Concerns Linger Over Toxics in Queen Anne Square

Video and text by KYLE HENCE/ecoRI News staff

NEWPORT — The city recently held what was billed as a public forum to address the results of completed soil tests at Queen Anne Square, which is slated for a controversial redevelopment that gained national attention last year after local philanthropists and a local nonprofit foundation put forward a plan for a redesign by renown Vietnam War memorial conceptual artist Maya Lin.

However, ecoRI News has confirmed that construction originally slated to be completed ahead of the America’s Cup event in late June has been postponed until the fall. The state Department of Environment Management (DEM) is requiring additional soil tests and further study of the project’s potential impact.

Rather than present a report regarding the lead, petroleum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons discovered in park soil by contractor Sage Environmental, or discussion of clean-up options and other public concerns, the purpose of the meeting, according to Bill Riccio, director of city services, was for “information gathering” only, as mandated by the DEM. The public comment period ends April 16.

After some grumbling and confusion in the packed Newport Public Library conference room, Jane Harrington, Newport’s new city manager, said the city is required by the DEM to gather information from outside sources including input on the types and uses of buildings that were once present on what is now Queen Anne Square.

As stipulated in a contract signed in December following a controversial 5-1 vote by the City Council, the Maya Lin-designed redevelopment of the park is now controlled by a newly formed corporation called the Doris Duke Monument Foundation.

The Doris Duke Monument Foundation shares the same address and phone number as the Newport Restoration Foundation and both are led by NRF Director Pietor Roos.

Now that toxic materials have been found on the site, the Doris Duke Monument Foundation is required by law to collect historic information about the site before ground can be broken.

The testing of the soil by Sage Environmental became mandatory last year after the DEM sent a letter alerting the city about the possibility of hazardous materials on the site, a concern raised by a witness who had remained anonymous until last week.

Local resident John McNulty first contacted the DEM last November after he heard Queen Anne Square was going to be dug up. He was concerned about what might be unearthed in the process.

McNulty, a registered building contractor in Newport in 1977, has described barrels full of cleaning solvents and other suspected toxic materials that were dumped or covered over when Egan Cleaners was dismantled and moved from what today is the lower section of the park near Mill Street to a site on Aquidneck Avenue.

Though no traces of toxic dry cleaning solvents have been found in the first round of testing of park soil, tests completed in February revealed high levels, exceeding DEM allowable limits, of lead, petroleum and polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs), all common contaminants found in urban land fill used in the 1970s when the park was built.

At this most recent meeting, local resident and well-known architect Lawrence Cutler raised concerns about the control he claimed the city had ceded to what he called “a private shell corporation” indemnified by contract against any liable claims.

Cutler also told of nearly losing his son to Leukemia after he was exposed to PCBs from an old transformer Cutler found in the basement of his family’s previous home in Massachusetts.

“There was no testing of PCBs at all,” he said, referring to the Queen Anne Square project.

Indeed, according to company officials present at last week’s meeting, PCBs were not tested for by Sage Environmental. DEM has limits relative to PCBs, but Martella said there is no historic or anecdotal information suggesting that power transformers or others sources of PCBs were present at the site.

He did say, however, that it is a legitimate concern and does warrant investigation.

David Clapp, of John Street, representing a local group called Citizens for Queen Anne Square presented a slide show featuring questions that have been raised by residents. Clapp also is the lead complainant in a formal filing made with the attorney general’s office claiming the City Council violated several provisions of state open meetings law in its handling of the Queen Anne Square redevelopment project.

Questions presented by Clapp in his presentation included:
• Why did Sage Environmental not test for PCBs and Dioxins?
• Why was Sage Environmental chosen to conduct the soil testing?
• Was the soil testing work competitively bid?
• Does the DEM believe that soil testing should be extended beyond the current perimeter?
• What will the impact be on the property values of the abutters to Queen Anne Square?
• If redevelopment of the Square halted immediately, how would the DEM classify the site? 

Since the “forum” was an information gathering event only, these questions and others raised by Clapp were not publicly addressed during the meeting by DEM officials, Sage Environmental representatives, city officials or the Doris Duke Monument Foundation.

After the meeting, Martella said the site would require remediation even if the project were to be halted. Since contaminants have been found close to the surface of the soil cleanup is required by law, he said.

