Narragansett Bay Commission's CSO Phase III Will Cost $800M and Create 500+ Jobs, Says Mesolella
Narragansett Bay Commission's CSO Phase III Will Cost $800M and Create 500+ Jobs, Says Mesolella
Mesolella said that Phase III of the Combined Sewer Overflow expansion is expected to cost $800 million and create a minimum of 500 direct jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs.
“This particular project has created a national interest not only because Narragansett Bay [Commission] is a nationally recognized award-winning agency but the magnitude of the project. This project in today's dollars is approaching $800 million and when the project is complete -- at least the tunnel phase of it -- it may be approaching nine hundred million dollars with inflation,” said Mesolella.
He says the project has attracted firms from around the world to initial vendor briefings, which saw over 140 people in attendance.
The project is expected to break ground in August of 2020.
Reducing Fees
In addition, as of July 1, NBC made a major regulatory change to reduce costs for Rhode Island's companies and overall reduce the agency’s costs by eliminating the annual pretreatment discharge fees.
Mesolella said NBC determined that the fees and the application paperwork were burdensome to businesses, so NBC petitioned the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission to eliminate the fees.
The PUC approved the change.
Businesses will only have to pay an application fee every five years, which represents a saving for business owners.
Best News
While Rhode Island is struggling in many business publication rankings, US News & World Report ranked Rhode Island first for clean air & water. State Senator Sue Sosnowski sponsored a resolution congratulating the NBC as well as the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and other environmental agencies -- DEM, CRMC and others -- for the success. Narragansett Bay is cleaner than it’s been in 150 years.