Two years later: Quidnessett Country Club’s illegal rock wall still stands without enforcement action

Save the Bay demands the CRMC enforce its own order

In SteveAhlquist.news

From a Save The Bay press release:

Today marks two years since the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) issued a cease and desist order requiring Quidnessett Country Club to remove the illegal rock wall they erected without permission on Narragansett Bay. Since the issuance of that order, CRMC’s politically-appointed Council has allowed Quidnessett to retain the unlawful wall, allowing numerous extensions, at the cost of Rhode Islanders’ access to the natural shoreline and local habitats like the beach and salt marsh near the shores of the country club.

Repairs to Charlestown Breachway Will Protect the Health of Vital Channel

Channel's west wall damaged by winter storms, affecting health of Ninigret Pond

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Since 1952 the town’s 200-foot-long breachway has split the barrier beaches protecting Ninigret Pond in two, providing access into Block Island Sound and improving the water quality in the state’s largest saltwater lagoon. Now, state and local officials are homing in on a plan for the next 70 years.

“The goal is we’re only going to do this once, and we’re going to do it really well,” Emily Hall, a coastal geologist working for the Coastal Resources Management Council, said Thursday at a community update on the breachway at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center.

It’s been a long 20 months for the breachway, which Charlestown heavily relies on to maintain the health of Ninigret Pond. The winter of 2023-24 was harsh on Rhode Island’s south shore beaches, as a series of intense storms wiped out large portions of the area’s prized coastline.

In Charlestown, the storms tore a gap in the channel’s western wall, sending sand from the breachway’s beach straight into the waterway, making it shallower and more difficult for boaters to navigate. State and local officials, CRMC, and the Salt Ponds Coalition, well aware of the breachway’s role in the commercial, recreational, and ecological life of Charlestown, sprung into action, making temporary emergency repairs, which were completed early last fall.

(While Charlestown is the host community of the breachway, the Department of Environmental Management is actually the owner and responsible for it, working with Charlestown on maintenance and repairs.)

The breachway and Ninigret Pond are important economic and recreational drivers for the town, treasured by boaters, anglers, swimmers, and aquaculturists. About 40% of all aquaculture in Rhode Island is sited in Ninigret Pond, and it remains a popular destination for anglers. Thursday’s community update, which was well attended, was the third such meeting in the past 12 months.

The emergency repairs cost $550,000, with $300,000 paid out by DEM, with the town paying the rest. Over one week last October, a three-man crew began the repair work, hauling in 600 tons of stone and reconstructing a dune protecting the western wall with sandbags.

While officials describe the emergency repairs completed last year as just a “Band-Aid,” the project went a long way toward protecting the health of the breachway.

“You can see how even just the emergency repair has really allowed the breachway to be intact a bit more,” said Casey Tremper, a coastal resilience specialist from the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center. “It’s also started to naturally build back the beach on the forest side of the breachway.”

Ninigret Pond has returned to being “flushed out” by the breachway again after the temporary repairs, removing sedimentation and restoring the original depth of the human-made channel, around 5 feet or so, similar to what existed prior to the major storm damage.

In addition, a sand bar known as the ebb tidal delta, which formed outside the breachway, has, thanks to the emergency repair structure, almost entirely washed away.

With the repairs in place, officials have spent the past 10 months putting together plans for a more permanent restoration that, officials are hoping, will last at least another seven decades.

There’s two major components to the breachway’s restoration. The first is the actual reconstruction of the breachway itself, which will, more or less, look a lot like the original canal built in the 1950s. The stones used for the emergency repair will act as a foundation for the western wall, which will raise the rock wall by at least 8 feet in height. Once the rock walls are steady, the plan is to rebuild the beach by trucking in sand and steeling it with vegetation and, more importantly, fortifying the dunes, with some additional artificial dunes designed to be a line of defense for the breachway.

“They’re being set up in a way that waves will hit the dunes first before they hit where the breachway broke last time,” Hall said. “Dunes are nature’s solution to energy and to storms. We’re trying to lean into that resilient component of how we can work with a natural system to keep the tides flowing, and the currents moving through the breachway.”

It will still be a decade before the dunes grow to their original size, before the breachway was battered by winter storms.

The other major part of the restoration plan is dredging the breachway. All the sand that washed into the breachway has to come out, and Steve McCandless, the town’s geographic information systems coordinator, said he expects, depending on the specific area, to dredge to a depth between 4 and 8 feet. That kind of depth will restore natural water flow and open the back of the breachway for boating again.

The town expects to dredge around 100,000 cubic yards of material from the breachway, much of which will be used to repair the town’s beach or restore the dunes surrounding the breachway.

“We’ll put about 50,000 cubic yards of material on this beach to rebuild the dunes, and the other 50,000 will go down to the Charlestown Beach area where we always put it,” McCandless said. “It’s town property and removes the issues of using federal or public funds to dredge public waters.”

The total cost for the new permanent breachway is estimated to be $8.4 million, with $5 million of the total coming from DEM’s budget by way of a transfer to CRMC, with another $2 million coming from the coastal agency for the dredging itself. The remainder, $1.4 million, will be paid from Charlestown’s dredging fund.

Both DEM and CRMC are expected to approve final permits for the restoration project sometime in the next two weeks, according to Hall and McCandless. The Army Corps of Engineers, the federal entity that traditionally oversees all dredging projects in the United States, has already issued its own permits for the breachway restoration.

