Save The Bay Unhappy with City Recycler

By ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — Save The Bay doesn’t like what it is seeing from waterfront scrap recycler Rhode Island Recycled Metals. The environmental group recently toured the Allens Avenue salvage yard with the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and fired of a letter to state officials suggesting improper oversight of pollution from the facility.

In the Feb. 21 letter to DEM Director Janet Coit and CRMC Director Grover Fugate, Save The Bay Director Jonathan Stone said his group remains “very troubled” by the size of this scrap metal operation and the runoff flowing directly into the Providence River. This letter isn't the first time Save The Bay has gone on record with concerns regarding the company's practices.

Stone recently wrote that the recycler shouldn’t have been allowed in 2010 to expand its scrap operations after it was given the go ahead to dismantle a Russian submarine used as a museum. “What had been a limited and temporary salvage operation has since been transformed into a year-round, large-scale, ship-breaking operation, with obvious environmental risks,” Stone wrote.

Stone also noted a lack of public input on the expansion and the need for public comment, if Rhode Island Recycled Metals wishes to continue operations after current assent expires June 23.

The DEM shouldn’t have permitted the scrap yard due to the increased risk of polluting the bay from untreated runoff, which is visible during rainy weather, according to Stone. This runoff “is flowing off of the site and into storm drains that drain to the bay,” he wrote in the letter. This problem is heightened by the fact that the recycler sits atop a capped brownfield possibly containing PCBs.

The company failed to get permission from DEM and CRMC to expand operations. “Instead it’s seeking forgiveness after the fact,” Stone wrote.

A call to Edward Sciaba, general manager of Rhode Island Recycled Metals, was not immediately returned.

In addition to dismantling and shipping scrap metals, Rhode Island Recycled Metals also accepts junk vehicles and wholesale and retail drop-off other metals such as copper piping and rebar.

Bag It: R.I. Needs to Ban Plastic Tumbleweeds

By ROWAN SHARP/ecoRI News contributor

It’s hard not to find a wind-swept plastic bag anywhere in Rhode Island. (Rowan Sharp/ecoRI News)PROVIDENCE — They’re illegal in New Delhi, Bangladesh and Portland, Ore., but they’re blowing all over Rhode Island. They’re snagged on fences along the Woonasquatucket River. They’re bobbing in Narragansett Bay. There are likely several in your home or office at this very moment.

Plastic grocery bags are so ubiquitous in Rhode Island, and in most of the world, that it may seem strange to imagine life without them. But Channing Jones, field associate for the advocacy group Environment Rhode Island, is on a mission. He wants Rhode Islanders not only to imagine such a life, but also to live it.

This winter, Jones launched a campaign he calls “Ban the Bag,” to raise awareness about the environmental impact of plastic grocery bags and urge elected officials to pass town/citywide bans. While the goal is action at the state level, Jones believes it’s best to start small and build popular support.

The typical American uses about 500 plastic bags a year, according to the American Plastics Manufacturing Association. If this is true, then Rhode Islanders use about 525 million bags annually, or enough to circle the earth more than six and a half times.

In 2010, 88 percent of plastic bags, sacks and wraps used nationally weren’t recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since these bags are so light, they compress easily and take up relatively little landfill space. But that lightness also poses a problem — plastic bags don’t stay put. They blow out of landfills and the back of garbage trucks, and often keep moving until they reach water. Plastic bags often rank alongside food wrappers and cigarette butts in the top three most frequent types of marine debris catalogued during the Ocean Conservancy’s annual International Coastal Cleanup.

The campaign’s frontline
Jones, 24, has an office tucked unobtrusively between retail storefronts in Wayland Square. The room is spare, with faded gray carpeting and dusty blinds. Jones is soft-spoken, a native of Washington and recent graduate of Amherst College. Though he manages a flock of interns and has some regional support, Jones is the face of Environment Rhode Island, a state affiliate of the national group Environment America. Ban the Bag was inspired by similar efforts on the West Coast and worldwide.

Jones said his initial grudge against plastic bags was simple. They’re common trash and blown along streets like urban tumbleweeds. They’re made of fossil fuel. Waterborne, they threaten highly anthropomorphized animals such as whales and sea turtles that choke to death or starve with plastic-stuffed stomachs. This was enough to catalyze Ban the Bag, but the more Jones researched, the more alarmed he grew.

