Sparks Fly As Merger Proposal is Debated

By Peter B Lord

The Coastal Resources Management Council, which the governor has proposed merging with the DEM, accuses the state environmental agency of violating wetlands rules.

PROVIDENCE — Will the state actually save close to $3 million if it merges the state’s Coastal Resources Management Council and Water Resources Board into the state Department of Environmental Management? And will the work of the three environmental agencies still get done, even as the proposed merger cuts another 29 jobs?

A subcommittee of the House Finance Committee held a hearing yesterday afternoon to explore those questions that were raised by Governor Carcieri’s proposed 2009 budget.

The subcommittee didn’t get far. And as often happens at the State House, most of the drama was outside of the hearing room.

The day started with CRMC releasing copies of an unusual cease- and-desist order it mailed to DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan on Tuesday, alleging that his staff committed wetlands violations when they cleared about 7 or 8 acres of brush and trees at Fishermen’s Memorial State Park on the shores of Point Judith Pond in Narragansett.

Contacted at midday, Sullivan said he still hadn’t seen the complaint. But he was embarrassed because his staff had flagged the wetlands and told workers to avoid them, but they made a “few minor mistakes” as they cleared former fields and a golf course to improve the park.

But Sullivan was also angered at the timing of the CRMC complaint. Although the CRMC regulates all coastal activities and the DEM operates major beach and park complexes along the shore, enforcement issues between the two agencies have been rare, Sullivan said. What’s more, the work was completed in December. Why was the CRMC inspecting it this week, he asked.

“In light of the timing of the Finance Committee meeting this afternoon, it is obscenely obvious what has been done here,” Sullivan said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

But it wasn’t over.

CRMC spokeswoman Laura Ricketson-Dwyer said CRMC staff inspected the park this week because that is when they learned of the violations.

And state Rep. Donald J. Lally Jr., D-Narragansett, who didn’t take part in the hearing, issued a news release condemning Sullivan’s comments as arrogant and citing the incident as a prime example of why the two agencies should not be merged.

“If CRMC were eliminated, we’d have one less watchdog guarding our environment, one less means of oversight,” Lally said. “The coast is one of Rhode Island’s most precious, most defining features. It should have an agency devoted solely to its protection.”

Asked for a response to Lally’s comments, Sullivan said he couldn’t say anything that would be fit to print.

At the hearing, much of the questioning focused on the relatively minuscule Water Resources Board, which coordinates the state’s drinking water supplies with a staff of five.

Grover Fugate, executive director of the CRMC, and Daniel Varin, chairman of the Water Resources Board, testified that they were unaware of plans to merge and trim their agencies until the budget was announced last month.

Sullivan said he didn’t know the cuts would be proposed and the agencies merged until just before the budget was announced.

Varin said the top commitment of his agency has been to develop drinking water wells at the Big River Reservoir area, but he didn’t know if that would remain a top priority if his agency were merged.

And the merger plan calls for trimming his staff to three, he said. “We’d lose a tremendous amount of capability.”

Asked by committee Chair Eileen Naughton if he had enough staff to make up for the proposed, additional staff cuts of 8 positions at the CRMC and 15 at the DEM, Sullivan said, “The simple fact is there is not enough money to cover all the real and perceived needs.”

He said he’s also very worried that about 20 percent of his staff is of retirement age, and many run the parks and beaches that make Rhode Island such a popular summer destination.

But Sullivan said DEM staff works hard and will do its jobs as best as it can.

Naughton asked Fugate if the cutbacks would hurt his agency’s efforts to approve building permits in a timely manner. Then the meeting had to be adjourned before he could answer.

Afterwards, Fugate said the governor is proposing to lay off CRMC staffers who handle about 40 percent of the agency’s permits, and every staffer is maxed out with work.

If the layoffs go ahead, Fugate said, “We don’t know what we’ll do.” plord@projo.com / (401) 277-8036

Originally published by Peter B Lord, Journal Environment Writer.

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