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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Rhode Island beachfront homeowner sues coastal regulator over conditions of permit to repair storm damage
Related : The 81-page complaint arrived nearly a year after the foundation and Welch, in a Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up In a July 2024 initial Advertisement In a memorandum for a preliminary injunction in the latest lawsuit filed on Monday, Welch alleged the CMRC, without waiting for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the law, tried to impose terms of the statue as conditions of the permit – or 'assent' – he needs to lawfully complete repairs along the coastline of his property. Advertisement 'The CRMC granted the Assent with conditions requiring Stilts to record a public beach on its land up to ten feet landward of the recognizable high tide line, without just compensation, and other conditions granting the CRMC a right to search Stilts' property 'at all times,'' the memorandum states. Indeed, the lawsuit also alleges the CRMC's permit requires Welch give the agency access to the property to inspect for compliance, with the CRMC having the right to 'inspect said project at all times including, but not limited to, the construction completion, and all times thereafter.' Taken together, the conditions unconstitutionally require Welch 'to submit to an uncompensated taking of real property and to unwarranted searches, to obtain a permit,' according to the lawsuit. 'The government can't hold property owners hostage, demanding they surrender their constitutional rights just to get a permit to maintain their own home,' J. David Breemer, a senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a statement. 'Rhode Island is essentially coercing property owners: give up your land and your Fourth Amendment protections, or you can't repair storm damage to your own house.' According to the lawsuit, Welch owns four parcels, one with a small, partially elevated home. A storm in January 2023 damaged a stairway at the home, moved boulders out from under the home, and damaged the dunes and dune fencing, the filing states. Welch applied for an assent from the CRMC, which the council granted in February 2023, the lawsuit states. But the agency later issued a cease and desist order after 'someone apparently complained to the CRMC' in the spring that the work did not comply with the assent, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement The CRMC later claimed boulders had been moved beyond the scope of the assent, and that there had also been 'unauthorized dune renourishment … and erection of snow fencing around the dunes near the home,' the lawsuit states. Welch appealed the alleged violation and following a June 2024 hearing, the parties reached an agreement, under which Welch agreed to apply for a new assent and the CRMC agreed to withdraw the cease and desist order and 'waive almost all fines,' according to the filing. The CRMC then granted a new assent in December 2024, with the conditions Welch is now challenging in the latest lawsuit, the complaint states. Without the assent, Welch will be unable to lawfully complete the repairs 'which will trigger substantial CRMC fines,' the memorandum states. The CRMC did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday, and has not yet responded to the lawsuit's allegations in court. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- General
- Boston Globe
R.I. country club gets 30 more days to submit plan to replace illegal seawall
'Just further disappointment with the lack of progress here and the continued delays,' said Christopher Dodge, Narragansett Baykeeper for Save the Bay. 'We feel like this long ago should have gone to a hearing officer and that would've set a schedule on these things. There would've been findings of facts. It just an instance of delay after delay.' Advertisement Representatives for the country club have said they have been trying for decades to protect the golf course from erosion and damage. But the dispute has become Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up But the country club failed to submit an acceptable restoration plan within that 30-day window. And one day before that deadline, the club Advertisement During Tuesday's council meeting, club attorney Jennifer Cervenka said that despite the lawsuit, 'it is still the country club's intention to try to come to an agreement with CRMC staff on an acceptable restoration plan.' Cervenka, a former chairwoman of the Coastal Resources Management Council, said the club met twice with council staff after the June 10 decision, and on Friday it proposed replacing the seawall with The TrapBag barriers consist of bags that are connected together 'like an accordion is stretched out,' she explained. 'And then you can put water or sand into these. There's an envelope with sand or other natural materials inside the envelopes.' Cervenka asked the council for an extension to submit a restoration plan using the TrapBag technology. " We believe that this could be an effective solution on the shoreline," she said. But Rich Lucia, supervising engineer for the council, said the TrapBag technology involves geosynthetics that are not biodegradable — meaning it's not the kind of 'non-structural shoreline protection' the council is seeking. Emily Hall, the council's coastal geologist, said TrapBag technology involves a 'heavy duty, permeable polypropylene fabric.' 'So that's another way of saying plastic, which is not biodegradable,' she said, adding that the definition of non-structural shoreline protection states that it shall be biodegradable. Cervenka said the club has been trying to use non-structural shoreline protection for 30 years without success, and she said there is precedent for allowing a hybrid of structural and non-structural shoreline protection. Advertisement 'I think it's not just structural versus non-structural,' she said. 