INVESTIGATION: Photos Show How RI Recycled Metals Stripped Away the Coastline, and CRMC Did Nothing

INVESTIGATION: Photos Show How RI Recycled Metals Stripped Away the Coastline, and CRMC Did Nothing

 

An ongoing, multi-year investigation by GoLocal into the failed environmental enforcement of the Rhode Island Recycled Metals (RIRM) facility in Providence has uncovered how another state agency has failed to take action against the company.

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Aerial photos generated by the Rhode Island Geographic Information System (RIGIS) over the past two decades show how the operators of RIRM stripped away the coastline. The operator’s actions were done without any state approval from the Rhode Island Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC). In less than 20 years, the area of operation by RIRM on Allens Avenue has been transformed from open land to an urban wasteland spewed with industrial trash.

 

CRMC says its "primary responsibility is for the preservation, protection, development and where possible the restoration of the coastal areas of the state via the implementation of its integrated and comprehensive coastal management plans and the issuance of permits for work with the coastal zone of the state.”

 

To make a coastal change requires a plan to be submitted and an approved permit issued by CRMC, but RIRM had no CRMC approvals. After repeated emails to CRMC staff, the agency admitted it has never taken any regulatory action against the facility. 

 

CRMC’s executive director, Jeffrey Willis, refused to answer why the agency has not taken enforcement action against the operators.

 

A GoLocal drone video showed the impact of the RIRM operations on the coastline.

 

“Unregulated” and Failed Enforcement

Rhode Island Attorney Generals Peter Kilmartin and Peter Neronha have failed in court to enforce alleged violations against RIRM. These alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act date back as far as 2012.

 

Despite more than 100 court entries in just the past eight-plus years, RIRM has yet to pay a dollar in penalties or been ordered to take any remediation actions.

 

In April 2023, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management spoke out about the failed court actions.

 

“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 Terry Gray, the Director of DEM.

 

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

 

“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.

 

Last Week: Fire and Judge Smith Blocked City Action

 

Last Thursday morning, a fire broke out at the RIRM facility.

 

The fire shot flames up more than 100 feet in the air, and the black smoke could be smelled as far as a mile away. SEE VIDEO

 

It was the second fire at the site in recent years SEE 2021 FIRE HERE

 

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Christopher Smith ruled against the City of Providence’s effort to shut down RIRM.

 

The scrap metal facility has been deemed the “stain on the bay” by the environmental advocacy group Save the Bay.

 

The City of Providence has sought to close down the facility and, in March, it had issued a cease and desist order, but RIRM appealed the city’s action to Superior Court.

 

In a hearing on Friday, Judge Smith blocked the city’s actions. He has continued the matter until May 3.

 

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley critiqued Judge Smith’s failure to close RIRM.

 

“We are disappointed in today's decision. Rhode Island Recycled Metals' continued operation without a proper license poses a critical safety and public health risk for all of our neighbors in this area. We will continue to press our case in Superior Court and ask the state to hold them accountable to improve this situation for our community,” said Smiley in an email to GoLocal.