished by political influence, Hamblett said.
Scott Rabideau, a Burrillville Republican who served in the House from 1995 to 2002, would fill the designated role as coastal biologist. Rabideau, who is now retired according to his website, used to own a wetland permitting company, and also serves on the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
W. Michael Sullivan, a Richmond Republican who served in the Senate from 1992 to 1996, later leading DEM and then the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Rhode Island, fulfills the designated spot for an environmental organization representative. Sullivan, who also worked as soil scientist at the University of Rhode Island, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The other nominees on McKee’s list are Richard Bernardo, a professional engineer at Warwick firm Crossman Engineering and Cranston public works director; Carder Starr, an entrepreneur who now heads a word game app company; and Stephen Izzi, a Warwick real estate attorney.
Izzi, who has served on the existing council since 2023, defended the group’s decisions.
“Any type of development or change to property, you’re going to have two sides to every decision,” Izzi said in an interview Monday. “Some people are going to be happy, some people are not going to be happy. You just follow the rules and try to implement them the best you can.”
Izzi declined to comment on the council decisions that have been tossed by state judges.
Of the CRMC reform bill backed by Save the Bay, he concluded, “I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world.”
Starr has a bachelor’s degree in geological sciences from Brown University and a master’s degree in marine affairs from the URI.
“There are rules and regulations that need to be followed in a consistent, fair, and non-political manner and our ocean is a wonderful resource to be enjoyed by a wide cross-section of people and interests,” Starr said in a LinkedIn message. His prior business ventures include a business-to-business medical supply company, organic salad dressing company and a pet health supplement company, according to his LinkedIn page.
Bernardo, who previously worked for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment Monday.
Left in limbo
At least one interested candidate, Heather Low, did not make the cut. Low, who has an environmental science degree and serves on CRMC’s Fishermen’s Advisory Board, found out she did not make the list of nominees when contacted by Rhode Island Current Monday. Low said she has not received any response from the governor’s office since submitting an application by email in November.
Lowe agrees with Save the Bay that the best move is to get rid of the council. She testified in support of Edwards’ bill at the State House hearing in April.
Especially because of the “troubling” lack of racial and gender diversity on McKee’s slate of chosen candidates, all men who appear to be white.
“At a time when inclusive representation is essential to equitable and informed decision-making, these nominations fail to reflect the communities most impacted by coastal policy,” Low said. “This is not just a missed opportunity — it undermines confidence in the legitimacy of the Council itself.”
The council has been predominantly men since its inception, but the state should strive for more diversity, Hamblett said.
The CRMC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
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- May 19, 20266:58 amUpdated to correct the time that Scott Rabideau served in state office and that he could not be reached for comment Monday.
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