'I think it's in between those two, and it's something that we would like to address as part of our proposed new restoration plan.' CRMC executive director Jeffrey Willis said the two sides had been making progress in meetings after the June 10 vote. He said staff were looking at relaxing requirements for the slope of the shoreline protection so it wouldn't cut too far into the 14th hole fairway and its 15th hole tee box. But Willis said the staff wanted a restoration plan that met regulations for non-structural soil protection, and he noted staff are concerned that the TrapBag technology is a structural material. After building the seawall without permission in 2023, the country club asked the council to In the lawsuit, the club says the council repeatedly refused to bring the dispute over the seawall to a hearing officer even though state law requires all contested enforcement proceedings and fines to be heard by an administrative hearing officer. At the June 10 meeting, Willis contended that it was not a contested matter because the club has never disputed the charges that it built the seawall without authorization, removed vegetation at the site, or filled tidal waters. Cervenka disagreed, and said the vegetation was destroyed by storms, not by the club, and that the club disputes the location where the council wants the restoration to take place. Advertisement In the lawsuit, the club said it submitted multiple plans to restore the shoreline in 2024 and 2025. But the council rejected the plans mainly because it disagreed with the proposed location of the 'toe of the berm' line — meaning the distance to which the shoreline protection can extend seaward. The lawsuit claims the line favored by the council would require the club 'to cut into its golf course and lose its 14th hole, even though the golf course and the location of the 14th hole predate the agency itself.' And the lawsuit claims the council was 'arbitrary and capricious' it insisting on a line that contradicts a 2013 restoration plan that the council had approved. 'Despite costly efforts over the last decades to protect (the club's) shoreline, the coastal area has been ravaged by storms and eroded aggressively, causing irreparable damage to the golf course and loss of property,' according to the lawsuit. Jed Thorp, director of advocacy for Save the Bay, said the environmental group has been 'pretty squarely on the opposite side of Quidnessett on this issue,' but he agreed that such disputes should go before hearing officers. 'We want to see the wall come down,' he said. 'But the council has to follow their own rules.' Thorp noted that 694 days have passed since the council first issued a cease-and-desist order for the seawall, and he said the matter might already have been resolved if the council had sent the dispute to a hearing officer right away. Save the Bay appreciates the attempt to move ahead on enforcement, Thorp said. 'But if they go about this the wrong way, they run the risk of further delay, which only hurts the public and the environment,' he said. Advertisement Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Potential $880B cut to Medicaid could have big impacts on Wyoming hospitals, nursing homes
CHEYENNE — Should Congress follow through with a proposed $880 billion cut to Medicaid, Wyoming hospitals and nursing homes stand to lose significant funding on top of an already fragile health care system, stakeholders told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle this week. Congress is having ongoing discussions about how to cut $880 billion in program spending. There is a current deadline of May 9 for congressional committees to make their budget recommendations, but this deadline is not set in stone, according to reporting by Politico. 'To get to that number, Medicaid would have to take a pretty big hit,' said Wyoming Hospital Association Vice President Josh Hannes. States with expanded Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act are going to feel the brunt of these cuts. Although Wyoming is one of a handful of states that didn't opt in to Medicaid expansion, the Cowboy State is far from being in the clear, according to sources. 'Wyoming didn't expand Medicaid, so that wouldn't touch us. But that also doesn't get them to $880 billion,' Hannes said. 'So, what else are they gonna do?' One potential area that has health care officials concerned is the looming expiration date of premium tax credits. These are a federal subsidy that makes insurance policies more affordable on the health insurance marketplace. Around 42,000 Wyomingites depend on these tax credits, Hannes said. 'If those go away … rates on the marketplace are going to jump dramatically,' he said. This is a 'significant concern' for Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, said Cheyenne Regional Health System Chief Financial Officer Yvonne Wigington. First and foremost, hospital associates are worried about the impact the loss of these credits will have on patients, she said. People will either have to forgo their health insurance or choose a plan that doesn't fully meet their health care needs. More people will be at risk of losing their health coverage and delaying treatment, Wigington said. 'We really don't ever want patients to feel like they have to delay their care,' she said. On the financial side, CRMC would lose between $9 million and $18 million in annual revenue if the tax credits were to expire. 'We care for any patient, regardless of their ability to pay for their services,' Wigington said. 'If those individuals did not have health care insurance and did not have a way to pay for their health care, that would be $9-18 million that we don't get paid for.' Hospital officials are currently evaluating 'many different scenarios for potential cuts' at CRMC, Wigington said. However, it's difficult to pinpoint what the actual impact would be, with so many cuts being proposed at the federal level. 'We're not sure exactly which cuts may actually be implemented,' Wigington said. In addition, the hospital is facing stress from another major federal action — increased tariffs. Wigington said President Donald Trump's tariffs affect the hospital's vendor contracts, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and the information technology area. However, with the percentage of these tariffs constantly changing, preparing for financial impacts has been a moving target. 