And it delivered
By Steve Ahlquist for UpRiseRI
The CRMC is a state regulatory agency tasked with maintaining and regulating the use of Rhode Island’s 400+ miles of coastline. Agencies like the CRMC, said the Attorney General in a statement, “…have been given extraordinary powers by the General Assembly to make decisions that directly and significantly impact the people of this state.
Under long-settled Rhode Island law, this grant of power is conditioned on
several things, including a requirement that their quasi-judicial
decision-making process be transparent and provide for public input, and that
every agency decision be supported by specific findings of fact and conclusions
of law that objectively justify the decision.”
Friday’s decision by
the Rhode Island Supreme Court found that the CRMC illegally and behind closed
doors reached a settlement with Champlin Marina, allowing the resort to
potentially expand into the Great Salt Marsh on Block Island.
This was an attempt to circumvent a public regulatory process conducted by the
CRMC that in 2011 denied Champlin’s expansion, a decision that was “well
supported by the evidence” according to the Court.
But this out of control,
backroom dealing CRMC, headed by Raimondo appointee Jennifer Cervenka, was
only doing what it was intended to do: Serve the interests of the wealthy and
connected, all other concerns be damned.
This was evident back in July 2017 when Governor Raimondo made the unusual – even unprecedented – decision to radically alter the makeup of the CRMC six months earlier than she needed to. As reported by Tim Faulkner in ECO RI, quoting former CRMC Chair Anne Lingston, “changes on the council are typically announced closer to January, when the General Assembly begins its session.”
But little attention was paid to
changeover, and a complacent and complicit State Senate rubber stamped the
changes with no real “advice and consent” being provided.
Tony Affigne is a professor
of political science at Providence College and was a CRMC member from
2011-2017. Along with along with Chair Livingston and council member Paul
Beaudette, Affigne was replaced by Governor Raimondo in July.
The Governor’s action, said
Affigne, left the CRMC “without any members with strong environmental
commitments, and without its only member (me) who knows and understands the
South Side community. I have many family members who still live in the area;
previously worked as an adult education teacher and community organizer in both
South Providence and Washington Park; and teach courses at Providence College
(and previously at Brown) on city politics and environmental policy.”
Without CRMC members that cared
about South Providence communities facing environmental injustice, or members
that cared about the environment and climate change, National Grid was
free to present their case to build a new liquefaction facility in the Port
of Providence to a quasi-judicicial state agency that was now very
friendly to fossil fuel interests and indifferent to the health and safety of
the low-income BIPOC communities in the surrounding areas. [For detailed
exposition and timeline about the CRMC membership changes, see here.]
Starting as early as February
2017, the CRMC was taking up National Grid’s proposed liquefaction facility,
but after certain members raised objections to the plan, the discussions were
put on hold in May. In July, Governor Raimondo made changes to the CRMC
membership and by December the liquefaction
facility was approved to the satisfaction of National Grid.
Never mind that it was later
revealed that the CRMC had withheld information from
the public about the nature and scope of the approval process. Never mind that
community members called for the
resignation of CRMC Chair Cervenka after she attempted to have
a mother arrested during public testimony because she called the CRMC members cowards.
Never mind that Cervenka had obvious conflicts of interest given
that she used to work for the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce and
her former boss was one of the few people to testify in favor of National
Grid’s project.
When she finally answered a
question from a journalist about these issues, Governor
Raimondo played innocent.
Ignoring the obvious problems
with the CRMC, the State Senate reapproved Cervenka and other CRMC members
twice, despite residents who live near the Port twice presenting evidence that
she was unfit and possibly corrupt. [See here, here,
and here.]
Uprise RI prepared a short video to demonstrate the lies told by Chair Cervenka
and Councilmember Raymond Coia to the Senate Environmental Committee
in 2021, to no avail.
During the Senate Committee
hearing, held remotely due to Covid, several people called in to complain about
the CRMC’s process in approving the Champlin Marina expansion on Block Island.
Suddenly, things changed.
When the CRMC screwed over the
mostly low-income BIPOC community around the Port of Providence, few people
noticed or cared. When the CRMC attempted to screw over the mostly white, upper
middle class and rich residents of Block Island, it became front page news and
the Attorney General became involved.
Less than two weeks after
Cervenka’s second reappointment, the Office of the Attorney General decided to
intervene in the Champlin Marina expansion case.
And this week, the case resolved
with justice for the residents of Block Island.
But there was no justice for the
residents of Providence, only disrespect, bullying, lies, continued
environmental racism and worsening health outcomes.
Gina Raimondo is now Secretary
of Commerce under President Biden.