Prep work for the restoration project, once permits are in hand, is expected to start as early as Sept. 15, once the local piping plovers, a threatened shorebird species, migrate for the season. Once the DEM campground near the breachway closes for the season, on Nov. 1, the bulk of construction can begin, with the new breachway rock walls to be constructed in December, with dredging to follow in early January. Dune restoration is expected to start in March, and delay for six months in April when the plovers return to nest on barrier beaches.

“All I can tell you for sure is that sometime between Sept. 15 and April 15, my thought is that we’re going to be 90% complete for this project,” McCandless said. “As long as we can get some rocks going, we can get it all going at the same time.”

Charlestown Breachway Update: Thursday Aug 7th 6pm at Kettle Pond Visitor Center

With denial of federal funding, what’s next for the Charlestown Breachway?

Photo by Will Collette

Join us for an informative public session on the current state of the Charlestown Breachway. 

Learn how the Breachway is performing this summer, hear updates on recent repair efforts, and discover what's planned for future improvements and fundraising initiatives.

Featured Speakers:

Steve McCandless, GIS Coordinator & Coastal Geologist, Town of Charlestown

Emily Hall, Coastal Geologist, RI Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC)

Alicia Schaffner, Executive Director, Salt Ponds Coalition

This event is proudly presented in partnership with the Town of Charlestown, Salt Ponds Coalition, URI Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island Sea Grant, RI Coastal Resources Management Council, RI Infrastructure Bank, University of Rhode Island, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Date: Thursday, August 7

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Kettle Pond Visitor Center

50 Bend Road, Charlestown, RI 02813

To register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/charlestown-breachway-status-update-tickets-1402947055409

CRMC reform - always a good policy

CRMC reform didn't happen this year, but it will eventually

Deborah Ruggiero, president, DR Communications Group 

Photo by Will Collette

Back in 2021 and 2022 when I was a member of the House of Representatives, I chaired a study commission that explored and recommended ways to reform the Coastal Resources Management Council. 

The council has long been criticized for both its decisions and its composition as a panel of political appointees without any marine, coastal, or environmental expertise. The members continue to serve long after their terms expire and have often delayed important decisions for lack of a quorum at meetings.

Monday: Town Hall with Charlestown legislators Sen. Victoria Gu and Rep. Tina Spears

The Bills, the Buzz, and the Big Decisions: RI’s Legislative Year in Review

Join State Senator Victoria Gu and Representative Tina Spears for a lively discussion on what bills passed in the State House, what stalled, how the new laws could impact our community, and give your feedback on priorities for next year. 

Topics include: environment & shoreline access, healthcare, housing, education & technology

 Date: Monday July 7th

 Time: 6-7:30pm

 Location: Quonochontaug Grange Hall, 5662 Post Road, Charlestown, RI, 02813

Compromises on assault weapons, casino smoking and CRMC reform mark end of 2025 session

You can't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you might not even get what you need

On some key issues, General Assembly opts for baby steps

By Nancy Lavin, Christopher Shea and Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, speaks in
the House chamber on Friday, June 20, 2025.
(Photo by Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)

Explosive debate over assault-style weapons — what types of guns and owners to restrict, if any — carried through the final day of the 2025 legislative session Friday.

After a series of failed attempts to weaken and strengthen a proposed limit on assault-style weapons, a ban on sales and manufacturing — but not possession —  ultimately prevailed.

True to form, lawmakers found plenty more to debate and discuss over the marathon day that stretched late into the evening. 

As the sun went down, the temperature inside the airless second-floor chambers seemed to rise. On what was the first full day of summer, lawmakers quenched their thirst with Del’s frozen lemonade and an endless carousel of caffeinated beverages.

Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone donned shorts in an unusually casual fashion choice, displaying a rarely seen calf tattoo of his late dog, Gunther.

Senate softens state’s aim on assault weapons 

You can still own an assault-style weapon in Rhode Island, but can’t buy or sell it. That’s the gist of the legislation approved by both chambers in an eleventh-hour rework aimed at appeasing at least some of its critics.

The rewrite was led by the Senate, which kicked off its marathon session with an hour-long debate, culminating in a 25-11 vote, to approve the bill banning the manufacture and sale of semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and handguns with military-style features beginning July 1, 2026. It does not address inheritance of these weapons.

“The expectation over time is the proliferation of assault-style weapons, as specified in the bill, will go down,” Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat and bill sponsor, said. “We need to get this done today.”

The Senate’s checkmate forced the House, which had already approved a more restrictive version that also banned possession, to reconsider. The lower chamber eventually caved to the Senate’s less stringent counterpart by a 43-28 vote just before 9:30 p.m.

The House’s vote came after a nearly two-hour break likely marked by behind-the-scenes negotiations, and an additional, five-minute recess for representatives to familiarize themselves with the Senate’s changes.

“This bill cuts off the supply of weapons of war for the long haul at the point of sale,” Rep. Jennifer Boylan, a Barrington Democrat and gun safety advocate, said. 

Rep. Jason Knight, a Barrington Democrat, also backed the Senate version, despite its significant changes from the more sweeping ban he had successfully advanced through the House chamber already.

“The two bills in their effect on the ground are closer to each other than you think,” Knight said, noting that the difficulty in procuring a new assault-style weapon even in other states prevents expansion of the “universe” of such weapons in Rhode Island.