City Identifies Toxics Beneath Queen Anne Square

By KYLE HENCE/ecoRI News staff

NEWPORT — The city has discovered environmental contaminants in soil from Queen Anne Square at levels that prompted a recent meeting at the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

Scott Wheeler, of the city’s Parks Department; Pieter Roos, of the Newport Restoration Foundation; Jeff Moniz of construction contractor Farrar & Associates Inc.; and Rick Mandile and Bruce Clark of Sage Environmental all joined DEM senior waste management engineer Joe Martella for the meeting.

On Feb. 24, the city submitted a “Hazardous Material Release Form” (pdf) required whenever detected contaminants at any site within state jurisdiction exceed limits delineated by DEM regulations.

ecoRI News first reported on environmental concerns at Queen Anne Square in December and again in January, when soil sampling began — the first step in the city-approved construction project to re-fashion the downtown public park.

The planned redevelopment is designed by famed Vietnam Memorial designer Maya Lin, spearheaded by the Newport Restoration Foundation, funded by local benefactors and donors, and was approved by the City Council, 5-1, amid controversy and national media attention in December.

Lab tests of several samples showed levels of lead, petroleum and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exceeding DEM limits. For example, the results revealed soil samples with more than 10 times the allowable limit for benzopyrene, one of four PAHs of concern.

It’s not uncommon for these contaminants to be found in older urban settings, where construction projects have utilized tainted fill, according to Martella. In fact, the release form refers to “urban fill” as the source of contaminants at Queen Anne Square. The extent of contamination is described as “sporadic throughout site.”

According to the Center for Disease Control’s Agency for Toxic Substances, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a group of more than 100 different chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, garbage, or other organic substances such as tobacco or charbroiled meat.

Animal studies have shown that PAHs can cause harmful effects on the skin and hinder the ability to fight disease after both short- and long-term exposure, according to the CDC.

PAHs are somewhat more stable than PERC, or tetrachloroethene, a cleaning solvent some had suspected might be found, given the presence of a commercial laundry on the site more than 40 years ago.

“The concern (to the public) is direct exposure,” Martella said.

Sage Environmental, the company that conducted the first round of testing, will continue their on-site investigation, according to Martella. “They indicated they will be taking more samples,” he said, “in order to fill in data gaps.”

The remediation options are removal, capping or some combination depending upon the circumstances, Martella said. “The remedy of a cap is fairly typical,” he said.

A site is capped by clearing off a layer of soil and covering over the deeper lying contaminants with clean fill or soil. During construction itself, regulations dictate how site contractors are to manage dust and erosion that might contain residual contaminants and reduce exposure risks to the public.

The DEM has created a dedicated webpage to the Queen Anne Square project, because “there has been a lot of interest,” Martella said.

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 off 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.

R.I. Joins 10 States in Suing EPA on Soot Standards

By ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — Attorney General Peter Kilmartin has joined with 10 other states in filing a lawsuit to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue rules against soot. The coalition took legal action after the EPA failed to meet an October 2011 deadline to adopt national air standards to limit soot pollution.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 13 in federal district court in New York City, asks the court to direct the EPA to promptly propose, and then finalize, new soot pollution standards. Specifically, the 11 states asked the court to enforce an earlier order to the EPA to issue a new standard for soot. The earlier order had been won by the states in February 2009, in a lawsuit that had been filed in 2006.

“The science is clear that the current federal standards for soot emissions are woefully inadequate, causing premature deaths and serious chronic respiratory harm to people in Rhode Island as well as across our country,” Kilmartin said.

Soot, also known as fine particulate matter, is produced primarily by diesel vehicles and power plants. Breathing in soot pollution can increase emergency room visits for people with asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Furthermore:

One in 17 Americans live in areas with unhealthy year-round levels of soot pollution, according to the American Lung Association.

Under the current standards, the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) estimates that roughly 50 people die prematurely annually in Rhode Island from heart disease related to soot pollution.

Providence County ranks among the worst six percent of all counties in the United States for health impacts from diesel soot pollution.

The average lifetime cancer risk from diesel soot for Providence County residents is 330 times higher than the acceptable risk level determined by the EPA itself.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to make national standards for several pollutants, including soot. EPA issued standards in October 2006. However, in December 2006, Rhode Island and others challenged that standard as too lax and as contrary to science.