Once runaway plastic bags blow into the ocean, they may wash up on beaches, or be swept further and further from land. Researchers have counted five areas in the world’s oceans where circular currents, known as gyres, collect seaborne trash into concentrated areas. The most famous of these is the North Pacific Gyre, often called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is equivocal about the size of these areas of floating trash, claiming they are, by nature, unmeasureable.

Eyewitness accounts, retold by magazines like Orion and The Scientific American, size the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as anywhere between the size of Texas and the entire United States. A study by California’s Algalita Marine Research Foundation found that near the center of the North Pacific Gyre “the mass of plastic was approximately six times that of plankton.”

This same study noted that most plastic sampled in the North Pacific Gyre was in small, unidentifiable fragments because, while plastics don’t biodegrade, they do photodegrade. The sun’s ultraviolet rays weaken molecular bonds in plastic and make it brittle. It shreds and cracks into smaller and smaller particles, but the nature of the plastic doesn’t change — it’s still plastic and poses the same threat to tiny ocean creatures and filter-feeding organisms such as clams and barnacles, as large pieces of debris do to sea turtles.

Easily mistaken for food, these tiny plastic particles can be deadly. According to another Algalita Marine Research Foundation study, “accumulation of (plastic particles) may lead to malnutrition and eventual starvation, which could lead to significant reductions in world fish populations.”

The shreds of plastic also absorb toxins from seawater. Some of these chemicals, such as DDT, have long been banned, at least in the United States, but persist, free-floating, in the ocean — until plastics give them something to latch onto. Small marine creatures may eat only a few contaminated particles, but larger animals eat many smaller ones, and top predators, such as marine mammals and humans, may risk the heaviest toxic dose. These chemicals are often stored in an animal’s fatty tissue.

The more Jones learned, the more urgent Ban the Bag became. “Rhode Island is the Ocean State, after all,” he said, noting that Narragansett Bay watershed is central to the state’s identity and economy.

Jones and his interns have been feverishly writing letters to the editor — 14 newspapers in the state have either published the letters or say they plan to publish them. Environment Rhode Island interns go door to door with postcards advocating this ban, which residents can sign and send to their elected officials.

“Most people are supportive and don’t seem to mind the idea of not having plastic grocery bags,” said Valerie Cardenas, a Brown University student and Environment Rhode Island intern who has been working on the campaign.

Additional campaign support
Other environmental groups support such a ban, or are at least considering it. The nonprofit Surfrider Foundation has long been campaigning against plastics, including grocery bags. Save The Bay is interested in evaluating the benefit of a bag ban, according to Executive Director Jonathan Stone. Stone said his group is concerned about plastics entering Narragansett Bay, but has not yet made a policy decision about whether to endorse Ban the Bag. 

The campaign also includes a direct approach to lawmakers and businesses. Environment Rhode Island is targeting “towns where we think we can build initial momentum,” Jones said. One target is Warren. Jones has already met with Town Council member Davison Bolster, and is scheduled to meet with local retailers. He’s gearing up to be positive rather than confrontational.

“Ideally, we can figure out how to work together,” Jones said. “If they use less plastic bags, it should some save them money.”

The only naysayers he’s encountered so far are people who oppose government regulation in general. But last year, Rhode Island plastics manufacturers successfully defeated the 15 cents per bag tax that Senators Joshua Miller, D-Cranston/Warwick, and Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, proposed. Several local companies make plastic bags; of these, Toray Plastics is the largest.

Retailers may also fear that plastic bag bans will simply increase demand for paper bags, which are more expensive for stories to buy. Some national plastics advocacy groups, such as the Society of the Plastics Industry, emphasize that plastic bags produce fewer pollutants during manufacture than paper ones. On this point, Jones agreed. “There are different ways that paper is bad,” he said. “We don’t want people switching from plastic to paper. We want them switching from plastic to reusable bags.”

Rowan Sharp is a sophomore at Brown University concentrating in environmental studies.

Switchgrass Shows Promise as Clean Energy Source

By JOHN OTTERBEIN/ecoRI News contributor

KINGSTON — Ethanol, a cleaner and cheaper fuel alternative, is becoming more prevalent as dependency on a depleting oil supply grows. This heavy reliance on oil to power our massive transportation industry is bad for the environment, increases foreign dependency on fossil fuels and is getting more expensive.

Albert KauschAlbert Kausch, a plant geneticist at the University of Rhode Island, is researching ways to genetically modify switchgrass to make it the best source for ethanol production.

