PROVIDENCE —
Environmental groups are troubled by a proposal from a business advocacy group
to radically shift state offices and departments.
In a plan called
“Systematic Restructuring,” the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC)
subjugates the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and most
other agencies under the supervision of business-focused committees.
The DEM, in
particular, would be overseen by a secretary of commerce as well as an
executive of commerce.
Environmental groups
say the proposal is the result of a “pro-business” movement that perceives
state regulations and environmental rules as impediments to economic growth.
“I’m not happy,”
Tricia Jedele, president of the Environment Council of Rhode Island (ECRI),
said during the group’s recent monthly meeting.
Jedele said the
project appears to have been “done in a vacuum” without input from
environmental groups or even state agencies. She said calls to the governor’s
office haven't been returned.
“I’m in shock the
report came out. It’s a left hook,” said Jamie Rhodes, director of Clean Water
Action’s Rhode Island office.
ECRI members were
incredulous that Gov. Lincoln Chafee, a self-proclaimed advocate for the
environment, could endorse the idea. “Isn’t this a reaction to the Curt
Shilling thing and debacle at the (Rhode Island Economic Development
Corporation)?” said Eugenia Marks of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.
ECRI plans to write a
letter of protest to the plan, contingent on the backing of it 60 member groups
and individuals.
The action by RIPEC
seems to fall within its stated goals. In it mission statement, RIPEC, a nonprofit advocacy group, states that it intends "to improve government agencies, assist
elected officials and staff in sound policies and programs” and “promotes a
public policy agenda to foster a climate for economic opportunity.”
Its board of directors is made up of top management and
administrators at Rhode Island businesses and universities. Amica CEO Robert
DiMuccio serves as president. He states in an online letter that the
"RIPEC board of directors believes that it is time for Rhode Island to
take the necessary steps towards fundamental and transformative, yet
compassionate and affordable change in the funding, provision and delivery of
state and local services.”
RIPEC said its Sept. 25 proposal (pdf) was developed after Chafee asked
for an analysis of the troubled Economic Development Corporation (EDC). RIPEC
said it used the request to take a “broader look” at economic issues in the
state. In the plan, the departments of transportation and education would serve
under a new Commerce Coordinating Council. RIPEC also proposes a
“customer-centric approach” that advocates for outside groups to manage state
loan programs, which may include the EDC’s Renewable Energy Fund.
RIPEC is already moving ahead with engaging
the state legislature to advance the project. A committee overseeing some of
the changes would include “a broad coalition of stakeholders,” according to the
report.
