EXCLUSIVE: GoLocal’s Drone Shows Condition of “Unregulated” RI Metal Recycling Waterfront Property

EXCLUSIVE: GoLocal’s Drone Shows Condition of “Unregulated” RI Metal Recycling Waterfront Property

What is the condition of the waterfront “unregulated” Rhode Island Metals Recycling facility?

An ongoing GoLocal investigation has unveiled the lack of environmental enforcement and provides a look at the property from the land, sea, and now, the air. Last week GoLocal accompanied Save the Bay Baykeeper Mike Jarbeau and Riverkeeper Kate McPherson for a waterfront tour of the property.

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GoLocal on Tuesday, flew a drone near the site in order to provide Rhode Islanders a look at the condition of the site — a site that appears to have little or no controls. Soil piles that were to be covered now only have remnants of shredded tarps.

GoLocal first reported that the owners of the facility via a separate corporation have purchased the adjacent property -- the 9.8 acres of so-called "Cumberland Farms" land.

The site looks apocalyptical.

 

 

12 Years, Two Attorney Generals, and No Enforcement

For more than a decade, environmental violations have languished under two Rhode Island attorneys general — Peter Kilmartin and Peter Neronha. The two have failed to enforce state and federal laws. 

The sitting Attorney General Neronha repeatedly has refused to answer questions about his office's enforcement efforts on the case. He has served as the state's chief prosecutor for more than five years.

The site was first cited for environmental violations a decade ago.

Three weeks ago, the Director of the Rhode Island Department, Terry Gray, told GoLocal that his agency has been hamstrung by the court proceeding.

“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,” said Gray on Saturday.

“Essentially, due to the travels of this case, the facility is unregulated,” said Gray.

The RIRM facility has been cited repeatedly by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management over the past decade for environmental violations, including violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. The enforcement of those violations has been mired in a legal proceeding at Providence Superior Court that has gone on for seven years.