Environmental Organizations Endorse Foulkes for Governor
PROVIDENCE — The Providence Streets Coalition, a grassroots activist organization devoted to increasing funding, safety, and reliability in the state’s transit network, announced July 21 that it is backing former CVS executive Helena Foulkes for governor.
“For far too long, this community has advocated for our state leaders to care about improvements and investments for safer streets and a transit system that works for all,” said Nichole O’Loughlin, political director for the Providence Streets Coalition, at the group’s endorsement announcement. “Unfortunately, our current governor has repeatedly done the opposite, and we need to change that right now.”
Transit and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority have not fared well under Gov. Dan McKee. Thanks to a persistent $32 million budget deficit and a lack of support from the governor’s office and the General Assembly, RIPTA had to make deep operational cuts to balance its budget, reducing bus service or frequency, resulting in fewer and worse rides for the agency’s regular users.
The cuts have particularly hit hard in the state’s metro area, where it sees the bulk of its riders, many of whom cannot afford to own a car or come up with transportation alternatives outside of RIPTA. Foulkes, meanwhile, has pledged to fully fund and invest in expanding RIPTA’s bus service, as well as the state’s network of roads, bridges, and bike infrastructure.
CRMC Approves Additional Work at Pawtucket’s Tidewater Landing
PROVIDENCE — Coastal regulators signed off on the second phase of developments for Pawtucket’s Tidewater Landing project, approving new riverwalk pathways, new stormwater infrastructure, and a new plaza.
Developers behind the project were last before the Coastal Resources Management Council in October 2021, when coastal regulators gave the green light to remediate the land and to build a new riverfront soccer stadium, both of which have long since been completed.
The projects proposed for the second phase of the Tidewater stadium development aren’t actually near the stadium, but across the river on four consecutive properties. The work will ready the sites for a pedestrian bridge that would stretch across the Seekonk River linking both projects. The pedestrian bridge itself, among other future improvements, will be considered in a future CRMC assent.
“This is a major economic development project for the city of Pawtucket,” said Lance Hill, vice president and director of business development for the Pare Corporation, an engineering firm.
The project is a public-private partnership, and Hill told CRMC council members at a June 23 meeting that the city’s share for the riverwalk and stormwater management was $30 million, obtained via a loan from the RI Infrastructure Bank.
“The city will be funding the pedestrian bridge, the riverwalk, and the stormwater park within that limit,” Hill said. “If it exceeds that limit, they’ll have to make a decision about it.”
In a bid to improve water quality in the river, project developers proposed new measures to control runoff, including a stormwater infiltration basin large enough to treat more than 27,000 cubic feet of water. A second, underground infiltration chamber at the northern end of the site, would provide another 16,439 cubic feet of water quality treatment.
SouthCoast Wind Project Gets Final Approvals from Coastal Agency
PROVIDENCE — With significantly less pushback and controversy than prior offshore wind projects, coastal regulators gave their final approvals for the SouthCoast Wind project.
The offshore wind project, 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard in federal waters, is expected to generate 1,287 megawatts (MW) of renewable electricity for southern New England, but a deal to purchase 200 MW for RI residents is currently in limbo.
The unanimous vote from the Coastal Resources Management Council means, as far as RI is concerned, SouthCoast Wind can lay its cable in state waters up the Sakonnet River and underground across Portsmouth until it reaches its substation at Brayton Point in nearby Somerset, MA.
While the wind project may have cleared all state hurdles, the hostility toward the offshore wind sector from the Trump administration means SouthCoast Wind is still a long way from becoming operational. Federal officials issued Revolution Wind a stop-work order twice last year, and despite those being overturned by the courts, they resulted in repeated project delays.
Jennifer Flood, SouthCoast Wind’s chief of permitting, said hostility from the federal government had impacted their ability to provide firm milestone dates for final investment decisions, financial closes, and other precise timelines.
“The current federal administration does not prioritize offshore wind energy at the same level as the previous federal administration,” Flood said. “We are keenly aware of that, and it’s something that we are working through every day. It does add an additional level of complexity and uncertainty to an already complex permitting process.”
The approved assent from CRMC carries 30 separate stipulations recommended by staff, ranging from the plan to bury the export cable, to environmental compliance, to electromagnetic field monitoring.
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