'We're in the preliminary stages, but we definitely have seen price escalations,' Wigington said. 'Some of our vendors have notified us that they're not able to honor quotes that they've given us previously until they are better able to evaluate the impact of tariffs.' Wigington said tariffs have not impacted services or employment at CRMC so far. 'The (tariffs') percentages have changed a few different times,' Wigington said. 'We, like probably every other hospital, are really just trying to plan with what we know now and anticipate those things that are being proposed.' Uninsured rates in Wyoming The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reported that 59,400 Wyomingites, or 10.5% of the state's population, were uninsured in 2023. By comparison, 8% of the entire U.S. population was uninsured that same year. 'We already have struggling hospitals and nursing homes, and Medicaid is a lifeline for a lot of those facilities,' Hannes said. 'Medicare and Medicaid together represent way over half of total revenue for our hospitals in the state.' A 2022 contribution analysis conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Analysis at the University of Wyoming found that Wyoming's hospitals and nursing homes directly contribute a combined $47.5 billion to the gross state product. The hospital and nursing home industry made up 3.5% of Wyoming's total economic contribution, as well as provided 19,370 jobs, according to the analysis. 'If you're not investing in our health care infrastructure, you're doing harm, and if you're going to pull away investment, that's even worse,' Hannes said. 'So it's certainly concerning, the discussions that are going on at the federal level.' Adding to the number of uninsured patients increases cost of care, Hannes said. When a patient is unable to pay for services, 'hospitals eat that.' 'Our industry is different from so many others, because we don't get to decide what we get paid, and we have to serve everyone who comes in through the door,' he said. About 7% of CRMC's total patient population is on Medicaid, Wigington said. The potential $880 billion cut in funding to Medicaid, equivalent to about an 11% spending reduction for the program, would expand the local hospital's funding gap by $1.8 million. 'The payments already that we receive for caring for our Medicaid patients don't cover our cost to care for those patients,' Wigington said. In the 2024 fiscal year, there was a $10 million shortfall in Medicaid payments, which the hospital tries to alleviate through other funding sources, she said. 'That is a lot of money,' Wiggington said. In January, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., brought up Wyoming's challenges with rural health care to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services. Barrasso said six Wyoming hospitals are at risk of closing, two are in immediate risk of closing in the next two years, and 10 have had to cut available services, according to a news release from his office. 'We have 33 hospitals in Wyoming. Twenty-six are located in various locations often hard to get to, or weather impacts them,' Barrasso said. 'This is a concern of rural hospitals in both Republican and Democrat states. It's bipartisan. It is critical that the financial, workforce challenges that we are facing are addressed.' Nursing homes at risk Most states finance at least a portion of their Medicaid spending through taxes collected from health care providers, which generates additional federal matching payments to the states, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis. States return the collected taxes to those providers in the form of higher Medicaid payments. Wyoming's had a hospital provider tax since 2017 and a nursing home provider tax since 2011, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank based in Washington, D.C. These mechanisms help draw down federal dollars to the state, Hannes said, and nursing homes are a huge benefactor of these programs. There is currently a 6% provider tax cap. The CBO estimated a 5% cap on the provider tax 'would reduce the deficit by $41 billion from 2024 to 2032.' A 2.5% cap 'would reduce the deficit by $209 billion over that period.' Critics of restricting provider taxes argue this 'will create financing gaps for states that could result in higher state taxes, reductions in Medicaid eligibility, lower provider payment rates, and fewer covered benefits,' according to KFF. 'If they dial back these provider loopholes, that's a direct reimbursement reduction to the nursing homes,' said Wyoming HealthWorks CEO Tracy Brosius. 'They're almost entirely dependent on that.' Around 70-80% of patients in nursing homes are reliant on Medicaid, Brosius said. People are there because they have a high clinical need and no one to take care of them. She questioned where these people are supposed to go once nursing homes start shutting down. 'What happens if they cut the provider taxes and now the nursing homes start to fold?' Brosius said. 'What happens to the 80 people that are there?'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NOAA calls for R.I. officials to fill open seats on CRMC