In 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the states, holding that the EPA hadn’t justified its decision and had to study the problem again. Then the deadline — Oct. 17, 2011 — passed without the EPA even proposing a new standard.

On Nov. 16, 2011, Kilmartin and 10 other attorney generals sent a 60-day notice to the EPA, signaling their intention to sue over the lack of action. The EPA hasn’t responded.

The states joining Rhode Island are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Societal Cost of Litter is Largely Hidden

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

There is a problem in the United States that, despite a 61 percent decrease in the past 40 years, still costs taxpayers and businesses about $11 billion annually. It has nothing to do with taxes and regulation, though a bit more enforcement of existing laws seems warranted given the size and scope of the problem.

This problem is easily observed on every highway, street, alley, lot, park, beach, path and shoreline in the world, but receives little scrutiny from lawmakers and law enforcement. This problem, at best, is a public nuisance and quality-of-life issue, and, at worst, a public safety hazard.

Guessed it yet? We’re talking about litter. In 2009, the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful (KAB) published a study of littering habits and an assessment of the cost of litter to taxpayers. Behavioral studies were performed on 10,000 individuals in 130 locations in 10 states. Surveys measured roadway litter in 45 metropolitan areas nationwide, as well as 180 non-roadway sample locations.

Though the report, which estimates a 61 percent reduction of litter during the past four decades, looks encouraging on the surface, KAB’s Great American Cleanup (pdf) still logged 5.7 million volunteer hours collecting 76 million pounds of trash in 2010. If all of that trash were dumped at the Central Landfill in Johnston, at the residential rate of $32 per ton, the tip fee alone would be more than $1.2 million — and Rhode Island's landfill has one of the lowest tip fees in the country.

An incomplete picture
While the study was exhaustive, it drew a picture that is far from complete. Eleven billion dollars a year is a lot of money, and calling the estimate conservative is an understatement. KAB’s report didn’t consider the indirect costs such as decreased property values, decreased commerce and tourism in blighted areas, and the health effects and related costs of littered environments.

The study concluded that at least 51.2 billion pieces of litter are left on roadways in the United States annually — an average of 6,729 pieces of litter per mile. That's more than one piece of litter per linear foot of roadway. The 2010 Great American Cleanup tidied a mere 124,000 miles of the more than 5.5 million miles of roadway in the country — 6,729 times 5.5 million equals an almost sickening 37 billion-plus pieces of litter.

That's 100 pieces of garbage on the road for every man, woman and child in the country.

The study also found that cigarette butts comprise the largest share of litter, at 38 percent. Somewhat ironically, the Philip Morris USA tobacco company funded the 2009 study. The annual International Coastal Cleanup (pdf) cites similar figures for cigarette butts and packaging. The latest Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data show that about 20 percent of the U.S. population smokes cigarettes. This means that a large portion of the waste found on our streets and in our watersheds is attributable to one industry and a minority that is shrinking due to death and better choices.

Plastic bottles are becoming an extremely large waste problem. Americans are drinking fewer soft drinks, but rocketing sales of bottled water have closed and surpassed that gap. It’s estimated that Americans throw out 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. The 266 million bottles picked up during KAB's 2010 Great American Cleanup were accumulated in about five days.

Litters impact on public safety is even harder to quantify accurately. It’s difficult to say how many traffic accidents and home floodings are due to storm drains clogged with litter and other debris. A significant part of the operating costs of storm and wastewater treatment facilities and public works departments nationwide is the removal of trash and debris from catch basins.

Road sand, leaves, and discarded bottles, bags and boxes can contribute to localized flooding in urban areas. In old cities such as Providence, trash in the stormwater adds another stressor to an already-ailing infrastructure. Litter even has a cost to the clean-energy sector. Owners of the Thundermist hydroelectric plant in Woonsocket claim that 90 percent of the plant's operating cost is spent removing trash from the sluice that feeds the turbine.

Who litters and why?
Behavioral observations in the 2009 study showed that 81 percent of all instances of littering were committed “with intent” by the individual, and were mainly attributable to lack of awareness or sense of obligation. Of all observed disposals, 17 percent were deemed improper — i.e. littering — and people older than 30 littered less than younger individuals. Gender wasn't related to litter rates.

