The Public’s Radio — RI Attorney General backs legislation to reform CRMC

A shoreline scene along the coastline in Narragansett. Alex Nunes - The Public’s Radio

April 20, 2023

By Alex Nunes — Expressing support for two bills under consideration by the General Assembly, Attorney General Peter Neronha told state lawmakers that the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council is “in desperate need of reform.”

In a letter sent Wednesday to members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha backed proposed legislation that would significantly restructure the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council, by taking decision-making authority away from its politically-appointed council and shifting it to a state agency with professional staff.

If passed into law, the bills – SB 501 and 772 – would also create a full-time CRMC attorney and hearing officer for adjudicating contested cases.

More than two years ago, Neronha intervened to stop a deal the council had reached in closed-session to approve a controversial expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island. He said that experience showed him that CRMC is “in desperate need of reform.”

“I’m proud to say that those efforts resulted in a decision by our Supreme Court denying that expansion,” Neronha wrote. “Our experience in Champlin’s has really underscored for this Office that, if protecting our coastal resources is a priority, and I hope it is, we need a dedicated agency with resources and expertise to handle these critical permitting decisions and enforcement of same.”

Topher Hamblet, director of advocacy for Save The Bay, said he was unaware of the attorney general ever weighing in before on the structure of a state environmental agency, and that Neronha’s endorsement of the CRMC reform bills is “a big deal.”

“The Office of the Attorney General has weight,” Hamblet said. “He's clearly very concerned about the way the agency is run and the abuse that the structure itself invites.”

CRMC’s responsibilities include permitting and enforcement related to coastal development, reviewing and approving aspects of wind energy projects, and designating and protecting rights-of-way to the shore.

But some of its most important decisions are made by council members appointed by the governor — who aren’t required to have expertise in coastal matters — rather than the agency’s professional staff.

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