Charlestown state Rep. Tina Spears on the Commission
By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff
Tina (left) and Charlestown state Senator Victoria Gu have been working hard on this issue |
Its official name is a mouthful — the Special Legislative Study Commission on Climate Change Impacts and Solutions — with an equally long agenda and a member roster to match.
Over the next seven months the new commission will meet once a month to hear testimony and discuss future impacts of climate change, from storms and sea level rise impact on biodiversity and habitats, to the loss of property tax revenue from waterfront property, to increasing insurance costs related to extreme weather.
Rhode Island has been no stranger to strong, intense storms,
but it’s not the infamous Hurricane of 1938 that lawmakers have been inspired
by. A trio of stronger-than-usual nor’easters whacked the state last winter,
causing an epidemic of coastal flooding and beach erosion in all of the state’s
coastal communities.
Rep. Terri Cortvriend, D-Portsmouth, the commission’s chair, and its prime legislative sponsor in the House last session, said she was spurred to create the body after the storms last winter.
“I’ve been concerned with sea level rise and climate
change,” Cortriend said in a recent interview with ecoRI News. “The more we’re
affected by storms, the more concerning it becomes for the state. Is the state
ready?”
The composition of the commission encompasses a wide swath
of state officials, environmental groups, academics, and business interests.
Its ranks include representatives from the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal
Institute, Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, the state
Division of Planning, the Coastal Resources Management Council, the Rhode
Island Infrastructure Bank, the League of Cities and Towns, and one
representative each from realtor groups and builders’ associations.
Rounding out legislative representation is Rep. Tina Spears,
D-Charlestown, and Minority Leader Michael Chippendale, R-Foster.
Acknowledging the broad subject matter, Cortvriend told
commission members she was open to feedback from members on where to direct the
effort. Her initial list presented to commission members included dozens of
potential study areas, including sea level rise, erosion, marine ecosystems,
impacts related to tourism, stormwater management, insurance costs, and
environmental degradation costs.
The commission started its work a week after Hurricane
Helene, a Category 4 storm with winds that measured up to 140 mph, ravaged the
southeastern United States, destroying large parts of North Carolina and
leaving millions without electricity. Unlike coastal New England, many of the
worst-hit parts of the region were hundreds of miles inland, away from the
ocean.
Cortvriend’s bill creating the commission wasn’t the only
legislation prompted by supercharged storms. In April, the House voted to
create a special study commission aimed at recommending remedies to stop beach
erosion.
Toward the end of the session in June, lawmakers in both
chambers passed the Act on Coasts, which
amends the state’s climate plans to add a specific plan for coastal resiliency,
and update it once every two years. Development of the plan outlined in the act
will fall under the state’s new chief resilience officer, Kim Korioth, who
assumed the post in January and is also a member of Cortvriend’s commission.
Under the law, Korioth will have until next October to create the state coastal
resilience plan and present it to state leaders, and will have to begin
updating the finished plan as soon as 2027.
This year’s commission isn’t the first investigation by
lawmakers into climate change. In 2016, Rep. Lauren Carson, D-Newport, chaired
a sea level rise commission, aiming to help understand the threat to the
state’s coastal communities. Carson’s commission recommended creating
a flood audit program for property owners and businesses; increasing statewide
awareness and resources for resiliency projects; performing a risk assessment
of the Fox Point hurricane barrier in Providence; and reviewing the state’s
resources available after natural disasters. It is unclear whether those
recommendations have been acted upon.
Unlike Cortvriend’s previous study commission, lateral
shoreline access, which had a specific, intended legislative goal, the climate
change impacts commission will be much more open-ended. Cortvriend said she
wanted to make sure her colleagues in the Legislature were fully informed about
the climate change impacts Rhode Island can expect in the future, and that the
state’s resiliency plans, both on a state and municipal level, were
prioritizing the right projects.
“My goal is to make sure our state is ready in the best way
possible for what we may see coming in the future from storms and sea level
rise,” Cortvriend said.
The commission is scheduled to meet next on Nov. 7. It is
required to hand in findings and recommendations to the speaker of the House by
May 14 of next year, with the commission set to expire on June 18.