On March 1, the deadline for Gov. McKee to appoint a new executive board to the Coastal Resources Management Council passed with no new appointments. The board — which manages and regulates the Ocean State’s 400 miles of coastline — has been criticized for inefficiency and lack of accountability.
A bill passed last year by the Rhode Island General Assembly aimed to reform the council by reducing its members from 10 to seven and requiring those members to have specific expertise relating to environmental and coastal management. Previous members include a liquor store owner and a dental hygienist, among others.
The bill also established the March 1 deadline for McKee to appoint a new board.
The current council model “doesn’t work,” State Rep. Terri Cortvriend (D-Portsmouth, Middletown) said. She added that there have been vacancies on the CRMC that have remained unfilled.
“The appointment process is underway, and until appointments have been made, the existing council members can continue to serve,” Laura Dwyer, a spokesperson for the CRMC, wrote in an email to The Herald.
The CRMC did not reply to further requests for comment regarding criticisms of inefficiency.
CRMC members are volunteers, and meetings often fail to achieve a quorum. As a result, decisions can take years — proposals for an aquaculture permit, for example, can take up to five years to process, according to Save the Bay, a nonprofit organization that works to protect Narragansett Bay.
Topher Hamblett, executive director of Save the Bay, noted that, while experts offer recommendations to the council, the group is not required to take their advice.
State Sen. Mark McKenney (D-Warwick) said that this system has led to issues in the past. In 2020, the CRMC made a “backroom deal” with Champlin’s Marina and Resort, permitting its expansion on Block Island despite public disapproval, he said. Though the case was later struck down by the Rhode Island Supreme Court due to environmental concerns, it is “an illustration of why a politically-appointed board is not the way to go,” he said.
To State Rep. John Edwards (D-Portsmouth, Tiverton), McKee’s inaction on last year’s bill proves that “the CRMC as it is with a council is archaic,” he said.
McKee did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Having people with a little bit better expertise, it doesn’t get rid of the fact that this is a politically-appointed board,” McKenney said, adding that Rhode Island is an “outlier” among coastal states nationwide.
“Unfortunately, (the CRMC) has not operated in the manner that we had hoped it might, and as with any number of organizations or entities, there comes a time when change is needed,” he said.
Some critics of the CRMC are looking for ways to restructure the council.
A new bill introduced by Edwards and co-sponsored by Cortvriend in February would make CRMC into a bureau housed under the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
While CRMC employees — of which there are around 30 — do “great stuff,” the organization needs more guidance, Edwards told The Herald. He pointed to an ongoing debate over an oyster farm in his district, which has been in limbo since 2020.
Edwards added that he had spoken with RIDEM directors and found them very well-qualified to oversee the CRMC. He said he believed that this change “would not be a burden on any director or future director.”
Hamblett is working with Edwards and Cortvriend to develop the new bill.
This restructuring would give the newly-formed bureau “the resources it needs to do its job effectively,” including an increased communications capacity and a “greater presence at the Rhode Island State House, where very important policies are made and decisions are made about the coast,” Hamblett said.
“The bill that was passed last year did not address the glaring problem or the elephant in the room, which is the council itself,” he added.
“In spite of the Council’s many missteps and controversies, it’s never been held accountable,” Hamblett said. “Rhode Island’s coastal agency should be a fully professional, accountable, effective agency.”
