PROVIDENCE – The Environment Council of Rhode Island (ECRI) gives the R.I. General Assembly a “B” for its 2007 and 2008 sessions, and also assigns grades for individual lawmakers, in a two-year Green Report Card issued today.
“The environment won on several key issues this session, with bills promoting renewable energy as well as bills protecting Rhode Islanders from toxic diesel pollution from school buses, electronic waste, and water pollution resulting from unsafe cesspools,” ECRI President Denise Parillo said in unveiling the scores. “We are encouraged that our state legislators are taking action on important environmental issues.”
The report rates the Assembly’s actions on measures involving clean air or clean water rules; clean and renewable energy; protecting open space or wildlife habitat; sustainable land use; transportation; toxic chemicals; recycling, resource recovery or landfills; and open, accountable governance.
It lauds the approval of several bills or packages of bills, passed over the past two years, that the ECRI considered priority measures:
• The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) Act, which helped make Rhode Island a participant in “the nation’s first regional agreement to cap and reduce global warming pollution from power plants,” ECCRI said.
• A package of renewable energy measures, approved over the past two years, that encourages “small-scale and utility-scale wind, solar and other renewable energy projects in Rhode Island.”
• The Electronic Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling Act, which aims “to prevent toxic pollution from electronic waste by requiring television and computer manufacturers to pay for the collection and recycling of their products.”
• Two other new recycling laws: One requiring cities and towns that use the R.I. State Central Landfill in Johnston to recycle at least 35 percent of their municipal waste and divert 50 percent; the other to “move Rhode Island toward consideration of bottle-deposit legislation.”
• A package of public-transit measures “to strengthen the R.I. Public Transit Authority (RIPTA); move toward efficient bus rapid-transit models; and encourage state employees and students of state colleges to use buses.”
• The Cesspool Phaseout Act, which aims to protect both Narragansett Bay and the state’s drinking-water supply “by eliminating cesspools along the coast and near public water supplies.”
• The Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2007, which aims “to reduce diesel pollution from school buses.”
Yet the group also criticized the Assembly for failing to act on other key measures, saying the legislature fell short of an “A” because it did not pass legislation that would:
• “Bring the Narragansett Bay Commission and Coastal Resources Management Council into compliance with the Separation of Powers amendment.”
• “Protect communities from toxic pollution by requiring higher fines for polluters.”
• Place Rhode Island “on the path to reduce global warming pollution 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.”
• “Effectively manage Rhode Island’s water supply.”
• “Protect workers from diesel pollution,” a measure the ECRI said was unamimously supported by the Senate but did not come to a vote in the House.
• “Protect the budget of the Department of Environmental Management.”
• “Support a $30 million clean water and $5 million open space bond in the FY2009 budget.”
“The General Assembly missed some good opportunities to move forward on key environmental protection issues this session,” Parillo said, urging legislators “to continue with the momentum of the environmental leadership they took this year and pass these bills next year.”
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri also received a mixed “report card” from the group.
“We congratulate the governor for finally signing Rhode Island onto the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants – as well as making wind energy a priority,” Parillo said. “However, there is still much more work to be done.”
In spite of his call for more renewable energy in the state, the ECCRI notes, “the governor vetoed an important bill passed by the General Assembly this year that would have created incentives for the construction of renewable energy projects through long-term contracts. Also, in spite of skyrocketing gasoline prices and growing concerns about emissions, in 2007 … Carcieri vetoed a bill to update and strengthen the R.I. Public Transit Authority’s enabling statute.”
Overall, ECCRI said, “The governor’s environmental record is inconsistent, leaving room for improvement in some key areas.”
The Environment Council of Rhode Island, founded in 1972, is a coalition of many individual members and more than 60 local policy groups. The group also serves as the Ocean State affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. Additional information, including the ECRI’s full Green Report Card 2008, is available at www.environmentcouncilri.org.
News and information from the R.I. General Assembly are available at rilin.state.ri.us. News and information from the R.I. Governor’s Office are available at www.governor.ri.gov.
