Mining and blasting at the quarry creates runoff waste which has accumulated on the side of a paved road that leads to Hopkins Hill Sand & Stone. The quarry’s waste eventually washes into a state-protected management area that borders the operation. (Frank Carini/ecoRI News)

Mining and blasting at the quarry creates runoff waste which has accumulated on the side of a paved road that leads to Hopkins Hill Sand & Stone. The quarry’s waste eventually washes into a state-protected management area that borders the operation. (Frank Carini/ecoRI News)

WEST GREENWICH, R.I. — Hopkins Hill Sand & Stone has been illegally discharging waste runoff into a popular Rhode Island management area since at least 2004.

Conservationists have noted a lack of incentives for building on closed landfills, brownfields, parking lots, and gravel pits. (ecoRI News)

Conservationists have noted a lack of incentives for building on closed landfills, brownfields, parking lots, and gravel pits. (ecoRI News)

PROVIDENCE — The siting of ground-mounted solar facilities continue to exasperate environmentalists, developers, and planners who are trying to protect open space amid a booming renewable-energy sector.

Emission Reductions, Forest Protection Not Mutually Exclusive

The Resilient Rhode Island Act states repeatedly that maintaining forest cover and preventing forest fragmentation is imperative to achieving our greenhouse-gas reduction goals, and recommends a zero-net forest loss strategy. Opinion

Perfluorinated compounds used in firefighting foams have contaminated hundreds of U.S. aquifers. They’ve been blamed for the contamination of a public water system in Burrillville, R.I. (istock)

Perfluorinated compounds used in firefighting foams have contaminated hundreds of U.S. aquifers. They’ve been blamed for the contamination of a public water system in Burrillville, R.I. (istock)

Students of all ages from Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts recently took the day off from school to gather at the Statehouse to join a global protest. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI News)

Students of all ages from Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts recently took the day off from school to gather at the Statehouse to join a global protest. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI News)

In 2017 and 2018, 20 North Atlantic right whales are known to have died, mostly as a result of ship strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. The species global population stands at about 400. (istock)

In 2017 and 2018, 20 North Atlantic right whales are known to have died, mostly as a result of ship strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. The species global population stands at about 400. (istock)

Bread Baking Put On Hold By Unlicensed R.I. Junkyard

FOSTER, R.I. — The expansion of Legend’s Creek Farm’s business to include the baking of bread has been delayed by a neighboring salvage yard that is operating without state or town approval.

Rhode Island Ranked in Top 10 for Asthma Rate

PROVIDENCE — A study of air pollution along Interstate 95 found what has long been suspected: neighborhoods are suffering from unhealthy emissions.