On Tuesday, March 3rd, the House Environment Committee heard testimony on H-5617, the “Rhode Island Working Waterfronts Protection Act.”  The bill — modeled after Massachusetts’ “Designated Port Area” regulations — would empower the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) to preserve and protect Rhode Island’s working waterfronts and water-dependent uses including commercial fishing, shipping, passenger transportation, boat building and repair, marinas, and other marine related businesses which must have access to the water to operate.

Representatives from working waterfronts across Rhode Island attended the hearing to testify in favor of the bill.  Rich Fuka of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance testified about the need to protect fishing ports like Galilee in Narragansett, as well as the need to preserve boat repair yards like Promet Marine in the Port of Providence.

Keith Stokes of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce noted how over the span of 20 years Newport lost its fishing, boat building, and boat repair businesses to high priced condos, hotels, and marinas, and why legislation is needed to protect Rhode Island’s few remaining working waterfronts:

“There are just three working waterfronts left: Quonset [North Kingstown], Melville Marine [Portsmouth], and Allens Avenue [Providence]… We can’t continue to leak these traditional jobs,” said Keith W. Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce.

Keith Stokes testifying before the House Environment Committee

Todd Turcotte of Capital Terminal Co., testified about the importance of oil terminals located on the East Providence side of the Port of Providence,  and several members of the Providence Working Waterfront Alliance testified to the need to protect the port as a critical state and regional asset.  As David Cohen, President of Promet Marine noted in his testimony:

We have a dynamic port in Providence with national trends, like short sea shipping, very much in our future. We have deep water as a result of dredging and a highly desirable geography for distributing fuel oil, gasoline, coal, cement and highway deicing salt and for exporting scrap iron. We have tried to draw attention to these assets and to strengthen the bonds of all working waterfront ports through out the state—Providence, East Providence, Quonset/Davisville, Newport, and Galilee. We are the Ocean State. That is our strength. Let’s not throw it away.

The Providence Working Waterfront Alliance strongly supports the Rhode Island Working Waterfront Protection Act, and we look forward to working with our coastal community allies and the General Assembly to pass this important legislation.

Providence Working Waterfront Alliance Testimony In Support Of H-5617 – The Rhode Island Working Waterfronts Protection Act

• The Providence Working Waterfront Alliance strongly supports H-5617, The Rhode Island Working Waterfronts Protection Act.

• Working waterfronts across Rhode Island, from Newport to Galilee to Warren to the Port of Providence, are currently threatened by the ever-increasing pressure for residential and commercial development along our coast.

• While condominiums, hotels, and office buildings can be located anywhere, water-dependent businesses MUST have access to the water to operate.

• Residential uses are often incompatible with the loud noises, odors, and industrial activity produced by typical working waterfront operations.

• Rhode Island’s ports and working waterfronts are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in total economic impact, thousands of jobs, and vital energy resources for the Southern New England region.

• Our ports and working waterfronts are a strategic state resource that must be preserved and protected.

• The Rhode Island Working Waterfront Protection Act — modeled after Massachusetts’ “Designated Port Area” regulations — would empower the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) to preserve and protect Rhode Island’s working waterfronts and water-dependent uses including commercial fishing, shipping, passenger transportation, boat building and repair, marinas, and other marine related businesses which must have access to the water to operate.

• Rhode Island is, after all, the Ocean State and our ports and working waterfronts need sensible protections from incompatible uses so that they can continue to grow and thrive.

Media Coverage
03-07-09 “Waterfront bill would expand CRMC’s jurisdiction,” Providence Business News 

03-03-09 “Video: Bill would protect state’s working waterfronts,” NBC 10 News

03-04-09 “‘Working waterfronts’ bill criticized by other businesses,” Providence Journal

Blog Posts
03-03-09 “Support the RI Working Waterfronts Protection Act,” Rhode Island’s Future Blog

03-04-09 “Mayor Cicilline is Wrong on the Working Waterfront,” Rhode Island’s Future Blog