Climate Action Rhode Island demands Preservation Society of Newport drop anti-wind lawsuit at Newport City Hall

Preservation Society refused to show up to public debate

On Thursday, August 15th, Climate Action RI demanded that the Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC) drop their ongoing anti-wind lawsuit at the Newport Energy and Environment Commission’s public educational series on climate change and offshore wind. The Preservation Society was invited to appear on the panel multiple times but refused to participate. Nick Horton, who appeared on the panel for Climate Action RI, stated “The millionaires who run the Newport Mansions are suing the Federal government to stop clean energy over their ocean views and to try to win a multi-million dollar payout. They refuse to help prevent the damages from increased flooding and storms to Newport, and now they refuse even to come and talk about it.”

The Newport Energy and Environment Commission’s public educational series Climate Change and Resilience has provided the public an opportunity to hear from Newport Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong, Newport Senator Dawn Euer, Save the Bay Director Topher Hamblett, and Fred Mattera, commercial fisherman and director of the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, among others. The third panel, entitled “Offshore Wind Development off of Aquidneck Island and Newport County,” consists of Horton, David Langlais from Iron Workers Local 37, and Julia Livermore, the Deputy Chief of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.  The Commission invited PSNC Director Trudy Coxe in June but the agency declined to respond.

Fran Webber, who met with PSNC’s lawyers in May to ask them to drop their lawsuit as a CARI member living in Newport, stated, “They refused to answer our questions about what they are trying to win in the lawsuit and how much money they want to settle. After the meeting, they stopped responding to our emails.” Not getting any response from PSNC, CARI members recently passed out a petition at the Newport Film Festival screening at Newport Mansions, receiving support from many frustrated Newporters.

At NEEC’s first panel, Professor Stephen Porder from Brown University stated Newport is facing a potential one-meter increase in sea level and hundreds of millions of dollars in rising expenses due to climate change. This includes the ongoing millions needed to fix the Cliff Walk, Easton and Sachuest beaches, and numerous infrastructure projects throughout the County. Topher Hamblett stated that without a doubt, climate change is the biggest threat to the health of Narragansett Bay. Senator Euer mentioned she introduced legislation (S3022) to raise funds for the City of Newport to “be allocated for public infrastructure and public safety improvements only.”

The bill would impose a 9% tax on ticket and admission fees for any organization selling over 100,000 tickets, a tax that would have affected the PSNC. Horton stated, “I ran into PSNC Board Chair Bill Lucey and staff at the State House last May and they told me they had successfully killed the bill behind the scenes. Like their offshore wind lawsuit, this is another way they have demonstrated a greater interest in their profits than protecting Newport County from climate change.”