Switchgrass seems to be the perfect candidate for large-scale ethanol production in the United States, because it can produce five times as much energy as it takes to grow it. This high output-to-input ratio makes switchgrass an efficient energy crop. The cellulose and lignin content of switchgrass also are higher than in most other plant species, which is why switchgrass has a large net-energy gain once produced. Cellulose and lignin are the primary combustible components in non-food energy crops.

Switchgrass requires much less care taking and maintenance than corn, and can be grown on marginal soils. It’s a non-invasive species that is native to North America, which makes its threat to current biodiversity low. However, although switchgrass looks like the answer to ethanol concerns on paper, it still needs a push in the right direction. Kausch has said “there are several impediments to the process of converting switchgrass to ethanol that would make unaltered switchgrass commercially unprofitable.”

His research is specifically aimed at taking this naturally good source of ethanol production and making it marginally profitable if it were to be mass-produced. Kausch currently is developing test plots for switchgrass that are sterile, tolerant to many herbicides, salt tolerant and cold tolerant. If this specific strand of modified switchgrass can be produced, the production cost of switchgrass ethanol could drop from about $3 a gallon to a dollar.

This research has an important role in fueling the future while simultaneously helping with the climate change issue. Ethanol burns much cleaner than gasoline and doesn’t spew as many pollutants into the atmosphere. The small amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted from the burning of ethanol by vehicles can be absorbed by plants, which will then be re-used for some kind of ethanol production, thus a natural cycle is born.

Efficiently producing sustainable fuel, such as Kausch’s switchgrass ethanol, is imperative. Sources of oil are well passed their prime and are speculated to be extremely scarce within the next 50 years. A heavy reliance on oil combined with a quickly depleting stock worldwide calls for an alternative fuel to ensure the welfare of future generations. Ethanol generated from modified switchgrass may not be the answer to all of our fuel needs, but it shows great promise and progress.

John Otterbein is a senior at the University of Rhode Island majoring in resource economics and management.

Tracking Ducks to Make Offshore Wind Decisions

By ecoRI News staff

Small satellite transmitters are being implanted in the abdominal cavities adult female eiders. (Photo courtesy of URI)KINGSTON — Biologists from the University of Rhode Island, the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and other agencies have implanted satellite transmitters in sea ducks to learn about the birds’ daily movements and identify important wintering locations.

This data will be used when government officials and offshore wind farm developers make decisions about where to site wind turbines. This information also will be used to assess how the birds’ movements are affected once the turbines are erected.

“We’re trying to identify hot spots of bird use, the places you wouldn’t want to put the wind farms,” said Scott McWilliams, a URI professor of natural resources science.

“We want to minimize the potential impact of offshore wind turbines on our wintering ducks,” DEM biologist Jay Osenkowski said. “This telemetry project will help us track their movements around Rhode Island waters and identify the locations of their key foraging habitat.”

The biologists are focusing their efforts on common eider, a large sea duck that is abundant along the Rhode Island coast in winter and which nest along the coast of Maine and Canada.  Last year, scientists conducted a similar study of black scoters, another sea duck for which Rhode Island provides important wintering habitat.

Well before dawn in November and December, McWilliams and Osenkowski, along with URI professor Peter Paton, URI graduate student Josh Beuth, and research associates and biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, set up a series of long nets on floats in locations the birds are known to visit.

“We set the nets up in the dark, put decoys around the nets, and hope that we picked the right spot based on previous scouting efforts,” McWilliams said. “There’s usually a lot of action early in the morning before the birds can see the nets well.”

Any male eiders the scientists captured were released. Adult females were brought to shore, where veterinarian Glenn Olsen from the U.S. Geological Survey implanted small satellite transmitters in their abdominal cavities. After a short recovery period, the ducks were released back where they were captured.

“Female ducks have all the power,” Paton said. “They’re the ones who pick the nest site, and the males follow them there. That’s why we are only tracking females. Their survival is what is important when monitoring populations.”

The biologists implanted satellite transmitters in 26 female eiders. Each bird’s daily movements will be monitored throughout the winter, and data about migratory movements, stopover sites and breeding territories will be collected.

“We’ll get information about key areas that eiders like in Rhode Island and wherever else they travel,” McWilliams said.

The data the scientists collect from the ducks will be analyzed and factored into offshore wind turbine siting decisions.

