EPA Calls Out Westerly Co. for Waste Violations

By ecoRI News staff

WESTERLY — A local company that conducts printing, coating and finishing of specialty fabrics has been ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to come into compliance with federal hazardous waste management regulations.

Bradford Printing & Finishing LLC, 460 Bradford Road, recently was ordered to comply with the regulations it had violated. The company violated the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by failing to determine whether numerous wastes being stored at the facility were hazardous wastes, according to the EPA.

Bradford also failed to separate or protect containers holding hazardous wastes from containers holding incompatible materials, failed to provide adequate hazardous waste management training to its personnel, failed to maintain a hazardous waste contingency plan, and failed to properly manage and label its universal waste, the EPA said.

The company’s violation of RCRA requirements, and in particular its failure to determine if its wastes were hazardous, significantly increased the likelihood that hazardous wastes might be improperly managed and disposed of, and that the public and the environment could have been exposed to hazardous wastes, according to the EPA.

Grants Available for Aquidneck Island Projects

By ecoRI News staff

AQUIDNECK ISLAND — Grant applications are now available for island organizations and neighborhood groups working to preserve open space parcels, improve neighborhood parks or create community gardens.

The Aquidneck Land Trust’s (ALT) Merritt Neighborhood Fund provides grants ranging from $100 to $2,500 to Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth neighborhood and community groups working to strengthen their community’s identity and natural character and to model the ethic of land conservation and stewardship through community volunteerism.

Since the Merritt Neighborhood Fund was established in 1999, the ALT has awarded grants to local groups to revitalize parks, fund community gardens, repair and buy playground equipment, and improve aesthetic value through landscaping.

ALT established the Merritt Neighborhood Fund to honor the late Peter M. Merritt, the organization’s visionary board president emeritus, for his decade of leadership. Merritt had a vision to execute the mission of the ALT on a smaller scale to benefit individual neighborhoods across Aquidneck Island.

The deadline for proposals is April 1. Grant applications may be obtained by contacting the ALT at 401-849-2799 or to download a PDF version of the application, click here.

Island Census Maps Out Open Space, Farmland

By ecoRI News staff

NEWPORT — The Aquidneck Island Planning Commission recently released the first comprehensive census of the island’s open space, including farmland, recreation areas and vacant land.

In a report issued Feb. 8, the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission (AIPC) maps and analyzes the island’s parks, beaches, farms, ponds and reservoirs, playing fields, and other areas with little or no development. The report is the final product of a year-long project to identify Aquidneck Island’s open space, with the goal of providing information that will help the island’s communities and policymakers plan for future development, expand recreational opportunities and protect key watersheds.

“The existence of these areas is critical to the well-being of Aquidneck Island’s communities,” Tina Dolen, AIPC’s executive director, said. “They are vital for recreation, food production and safe drinking water, and they are a key contributor to the island’s distinctive character. By understanding what exists today, we can plan more effectively for the future.”

AIPC used geographic information system (GIS) technology and data from the island’s municipalities and the state of Rhode Island to create the maps and tables in the report. It categorized open space areas by land use, size, ownership type, and zoning and conservation status. The report’s findings include:

Aquidneck Island has 13,623 acres of open space; almost half is located in Portsmouth.

Farmland comprises 31.7 percent of the island’s open space, more than any other land use.

There are 1,868 acres of land devoted to recreation on Aquidneck Island.

There are 3,855 acres of publicly owned open space on the island; the largest public landowner is the city of Newport.

An eight-member advisory committee helped guide the project by working with AIPC to develop goals and verify the accuracy of the data and maps produced. It included representatives from the Aquidneck Land Trust, Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport County Chamber of Commerce, Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership, state Department of Environmental Management, town of Portsmouth, town of Middletown, and the city of Newport.

Faith-Based Conference Focused on Climate Change

By ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island Interfaith Power and Light will hold its fifth annual Interfaith Conference on Climate Change on Tuesday, Feb. 28, from 4:30-9 p.m. at the Open Table of Christ Church, 1520 Broad St.

Roger S. GottliebThis year’s conference entitled “Ethics of Climate Change” will focus on the intersection of science and action, with workshops focusing on current climate impacts on Rhode Island and on international farming. The keynote address will by internationally recognized religious environmental ethics writer and professor of philosophy Roger S. Gottlieb. Ph.D., and is entitled “Five Reasons Why We Do and Do Not Respond to Climate Change.”