The study also found that litter begets litter. The strongest contextual contributor to littering is the prevalence of existing litter. The number of trash receptacles and distance between them also was a major contextual contributor to instances of littering and amounts of litter, according to the study.

What does this mean for Rhode Island?
The monetary costs of litter to our state aren't easily assessed. Countless advocacy and volunteer groups statewide perform thousands of hours of work year-round. Most of these cleanups are performed by volunteers with supplies and equipment that have been donated.

Last year, cleanups performed by Save The Bay, the Rhode Island Audubon Society and the minimum security prison work crews that you see picking up litter on our highways utilized nearly 15,000 people. If each of those people worked for three hours at a rate of $10 an hour, the labor alone would cost $450,000.

The Boy Scouts of America-Narragansett Council logged nearly 4,000 volunteer hours performing cleanups in Rhode Island last year. That’s another $40,000. Inmates on work crews make a paltry $3 a day, amounting to a total of about $22,000 paid out by the Department of Corrections. Supervisors of these clean-up crews, however, make significantly more.

Costs related to litter can add up quickly, but few are paying attention because, for the most part, the problem is addressed by volunteers, so any associated labor costs to the taxpayer are hidden, marginalized or non-existent.

This perceived lack of cost to the taxpayer is a likely contributor to the lax enforcement of our state’s littering laws. In the past five years, only 714 citations for littering have been logged by the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal. Only 34 citations were issued by state Department of Environmental Protection officers. Those 714 tickets theoretically generated, at the minimum fine of $85, $60,000 of income for the state. One wonders if that money even covers the cost of the littering law signs on our highways?

In comparison, Rhode Island police issue about 90,000 speeding tickets annually, which, at a minimum fine per offense of $85, would generate at least $7.7 million for the state.

What can be done?
KAB’s 2009 report made several conclusions and recommendations including:

• Education and cleanups work. Clearly, intense education and cleanup efforts have been the primary contributors to the significant decrease in litter during the past 40 years.

• More receptacles work. Distance to receptacles is a strong predictor of littering behavior.

• More recycling infrastructure is needed. Only 12 percent of public spaces surveyed had recycling receptacles.

• Funding is needed. Corporations, foundations and government should all be taking the lead in funding/sponsoring education programs, volunteer programs and infrastructure. As with most societal issues, prevention is far less costly than remediation.

One may notice the lack of any recommendations regarding the responsibility of the companies that make the products that litter our streets and neighborhoods. This seems odd until you take into account the funders of the annual cleanups include many of the companies whose products contribute to the littering problem in the first place. Sponsors of the 2010 Great American Cleanup included PepsiCo Inc., Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Philip Morris USA, Nestle Bottled Water Co., Dow Chemical, Anheuser-Busch, the Solo Cup Co. and the American Chemistry Council.

Fortunately, many states, including Rhode Island, are exploring extended producer responsibility laws in an attempt to push manufacturers into making more economically and environmentally sound products and packaging, and to encourage takeback programs, particularly for products for which proper disposal is costly or difficult.

A bit more enforcement of current laws could also go a long way to choking off the flow of litter. This follows the “speed trap” mentality. If you know that a particular stretch of road is frequented by police looking for speeders, you slow down. If you know a particular community is hard-nosed about litter law enforcement, you’ll think twice about littering in that community.

Even with enhanced enforcement and enactment of producer responsibility statutes, the choice to litter is still in the consumer’s hands. Litter is costly on many levels and an ounce of prevention is worth 76 million pounds of cure.

Queen Anne Square Soil Testing Underway

By KYLE HENCE/ecoRI News staff

NEWPORT — On Monday morning, Jan. 23, a machine resembling a small well-drilling rig was extracting soil at Queen Anne Square for the second consecutive week, following concerns of contamination raised by the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in a letter to the city in November. The soil sampling, being conducted by Sage Environmental of Pawtucket, represents the first on-site preparations for the planned re-fashioning of the park.

Last month, in a controversial decision, the City Council approved a redevelopment of the park put forward by the Newport Restoration Foundation at the behest of a small group of wealthy local benefactors. By a vote of 5-1, the City Council entered into in a contract with the foundation to complete the $3.4 million project before the arrival of the America’s Cup World Series in late June. The foundation has contracted Sage Environmental to assess environmental concerns.

