Is the CRMC worth saving?
By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff
Chris Powell knows the score when it comes to
coastal regulations in Rhode Island..JPG)
Photo by Will Collette
A retired wildlife biologist who spent decades working for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in its marine fisheries program, Powell knows the ins and outs of environmental permitting and regulations.
His stint as a state employee included a temporary assignment
to the state Coastal Resources Management Council, during a time when the
regulatory agency was particularly short-staffed.
Powell had nothing but praise for the agency’s staff, both
when he was assigned to the agency and after, when he interacted with CRMC
staff as a member of the public. But he has concerns about the 10-member,
politically appointed council that makes final decisions for the agency.
“CRMC has always had good staff where they try to do the
right thing,” said Powell. “I attended many meetings, however, where the
council overrode the recommendation of staff.”
Lifelong Rhode Islander and chairman of Warren’s Harbor
Commission, Woody Kemp, has similar concerns. Warren is one of the smaller
towns in Rhode Island, and thanks to sea level rise and coastal flooding, the
town is shrinking. Kemp
offered praise for the work completed by agency staff, but, he said, the
council moves too slowly when making decisions. “It took us maybe 10 years to
get approval for our harbor management plan,” he said.
“I would like to see more staff for timelier reviews of
agency applications,” added Kemp.
Powell and Kemp were part of more than a dozen members of
the public testifying in a state Department of Administration conference room
recently about their experiences — on both sides of the table — with CRMC. The
testimony is part of the evaluation process conducted regularly by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of all the state coastal programs
for which it provides funding and oversight as part of the 1972 Coastal Zone
Management Act.
The CRMC is charged with regulating, developing and
conserving the state’s 400 miles of coastline and ocean waters. But the
agency’s council has a long history of controversy, of ignoring the broader
public and, at times, the recommendations of CRMC staff when it comes to
permitting decisions and project approvals.
Advocates of reforming the agency are putting pressure on
NOAA to advise a restructuring of CRMC into a shape that abolishes the
executive authority of the council.
Michael Migliori, the lead evaluator from NOAA, said his
agency expects to have the final evaluation in January. Migliori didn’t say
whether the findings would include action on the council.
Members of the public seeking to submit written comments on the CRMC have until Oct. 25 to send them to NOAA’s lead evaluator, Migliori, at czma.evaluations@noaa.gov with “Comments on Performance Evaluation of Rhode Island Coastal Management Program” in the subject line of the message.
“We’ll be working very hard considering the input we get from the public,” said Migliori. “We can’t promise any predetermined outcomes for action.”
CRMC is being evaluated on its program administration,
public access, and offshore wind and climate resilience. Recommendations from
the final report can be used for or against the agency when it comes to the
CRMC’s budget allocation from NOAA. CRMC receives around half its annual
operating budget from NOAA, so any reduction in the allocation would decimate
its functions.
Almost all of the oral testimony last week involved CRMC’s
council in some way. The coalition to abolish its executives functions includes
environmental groups, recreational and commercial anglers, aquaculturists,
shoreline access activists, waterfront property owners and other members of the
public who have lost faith in the agency.
The council’s 10 members aren’t required to have
qualifications in coastal policy, planning or development. The only requirement
is that they live in a specific coastal community, or are otherwise an at-large
member. Past members have included a liquor store owner, a dental hygienist,
and the CEO of a chain of physical therapy offices. (One seat is always set
aside for the DEM director, or a designee).
The council has regularly struggled to maintain a quorum,
often having to cancel meetings — at times with the applicants already in the
room — because council members do not show up to meetings. The result is an
application process that faces numerous delays, despite staff and applicants
having completed the necessary work to apply for a permit. As a body, the
council can vote to table or otherwise delay controversial decisions, dragging
the permitting process out for far longer than is reasonable for a government
agency.
“Meeting once a month to hear six or seven applications
isn’t enough,” said Warwick resident Richard Langseth. “They need to meet more
often or find a way to speed the process up.”
The council’s list of controversial decisions is practically
catechism at this point. In 2020, the council approved a
controversial marina expansion and dredging project in Jamestown over the
protests of town residents and even music legend James Taylor. In late 2020,
the council quietly approved a backroom deal to expand Champlin’s Marina into
Great Salt Pond, cutting out town officials and other stakeholders from the
final negotiations. (The Rhode Island Supreme Court tossed out the
agreement in 2022).
The most recent controversy involves the Quidnessett Country
Club, which illegally constructed a
seawall along its coastal golf course last year. The club alleges the seawall
was necessary to save one of the holes on the course from erosion, but reform
advocates have been calling foul since the seawall was discovered last year.
“They just went ahead and built an illegal seawall without
approval of the council,” said Keith Hoffmann, chief of policy for Rhode Island
Attorney General Peter Neronha. “Despite this, the council is entertaining a
petition from QCC to change the water type in front of its property, a
regulation change that will ultimately delay enforcement against the club.”
Others at the session took aim at possible conflicts of
interest involving the CRMC’s legal representation that have gone unaddressed
by the council. Currently, the council’s official lawyer is Anthony DeSisto,
who’s held the post since 2016. A typical council proceeding involves DeSisto
and at least one other attorney from his law firm attending on behalf of
council members, but not agency staff.
“The council has legal counsel, staff sit in meetings with
applicants or petitioners who have legal counsel,” said Topher Hamblett,
executive director of Save The Bay. “Staff has no legal counsel or
representation, that’s not right.”
Environmental advocates also told NOAA that DeSisto himself
has a conflict of interest; his law firm lobbies on Smith Hill during the
legislative session, and works as a town solicitor for multiple municipalities,
many of which deal with CRMC directly. An attorney from DeSisto’s firm has also
been advising the agency’s new hearing officer, who’s currently hearing a
contested case regarding an aquaculture farm in Tiverton.
Those in favor of abolishing the CRMC’s council point toward
DEM as a model for how to handle in-house lawyers at a state agency.
Other issues include aquaculture and fisheries engagement.
The state’s commercial anglers have long contended that the CRMC is too
permissive when it comes to approving new industries that threaten to elbow
fishing aside. The agency’s Fisherman’s Advisory Board (FAB) resigned en masse in protest last
year, alleging the CRMC was too bullish about approving offshore wind projects
at the cost of prime fishing areas.
Representatives from the New England chapter of Backcountry
Hunters and Anglers and the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association said the CRMC
also had a conflict of interest within its aquaculture program. The agency’s
aquaculture coordinator works on permits for new aquaculture farms while also
advocating for the industry within Rhode Island, two functions that advocates
say should be separated.
Attempts to reform the CRMC’s council via legislation have
stalled in recent years. A 2022 study commission created by the House and
chaired by then-Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown, recommended lawmakers take
action on reforming the agency and neutering the powers of its
politically-appointed council.
Reform efforts saw a brand new stumbling block this year,
when in June the House Fiscal Office released a questionable cost estimate on agency
reform that said $2 million would have to be allocated to fund replacing the
council. Environmental groups and advocates said the office had erred in its
estimates and misread the legislation.
Reformers have pledged to continue introducing the
legislation year after year, seeing its chances of passage improving the longer
the council exists. In the meantime, advocates remain hopeful that federal
officials can help change CRMC for the better and help it fulfill its mission.
“The Red Book is one of the best coastal management programs
in the country,” said Powell, referencing the common name for CRMC’s thick rule
book of regulations and procedures.
“The staffing issue just really needs to be worked out,” he added.