Yet another disaster in the Port of Providence - When will this end?
"Rhode Island Recycled Metals is a bad-faith actor whose negligence and malfeasance are poisoning South Providence residents..."
In what has become a never-ending environmental nightmare, Rhode Island Recycled Metals was once again ablaze today. Rhode Island Recycled Metals is emblematic of the polluting industries in and around ProvPort, the kind of companies that contribute to environmental racism and negative health outcomes in the surrounding communities.
According to Wheeler Copperthwaite at the Providence Journal, firefighters expect to be combatting the fire well into Wednesday evening. This is just the latest fire at a facility that has had three in the last three years and two this year.
In response, Attorney General Peter Neronha will be going to court on Friday to demand that the operation be shut down. Attorney General Neronha today issued the following statement:
“Rhode Island Recycled Metals presents an ongoing environmental nuisance and public safety hazard that this Office has, for years, fought against in court, alongside efforts by our neighboring communities and stakeholders.
“Today’s fire at their facility is yet another example of Rhode Island Recycled Metals’s inability to safely operate. This afternoon, our Office appeared before Superior Court Justice Brian Stern to request that the court order Rhode Island Recycled Metals to immediately shut down its operations. We also argued for the court to immediately convert the special mastership into a receivership.
“The Court took these matters under advisement and scheduled a hearing for Friday, July 12 at 11 am. Rhode Island Recycled Metals has agreed that it will not resume operations before the hearing.
“My Office will now be formally filing a motion for an emergency preliminary injunction to shut down Rhode Island Recycled Metals's operations, and to convert the special mastership into a receivership.
“It has now become more than evident that the monitoring and oversight provided by the special mastership are not enough - our Office will continue to argue that to adequately protect the public, the full operational control of a receivership is required.”
The issue of environmental justice is at the forefront of this ongoing disaster.
After the first fire this year, at Rhode Island Recycled Metals, community leaders from the area around ProvPort and environmental advocates gathered to call for action on the company. The community was ignored and that action never happened.
In May, Alison Hoffman Carney, who heads up the Environmental and Energy Unit at the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General, spoke to the Washington Park Neighborhood Association about the ongoing litigation against Rhode Island Recycled Metals, one of the major environmental justice offenders in the Port of Providence.
I covered her history of the Attorney General’s involvement here.
“This is a property where we need the State's support to take immediate action. This facility is unlicensed by municipal standards and we have made multiple attempts to close this business after they withdrew their application to come into compliance,” said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley in a statement. “We then issued a cease and desist which has clearly been ignored while a legal case remains pending in Providence Superior Court.
“This is the second fire at this site in the past few months. It is critical for the safety and public health of our neighbors that operations cease until this facility obtains all necessary licenses. We are again requesting, and in this case demanding, that the State hold them accountable for the multiple matters that are squarely within their jurisdiction.”
This statement carefully avoids Mayor Smiley’s conflict of interest.
“I have accepted thousands of contributions in my public service, and I think I’ve shown that a contribution never necessitates or issues an action,” said Smiley to Channel 10 in May. “In this case, I accepted a contribution and then we issued a cease-and-desist. Obviously, the donation didn’t change my behavior because we find ourselves in court right now to actually shut that business down.”
“Why not just say to residents today that we will not put in any other asphalt businesses [or] any other businesses that lead to these noxious fumes being in the air that you're breathing in?” asked reporter Tamara Sacharczyk from NBC 10 News in May, about noxious and dangerous emissions in the Port of Providence. “Why not just promise that right now?”
“That's not the way zoning works,” answered Mayor Smiley… Except that’s exactly the way zoning works.
Providence’s Comprehensive Plan, the guide to development in the city for the next ten years, is currently before the Providence City Council and does little to reduce or combat environmental racism in and around ProvPort. The City Council has recieved the plan and will refer it to a committee, kicking off a review process that may make the document stronger.
Were it to be passed as currently proposed, Providence’s Comprehensive Plan would institutionalize environmental racism. See here and here.
Councilmember Pedro Espinal (Ward 10), State Senator Tiara Mack (Democrat, District 6, Providence), and State Representative Jose Batista (Democrat, District 12, Providence) released the following joint statement:
“As the elected legislators who represent this area, we are furious at yet another environmental disaster at our neighborhood pariah, Rhode Island Recycled Metals. The third fire in three years, and the second this year, is so big it is taking 30 firefighters to battle it, depleting resources and wasting taxpayer dollars.
“Rhode Island Recycled Metals is a bad-faith actor whose negligence and malfeasance are poisoning South Providence residents. Enough is enough. We demand the immediate closure of the scrapyard and will continue to explore every possible legal mechanism at the city and state’s disposal to ensure they are shut down.
“We are calling on the Superior Court to approve the city’s cease-and-desist order, and ask the Department of Environmental Management, Attorney General, and Governor to take immediate action to shut down Rhode Island Recycled Metals and end this public health nightmare.”
Councilmember Espinal also spoke to reporters on the scene, as can be seen on Twitter via Bill Bartholomew.
Save the Bay is a neighbor to Rhode Island Recycled Metals and have long called for the company to shutter operations. They write, in a press release:
“Today, another fire originated at the Rhode Island Recycled Metals facility in South Providence. Today’s fire occurred three months to the day of the previous fire at the facility on April 10, 2024.
“Save The Bay staff witnessed the fire from the water and saw how quickly the smoke spread across the Providence River and to surrounding communities. Click here for photos and video from our staff.
“Mike Jarbeau, Narragansett Baykeeper for Save The Bay, was on the scene and commented on the repeated fires originating from the facility:
“‘How many times does this place need to catch fire before it is shut down? These fires put the lives of first responders at risk, jeopardize the health of nearby residents and people who work on the waterfront, and the health of the river and the bay. Enough is enough.’
“Save The Bay joins the call of many advocates and neighbors for RI Recycled Metals to be shut down once and for all.”
When will this end? When people use their economic power to ensure their priorities take precedence over those of corporate America and its politicians.
So Friday before 11am might be a good time to organize some simple action in front of superior court?