EXCLUSIVE: NBC Takes Initial Steps to Take “Unregulated” Recycling Facility and Maybe More
Friday, May 05, 2023
Rhode Island Metals Recycling facility, called unregulated by DEM Director Terry Gray PHOTO: GoLocal drone
A letter in the court file from an outside attorney on behalf of the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) to the owners of the controversial Rhode Island Metals Recycling facility may be the first salvo in an effort to take control of the property that has been an environmental hot spot for more than a decade.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAnd, the effort to reclaim the Rhode Island Metals Recycling site and other properties is being reviewed by NBC in conjunction with the Providence Redevelopment Agency. According to multiple sources with direct knowledge, the vision is to take properties to expand the laydown area for the offshore wind industry and to expand public access and usage of the waterfront. Under state law the properties could be taken through the powers of eminent domain.
A Decade of Violations
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management first cited the facility more than a decade ago. Then in 2016, a special master was appointed by Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein. Since then, there has been no environmental enforcement and a near-endless series of legal machinations.
Rhode Island Metals Recycling has been cited for violations of both the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act -- those violations have been pending for years. The Rhode Island Attorney General is the lead prosecutor on those violations. Attorney General Peter Neronha has refused to answer questions about the lack of prosecution of the violations.
Just a month ago, Rhode Island’s top environmental regulator voiced his frustration in an interview with GoLocal.
“Every time we find something on the site, we have to go back to court. That is the 100-plus times we have gone to court,” said Terry Gray, the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
“Essentially, due to the travels of this case, the facility is unregulated,” said Gray.
“If you took this fresh and looked at these things from scratch, then it would be a significant enforcement case right as it sits today,” he added.
Letter to Owners of Metals Recycling
In the letter from Anthony Bucci, on behalf of NBC, dated April 24, 2023, to the owners of Rhode Island Metals Recycling, he writes, “The Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC) is currently investigating properties for future NBC projects. NBC is conducting a geotechnical investigation to determine the soil conditions at the aforesaid location. A boundary and topographical survey of the Property will also be performed. Some of the survey work may be performed with a drone.”
GoLocal has learned that NBC is looking at other properties along with the Rhode Island Metals Recycling property. One of the additional properties is the adjacent property — the so-called Cumberland Farms property.
GoLocal unveiled on April 12 that members of the ownership group who control Rhode Island Metals Recycling purchased that property in March for $2.7 million.
NBC, which manages much of the state's wastewater system and treatment, has extensive powers under state law.
Presently, NBC is managing the biggest public works project in the state — phase 3 of the Combine Sewer Overflow. NBC’s service area encompasses the metropolitan Providence and Blackstone Valley areas, which include Providence, North Providence, Johnston, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Cumberland, Lincoln, the northern portion of East Providence and small sections of Cranston and Smithfield.
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