Yet, the compromise was met with some dissatisfaction from both sides. The Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence had denounced the “watering down” of what had been a much more sweeping ban on assault-style weapons. 

Sen. Pamela Lauria, a Barrington Democrat, sought to amend DiPalma’s bill to mirror the House version, despite the Senate Committee on Judiciary opting to hold the stronger option for further study on Wednesday. 

“As we look to pass critical legislation regarding assault weapons, we should have taken the opportunity to pass the best version of this bill,” Lauria said.

But after Senate Republicans, along with Ciccone, raised objections, Senate President Valarie Lawson ruled that Lauria was out of order.

Republicans, along with some conservative Democrats, and gun rights groups maintained that no ban at all was the answer. All four Senate Republicans, plus some conservative Democrats, voted against the ban on the manufacture and sale of assault-style weapons.

Across the rotunda, Cranston Rep. Charlene Lima, a conservative Democrat, also denounced the compromise bill for going too far. Her critiques were met with raucous applause from yellow T-shirt-wearing Second Amendment supporters seated in the gallery. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi issued a stern rebuke, noting the seriousness of the topic before them.

“We will not have interruptions,” Shekarchi told onlookers. “If there is another uproar, I will close the gallery and you can watch on TV.”

Despite the warning, gun rights advocates booed after the House passed the amended bill.

The final version drew support from Everytown for Gun Safety, which maintained the language still covers the majority of the assault-style weapons frequently used in mass shootings. The Rhode Island AFL-CIO, a strong supporter of Lawson, also backed the proposal in a statement Thursday pointing to the union’s February poll that found 64% of residents support “banning the sale and manufacture of military-style assault weapons” in the state. 

Gov. Dan McKee, who had posed the weapons ban as a budget issue earlier in the year, confirmed via social media he will sign the measure into law.

“I’m proud that Rhode Island took an important step forward in protecting our communities from gun violence,” he posted to X at 9:50 p.m.

Clearing the air in R.I.’s two casinos

Bally’s two Rhode Island casinos will be slightly less smoky starting in 2027 — 18 months later than its advocates wanted.

The delayed start combined with a second, late-in-the-session clawback prompted longtime advocate and sponsor Rep. Teresa Tanzi to withdraw her name from her own bill after the opposite chamber added a carveout for smoking bars within casinos. Tanzi was one of four Democratic representatives to vote against the bill she introduced, though it prevailed with 67 supporters in the House Friday.

Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, railed against the revised proposal, declaring it was “nothing like” her original, which had called for the smoking ban to start July 1, 2025, with no exceptions.

Rather than banning smoking in Bally’s Corp.’s Lincoln and Tiverton casinos altogether, the amended legislation adds an exemption for smoking lounges with a new, hazy definition, Tanzi argued.

“This does not prevent Bally’s from expanding cigarette smoking or cigar smoking or vaping or, I don’t know, cannabis,” Tanzi said. “It’s really not clear to me what this new definition is because there’s all of a sudden a brand-new definition about smoking lounges.”

Existing state law defines “smoking bars” as businesses where tobacco sales are greater than 50% of its total revenue. The amended version offers new meaning for a – “pari mutual facility smoking lounge,” defined as any kind of smoking bar with a “proper ventilation system” that will “prevent the migration of smoke to nonsmoking areas.”

In Tanzi’s interpretation, that means any walled-off section of the casino floors could remain a smokers’ paradise.

The Senate already approved the modified smoking ban under a unanimous vote Wednesday. Though Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski sponsored her chamber’s version, Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone brokered the compromised legislation after initially seeking to reach an agreement between Bally’s and union leaders to expand existing nonsmoking areas at the Lincoln facility. 

Bally’s Corp. officials had opposed the proposed smoking ban, citing a potential annual revenue loss of $30 million to $60 million. Company spokesperson Patti Doyle thanked legislators for the compromise.

“Confining smoking to an existing smoking lounge at our Lincoln venue and allowing for a delayed transition away from smoking on the gaming floor will hopefully mitigate a portion of that anticipated revenue loss to the state,” Doyle said in a statement late Friday.

Union workers who for years have decried the health consequences of smoke-filled working conditions reluctantly agreed to the compromise version as “the best we could get,” Tanzi said Friday. However, the union wants to revisit the topic when lawmakers reconvene, either in a possible fall session in October or when it starts its next regular session in January, Tanzi said.

“I had a lot more faith in our legislators,” Vanessa Baker, an iGaming manager at Bally’s Twin River Casino in Lincoln, said in a phone interview Friday. “I thought they thought we were people.”

15th time’s a charm on payday lending reform

Cracking down on predatory payday lending practices drew strong support in the Rhode Island Senate Friday. The 27-6 vote came swiftly and with little debate — a stark contrast to the 15-year battle to move the legislation out of committee to the chamber for a vote.

Having already passed in the House with unanimous support Monday, the Senate’s endorsement sets the stage for the long-awaited end to triple digit interest rates on short-term, small-dollar loans — though not as soon as some advocates had hoped. A last-minute revision delayed the start date till January 2027 in an effort to give time to the “deferred deposit providers” like Advance America to wind down operations, and for their employees to find new jobs.

