By Sarah Doiron, Anita Baffoni —The legislation requires dam owners to get clearance from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) before raising or lowering water levels.

By Brian Amaral — a lawsuit filed Friday by the Rhode Island Association of coastal taxpayers opens a new chapter in Rhode Island long-running fight over shore access

By Alex Nunes — A group of coastal landowners is asking a federal District Court judge to block enforcement of a new state law intended to clarify where beachgoers can be along the state’s shoreline.

By Sarah Doiron, Anita Baffoni — Soscia Holdings, LLC, sent a letter to the town late last month demanding the removal of all “illegal structures” built on the pond.

By Nancy Lavin — The state’s beleaguered coastal regulatory agency is facing new scrutiny amid allegations one of its members no longer meets the requirements of the position she was appointed to fill.

By Nancy Lavin — The state’s coastal regulatory agency is ripe for reform. But how much? This is the key question lawmakers, residents and coastal advocates are considering when it comes to the politically appointed Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council.

By Jonathan Stone OPINION — The R.I. Supreme Court’s rejection of the “settlement” between Champlin’s Marina and the Coastal Resources Management Council should serve as a wake-up call to all Rhode Islanders. The decision makes it clear that the agency’s structure is fundamentally flawed and in need of immediate correction by the governor and General Assembly. Rhode Island’s coastal environment and Rhode Islanders themselves deserve nothing less.

By Brian Amaral — All six candidates agreed climate change is the most pressing environmental issue in the state.

By Antonia Noori Farzan — RIPTA plans to eliminate those express beach bus routes, citing low ridership and staffing issues — Update: On Wednesday afternoon, following the publication of this story, Gov. Dan McKee said that he would RIPTA to run express beach buses this summer

By GoLocalProv — Community members -- and Providence mayoral candidates — are decrying the move by RIPTA to cancel this year’s express beach runs from the state’s urban core to south county

By Rob Smith — State officials should be investing more in coastal protection and management, according to the legislature’s study commission on reorganizing the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC).

By Rob Smith — Rhode Island residents believe reform is needed for the beleaguered Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), according to public comment solicited by the House study commission on the agency. Members of the public recently submitted more than a dozen oral comments and an avalanche of some 100 correspondences to the study commission, all in support of doing something to reorganize CRMC.

By Antonia Noori Farzan — Over the past few years, demands to improve shoreline access have ramped up across Rhode Island. Yet the politicians vying to be the state's next governor have been curiously silent on the topic.

By Antonia Noori Farzan — A top official in the Department of Environmental Management urged staffers to expedite a wetlands-alteration application filed by Anthony Silva, a former top aide to Gov. Dan McKee, records show.