Gottlieb says “religion can actually help people participate in public life” and that religions are, among other things, “a repository of values that stress a universality of moral concern.” His talk will address the pain of scientific knowledge about the state of Earth’s climate and explore the feeling responses – positive and negative – that influence human behavior in response to the knowledge of climate change.

“To get our climate’s carbon dioxide levels back to 350 ppm (parts per million), we need to make a strong commitment to conducing our daily lives and business in a new way,” Rhode Island Interfaith Power and Light Director Liz Marsis said.

The annual conference is the state’s largest gathering of representatives of the faith community to discuss climate change, according to organizers.

The keynote address is at 6:30, followed by workshops that reflect on responses to climate change from various faith-based perspectives, plus a hands-on workshop entitled “Cool Congregations” that walks participants through the process of measuring their carbon footprint and offers strategies to live more sustainably. Musical performances round out the close of the event.

The evening meal, a light fare of local farm, organic and fair-trade products, is designed to be an educational exchange about reducing our carbon footprint. Samplings from the Alternative Food Cooperative, Rhode Island Dairy Farms Cooperative, the Providence Granola Project, Equal Exchange and Little Rhody Egg Farms will be featured.

Registration is recommended, so that attendees can be assured of seat in the workshop of their choice. General admission is $15, with free will offerings accepted at the door. To register online, click here.

Land Trust Goes Live with Conservation Efforts

By ecoRI News staff

AQUIDNECK ISLAND — In front of a capacity crowd at the Aquidneck Land Trust’s 22nd annual meeting, graciously hosted by the Atlantic Beach Club in Middletown on Feb. 2, two land conservation announcements were made.

With the audience bearing witness, the mayor of Newport, Stephen Waluk, and Aquidneck Land Trust (ALT) Executive Director Ted Clement completed the closing on the Coggeshall School and Valley Associates II conservation transaction as part of ALT’s Newport Conservation Initiative.

Lots 39 and 50 of the Coggeshall School property in Newport have not only served as the outdoor recreation area for the students of that school, but these two lots also have served as the de facto public park for the children and families in the densely developed Van Zandt Avenue and Evarts Street neighborhoods.

These two vacant lots were at risk with the impending closing and sale of Coggeshall School. At the annual meeting, ALT acquired a perpetual conservation easement on the lots, with the city of Newport continuing to own the land, thereby permanently securing this important open space as a public park for the lasting benefit of these heavily populated neighborhoods, according to Clement.

In addition to the $100,000 paid to the city of Newport for the Coggeshall conservation easement, ALT also conveyed the fee simple title of an important open space property, commonly referred to as the Valley Associates II parcel, along Bailey’s Brook to the city of Newport, subject to an ALT conservation easement, to benefit the city’s water system. ALT had owned this property unencumbered and wanted to permanently lock it up with check and balances.

The Feb. 2 crowd also bore witness to the live signing of a purchase and sale contract for a conservation easement on a property identified as a high priority for protection in ALT’s recently completed mapping and prioritization study of all the remaining and threatened open space parcels within Aquidneck Island’s seven primary watersheds.

The subject land, owned by the Pimolwatana family, is along the Maidford River in Middletown and is at the intersection of Green End Avenue and Paradise Avenue.

Under the executed purchase and sale contract, ALT is to buy a conservation easement for $98,000 on almost 6 acres of this critical property that helps protect the Maidford River. ALT is expected to close on the conservation easement in the spring.

With the recent Coggeshall conservation easement closing, the ALT has conserved 2,386.50 acres on 66 properties on Aquidneck Island since 1990.

Survey Says: Invasive Species Program Creates Jobs

By ecoRI News staff

KINGSTON — The Rhode Island Natural History Survey concluded its federally funded Forest Health Works Project last month and reported to the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) that the invasive species eradication effort was an economic development success.

The $673,000 federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant funded the training and contracts for landscapers and arborists from 15 companies hard hit by the recession, as well as 14 high-school students, to remove invasive species from forests throughout Rhode Island and established a market for native plants that has provided a boost to the state’s nursery industry.

“Our goal was to make a lasting investment in one of Rhode Island’s most valuable resources — its forests,” said David Gregg, executive director of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey. “Our forests are productive resources that create and maintain jobs in a number of industries. Removing invasive species is a worthwhile investment in the health of these forests.”

