By
TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI.org News staff
PROVIDENCE
— During its annual presentation to the House Committee on Environment and
Natural Resources, the Watershed Counts environmental coalition talked about
climate change and the damage it is already causing to Rhode Island’s natural
habitat and the economy.
But
some members of this House committee were thinking about other matters, such as
medications in the water and billionaire philanthropists.
After
a 45-minute report from 10 environmental experts, Rep. Larry Valencia,
D-Charlestown, abruptly brought up concerns about trace pharmaceuticals in the
water supply. Several of the Watershed Counts panelists noted that the issue
was being studied at the federal level, and, as of yet, there was no verified
public health threat.
Reps.
John J. Lombardi, D-Providence, and Teresa Tanzi, D-Narragansett, still
pressed for details. “When will an assessment begin?” Tanzi asked.
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| EPA is not so dismissive of the problem of pharmaceutical drugs in the water supply and environment. Click to enlarge |
James
Boyd, of the University of Rhode Island's Coastal Institute, noted that
sea-level rise and water temperature in the bay was accelerating faster than
global averages. “Climate change is already happening in the Narragansett Bay
region and will intensify in the years to come,” he said.
Susan
Kiernan, deputy chief of the Surface Water Protection Program at the state
Department of Environmental Management (DEM), said nitrogen, principally from
wastewater treatment plants, is draining oxygen from a third of the bay during
the summer. But thanks to $200 million in upgrades to sewage runoff systems,
the level of nitrogen has decreased 40 percent and a 50 percent reduction is
expected by 2017, she said.
John
Torgan of The Nature Conservancy called for the protection of open space from
development. Since 1995 a third of the state's developable open space is gone,
and only a quarter of Rhode Island's farmland is protected, he said.
Undeveloped land protects the state during floods and super storms such as
Sandy, he explained.
“This
is not a barrier to progress, rather (preserving open space) will contribute to
the quality of life in Rhode Island and support a vibrant economy," Torgan
said.
Rep.
Michael Chippendale, R-Coventry, said he wanted a list of priority issues from
Watershed Counts in order to preserve environmental regulations that could be
eliminated by upcoming reform efforts. “We are overregulated, redundantly
regulated, and some (regulations) are going away,” he said after the meeting.
Lombardi
said the state's environmental groups should seek more private funding to
“dovetail” on President Obama’s recent call for environmental initiatives. “We
need to find our Bill Gates,” he said.
Rep.
Eileen Naughton, D-Warwick, downplayed the risks of climate change, comparing
it to the gypsy moth outbreak in the early 1980s. The gypsy moths, which
threatened massive tree destruction, were ultimately curtailed by new
predators, Naughton said.
"This
committee, they don't doubt climate change, (but) climate change will bring
species that are adaptable to climate and water," she said.
Watershed
Counts is a coalition of 48 agencies, universities and environmental
organizations that review and report on the condition of the Narragansett Bay
watershed. Its annual assessment will be presented to the entire legislature
and governor April 23 at the Statehouse.
EDITOR’S
NOTE: I was on the board of Ecology Action for RI in the early 1970s when it
underwent a serious internal split in its debate over priorities for action to
protect Narragansett Bay.
The split was between the conservation wing of the
group that wanted a focus on organic, non-point source pollution versus the
more militant environmentalists who wanted to go after the dozens of industrial
polluters who at that time were dumping tons of toxic waste into the Bay.
Reading Tim’s account of this House Committee meeting reminded me that the
ideological gap over priorities between conservationists and other environmentalists still
exists and divides the movement. - WC