Firewood: R.I.'s Next Buy Local Campaign

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

Split wood seasons more quickly and burns cleaner than whole logs, says Geoff Mongeon of Above & Beyond Tree Service in Cumberland. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI News)

It may be late in the season to think about firewood, but local firewood sellers say now is the time of year to stock up and save on next winter's supply. And while your at it, help be a part of the next "buy local" industry, say state officials.

This winter has lacked snow and hasn't been exceptionally cold, but firewood demand was strong for Geoff Mongeon, owner of Above & Beyond Tree Service LLC in Cumberland.

An abundance of roadside and backyard firewood left by tropical storm Irene and the snowstorm in late October didn't seem to quench demand. Mongeon, a seller of premium firewood, sold out of seasoned stock by the first week of December.

Wood has become a popular home-heating option in recent years as oil and propane prices have increased. Sales of wood-pellet stoves also have surged as the stoves and their fuel sources have improved. Tax incentives also make these systems more affordable. In fact, use of wood as a source of heat grew by a third nationally between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Census.

The Northeast provides a generous crop of firewood, and even population-dense Rhode Island yields plenty of timber. "There's an abundance of firewood, for sure," said Catherine Sparks, head of the forestry division for the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

Local firewood and lumber is ripe for marketing across the state, much like recent initiatives promoting local farming and seafood, Sparks said. Aborists do a strong business selling wood culled from routine tree care at area homes and businesses. But larger swaths of land also can be properly managed to protect open space and provide recreation, while also offering a renewable resource. 

"If it's done right, it's very sustainable," she said.

Sparks recently met with U.S. Forestry experts and is reviewing potential grants for launching a study of the Rhode Island wood industry, and perhaps a marketing campaign.

"There certainly is an opportunity to keep the wood that we grow in Rhode Island for firewood consumption and even the local lumber yard," said Sparks, who uses firewood to heat her home.

Above & Beyond Tree Service is one example of a small and growing business that benefits from letting nothing go to waste. Mongeon salvages enough wood from his tree-care business to sell more than 150 cords of firewood annually for wood stoves, fireplaces and even backyard fire pits. Wood he can't sell or use as kindling is delivered as wood chips to a local mulch preparer.

Mungeon started his business after eight unfulfilling years in accounting, and hasn't regretted the career change. "It's been a lifelong dream of mine," he said.

Here are a few tips from Mongeon for buying local, sustainable and less-polluting firewood:

Buy fresh-cut wood now and save about 30 percent on the price. It will be seasoned and ready to burn next fall.
Wood needs light and air for seasoning, so stack in alternate directions up to 4 feet in height.
Seasoned wood is gray or black on the ends.
Split wood seasons more quickly and burns cleaner than whole logs.
By October, cover the top layer of a wood pile to keep rain out and prevent moisture buildup.
Be sure to buy hardwoods such as red oak, maple, ash and cherry. Avoid "filler" wood such as pine, poplar and willow, as these can create a fire hazard in your chimney.
To ensure wood quality, buy from a local, reputable firewood supplier. Avoid buying from Craigslist or from unexperienced sellers.
To prevent the spread of disease and pests, don't bring any firewood out of state or to a campground, and don't bring out-of-state firewood into Rhode Island.

"The smart people buy wood now for next year," Mongeon said. "It's cheaper and it's guaranteed to be seasoned."

Sparks also suggests buying locally cut wood rather than bundled wood sold in shrink wrap at the gas station or big-box retailer. Store-bought wood often is imported from far-off regions, such as northwest Canada, and carries with it a huge carbon footprint.

"Right now we've got a lot of local timber and firewood that could help build the local rural economy," Sparks said.

Spokane Company Brings Smart Grid to R.I.

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which manages the state's Renewable Energy Fund (REF), recently issued a press release indicating that a $500,000 loan from the REF has been extended to the Spokane, Wash., company PCS Utilidata to open a branch of the company in Rhode Island.

At first blush, this deal seems like a perfect example of a word that makes journalists salivate and politicians tremble: misappropriation. After all, PCS Utilidata doesn’t produce or install wind turbines, solar panels or any other renewable energy sources, and it doesn't provide technical guidance or conduct studies on existing or potential renewable energy projects — the two main areas the REF has historically financed.

First, let’s clarify what PCS Utilidata actually does. According to the company’s website, its proprietary AdaptiVolt™ technology is specifically designed to: allow a utility to dispatch voltage-based demand control within seconds; reduce the load on the customer side of the meter; enhances grid reliability and optimize distribution automation.