The project, in which DEM was also a partner, began in 2010 with the most comprehensive inventory of invasive plants ever conducted in Rhode Island. About 60,000 acres — 37 percent of the conservation land in the state — was inventoried to identify where harmful invasive plants such as autumn olive, Japanese knotweed, garlic mustard and Asiatic bittersweet are located. Properties surveyed include lands owned by the state, municipalities, The Nature Conservancy, local land trusts and private landowners.

After the properties were mapped and prioritized, landscape contractors were hired and trained and removed 166 acres of invasive plants at 41 different sites. Based on their work on the Forest Health Works Project, the contractors reported that they have been hired for $62,000 in additional invasive species control business in the region.

“We also wanted to give summer jobs to high-school kids, a segment of the population that has been very heavily hit with unemployment,” Gregg said. “By hiring kids from rural communities, we helped them understand the value of the forests in their community and gave them a leg up on future jobs.”

The Natural History Survey contracted with 12 local nurseries to harvest seeds from native plants, grow them to maturity, and give them free to garden centers and use them in local restoration projects, like at Blackstone Park in Providence. Additional grants from private and federal agencies will enable the Rhody Native program to continue for at least another year.

R.I. Wild Plant Society Offers Grant

By ecoRI News staff

The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society (RIWPS) is offering a grant to aid individuals in the study of wild plants and their habitats. To qualify, you must be an educator, a member of a Rhode Island botanical or environmental association, or a student in a field related to botany or environmental studies.

The grant is for up to $1,000 and includes a one-year membership to RIWPS. The project goal must involve environmental activities or research in any area of study related to wild plants and/or their habitats. These activities may involve such things as installation of gardens or invasive removal. It can also be used for project materials, to create workshops or courses with a community outreach component. The award is open to Rhode Island residents or non-residents at a Rhode Island educational institution.

For more information, call 401-789-7497 or send an e-mail to office@riwps.org. To download an application, click here. Applications must be received by Feb. 29.

ecoRI Teams with Green Penguin to Collect E-Waste

By ecoRI News staff

PAWTUCKET — The ecoRI News Green Team is now collecting e-waste at the Wintertime Farmers’ Market at Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St.

ecoRI will be collecting e-waste in partnership with Providence-based Green Penguin. E-waste that will be accepted on Saturdays through mid-May includes: audio/visual equipment; batteries; cell phones; computers; computer components and accessories; copiers; digital cameras; DVD players; fax machines; gaming systems; ink and toner cartridges; iPods; keyboards; MP3 Players; pagers; printers; power cables; projectors; scanners; server cabinets; speakers; stereo equipment; TVs (LCD and plasma); vacuum cleaners; VCRs; walkmans; wireless devices; wires and cables.

Items that will not be accepted include: fluorescent bulbs; microwaves; rear-projection TVs; and smoke detectors.

For such items as furniture, glass-tube TVs and household appliances, call Green Penguin at 401-736-4846.

Both of the ecoRI Green Team’s compost and e-waste collections are free — although donations are welcome. The Saturday Wintertime Farmers’ Market is held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Register for Compost Conference & Trade Show

By ecoRI News staff

PAWTUCKET — Registration is open for the 2012 Rhode Island Compost Conference & Trade Show that will take place Feb. 27 at Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St.

There has been a tremendous growth in interest in composting during the past three years. This year’s third annual conference has been expanded to include a trade show, and will highlight businesses involved in the industry.

Speakers will include Michael Virga, executive director of the U.S. Compost Council; Nancy Warner of the Worm Ladies of Charlestown; and Michael Bradlee, a Providence inventor and compost innovator. Businesses and organizations that will be exhibiting includes Eco Asset Inc., Earth Care Farm, Full Circle Recycling, Waste Management, Southside Community Land Trust, National Equipment Association, the Worm Ladies of Charlestown, the Allu Group, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation and Earth Appliance.

In addition to registrations, forms are available for those wishing to sponsor the conference, exhibit in the trade show or advertise in the program.

The Environment Council of Rhode Island’s Compost Initiative, the Greater Providence Urban Agriculture Task Force and ecoRI News are the event’s organizers.

For more information, e-mail the Environment Council of Rhode Island at environmentcouncil@earthlink.net, or call 401-621-8048.