Under existing law, these storefront lenders had been able to take advantage of a loophole in state law to charge an annual percentage rate up to 360%. The legislation caps the annual interest and fees at no more than 36%, mirroring policies already adopted by 22 states and the federal government.

Kicking the can on a bottle bill

Rather than start prescribing specifics of a deposit-refund program for recyclable bottles, glasses and cans, both chambers approved a modified bottle bill Friday that advances only a small component of the original calling for yet another study of the policy. 

The 53-11 and 36-0 votes in the House and Senate, respectively, came with reluctant support from Democratic backers who blamed opposing retailers and beverage manufacturers for mounting a misinformation-laden opposition campaign.

“There is still a great deal of conflicting data as to the implementation of best practices to address the problems of improving and disposing of our recyclable products, as well as enhancing our anti-littering efforts,” Shekarchi said in a statement earlier this week.

Rep. Carol McEntee, a South Kingstown Democrat and bill sponsor, also expressed disappointment, stating outright that the watered-down version is not a bottle bill at all, calling just for a series of studies.

Instead, the legislation calls for a “statewide implementation analysis” to be conducted by a third-party consultant hired by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. The study would now be due no later than Dec. 1, 2026, with an interim status report due April 1, 2026. The state-hired consultant would consider the conclusions drawn by an 18-month legislative study commission, and the original bottle bills.

McEntee, who co-chaired the prior study commission, has already indicated she’s planning to introduce a full-fledged bottle bill again next session, even though the state analysis will not be finished yet.

CRMC membership changes on the horizon

Change is coming to the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, though not the sweeping reform advocates wanted. Rather than abolishing the politically appointed council and reshaping the agency as an administrative authority, lawmakers in both chambers narrowly agreed to a more modest update.

The bills, approved by 49-19 and 25-10 votes in the House and Senate, respectively, Friday, reduce the size of the council from 10 to seven members, simultaneously shrinking the quorum requirement in a nod to the vacancy issues that have plagued the existing panel. And it adds new professional qualifications for the powerful coastal regulatory body, specifically requiring an engineer, a coastal biologist and an environmental organization representative to sit on the new council. 

The existing council does not have any expertise requirements, though members must represent a variety of municipalities based on size and coastal proximity.

How fast the refresh occurs depends largely on how fast new candidates can be found; the legislation calls for Gov. Dan McKee to name six appointees (the seventh is designated as a DEM representative) no later than March 1, 2026. But the bill also says existing members can continue to serve until their replacements are named.

Progressive Democrats and Republicans joined in opposition, with the former insisting the membership changes fell too far short of more comprehensive reforms needed.

Legislators reprimand McKee with anti-bid rigging bill

McKee just can’t seem to escape the stain left by a 2021 state education contract scandal, with an anti bid-rigging bill included on the legislature’s final calendar of the session.

The Rhode Island Senate’s unanimous approval Friday, following passage in the House two days prior, aims to close a loophole in state procurement law by expressly forbidding public officials and administrators from intentionally interfering with the process by which the state awards competitive contracts to outside vendors. 

The need for specificity was laid bare by an investigation by Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office and Rhode Island State Police into a state education contract awarded to the ILO Group. State investigators ultimately found insufficient evidence to charge McKee for steering the $5.2 million school reopening contract to one of his former adviser’s friends — in part because there was nothing in state law saying that he could not.

The newly approved legislation, however, imposes strict penalties on state officials and vendors who participate in future collusion or bid-rigging activities: a felony charge punishable by up to three years in prison and a $1 million fine (or three times the value of the contract, whichever is greater). Vendors found to have participated in bid-rigging or steering activities are also no longer able to perform work for the state for up to five years.

McKee still needs to sign the legislation for it to become law — uncertain given documented attempts by his aides to dismantle the bill earlier in the session. McKee’s office did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment later Friday.

Opposition couldn’t break levy bill

The General Assembly OK’d Providence Mayor Brett Smiley’s request to exceed the state’s annual 4% tax levy cap, clearing the way for a 7.5% increase in the amount of property taxes the city can collect in fiscal year 2026.

Providence Democrats Rep. Rebecca Kislak and Sen. Sam Zurier introduced the bound-to-be unpopular bill in their respective chambers. 

The House was the first to grant the city’s wish, passing Kislak’s bill in a 56-17 vote on May 27. The Senate passed Zurier’s version 30-7 on Wednesday. On Friday night, each chamber voted to concur with the other’s version of the bill, finalizing its passage out of the State House and toward McKee’s desk.

In the House, Zurier’s bill passed 57-14, with opposition from all 10 Republicans plus four Democrats, including Providence Reps. Enrique Sanchez and David Morales. In the Senate, Kislak’s bill passed 27-7, with Providence Democratic Sens. Sam Bell, Tiara Mack and Ana Quezada expressing disapproval similar to their House colleagues.

The extra revenue from the tweaked levy cap is meant to help resolve a budget shortfall introduced last November by a $15 million settlement between the city and the state’s education department over Providence’s public schools. The mayor, with the Providence City Council’s somewhat reluctant approval, has been counting on the levy measure as the critical piece in the city’s fiscal 2026 budget. While the mayor’s budget technically lowers property tax rates, new property valuations mean many homeowners will still see higher tax bills.   

WPRI-12 reported Wednesday that Smiley has asked McKee to sign the legislation as soon as it arrives on his desk. But even with the General Assembly’s blessing, it’s not clear if the added tax revenue will arrive in time to shore up the city’s fiscal 2026 budget, Smiley told the news station. 