The new vision for the park was developed by world-renowned designer Maya Lin, who two years ago described the current park as “lonely” and “empty.” The Lin design was commissioned by the Newport Restoration Foundation to re-invigorate the small downtown park, which proponents have noted lacks park benches and hosts a homeless vagrancy nuisance.

The soil sampling and planned testing was prompted by a letter sent by the DEM after concerns over possible contamination were raised anonymously in November by two witnesses who recalled seeing rusted barrels behind Egan's Laundry & Dry Cleaners on Frank Street four decades years ago.

Late last year, concerning possible contamination buried at the park, DEM senior engineer Joe Martella said, “There is a suspicion but we don’t know if there is a problem.”

“There is no evidence yet of a dry cleaners at the site,” Rick Mandile, of Sage Environmental, said Monday. Citing Sanborn Maps, Mandile said Eagon Cleaners was a laundry and not a dry cleaners. The expressed DEM concern was for chlorinated solvents, an environmental contaminant used routinely by dry cleaners, he said.

Sage environmental scientist Jeff D’Arrigo, who was on site Monday, said the goal is to “assess potential environmental concerns.” He clarified that samples would be taken across the whole park, and a grid of spray-painted florescent marks on the snow spanned the upper portion of the park.

The first four borings were completed Jan. 16, according to D’Arrigo. By noon Jan. 23, the geo-probe team from Martin Drilling Contractors being overseen by D’Arrigo had extracted a dozen 5-foot-long tubular samples, which were carefully labeled in preparation for delivery to a state-certified laboratory.

Based on DEM concerns, tests for the presence of tetrachloroethene — also known as perchloroethylene — will be conducted. Once submitted for testing, turnaround time for results is typically two to three weeks.

Judge Again Defers Pascoag's MTBE Settlement

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

PASCOAG — Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Judith Colenback Savage last week again deferred the $7 million settlement in the case regarding the now-decade-old methyl tertiary butyl-ether (MTBE) spill in the village of Pascoag.

MTBE is a gasoline additive that has since been banned in many states, including Rhode Island. The spill contaminated the town’s water supply, and forced the Pascoag Utility District (PUD) into an agreement with the neighboring village of Harrisville to buy drinking water at nearly double the rate that most Rhode Islanders pay for their public water. Many then and current residents of the village believe the contamination led to a rash of what one resident called “oddball cancers” and multiple sclerosis.

In Savage’s initial decision — recorded in July 2011 — she declined reimbursement of just more than $900,000 in attorney expenses by Exxon/Mobil, indicating that the breakdown of expenses was far too vague to satisfy the court, but would reconsider reimbursement if more accurate records were submitted. Those records were submitted to the court, but the judge deemed them still too vague and disorganized to warrant reimbursement. Michael Kirkwood, current head of the PUD, said Savage seemed “really aggravated” that attorneys involved in the case delivered several boxes of unreferenced and unorganized expense reports to the court.

Savage has since appointed Bruce Kogan, a law professor from Roger Williams University, to wade through the boxes of expense reports and determine which were legitimate expenses eligible for reimbursement and which were not. Kogan’s report is due March 9. The judge is expected to render her final decision March 30, which should put the wheels of the settlement payment in motion.

The settlement will be divided into a $5 million portion for the Pascoag Utility District to remediate the bedrock aquifer that was contaminated and improve the quality of drinking water in the village. A $2 million portion will be distributed amongst the some 2,000 claimants in the case. Legal fees in the case amounted to $2.3 million, two-thirds of which will be paid out of the PUD settlement and the remaining $666,667 paid from the claimants’ payout.

Potential site for new well
In other news regarding the water supply in Pascoag, Kirkwood said the PUD has determined a potential site where a new public well could be drilled. The area in the northern part of the same wellfield that was contaminated back in 2001 seems to draw water from the aquifer of a nearby stream that empties into the Pascoag reservoir rather than from the contaminated aquifer.

The site actually had a functioning well in the past, but was closed by the state Department of Health about 30 years ago because of high levels of iron and manganese in the groundwater.

"Thirty years ago the technology didn’t exist to effectively reduce the level of metals coming out of the well,” Kirkwood said. "But today’s filtering technology can easily reduce those metals to within a consumable range.”