Crystal Serenity, a cruise ship owned by Crystal Cruises visiting Newport, is anchored in the Anchorage D area west of Goat Island on Oct. 3, 2024. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) gives top marks to the expert staff of Rhode Island's coastal regulatory agency in a new evaluation. But federal regulators remain concerned over three open seats on the politically appointed Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), calling on Gov. Dan McKee and the legislature to fill the vacancies 'as soon as possible.' 'It is essential that a quorum is maintained and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Program conducts a regular and full schedule of Council and subcommittee meetings in order to implement Rhode Island's approved coastal management program,' NOAA's Office of Coastal Management wrote in its April 10 report. The 148-page document examined federal data collection, in-person meetings with staff and council members, and verbal and written public comments on the agency's performance spanning the five-year period from September 2019 to October 2024. Federal monitoring of the state coastal program is required as part of a 1972 federal law setting up coastal regulations and funding for state-level programs. More than one-third of CRMC's $6.2 million budget in fiscal 2025 came from federal funds, including roughly $1.7 million from NOAA. NOAA's latest evaluation concludes that the state is 'successfully implementing and enforcing' its federal coastal management program based on examination of its program administration, offshore wind projects, public access and protections against shoreline erosion. However, NOAA highlighted several weaknesses in Rhode Island's adherence to federal regulations, including the vacancies on the 10-member council. Seven spots are filled, with the newest gubernatorial appointee, Dr. Michael Reuter of Barrington, confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate last month. The three open seats risk canceled meetings and delayed decisions if the council can't get at least six of its sitting members to show up — a problem that has plagued the appointed body for years. Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for McKee's office, said in an email Wednesday that the governor was seeking qualified candidates for the open seats. She confirmed candidates are now under consideration, but did not respond to follow-up questions such as how many contenders are being vetted. Council vacancies are one of many problems cited by critics, whose frustrations with the panel's controversial, and at times, unlawful, decisions have reached a boiling point. Coastal advocates have teamed up with Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and state lawmakers to overhaul the agency, proposing to eliminate the council and reshape the CRMC as an administrative body akin to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Several versions of this proposal have been introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly this year, but not advanced beyond committee prior to the legislature's April break. NOAA took no position on the pending state legislation but noted states have flexibility to determine the structure of their coastal management programs. Of the 29 states with federal coastal management programs, only three — Rhode Island, California and North Carolina — give significant decision-making power to an appointed panel, according to a February report from the Rhode Island Department of Administration. Jed Thorp, advocacy director for Save the Bay, saw NOAA's indifference to how Rhode Island executes its coastal management program in a positive light. Save the Bay is a leading advocate for the proposed overhaul of the CRMC. 'Sometimes, opponents [of the reform bill] will point to NOAA as this sort of bogeyman,' Thorp said in an interview Wednesday. 'NOAA is basically saying, 'we don't care how you set it up. You have a menu of options available to you.'' Save the Bay ultimately wants to get rid of the council, but Thorp still wants the open seats filled in the interim. 'We need the council to be fully seated so they can function and conduct their business,' Thorp said. The CRMC issued a statement on April 10 celebrating its 'good grade' from NOAA. Jeffrey Willis, CRMC executive director, acknowledged requests for an interview but did not respond to subsequent calls and emails. The report offered high praise for the agency's 32-person staff who 'excel at defining their role as regulator and policymaker, forging strong partnerships with others who have complementary skill sets and missions.' However, the increasing scope of their work and responsibilities, from the slew of proposed offshore wind projects to disputes over public access to the shoreline and complex permitting applications, are more than the current employee roster can handle. Employees worked 60 to 80-hour weeks during reviews of proposed offshore wind projects, according to the report. 'Moving forward, a continued insufficient staffing level and strain felt by staff places the state of Rhode Island at a disadvantage in being asked to manage and analyze a significant amount of information and material required to complete additional federal consistency reviews,' the report stated. Lack of staffing has also contributed to a backlog of permitting applications, insufficient enforcement against violators such as Quidnessett Country Club, and delayed and incomplete reporting required for federal grants, the report stated. McKee has rejected calls to fund new hires for the strapped coastal agency. His proposed fiscal 2026 budget rejects the CRMC's request for money for five more employees. In lieu of more full-time workers, NOAA suggested partnerships with university law programs and use of third-party contractors. And it reiterated a requirement first made in a 2020 report to transition to an online permitting database. The original 2024 deadline has now been extended to Sept. 30, 2026. The CRMC did not respond to questions Wednesday regarding the delays in creating the online database. The evaluation comes as the Trump administration has imposed major layoffs and budget cuts at NOAA. How attempts to gut the federal regulatory agency will trickle down to Rhode Island's state coastal program remains murky, though Willis told council members during an April 8 meeting that the CRMC could lose up to 10% of its $1.7 million in NOAA funding. When incorporating additional administrative costs for the state to seek and carry out federal funding, the cuts could rise to 17%, Willis said. 'At this time of year, we usually have our federal allocation in hand,' Willis said. 'Right now, we don't know how we're going to put it in our budget and we don't know what kind of funding we're going to get. We're just in a wait-and-see period.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Can a local fishing panel make a difference in offshore wind projects? We're about to find out.