Kratom clears Senate

For the second year in a row, a bill to regulate the psychoactive drug known as kratom arrived at the final night of the legislative session. Unlike last year, when the bill provoked a fierce debate in the Senate, it sailed through the chamber with a 22-9 vote.

The House version encountered more vigorous resistance when it went up for a floor vote on May 29. It passed 40-24, with a mix of Republicans, Democrats and one independent lawmaker decrying easier access to the plant-derived drug, which can be used as an opioid substitute or a stimulant.  

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy, a Westerly Democrat, and Sen. Hanna Gallo, a Cranston Democrat, with the intent of bringing kratom — a product already available in gray markets like gas stations or head shops — into the sphere of regulation and taxation. This year’s bill is 25 pages, compared to last year’s six, and it would mandate strict labeling, testing, and age restrictions around kratom commerce, as well as limitations on what products could be sold mixed with kratom.

Last year, McKee vetoed the legislation — an outcome sponsors tried to avoid this year by working with the governor and the state health department to craft a more agreeable bill.

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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.

Bad bottle bill news

Bottle bill shelved in favor of another study while CRMC reform effort is set adrift

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Upon first mention of the phrase “bottle bill” at the State House Tuesday night, Rep. Carol McEntee’s face dropped.

“I am not happy,” the South Kingstown Democrat said.

That’s because 24 hours earlier, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Valarie Lawson unveiled amended legislation gutting McEntee’s 57-page bill. Gone is the proposed 10-cent fee on recyclable bottles redeemed upon return to designated redemption sites. 

In its place, another study, this time, by a third-party consultant hired by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM). The compromise aims to find middle ground for environmental advocates and beverage makers and retailers, who failed to reach consensus on a deposit-refund program.

Meanwhile, a separate environmental priority to overhaul the troubled Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) also appears dead in the water amid hesitation at the corresponding price tag, with a less extreme alternative in its place.

Bevy of bills by area legislators advance

As the end of this year's General Assembly nears, local legislators push to get bills passed

Senate OKs Gu bill protecting parking at shore access points

The Senate approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Victoria Gu to protect the public’s access to the shore by establishing requirements that must be followed before parking can be reduced or restricted near any Coastal Resources Management Council designated right of way.

The bill is part of a package of bills sponsored in the Senate by Senator Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown) and in the House by Rep. Terri Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown) to protect public shoreline access.

The bill (2025-S 0716aa) would set requirements that municipalities, private agencies and other organizations would have to follow before they could reduce or restrict parking near designated CRMC rights of way. These requirements would include submitting a comprehensive parking plan, analyzing the impact on accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act and conducting a public comment period of at least 30 days. It would also allow the CRMC and DEM to enforce these requirements and impose fines and penalties if they are violated. Any fines and penalties would go into a newly created Rhode Island Shoreline Access Improvement Fund, a restricted receipt account that will be used to support projects enhancing public access to the shoreline.

The bill now goes to the House, where Representative Cortvriend is sponsoring its companion (2025-H 6093).

“Sometimes, local governments — often pressured by nearby property owners — will remove or reduce public parking near beach access points. This makes it harder for the public to visit, since fewer people will come if they can’t park nearby. This legislation provides guardrails and a public, transparent process if there is any effort to reduce or restrict the parking available near a CRMC-designated right of way to the shore,” said Senator Gu.

In recent years changes to parking near public rights of way have drawn complaints from members of the public who say that they serve to restrict public access to only those who already live on the waterfront.

House approves Fogarty bill that would allow driver education in an instructor-led virtual format

The House of Representatives passed legislation introduced by Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty (D-Dist. 35, South Kingstown) that would allow virtual driver education classes.

The bill (2025-H 5731A) would permit instructor-led virtual instruction for driver education until July 1, 2027, and calls for an evaluation of the program.

“Not everyone has access to driver’s education classrooms, and many students prefer virtual learning, particularly those with physical or learning challenges,” said Representative Fogarty. “It also provides an alternative for families whose parents may not be able to take the time off to bring their children to driving instruction in traditional classrooms.”

Mary Maguire, vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Northeast, testified in favor of the bill, telling the House Committee on State Government and Elections, “During the pandemic, students could only take driver education virtually, and the format proved to be very effective. During the pandemic, we taught almost 100 virtual classes to more than 2,300 Rhode Island students. We found that our virtually trained students’ average test scores were almost identical to what they were before COVID.”

Under the terms of the legislation, the Board of Education would be required to provide a report comparing test scores of virtual versus in-person instruction to the speaker of the House and president of the Senate no later than Sept. 1, 2027.

The measure now moves to the Senate where similar legislation (2025-S 0832) has been introduced by Sen. Louis P. DiPalma (D-Dist. 12, Middletown, Newport, Tiverton, Little Compton).      

Senate approves Sosnowski legislation creating license to harvest invasive green crabs

Schoodic Institute/Suzannah Buzzell

The Senate approved legislation introduced by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown) that would create a license for the harvesting of green crabs.

The European green crab is an invasive species in Rhode Island’s coastal waters. Like many invasive species, the green crab poses a threat to the ecosystem and is particularly harmful for shellfish and eelgrass habitats, which serve as nurseries for native marine species.

