Press & News
The Public’s Radio — House commission set to look for solutions to Rhode Island’s eroding beaches
By Alex Nunez — As rising seas and stronger storms, due at least in part to climate change, are carrying off tons of sand from Rhode Island beaches, a legislative commission tasked with developing ways to slow beach erosion met at the State House for the first time on Monday.
The Public’s Radio — ‘I have real concern’: URI coastal scientist tracks decades of coastal erosion data
By Luis Hernandez — Severe storms and rising sea-levels are reshaping Rhode Island’s shoreline in dramatic ways. As part of our ongoing series on coastal erosion, Morning Host Luis Hernandez spoke with J.P. Walsh, a coastal scientist at the University of Rhode Island, who is trying to quantify just how much beach we’ve lost in recent decades.
The Public’s Radio — Dude, where’s my beach?
By Alex Nunes — The summer beach season is here, but the beaches themselves look very different this year. Coastal communities are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair shoreline damage from last winter’s severe storms. The damage is a warning sign to Rhode Island of the tough road ahead as climate-related sea level rise and increasingly heavy storms continue to swallow up the beaches.
Progressive Charlestown — URI, R.I. Sea Grant, DEM, municipal partners invite public to take part in shoreline monitoring program
Barrington, South Kingstown, Westerly (but not Charlestown) are CoastSnap kickoff municipalities
Projo — Shoreline access bill requires close attention (Op Ed)
Op Ed By Nathan Vinhaitero and Janet Freedman — … if the “shoreline” changes with each breaking wave, how do we draw a line in the sand for public access? Here’s what the science says on a very complex issue…
Projo — Where is it legal to walk on RI beaches? You might need to tread water, scientists say
By Alex Kuffner — What the two scientists are showing through precise satellite measurements is something that has long been known: that use of the mean high tide line in state law doesn’t give the public very much access at all to the shoreline.
Projo — What was behind RIPTA's decision to get rid of nonstop bus service to South County beaches?
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
WPRI — Parts of Barrington will be underwater by 2035, sea-level data shows
By Tolly Taylor — In just over a dozen years, Barrington will contend with several key roads flooding every month, including the town’s evacuation route for hurricanes, according to experts and sea-level data projections.
The Public’s Radio — House commission to invite public comment in South County on shoreline access
By Alex Nunes — A State House commission set up to study access to Rhode Island’s shoreline will take one of its meetings to South County later this year to get public comment from communities where disputes over beach access have been most contentious.
The Boston Globe — Here’s who will serve on a commission looking into R.I. shoreline rights
By Brian Amaral — A new Rhode Island House study commission looking into the hotly contested subject of shoreline rights will meet for the first time Aug. 26 at the State House, according to the office of House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.
The Public’s Radio — Members named to new state commission on shoreline access in Rhode Island
By Alex Nunes — State lawmakers are taking another step forward in their plans to examine shoreline access in Rhode Island with appointments to a new House commission.
The Independent — Coastal debate comes down to boundaries, or lack thereof
By Bill Seymour — Exactly defining public access along beaches — and other areas around Rhode Island’s coast — is a complex undertaking requiring some serious study
Save the Bay — Championing the Public’s Right to Access the Shore
ABSTRACT — In order to ensure access to the coast for residents and visitors to Narragansett Bay, Save The Bay identified the finalization of a GIS dataset of State-designated rights-of-way (ROW) as a strategic objective for the organization over the past year…