Basically, this technology allows utilities to exercise greater control over the flow and distribution of energy. Think of it this way: The current grid control system knows where power is being generated — whether it be from a wind turbine, solar panel or gas-fired electric plant — but currently can’t assess optimally when that power is being produced. This creates an inefficiency within the grid, especially when it comes to renewable energy sources that generate power intermittently.

Simply put, the grid is currently asking wind turbines and solar PV installations to provide power when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. AdaptiVolt™ technology solves that problem by sending real-time data to the grid about not only where power is being produced, but also when.

But does such technology make this Northwest company eligible for REF money? It does, according to R.I. General Law 39-2-1.2, which provides for a portion of the REF to be allocated for "demand side management programs."

ecoRI News contacted Julian Dash, director of the REF about this deal, which has the appearance of a possible misappropriation of REF funds, and he assured us that while, “We've definitely taken some heat on this one, the deal certainly fits into our eligibility guidelines as far a research and development goes. We just haven’t had the ability to do this type of thing in the past because, frankly, we’ve been overwhelmed by renewable energy production project and feasibility study applications.”

“We see this technology being implemented at all renewable energy sites in Rhode Island,”’ Dash said, “and as the technology scales up, it will increase the efficiency of the grid for the entire region, not just Rhode Island.”

This deal certainly fits the bill as far as job creation guidelines put forth by the state. PCS Utilidata would initially bring eight to 15 jobs to Rhode Island this year and create a total of 47 full-time jobs in the state by the end of 2015. The average annual wage for these jobs is expected to be about $91,000. Over this four-year job growth period, the new positions are estimated to generate about $352,000 in state income taxes.

“Utilidata is exactly the type of company we want to attract to relocate and expand in Rhode Island, bringing good, high-paying jobs to our state," Gov. Lincoln Chafee said of the deal. "I am pleased to welcome Utilidata to Rhode Island and look forward to their contributions to our growing knowledge economy.”

“Strategic co-investments in the development of new energy technologies and growing, cutting-edge businesses like Utilidata that create quality, high-paying jobs are key to building a dynamic and competitive business environment in Rhode Island,” EDC Executive Director Keith Stokes said. “The Renewable Energy Fund is a great tool to help businesses grow, reduce their energy costs and to help Rhode Island attract companies looking to also tap into our hotbed of young talent and high concentration of world-class colleges, universities and R&D institutions.”

SVF: Where Cryogenics Meets Local Food System

By KYLE HENCE/ecoRI News staff

Meet Chip, the nation's first cryopreserved Tennessee fainting goat embryo to be thawed and transferred into a common Nubian goat. (Photo courtesy of the SVF Foundation)NEWPORT — The local foundation behind the world’s only germplasm bank and farm for rare and threatened heritage breeds of livestock works with small farms to steward these critically endangered animals.

The SVF Foundation’s primary mission is the long-term preservation of diversity in our food supply, with a primary focus on goats, sheep and cows. In a scenario akin to the Irish potato blight that decimated an entire nation’s staple food source, the organization’s library of frozen semen and embryos is vital to the protection of the world’s food supply in the event disease or climate change wipes out a genetically uniform commercial breed of domesticated animal.

If that were to happen, the nonprofit foundation would select samples from its sperm bank, thaw them and use them to “re-awaken the breed” to reintroduce critical and valuable genetically conveyed traits, according to SVF manager Jill DeLeo.

The foundation kicked off its free public lecture series on local food and farming Feb. 16 with Farm Fresh Rhode Island Executive Director Noah Fulmer. Farm Fresh Rhode Island is a regional food distribution nonprofit based in Pawtucket.

So why would a foundation that employs the most advanced cryogenic technology to fulfill its mission bring focus to a fast-growing, low-tech regional food distribution model?

“I think that people feel good about local food,” said DeLeo, speaking in general terms about what director Peter Borden calls a “localvore movement.”

The general public, motivated by social, economic, environmental and personal health concerns, is increasingly seeking out local food sources and diversity of choice.

“Rhode Island is in a very unique position; people are finding their niche in conservation,” said Liz Smith, a local resident with a Ph.D. in environmental economics from the University of Rhode Island who attended the lecture with about 70 other area residents. “It’s really important to explore.”