The bill (2025-S 0938A) would authorize the Department of Environmental Management to offer commercial licenses for the taking of green crabs subject to a fee of $10.

“Not only are green crabs an invasive species, they are also a high-protein food source,” said Senator Sosnowski, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture. “Under current state law, they can only be caught with a $200 non-lobster crustacean endorsement add-on to the DEM marine license. A $10 license exclusively for green crabs would greatly increase access to the harvesting of a species that is endangering native sea life, including quahogs and blue crabs.”

The measure now moves to the House of Representatives where similar legislation (2025-H 6157) has been introduced by Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty (D-Dist. 35, South Kingstown).           

Senate approves Sosnowski bid to make clean air, soil and climate a state constitutional right

The Senate approved a resolution introduced by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown) that seeks to add a Green Amendment to the state constitution.

The resolution (2025-S 0327) would ask the state’s voters to amend Article I of the state constitution to provide all people in the state with an inherent, inalienable, indefeasible and self-executing right to clean air, health and uncontaminated soil, a life supporting climate and the preservation of the environment’s natural, scenic and recreational values.

“When it comes to protecting the environment, Rhode Island has always been a leader, and I’m proud that the General Assembly has prioritized protecting the vast natural resources of our small state,” said Senator Sosnowski, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture. “This would ask Rhode Island voters to forever enshrine in our constitution the protection of these resources for present and future generations.”

If enacted, Rhode Island would join Montana, Pennsylvania and New York in preserving environmental rights in its constitution.

The measure, which would be placed on the ballot at the next statewide general election, now moves to the House of Representatives where similar legislation (2025-H 5732) has been introduced by Rep. David A. Bennett (D-Dist. 20, Warwick, Cranston), who chairs the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

Senate passes DiMario’s textile recycling bill

UpriseRI

The Senate approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Alana M. DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham) that would create a public outreach campaign about textile recycling.

“This legislation is needed because most of the public does not realize that textiles can be recycled and that recycled textiles are a valuable commodity.  And by increasing the practice of textile recycling, we will also be able to extend the life of the state’s landfill, which is rapidly approaching its capacity.  At a time when we are striving to create a more sustainable way of life, this bill will move us closer to that goal,” said Senator DiMario.

According to the most recent data, an estimated 28,860 tons of textiles from residential, industrial and commercial institutions were delivered to the landfill per year, and the state’s only landfill will reach its capacity by 2046.

The legislation (2025-S 0324) would create a public education outreach program to educate residential households and commercial businesses on the value of, and proper methods to, recycle textiles in the state.  The bill also contains a reporting and accountability requirement to measure if the outreach and education program is effective in helping individuals, businesses, and municipalities increase their textile recycling rates and divert textiles from the landfill.

It was developed with input from the Department of Environmental Management, the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, the League of Cities and Towns, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island (BBBSRI).  Organizations like BBBSRI recycle non-usable textiles and utilize the profits to fund essential programs.  In addition, cities and towns will benefit from reduced tipping fees if textiles are recycled properly as opposed to being thrown away.

The bill now heads to the House for consideration, where Rep. Raymond A. Hull (D-Dist. 6, Providence, North Providence) has introduced the legislation (2025-H 5293).  Representative Hull’s bill was approved by the House on March 20 and was passed by the Senate Environment and Agricultural Committee on May 28.

CRMC Reform Proves to Be No Simple Task

This may not be the year. Again.

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Photo by Will Collette

How do you fix a problem like a coastal regulatory agency?

It’s not just a riff on a Rodgers and Hammerstein number; the question is causing a divide within the General Assembly on how best to overhaul the Coastal Resources Management Council.

The agency, which claims jurisdiction over the hundreds of miles of Rhode Island coastline, regulates all development — homes, docks, boat ramps, offshore wind turbines — within 200 feet of the shore and 3 miles out to sea.

But calling the shots over those projects within CRMC is an infamous 10-member decision-making council, nine members of which are politically appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. They’re not required to have prior expertise or background in coastal policy, planning or management.

It’s an old-fashioned Rhode Island setup that’s led to some thorny criticisms of individual council members. In March, Gov. Dan McKee selected Barrington resident Mark Reuter, a podiatrist, to replace outgoing member Catherine Robinson Hall, a former Department of Environmental Management professor and marine policy professor. Advocates at the time noted the credential gap between the two.

This year in the General Assembly there are two different ideas about agency reform gaining steam as the session races toward a close, and their key difference is how they handle the council.

Bills S0775 and H5706 would abolish the council and hand over its powers to CRMC’s executive director. It’s similar to the way most other state agencies, including land-based counterpart DEM, handle final decision-making. The only political appointments would be regulated to an advisory panel that would give agency staff its input from time to time.

Competing legislation aims for less extensive structural reform. H6126, introduced by Rep. Alex Finkelman, D-Jamestown, instead whittles the council down to a more manageable seven members, six of whom will be appointed by the governor. The seventh member would be appointed by the state attorney general or otherwise designated (a function currently held by DEM in the current iteration of the council).

Can a local fishing panel make a difference in offshore wind projects?

We’re about to find out.

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

When the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) put out a public call for volunteers to revive a state fishing advisory panel, a former panel member warned Jim Riggs against joining.

Riggs, a 75-year-old recreational fisherman and retired electrician who lives in Westerly, applied anyway.

