Legislative Study Commission Hopes to Prepare R.I. for Climate Impacts

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

Rhode Island’s students aren’t the only ones expected to learn this fall; a select number of lawmakers, environmental officials, and stakeholders have been summoned to assess any future impacts from supercharged storms aimed at the state.

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.