A fisherman fishes off rocks at Sachuest Point in Middletown. An advisory panel of fishermen is set to review SouthCoast Wind's proposal to snake a pair of underwater transmission lines up the Sakonnet River, east of Sachuest Point, then run them underground across the northern tip of Portsmouth and out Mount Hope Bay to make landfall at Brayton Point in Somerset Mass. (Getty image) When the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) put out a public call for volunteers to revive a state fishing advisory panel, a former panel member warned Jim Riggs against joining. Riggs, a 75-year-old recreational fisherman and retired electrician who lives in Westerly, applied anyway. 'I feel that in order to have your voice heard when it comes to fisheries management, you're either on the table or on the plate,' Riggs said in an interview. 'I prefer to be at the table.' His seat at the table is now secured; he is one of nine new members the CRMC named to its Fishermen's Advisory Board (FAB) after a single, unanimous vote on April 8. The advisory panel has been inactive since all of its former members resigned together in August 2023 to protest what they viewed as the CRMC's kowtowing to offshore wind project developers at the expense of local fishermen. Will the same frustrations bubble up? The first test comes this week, as the new panel begins negotiations with SouthCoast Wind, which has applied for a permit to run transmission lines from its wind turbines up the Sakonnet River and out Mount Hope Bay. Rich Hittinger, a former FAB member who led the mass resignation effort two years ago, isn't optimistic. 'We were asked to review a lot of applications and give input that took a lot of time and effort, but then the council really did not care what our input was,' said Hittinger, who is first vice chair of the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association. He had discouraged Riggs from joining the panel. 'I think nothing has changed structurally at the CRMC, so I told him that most likely, you will spend a lot of time on these projects and your input will not be considered,' Hittinger said. Marisa Desautel, the attorney hired to represent the fishing advisory panel in prior negotiations with offshore wind developers, felt the same way. 'The process is the same as it was then — there's no policy in place other than the language written in the [CRMC rulebook],' Desautel said. But Desautel said she would be interested in serving as the attorney for the FAB again if she were asked. The CRMC through its Ocean Special Area Management Plan (SAMP), created in 2011, requires input from fishing representatives on any large-scale offshore development. The advisory panel is meant to minimize negative impacts to fishing habitats by offering input on project locations, construction schedules, and other details. And, it can request an attempt to negotiate compensation from developers to offset projected losses to commercial and recreational fishermen from their projects. But federal regulations limit what the state coastal agency, and its advisory bodies, can do about offshore wind. The CRMC can affirm whether or not a federal offshore wind project complies with state regulations, but the real control lies with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which dictates where projects are built, environmental and economic impacts, and construction and operating plans. Jeffrey Willis, executive director for the CRMC, acknowledged in an interview that state coastal regulators often had little authority over matters the FAB brought to the council in the past. Prior interactions between citizen volunteers and deep-pocketed international companies behind wind projects felt off-balance to Jim Boyd, who served 22 years at CRMC before retiring as its deputy director in 2022. 'It felt like there was a stacked deck, if you will,' Boyd said. Rhode Island coastal regulators can't change federal lease and mitigation policies. But they can reduce friction by having FAB members attend fewer meetings for negotiations on offshore wind projects, Willis said. 'With the old FAB, those guys were super-involved,' Willis said. 'They would come every Thursday night for a couple of hours and put their hearts and souls into it, and in the end, they felt they weren't getting their point across,' Willis said. 'We didn't want to repeat that burnout.' Willis acknowledged that this won't fix the difficult-to-calculate financial piece of wind negotiations, which rely on federal fishery landings data that typically does not capture the lived experience of local recreational and commercial fishermen. 'Compensation is one of the hardest discussions to have,' he said. The new board members are preparing to wade into that difficult discussion on the SouthCoast Wind project, a 147-turbine wind farm planned off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The CRMC in December 2023 approved the broad strokes of a plan to run the wind farm's power lines through Rhode Island waters to reach land at Brayton Point in Somerset, Massachusetts. Cables would extend up the Sakonnet River and out Mount Hope Bay — much closer to local fishing grounds than the turbines off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The former fishing advisory board members had already resigned by the time of its decision, so there was no attempt to determine compensation to offset fishing losses. The CRMC is now reviewing a separate permit application related to the SouthCoast underwater cable lines. An initial meeting between the project developers, the CRMC and the new FAB members is planned for this week, though no date had been confirmed yet, Willis said. 