“I feel that in order to have your voice heard when it comes to fisheries management, you’re either on the table or on the plate,” Riggs said in an interview. “I prefer to be at the table.”

His seat at the table is now secured; he is one of nine new members the CRMC named to its Fishermen’s Advisory Board (FAB) after a single, unanimous vote on April 8. The advisory panel has been inactive since all of its former members resigned together in August 2023 to protest what they viewed as the CRMC’s kowtowing to offshore wind project developers at the expense of local fishermen. 

Will the same frustrations bubble up? The first test comes this week, as the new panel begins negotiations with SouthCoast Wind, which has applied for a permit to run transmission lines from its wind turbines up the Sakonnet River and out Mount Hope Bay. 

Coastal Land Conserved on Winnapaug Pond

Whether the funding actually holds up remains to be seen

Water Wizz, the land's prior use

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Jack Reed, Governor Dan McKee, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), the Town of Westerly, and Save The Bay announced the conservation of 7.31 acres of coastal land on Winnapaug Pond in Westerly. 

This project was made possible by a $2.635 million grant award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Coastal Zone Management Program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

The NOAA award enabled DEM to buy a conservation easement from the Town of Westerly for the Sorensen property, a six-acre undeveloped salt marsh, formerly the Water Wizz property in Winnapaug Pond. This protects valuable habitat, enhances coastal access, and helps buffer nearby communities from climate change and sea level rise in a highly developed area.  

EDITOR’S NOTE: Not so fast! Funding for this project may be subject to Musk-Trump blockage or even cancellation. Read HERE for some of the latest court action. While it’d be great to actually see this acquisition go through, the federal funding isn’t real yet. Far from it. Even if the funds are received and spent, Trump has been attempting to “claw-back” federal funding for a broad range of activities he doesn’t support. Trump is in a court battle over his order to clawback $20 billion in grants for climate related projects such as this. – Will Collette 

Rhode Island Legislative Talk Swirls Around Federal Funding Freeze

How do you plan with the federal government in chaos?

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Legislative coffee hours early in the session are usually a mundane affair.

Lawmakers and advocates from different policy groups sip on coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts, munch on pastries and cookies, and discuss the current legislative session.

But Tuesday’s coffee hour, hosted by the Environment Council of Rhode Island, a coalition of the state’s leading environmental groups, was more serious than usual. The night before, on Jan. 27, the Trump administration froze all federal spending, after the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) placed countless federal programs under review.

The order sent Rhode Island government into panic mode; most, if not all agencies or government entities, receive some kind of federal funding.

It’s possible the state’s environmental entities, such as the Department of Environmental Management and the Coastal Resources Management Council, could be financially handicapped. Big chunks of each agency’s budget, about $60 million (25%) of DEM and $3.1 million (30%) of CRMC’s budgets, could be frozen or inaccessible.

New England Offshore Wind Projects Likely to Survive Trump Order

Maybe

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Trump's hatred of wind power goes back to his
losing fight to stop Scotland from building turbines
offshore from his golf course.

Offshore wind projects already underway are expected to survive in New England, for now.

Newly inaugurated Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at curtailing the development of offshore and onshore wind in the United States. The order revokes the offshore wind leases in the Outer Continental Shelf — the area of the ocean in which many wind projects are in development — until further notice, and prohibits consideration of any new offshore wind projects.

During the campaign, Trump was hostile to renewable energy sources, pledging to end the offshore wind industry upon his return to the White House and boost the nation’s fossil fuel production.

But the order is expected to have limited impact for most of the wind projects in the New England region. Many of the projects have already received final approvals from the federal government prior to Trump taking office, with SouthCoast Wind securing federal permits less than a week before the transition.

SouthCoast Wind was also awarded a multistate procurement from Massachusetts and Rhode Island to deliver 1,287 megawatts (MW) of power by 2030, with construction expected to start sometime this year, according to the project website.

Looming Budget Deficit Bad News for Environmental Advocates Seeking Beefed-Up State Programs

Not enough money for environment progress

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Lawmakers return to Smith Hill to two very different chambers, and one big problem.

In the Senate, the leadership drama that had been simmering since the last session came to a head during the annual leadership vote, when 12 senators, all Democrats, voted “present” instead of voting to re-elect Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, D-North Providence, for a new term of leadership for the chamber.

It also resulted in a changing of the guards. Sen. Alana DiMario, D-North Kingstown, was demoted from chair of the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee. In her place, Ruggerio appointed Sen. V. Susan Sosonowski, D-South Kingstown. It’s Sosnowski’s second time as chair of the committee; she led the eight-member body for much of the past decade, before assuming leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee in 2021.

Over on the other side of the building, the House of Representatives was a very different story. No drama, no leadership fight, just a near unanimous vote for Speaker Joe Shekarchi, D-Warwick, to lead the chamber again.

But outside of any opening-day drama is a bigger problem: the state’s looming budget deficit, estimated to total more than $300 million. The final numbers won’t be known until the state budget office makes its final estimate in May.

That’s bad news for state environmental groups seeking funding for new programs or money to beef up existing environmental enforcement. In its biannual Green Report Card released last fall, the Environment Council of Rhode Island, a coalition of the state’s environmental advocacy groups, wrote that the state’s efforts “to mitigate climate change remain insufficient to meet the goals of the Act on Climate.”