Farm Fresh Rhode Island helps connect local farmers and their diverse supply of locally grown produce with buyers across the region. The result: increased diversity within our food supply and support of the local food economy.

“Rare or heritage breeds of livestock carry valuable and irreplaceable traits such as resistance to disease and parasites, heat tolerance, mothering ability, forage utilization, and unique flavor and texture qualities,” according to the SVF Foundation.

“Eighty breeds are critically endangered in the U.S. We focus on forty of them here,” Borden said.

With more than 58,000 germplasm samples from 40 heritage breeds of livestock, the SVF Foundation is halfway to its 20-year goal to create a sort of “Noah’s ark” of the most threatened breeds of domesticated farm animals. Its secondary mission is conserving the living lines of valuable rare breeds on small farms seeking to develop a lucrative niche within the growing local food movement.

“We get a lot of calls from people who are interested in bringing heritage breeds into small farms,” said Sarah Bowley, the foundation’s program and livestock manager. “This is the wave of the future in our agriculture system.”

After germplasm is preserved from a given animal, that animal is then placed with small farms that can steward the breed. The foundation’s high-tech cryogenic lab, germplasm bank, offices and staff residences are all within a compound known to locals as the “Swiss Village” — situated on 45 acres used for stabling and pasturing.

The two-year restoration of the farm and building complex was completed in 2000, with principal financial backing from local philanthropist Dorrance H. Hamilton. The facility is the only one of its kind in the world, one that safeguards millennia of genetic intelligence using the most modern of technologies.

But it’s back to the future for the SVF Foundation. This local advocate for a diverse food system is clearly not solely interested in talking about livestock. With the foundation halfway to its long-term goal and with core competencies and a well-honed partnership with Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in place, the SVF staff has expanded its public outreach and education program through the aforementioned lecture series that will examine the many dimensions of a healthy local and regional food system.

Fulmer, with help from a colorful slide presentation that included photos, graphs and charts, spoke about one of the biggest success stories within the local and regional food movement in this country: Farm Fresh’s Market Mobile program.

“It’s really about creating a really robust food system,” Fulmer said.

Last year, Market Mobile moved more than a million dollars of food, sourcing from 48 local farm suppliers to 197 wholesale buyers while undercutting traditional distributors. This year, the program anticipates 50 percent growth as local and regional farmers and fisherman continue to meet growing demand.

Legislature Files Environmental Bills at Break

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — As the General Assembly enjoys this week off, here's an update on several bills:

Producer Waste Disposal. A House bill (pdf) to study paper packaging waste has been halted and replaced by an effort to conduct a larger waste study. Sources close to the situation said Senate President Theresa Paiva Weed, D-Jamestown/Neweport, stopped the House study in return for a comprehensive review of state waste disposal issues, including a proposed incinerator. The environmental community, for the most part, favors the new approach. It's not clear if two Senate bills overseeing proper disposal of mattresses (pdf) and florescent light bulbs (pdf) would be included.

Public Transportation Funding.The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) would get additional funds through amendments to the Transportation and Debt Reduction Act of 2011. In the House bill (pdf), public transit would be added to the highway maintenance fund, which is funded from vehicle registration, drivers license renewals and other sources. The bill was referred to the House Finance Committee.

Abolish CRMC. Rep. Eileen Naughton, D-Warwick, introduced a bill (pdf) to replace the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) with a new Department of Coastal Resource Management. A director of the new agency would be appointed by the governor and include an advisory council made up of the head of the Department of Environmental Management and others from the URI, the EPA and Rhode Island Marine Trade Association. The bill was referred to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

Pair-Trawler Ban. A vote on a one-year ban (pdf) on pair-trawlers in state waters was delayed in the House until Feb. 28. Fisheries experts told a special Senate panel Feb. 15 that much of the winter herring quota has already been reached for the year, due to large, two-boat trawlers from other states.

Residential Wind Power. Standards (pdf) for small wind turbines, those generating 10 kilowatts or less, were introduced in the House and referred to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

Compost Rules. This Senate bill (pdf) gives the Department of Environmental Management oversight of all composting operations. Municipalities must also approve of any composting operations. Any hearings on the bill will be held by the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee.

GMO Labeling. Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, would need to be identified on manufacturer or retail labels for all food and food products sold in Rhode Island. The bill (pdf) was referred to the House Health, Education & Welfare Committee.

Landfill Smells. The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation would be required to install an off-site, air-quality monitoring system in this Senate bill (pdf), which was referred to the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee.  