Kirkwood remains cautiously optimistic about the new well site and insists that the PUD is taking a “slow and very studied approach to any new well sites.” Any major exploration or drilling of new wells would have to wait until the PUD receives its $5 miillion settlement agreement.

The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) continues to monitor the MTBE-contaminated aquifer, and the latest round of testing showed that MTBE levels have dropped slighty from a high of 1,700 part per billion — 42 times the EPA limit for drinking water. But the Department of Health maintains that well 3A will remain closed not because of the current levels of contamination, but due to the potential for future contamination at the site.

R.I. Vehicle Inspectors Rack Up Violations

By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff

There are nearly a million cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles traveling Rhode Island’s roads every day. Even with increasingly stringent national and local standards for vehicle emissions, the transportation sector in the United States produces more air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions than any other country’s combined pollution and emissions totals, with the exception of China.

Even though the nation’s automobile fleet has begun to shrink, air quality continues to degrade nationwide, and densely populated areas, including much of the eastern seaboard, have seen an increase in ozone alert days. The American Lung Association’s 2011 State of the Air report gave Providence, Kent and Washington counties an "F" for high-ozone days, with 12 ozone alert days each in Kent and Washington counties and 15 alert days for Providence County.

The state of Rhode Island requires safety and emissions checks on all registered vehicles that are more than 2 years old or have logged at least 24,000 miles. Cars and light trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 8,500 pounds or less registered in Rhode Island require a biennial emissions and safety inspection, with the exception of vehicles registered as antiques. All used vehicles less than 8,500 pounds and bought from a licensed dealer must have a new sticker at the time of sale.

There are nearly 300 vehicle safety and emissions inspection stations in Rhode Island. Seemingly more than enough stations to keep the state's registered vehicles up to emissions snuff, but many stations and inspectors — whether through unintentional negligence or intentional subterfuge — commit violations of testing procedures and standards. The fact that late-model vehicles invariably have computer chips with the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) embedded on the chips doesn’t stop some inspectors from trying to game the system. In fact, nearly 80 percent of complaints heard by the Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles Emissions and Safety Testing (RIEST) board are the result of reports emission-testing violations.

These "clean screenings" — as they are known in the vehicle inspection and regulation business — are manipulated by hooking up one car’s computer control system to the emissions testing computer while actually testing the exhaust emissions of a different car. This illegal practice typically triggers a report to SysTech International — the state’s provider of emissions testing equipment and monitoring — usually based on a reported VIN mismatch.

“The system isn’t foolproof,” said Lisa Renzi of SysTech, “but given the computerization of vehicles, it is becoming more difficult for inspectors to sidestep the system.”

Violation reports also can be generated through variances in technician entries into the testing system.

When a report is delivered to RIEST via SysTech, a hearing of fact is scheduled for the inspector and the station that employs said inspector. If the board finds that, in fact, testing violations have occurred the board may suspend an inspection license for no less than 10 days for the first violation, no less than 30 days for a second violation, and third and subsequent violations are served with a 180-day revocation. Any inspection station that accumulates more than five violations in any time period is subject to a lifetime revocation of its inspection license.

In addition to the suspension penalties, a fine of up to $1,000 per violation can be imposed. Inspectors found in violation have the option to appeal their case to Rhode Island District Court.

The state does actively pursue stations for violations by way of covert car. Fifty annual audits of inspection stations are performed in this manner, where the state sends vehicles that are knowingly in violation of safety and emissions standards to local inspectors to see if they are cutting corners intentionally or are just sloppy in their inspection practices.

“Violation reports are are collected during three-month periods,” said Marcy Coleman, legal counsel for RIEST, “which can lead to an inspector or station to be charged with multiple violations of the regulations at one hearing.”

Many vehicle inspection regulators believe Rhode Island’s safety and emissions violation penalties are too low. In Massachusetts, for instance, inspectors who violate state law are subject to a fine of up to $25,000, a civil penalty of up to $25,000 and one year in prison. Keep in mind that Massachusetts compiles violations on a per-violation-per-day basis. That means that if an inspector accumulates four violations per day, and this continues for 10 days, criminal and civil fines can total $2 million and jail time of up to 40 years. In June, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) sent out a strike force that found 92 instances of emissions testing violations at only five inspection stations, and violations aren't limited to your neighborhood auto shop.

