UPDATED: RI Recycled Metals Closed Until Further Notice
GoLocalProv News Team
UPDATED: RI Recycled Metals Closed Until Further Notice
The scrap yard suffered its third fire in three years on Wednesday. SEE VIDEO HERE
Terry Gray, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, said Wednesday, "For more than 10 years and throughout the course of dozens of court appearances, DEM has tried to bring Rhode Island Recycled Metals into compliance with environmental laws and regulations. As frustrating as this process has been, we understand that our frustration is nothing next to the outrage felt in the community and being expressed by community members today.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"These fires are unacceptable. They threaten public health and continue to complicate the environmental clean-up needed at the site. Today, attorneys from DEM and the Office of Attorney General Peter Neronha attended an emergency court conference where RIRM agreed to cease operations until it has been able to investigate the matter further and confer with the State. DEM believes the facility should remain shut down until all violations are addressed and until all appropriate permits and licenses are received from the state and the city to allow operations to resume. DEM remains committed to working with our partners in the Attorney General’s Office and the City of Providence to continue our efforts to bring the site into compliance with environmental laws and regulations,” added Gray.
Latest for RIRM
The facility has been facing regulatory violations for upwards of a decade.
Due to the inaction of Attorneys General Peter Kilmartin and Peter Neronha, the facility has been able to continue operating; it has never paid a fine.
In April of 2023, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) told GoLocal, “Every time we find something on the site, we have to go back to court. That is the 100-plus times we have gone to court.”
“Essentially, due to the travels of this case, the facility is unregulated,” said Gray in 2023.
“If you took this fresh and looked at these things from scratch, then it would be a significant enforcement case right as it sits today,” he added at the time.
Since that article and GoLocal exposed the condition of the site via drone, some regulatory action has taken place.
DEM issued a NOV in March of 2024. It was the first time DEM had taken enforcement action against RIRM in nearly a decade. The firm appealed the fine.
After Wednesday's fire, Mike Jarbeau, Narragansett Baykeeper for Save The Bay, said, “How many times does this place need to catch fire before it is shut down? These fires put the lives of first responders at risk, jeopardize the health of nearby residents and people who work on the waterfront, and the health of the river and the bay. Enough is enough.”
Neighborhood activist Linda Perry of the Washington Park Neighborhood Association told GoLocal, "They need to do something. This is air pollution. What if that fire blew up? Enough of this."
Long Battled
Nine years ago, environmental officials tried to force the operations into compliance with environmental laws.
In 2015, DEM and then-Attorney General Peter Kilmartin hit the company with a series of enforcement actions.
A complaint had been filed against Rhode Island Recycled Metals, LLC, and AARE, LLC, located on Allens Avenue in Providence, along with the property owner, and the onsite manager for RI Recycled Metals, Edward Sciaba, Sr. The complaint concerned violations of Rhode Island’s Oil Pollution Control Act and Water Pollution Act, and DEM's Water Quality Regulations, RI Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Regulations, and Oil Pollution Control Regulations.
"These corporations failed to obtain the permits that were required to begin operations, ignored the law, and then did not comply with the agreement they reached with DEM to resolve their environmental violations," said then-DEM Director Janet Coit. "By failing to invest in the equipment and other measures necessary to prevent pollution, their actions harmed the environment. As government officials work together to stimulate the economy, it's so important that we ensure compliance with our laws to provide an even playing field."
Today, Coit works for former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo at the United States Commerce Department.
Providence Allens Ave Scrap Metal Company Hit with RICO Lawsuit
1. October 2011
Sims Metal Management purchases Providence Export--formerly Promet Marine Services Corporation, which began in 1974, "providing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, voyage-repair services to a variety of vessels trafficking in ports of the Northeastern United States, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Portland, Maine.
The world's largest metal recycler, Sims Metal Management is an Australian company with more than 250 locations on five continents and more than 6,200 employees. In the United States, Sims and its joint ventures are located in 21 states and employ more than 4,400 people.
2. March 2012
According to Sims Metal Management's (SMM) counterclaim filed to the lawsuit in District Court, "on or about March 16, 2012, SMM agreed to advance Rhode Island Recycled Metals $40,000.00 against the delivery of scrap metal to SMM....Rhode Island Recycled Metals has not repaid the $40,000.00 advance."
3. April 2012
Lawsuit plaintiff Anthony Serapiglia incorporates "Innercity Recycling Service LLC" in April 2012, having left his previous operation, Cove Metal, in March 2011. Operations of Innercity begin later in August 2012.
4. May 2012
Both Sims Metal Management (SMM) and RI Recycled Metals (RIRM) were cited by the RI DEM in 2012 for failing to construct storm water controls to “properly manage and treat the storm water runoff associated with their business.”
The DEM issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to RIRM on May 7, 2012 for “water pollution violations,” and the company has “submitted plans to the DEM to construct storm water controls to address the violations alleged in the NOV.
SMM also received a NOV from the DEM on that May date of 2012 and was issued a permit two months later to get into compliance. The company paid the full penalty of $25,000 for the violation and had “until June 2013 to complete all the required work in the permit.”
5. Sept/Oct. 2012
Plaintiff Serapiglia enters into a contract with Izzo and Sims for loans to Innercity as well as an exclusivity agreement -- the nature of which is currently under legal dispute.
6. March 2013
Less than two weeks after Providence longshoremen picketed on Allens Avenue to protest the hiring practices of Sims Metal (SMM) recycling yard, a group of union members were back at the site to express their “concerns” with the scrap-metal operations of Sims and neighboring company Rhode Island Recycled Metals, LLC (RIRM).
Michael F. Sabitoni, Business manager and Secretary/Treasurer of the Rhode Island Laborers District Council and Labors Local Union 271, said his members were protesting what he called the “bad perception on the industry” that the two companies were portraying due to a lack of “environmental protections” taking plan in and around the Allens Avenue area.
“Obviously, this union action is not about our environmental record, but is really about several local unions’ displeasure about jobs at this location being non-union,” said Sims spokesman Daniel Strechay at the time.
7. June 2013
According to the initial RICO lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs, "in or about June 2013, employees of Innercity reviewed the books and records...and discovered a discrepancy between the amount of scrap metal it had purchased from its customers and the amount it had sold to SMM, according to SMM's payments" -- which was estimated to be $117,000.
Innercity contacts SMM in August to review its records of deliveries.
8. Fall 2013
Innercity Recycling, K&R Auto Salvage, and Rhode Island Recycled Metals file RICO Act suit vs. Sims in September.
Sims responds to complaint, and files counterclaim in October.
A pretrial conference is scheduled for Thursday, December 5th with Chief US Disctrict Judge Mary M. Lisi.