Child Safety. Cadmium, lead and mercury would be banned from children's products in the Children's Product Safety Act (pdf), which was referred to the Environment and Agriculture Committee.

Mulch Oversight. A House bill that proposes including tree care and mulch making into to the state definition of agricultural operation was introduced Feb. 16 and referred to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee for a hearing. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Charlene Lima, D-Cranston.

Legalize Pot. Marijuana would be legalized in a bill (pdf) proposed by Reps. Ajello, Valencia, Blazejewski, Slater and Newberry. If passed, anyone older than 21 could legally posses an ounce of pot or 5 ounces of hashish. Up to three plants could be grown on private property. The Department of Business Regulation would oversee retail and wholesale operations.

Pets Allowed. Pets weighing less than 35 pounds would be allowed at state campgrounds in a bill (pdf) referred to the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

New Lighthouse License Plate. The House approved a license plate (pdf) with an image of the Plum Beach lighthouse next to the Jamestown Bridge. A $40 surcharge is added to the regular cost of getting a license plate. Half the money goes to lighthouse maintenance and half to the state general fund.

Sustainability Movement Lacks Social Justice

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island College, in conjunction with the Environment Council of Rhode Island Education Fund and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, recently unveiled the Rhode Island Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) led by Jed Greenberg. The program includes a series of lectures and classes focused on reinventing our communities to make them viable and vibrant for the foreseeable future and beyond.

The SCI Community Enrichment Program seeks to provide a foundation of knowledge in sustainability while enabling participants to share their interests and concerns. Rhode Island students are encouraged to contribute to the SCI Sustainable Communities Index and a sustainability resource guide for the public. The SCI Index is a research tool being developed to help residents evaluate the sustainability performance of their towns and cities.

The SCI Community Leaders Program offers those interested in acquiring core competencies in sustainability the opportunity to apply this knowledge in their own communities. Participants will be prepared to lead Sustainability Learning Circles with the support of SCI in their communities and contribute to the development of the SCI Sustainable Communities Index.

“RIC is very pleased to be partnering with Jed Greenberg and SCI,” said Dante Del Giudice, campus administrator for the initiative and interim director of RIC’s Professional Studies and Continuing Education. “He is a veteran of and young leader in the Rhode Island environmental movement. His SCI project is unique in its vision to affect real change one community at a time in partnership with concerned individuals, leading environmental scholars, environmental agencies, participant training and higher education.”

Julian AgyemanThe lecture series began Feb. 16 with a talk by Julian Agyeman titled “Just Sustainabilities: Re-imagining (E)quality, Living within Limits.” Agyeman is a professor and chair of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University and the co-originator of the concept of “just sustainabilities,” which focuses on the integration of social/spatial justice and sustainability — defined as "the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems."

Agyeman began his lecture by offering an idea that is becoming voiced more frequently in the circles of sustainability, most notably by Naomi Oreskes, author of the best-selling book “Merchants of Doubt.”

“We have the (physical) science of sustainability,” he said, “but sustainability questions are answered, more often than not, by social science.”

Agyeman believes that human equality and environmental quality are the same thing, but has found in his research that a small minority of environmental advocacy groups actually address social justice as a part of their mission. It’s no wonder that the poor are marginalized by the majority of the environmental movement, “when you look at who’s on the board and who’s employed by Greenpeace,” Agyeman said.

Too often, we hear stories of Rhode Island being behind in this or that. Fortunately, we're ahead of the curve when it comes to the synergy of environment and social justice. The Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island has been successful in educating and empowering residents in the immigrant and poor population on the city's South Side, particularly about the former Gorham Silver Mill site on Adelaide Street. The Beats of Resilience project is working closely with the state's Commission on Climate Change to ensure that these communities are fairly represented and that our response to climate change isn't driven to expensive alternatives that, quite frankly, a growing part of our population can't afford. Too often, these segments of our society are marginalized within the political and regulatory process.

Agyeman's research has shown that in societies that have the greatest level of inequality are much more prone to social breakdowns. “The Nordic countries,” he offered as an example, “have the most just and environmentally responsible societies, and have exhibited fewer social breakdowns.”

In comparison, countries with the greatest levels of human inequality, like many of the war-torn countries in Africa, experience larger and more frequent implosions of social structures. “In the U.S.,” he said, “that inequality is heightened by our competitive consumerism.”