In the sting, the well-known Herb Chambers Honda dealership in Burlington, Mass., was cited and the company has agreed to pay a $58,000 penalty for 29 violations committed by its employees and agreed to enter into a Last Chance Agreement (LCA) with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Under this agreement, Herb Chambers agreed to a two-year suspension of its inspection license.

ecoRI News attempted to contact the Rhode Island stations that were brought before the RIEST hearing board in November, to determine whether their alleged violations were of the intentional or unintentional variety, but received no response.

DEM Slaps Court Complaint on City Waste Recycler

By ecoRI News staff

EAST PROVIDENCE — The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is getting tough on a controversial construction processing facility that is long overdue in complying with a city regulation.

TLA Pond View, on Dexter Road, was hit with a DEM compliant in Providence Superior Court on Jan. 5 for failing to secure a letter of compliance. City officials, however, haven't issued the letter due to zoning violations relating to the amount and type of construction waste the company processes.

DEM first asked for the letter last July 26. On Dec. 14, DEM demanded that the document be provided by Jan. 4 or risk having its license yanked.

After TLA Pond View failed to meet the latest deadline, DEM asked the court to order the company to cease operations until the letter is issued by the city. If the court approves the request, the company's license would be suspended immediately. It also would be forced to stop taking in construction debris and remove and dispose of existing construction waste material within 14 days.

Despite a Statehouse protest last April attended by neighbors and activists, DEM gave permission for TLA Pond View to process 1,500 tons of construction and demolition waste a day, or 10 times its original permit of 150 tons daily.

A call to TLA Pond View was not returned. A hearing on the complaint will be heard in Superior Court on Jan. 23.

Neighbors of the facility have complained of toxic dust and other pollutants that have allegedly been emitted by the facility. Residents say the pollution has caused respiratory illness, headaches, nausea and other health problems.

"Residents have been urging DEM to enforce the law for over a year and couldn’t be happier that the day has finally come," said Taryn Hallweaver, a community organizer for Boston-based Toxics Action Center.

Davis Site in Smithfield to Get Groundwater Cleanup

By ecoRI News staff

SMITHFIELD — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a settlement with respect to the Davis Liquid Waste Superfund site, in which the defendants will implement a groundwater cleanup and be financially responsible for 100 percent of future response costs.

The Davis site has presented real and potential threats to the residents of Rhode Island for too long, according to Janet Coit, director of the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

Remediation of the site has been complex and time consuming, and has included the treatment of almost 30,000 yards of contaminated soil, the removal of buried hazardous waste drums and the purging of more than 6 million discarded tires, according to the DEM.

“We look forward to participating in this final step of the process by treating the contaminated groundwater that remains on the site,” Coit said. “This agreement further emphasizes that the (DEM) is going to work diligently to hold parties responsible for their acts, to ensure protective cleanups that safeguard our natural resources and protect environmental quality for all Rhode Islanders.”

In 1992, the attorney general initiated a suit against William Davis requiring the removal of millions of tires that had been disposed at the site as far back as the 1970s. Although the last of the tires were removed in 2000, the attorney general’s office remained committed to the remediation of the environmental hazards that existed on the site as a result of decades of solid and hazardous waste storage.

Throughout the ’70s, the 10-acre site on Tarkiln Road accepted liquid and chemical wastes such as paint and metal sludge, oily waste, solvents, acids, caustics, pesticides, phenols, halogens, metals, fly ash and laboratory pharmaceuticals, according to the EPA. Liquid wastes were transported in drums and bulk tank trucks and were dumped directly into unlined lagoons and seepage pits.

The major contaminants of concern that exceeded federal and state standards are: volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as tetrachlorethene, trichloroethene, vinyl chloride and benzene; semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), including bis (2-chloroethyl)ether; pesticides, such as aldrin and dieldrin; and metals, including arsenic and manganese, according to the EPA.

Exposure risks to residents from contaminated groundwater have been minimized since homes in the area are now on public water, the EPA said.

The settling defendants include: Ashland Inc.; the Black and Decker Corp.; FKI Industries Inc.; Bristol Inc.; Morton International LLC; Rohm and Haas Co.; and Life Technologies Corp.

The EPA will contribute up to $9.5 million to the groundwater cleanup from payments made by previous settling parties that were set aside specifically for use at this site.