UPDATED: Judge Orders RI Recycled Metals Closed for Short-Term, Company Claims Victory Over AG

UPDATED: Judge Orders RI Recycled Metals Closed for Short-Term, Company Claims Victory Over AG

Superior Court Judge Brian Stern issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to keep Rhode Island Recycled Metals — the Allens Avenue scrap yard — closed, following this week's latest fire. 

However, the closure of the RIRM may be very short.

The court’s order is in place until the special master overseeing conducts an analysis and can assure that the facility has implemented best practices for fire mitigation and other criteria.

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The action came after the site suffered its third fire in the past four years and the second in three months. SEE VIDEO ABOVE.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management had also sought in court to replace the special master, which has been governing the management of the property since 2015, be converted into a receivership, which would then have complete control of the property.

A court appointed receiver makes all business decisions, including a decision to close the facility.

Stern, however, said that the motion required a full review and would set a future date for the legal machination.

In addition, Neronha had sought to close the facility permanently, and that, too, Stern said, needed a formal hearing.

One of RIRM's attorneys, Gerald Decelles, called Neronha's efforts politically motivated and cited that "this AG has a record of attacking the court, and after all, it is election season."

 

After the Decision

“It was a total victory,” said Richard Nicholson, the attorney for RIRM, told GoLocal after Stern handed down the decision.

The special master, Richard Land, who now and has probably had the burden since 2015 to ensure that the business is operating in the construct of the law, told GoLocal, “I have no comment other than that I will move forward with the Judge’s order.”

The environmental battle over the condition of the Rhode Island Recycled Metals facility saw upwards of its 100 scheduled court actions over the decade.

In attendance in the courtroom were Providence City Councilors Pedro Espinal and Oscar Vargas, State Representative Jose Batista and State Senator Tiara Mack and well as BLM PAC President Harrison Tuttle.

Espinal said, "For the health of our neighbors, the safety of our firefighters, and the protection of our environment, Rhode Island Recycled Metals needs to be permanently shut down. I will continue fighting until it is."

Topher Hamblett, executive director for Save The Bay, said, “For over a decade, Rhode Island Recycled Metals has shown a blatant disregard for environmental laws that protect our right to clean air and water. We look forward to future actions being taken to stop this chronic source of pollution to the Providence River and neighborhood once and for all.” 

Another development in the hearing was that RIRM said that they will be able to remove the last sunken vessel in the river just a few hundred yards from the shoreline. Nicholson represented to the court on Friday, that the company has secured a new vendor, believes the Army Corps of Engineers - the federal agency with regulatory authority - will approve the plan, and the removal will begin in August.

This story was first published on 7/12/24 2:17 PM and it was updated on 7/13/2024 at 7:00 AM