The problem, as Agyeman sees it, is the idea that the environmental justice and environmental sustainability movements are separate. This concept is reinforced when you consider that, through his work, Agyeman found that only 40 percent of American cities that have sustainability action plans include environmental justice as a component. “These movements need to fuse to achieve long-term success," he said.

The face of conservation has traditionally been caucasian, but Agyeman stressed that, “Environmental organizations cannot be frozen in a moment in time. We have to look at growing populations to know what the future of conservation will look like.”

He leveled an indictment of colleges whose sustainability actions go for, as he put it, “the low hanging fruit of recycling and greenspace. Campuses have to look at things like reducing instances of violence and increasing access to mental health services,” in order to become truly sustainable.

One of the greatest challenges to creating just, sustainable communities is changing civic structures to celebrate, rather than tolerate, diversity. But Agyeman's research has found that of the 87 planning schools in the United States none have cultural components.

There is a major disparity in the global consumption of resources. The United States represents only 3 percent of the world’s population, but consumes a full quarter of the world’s natural resources. “This overconsumption is only possible due to the underconsumption of a vast majority of the world’s population," Agyeman said. "We’ve defined the minimum levels of consumption allowable to sustain (one) life, why have we not defined the maximum consumption allowable to sustain (all) life? We know that GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the relative satisfaction of a population have no correlation, yet we continue to behave as if one has something to do with the other.”

The good news is that this overconsumption is being more often and more steadily questioned, and social structures are changing, albeit slowly, to address the issue. Agyeman offered the proliferation of the sharing revolution as an example of these changes. “In more and more cities, we see things like Zipcars, time banks and even private vehicle owners participating in ride share projects.”

Agyeman’s just sustainability includes a spatial justice component as well. He questions why streets are not thought of as public spaces similar to parks and open space. “In the same way that we cannot afford to distribute justice along class and race lines, we can’t afford to distribute justice geographically, either.”

He again pointed to the Nordic countries as an example of this spatial justice. “In Sweden, only 20 percent of streets are dedicated to automobile usage.” In the United States, nearly 100 percent of any given road is dedicated to autos. This automatically puts segments of the population that choose to, or are forced to by income, illness or other factors, not to drive a car at a distinct disadvantage.

Let the Sun Shine: Solar Project Moving Quickly

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — The West Broadway Neighborhood Association’s collective solar energy project compared to, say, the Deepwater Wind farm off Block Island, is moving along at lightspeed. With the help of Real Goods Solar — formerly known as Alteris Renewables to Rhode Islanders — and funding from the state's Renewable Energy Fund, the WBNA hopes to have those panels up and running well before the dog days of summer.

Sixteen structures on the city's West Side have been identified within the neighborhood as prime spots for solar photovoltaic installations, including single and multi-family homes and offices of for-profit and not-for profit businesses. A number of the sites are within the Armory Historical District, and one of them is listed on the National Register of Historical Homes.

“It’s our contention that historical buildings are the greenest buildings," WBNA President Kari Lang said. "While refurbishing and retrofitting them for renewables and energy efficiency may cost a bit more than putting the same measures into a new construction, that cost is offset by the fact that no new materials need to be mined, logged or industrially produced to build the structure."

She added, "We hope that this is just the first round of several for the WBNA."

One of the biggest concerns for Lang and the WBNA is creating a replicable model that could be used for any neighborhood or local business association in Rhode island or across the country, though the WBNA isn’t the first community-based solar project in New England. According to Ben Swanson, solar power consultant with Real Goods Solar, “There have been a couple of examples of similar projects, but none in Rhode Island.”

The Solarize Mass project, facilitated by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, has four communities, including Somerville, that have served as pilot locations for similar solar projects. Real Goods Solar won the project bids in two of those four communities. “The really big difference has been the incentives available for homeowners in places like Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont,” Swanson said. The rescinding of the residential renewable energy tax credits in Rhode Island has brought residential renewable installations to a virtual standstill.

The WBNA project, when completed, will have 300 Buy America/American Recovery and Reinvestment Act compliant solar PV modules. “Part of the program is the idea of cost savings from standardization and bulk purchase," Swanson said. "American-made is one of the provisions of the federal stimulus money used for the program.”

In total, these 16 installations are expected to produce 87,776 kilowatt-hours of electricity for the participating members in the first year of operation, or enough energy to take roughly four of the buildings completely off fossil fuel-fired electricity, and that is real good news.