CRMC Council Loses Member to Resignation, Reducing Coastal Decision-Making Body to 6

CRMC continues decline as coastal watchdog

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News

The state’s coastal regulating agency is already starting the new year on the wrong foot.

The Coastal Resources Management Council quietly announced last month that longtime council member and Little Compton resident Donald Gomez was resigning. Gomez, who prior to his professional retirement worked as an electric engineer for the Navy in Newport, had been serving in some capacity on CRMC’s executive panel since 2007.

“For me it’s a bad day if I don’t learn something,” Gomez said at CRMC’s Dec. 10 meeting. “I learned a lot in my 17 years here.”

“Don has been a great Council member and friend, and we thank him for his many years of service to the CRMC and State of Rhode Island,” CRMC board chair Raymond Coia said in a statement. “Don always brought analytical thinking and pragmatism to our proceedings. We wish him the best in his retirement from the Council and know we’ll most likely see him in the audience in the future.”

Rhode Island too often passes laws that aren't funded or enforced

Environmental laws typically get the short shrift

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

This reporting was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

Everyone knows how a bill becomes law. Here’s the quick version:

Legislation, written by lawmakers or interest groups, is introduced by legislators into the General Assembly; either the House of Representatives, the Senate, or oftentimes both. In each chamber, it will be assigned to a designated committee, which in turn begins the bill vetting process to arrange a hearing date, solicit public comment, and for those lucky few pieces of legislation, a vote onto the House or Senate floor.

Most bills won’t get that far, statistically speaking; most will be held in committee for further study without an up or down vote. Legislation passed out of committee onto the floor of the House or Senate will receive another vote by the full chamber. Once passed, it’s sent to the opposite chamber, where the process is repeated until both versions of the bill have passed. Then it’s up to the governor to sign or veto the legislation.

That’s the quick and clean version of how Rhode Island creates state law. But just because a bill is passed doesn’t mean it’s enforced.

CRMC under fire after postponed hearing on Quidnessett Country Club

Shameful conduct by the CRMC

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Quidnessett Country Club built a 600-foot-long rock wall along its shoreline in the winter of 2023, flouting state coastal regulations and obscuring public shoreline access. (Courtesy photo)

The embattled Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council is awash in criticism again — not for a controversial decision, but for the lack of one.

In a Nov. 25 email to the council, also shared on its website, Save the Bay Executive Director Topher Hamblett accused the panel of coastal regulators of “political favoritism and abuse of power.”

A council subcommittee was scheduled to hold a hearing at 4 p.m. Tuesday on Quidnessett Country Club’s application to ease development restrictions for its waterfront property in North Kingstown. But the meeting was canceled, extending the saga over an illegal seawall built along the club’s shoreline nearly two years ago.

“The Council’s months-long series of delays gives the country club an unfair economic advantage over law-abiding coastal landowners and businesses who spend money and time applying for permits to comply with the law,” he wrote in the email. 

“The Council is opening the door for more violations and sending the message that it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Additionally, the Council’s lack of consistency and fairness undermines the integrity of Rhode Island’s coastal governance, the protection of our coastal ecosystems and the public’s ability to access the shore.”

Aquaculture Industry Declining Slightly in Ocean State

This should be a growth sector

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Oysters, scallops, and clams may still be growing by the bushel in state waters, but the aquaculture industry as a whole is declining in Rhode Island, according to a new report.

The latest numbers released by the Coastal Resources Management Council, the state agency that oversees Rhode Island’s burgeoning aquaculture sector, show that the dollar value for products grown in aquaculture farms declined 2.42% in 2023 compared to the previous year, earning slightly above $8 million. 

The industry saw a similar decline in employment, shedding 7.3% of part-time and full-time jobs in the industry in 2023 compared to the previous year. The figures come from a yearly questionnaire distributed to all aquaculture leaseholders by CRMC.

The declines are in spite of the fact the agency approved a new aquaculture lease last year, and approved more than 10 additional acres of state waters for aquaculture use. Benjamin Goetsch, the agency’s sole aquaculture staffer who wrote the CRMC report, found demand for farm-grown shellfish remains robust, noting that “demand and production remained very strong, with 2023 out-pacing all other years other than 2022.”

Repairs to Damaged Section of Charlestown Breachway Seawall Complete

Thanks to Rep. Tina Spears, we got a fix instead of a patch

By Bonnie Phillips / ecoRI News staff

The repaired section of the Charlestown Breachway. (Bonnie Phillips/ecoRI News)

When a 150-foot section of the Charlestown Breachway gave way last winter after being battered by storms in late 2023 and early 2024, the results were immediate: sand from the beach washed into the channel, making it shallower and dangerous for boaters to navigate, and affecting the health of Ninigret Pond.

The breachway channel connects the Atlantic Ocean and Ninigret Pond, a vital ecosystem that acts as a nursery for a variety of fish and shellfish and is home to commercial aquaculture farms. It’s surrounded by the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, the Ninigret Conservation Area, homes, and marinas. A variety of groups, including recreational boaters, recreational anglers, shellfishers, and birders use the pond and fish from the breachway’s jetties, considered one of the best saltwater fishing areas in the state.

The town had been worried about the state of the breachway since Superstorm Sandy came through in 2012. Recognizing what could happen if the most recent damage wasn’t repaired, the town began working with the Coastal Resources Management Council to discuss ways to fix the seawall.