'When the Ocean SAMP was adopted 15 years ago, the whole emphasis was on the offshore impacts,' Boyd said. 'There was no consideration of inshore fisheries because there was so much unknown. But now, we know that the SouthCoast export cables are going to be coming into our waters. We need to have representation for that.' In a statement, SouthCoast Wind welcomed the restoration of the FAB. 'SouthCoast looks forward to meeting with the new FAB members in the coming weeks and continuing to move forward with the Rhode Island CRMC permitting process,' Rebecca Ullman, a company spokesperson, said in an email Friday. Willis originally reached out to two different area fishing groups to see if they were interested in joining FAB. Both declined. A series of emails to industry listservs earlier this year yielded more success — 12 applicants, including one proposed alternate. 'I was pleasantly surprised,' Willis said. 'I was worried about the possibility that, given the history of what happened with the old FAB, we would have a hard time.' Unlike fellow recreational fisherman, Riggs sees the benefits to offshore wind development. He claims the underwater foundations and cables for other projects near Block Island have increased his catch. 'It creates a structure for fish to congregate to and feed at,' Riggs said. I feel that in order to have your voice heard when it comes to fisheries management, you're either on the table or on the plate. I prefer to be at the table. – Jim Riggs, 75, a Westerly recreational fisherman and new member of the Rhode Island Fishermen's Advisory Board A self-proclaimed conservationist, Riggs hoped his experience on the water, as well as his avid consumption of news about the wind industry, would help protect Rhode Island's prized ocean ecosystem. Other volunteers who applied to join the advisory panel also expressed their interest in protecting the state coastal environment, according to letters and emails submitted to the CRMC. The agency's regulations allow for up to 20 members on the fishing advisory panel, including up to two representatives each for six categories of fishing; up to two representatives of seafood processing facilities; and up to six Massachusetts fishermen who fish in waters subject to Rhode Island coastal regulations. All 12 applicants, including the one alternate, were approved as new members, except for one initial candidate who withdrew his name prior to the confirmation, Laura Dwyer, a CRMC spokesperson said. One of the 11 people confirmed Tuesday, Isaiah Alvarez, subsequently decided not to continue as a board member, he said in a text message Thursday night. Alvarez did not respond to questions about his decision. Half of the applicants identified as recreational or commercial fishermen, including several with former military experience in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Coast Guard. Another, Patrick Dowling, managing partner at D'Amico Burchfield LLP in Providence, has a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Rhode Island and concentrated in environmental law at the Vermont Law School, he said in an email to the council. Jennifer Scappatura-Harrington, owner of Quonnie Siren Oyster Company in Charlestown, hopes to offer a voice for the state's aquaculture industry and women in fishing, she wrote in an email to the council. Dowling and Scappatura-Harrington did not return calls for comment. One of the 10 board members who was confirmed on April 8 dropped out, leaving nine. Wayne Banks, a recreational fisherman, retired electronics engineer for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, and former member of the Jamestown Harbor Commission Richard Corrente, a recreational fisherman and owner of Portside Tavern in Bristol Patrick Dowling, a recreational fisherman and managing partner at D'Amico Burchfield LLP in Providence who has a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Rhode Island Jeff Grant, a commercial fisherman and representative of the Rhode Island Shellfisherman's Association; Mike McGiveney, association president, will serve as an alternate if needed Steve Langley, a recreational lobster fisherman who served five years in the U.S. Coast Guard James Riggs, a retired electrician and recreational fisherman Jennifer Scappatura-Harrington, an oyster farmer who owns Quonnie Siren Oyster Co. in Charlestown local oyster farm owner Adam Silkes, co-owner of North Kingstown-based shellfishing company, American Mussel Harvesters John Walker, a native Newport resident and commercial fisherman who formerly served on the Newport Waterfront Commission SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
