Community meeting on Providence scrapyard cleanup plans devolves into screaming, insults
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – August 6, 2024 –South Providence residents and activists have watched the environmental violations pile up and the junk vessels multiply in the water along Rhode Island Recycled Metals’ scrapyard. They have choked on air thick with smoke from fires. After years of standing on the sidelines, they finally had a chance to speak their piece Tuesday night in the basement of Knight Memorial Library.
What began as an orderly community meeting for the scrapyard to educate neighbors on its cleanup plans, complete with a printed agenda and PowerPoint slides, quickly morphed into a chaotic chorus of people talking over each other, screaming and swearing. The meeting was mandated as part of the review process because of the site’s location within a designated environmental justice zone, bordering a neighborhood of mostly low-income residents and people of color.
“This site does not pose a direct threat to the community,” Richard Nicholson, attorney for Rhode Island Recycled Metals, said. “At the end of the day, a lot of the information out there you’ve been hearing over the last decade, candidly, just is not accurate.”
That struck a nerve with Julian Drix, a local resident and public health expert.
“You all are doing a terrible job at this,” Drix told Nicholson and two environmental scientists hired by the company to test its soil and water. “In order to have meaningful engagement, you need to meaningfully engage. You presented slide upon slide of text and acronyms…then made a political statement, pitching a spin that there is no risk to the community.”
Drix pointed his finger at Nicholson and screamed: “This is our community!”
Nicholson replied by questioning Drix’s technical expertise, suggesting Drix’s graduate degree in public health might not be enough to properly assess the publicly shared soil and water testing results.
The public meeting came a month after the second fire this year at the Allens Avenue scrapyard. The July 10 fire prompted a court order two days later, forcing the operation to shutter pending a fire remediation plan. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Providence County Superior Court.
But even before the fires darkened the city skyline with plumes of black smoke, Rhode Island Recycled Metals faced heat from state regulators for repeated environmental violations and failure to address the problems. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General sued the company in 2015 over water pollution and oil from the 12-acre site spilling into the Providence River. Meanwhile, regulators continue to push the company to apply for the required stormwater and land remediation permits, first flagged as missing in 2010.
“You’re contaminating the land, the water, the air, the dust,” said Linda Perri, head of the Washington Park Association. “You’re not a clean business, let’s face it. There’s people that live there and are affected.”
Perri guffawed loudly as Nicholson and the consultants with Lincoln-based Lake Shore Environmental Inc. presented results of soil and water testing required by DEM.
The 322-page preliminary test results showed elevated levels of some metals, including lead and arsenic, along with semivolatile organic compounds. But other chemicals tested did not exceed state standards for industrial sites, including those in area groundwater.
The company is working with DEM to meet state and federal standards, having already submitted a final draft remediation plan in February that includes capping a portion of the site to isolate potentially hazardous chemicals in the soil and adding a new stormwater management system.
“You’re doing this meeting because you’re required to do it by law, not out of the goodness of your heart,” Jed Thorp, advocacy director for Save the Bay, said.
Thorp asked why a similar public meeting was not scheduled regarding the court-ordered fire remediation plan…Click here to read the full article.