Yesterday's story in the Providence Journal by Gene Emery entitled "RI Council has no say on LNG Terminal in Mount Hope Bay" surprised many readers (read it here: http://www.projo.com/news/content/LNG_APPEALS_11-16-09_9AGFAOB_v7.38afa95.html ). The story reports on the decision of the Court Of Appeals, which affirmed that the RI Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) lost its opportunity to object to the project .
Some people who called and wrote to Save The Bay yesterday thought that the crazy Hess Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) proposal for Mount Hope Bay was dead of its own weight, and were stunned to see it clear another hurdle. Some were angry at CRMC for losing in this case, and even angrier at company officials for characterizing the Appeals Court Decision as an effective endorsement of the project.
Let's put it into perspective: The Hess LNG/Weaver's Cove proposal for a massive gas tanker platform and pipeline in the middle of Mount Hope Bay is FAR from a done deal. While RICRMC may have been sidelined by this decision, the Massachusetts equivalent, MACZM, is still actively challenging the project along with other Mass agencies and elected officials. The project still needs about 21 different approvals from Federal, State, and local agencies, the most significant of which revolve around an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project that has yet to be released to the public.
We don't know for sure when the EIS will come out, but we expect it sometime in the next few months. When it is released, there will be public hearings and an open public comment period. The EIS is the public's best opportunity to weigh in and stop this thing.
As readers of this blog know, Save The Bay has long opposed this project based on its direct threats to Bay life and habitat, its unreasonable and unfair interference with other uses of the Bay, its damaging impacts on the Bay's coastal communites, and its negative impacts on the Bay economy. While a few people still buy Hess' spurious claims of job creation and lower gas prices, most, including the elected officials and Congressional delgations of both states, see the project as bad for the environment, bad for the economy, and unsafe for people who live and work on and around the Bay.
Over the coming weeks and months, we will step up our opposition, and activate our membership and networks to fight it with everything we've got. For more on what you can do, check out our website at http://www.savebay.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=318 . Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail at jtorgan@savebay.org with any questions or comments. We've worked too hard for too many years to clean up Mount Hope Bay and Narragansett Bay to allow one private company to take it over for their exclusive financial gain. Thanks for your support, and never give up! We can win this. -JT
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Declining Bird Populations of Narragansett Bay
I was struck by Mary Grady's story in this month's Rhode Island Monthly on declining marine bird populations on Narragansett Bay. Read it here: http://www.rimonthly.com/Rhode-Island-Monthly/November-2009/Bye-Bye-Birdies/
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"The numbers of several maritime bird species that breed in Narragansett Bay have dropped significantly in the last five to ten years, according to annual surveys conducted by the state Department of Environmental Management. Great egrets, for example, the tall, elegant white birds often seen foraging in shallow coves fringing the Bay, peaked at 251 nesting pairs in 2003, and in 2008 were down to 148 pairs. Their smaller relatives, the snowy egrets, showed an even steeper drop, from 330 pairs in 1979 to just fifty-three pairs in 2008."
These steep declines in Bay bird populations are alarming. The story discusses the various explanations for the decline, but no one really knows for sure why this is happening.
One theory I have is that it is related to menhaden populations. The numbers of juvenile menhaden, or peanut bunker, have declined dramatically in recent years. I'll bet that those comprise a major source of forage for wading birds like egrets and herons. Cormorants, which have continued to increase in number, can probably catch many other fish species more easily and in deeper water.
This story underscores the need to invest in environmental monitoring, including keeping track of bird and fish populations. It provides critical information to resource managers, and helps us to protect the diversity and health of the Bay and its connected systems. JT
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"The numbers of several maritime bird species that breed in Narragansett Bay have dropped significantly in the last five to ten years, according to annual surveys conducted by the state Department of Environmental Management. Great egrets, for example, the tall, elegant white birds often seen foraging in shallow coves fringing the Bay, peaked at 251 nesting pairs in 2003, and in 2008 were down to 148 pairs. Their smaller relatives, the snowy egrets, showed an even steeper drop, from 330 pairs in 1979 to just fifty-three pairs in 2008."
These steep declines in Bay bird populations are alarming. The story discusses the various explanations for the decline, but no one really knows for sure why this is happening.
One theory I have is that it is related to menhaden populations. The numbers of juvenile menhaden, or peanut bunker, have declined dramatically in recent years. I'll bet that those comprise a major source of forage for wading birds like egrets and herons. Cormorants, which have continued to increase in number, can probably catch many other fish species more easily and in deeper water.
This story underscores the need to invest in environmental monitoring, including keeping track of bird and fish populations. It provides critical information to resource managers, and helps us to protect the diversity and health of the Bay and its connected systems. JT
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Ocean Policy Task Force
Last Thursday, President Obama's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force held its only East Coast hearing here in Providence, RI. I was privileged to be invited to serve on an expert panel to kick off the hearings, and was asked to talk specifically about the role of the Federal Government in ecosystem-based management, marine spatial planning, and estuarine habitat restoration.
This is important stuff, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to host it in Rhode Island.
I encourage you all to check out the President's website on this and make comments on-line: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans/
A draft of my remarks to the Task Force follows:
Comments of John Torgan
Narragansett Baykeeper, Save The Bay, Rhode Island
Before the Interagency National Ocean Policy Task Force
September 24th, 2009
Providence Listening Session
Thank you, to the distinguished members of the Task Force, and to President Obama for this extraordinary opportunity to speak to you about these issues at the very heart of our Nation’s environment, economy, culture, history and identity in the world. The ocean and coast, and in particular- our estuaries, rivers, and bays sustain us, enrich our lives, and bind us together with other coastal states and countries in one vast living and dynamic ecosystem. It demands our attention, and needs our help.
I am speaking today for Save The Bay, Southeastern New England’s largest non-profit environmental group, and we are also affiliated with the international Waterkeeper Alliance, and are founding members of Restore America’s Estuaries, collectively representing more than a hundred thousand people.
The need for a clear, transparent, and efficient Federal Ocean Policy and inter-agency coordination cannot be overstated. Our present policies are grossly inadequate and under-funded. Without a major commitment to reform, we will be tragically ineffective at protecting and realizing the potential of this nation’s most valuable natural and economic resources-our coastal waters and the rivers that feed them.
Ecosystem-based and adaptive management are really just different terms for sensible, practical coordination and execution of work. Fish and birds do not respect nor adhere to political boundaries and neither does pollution. To be effective, we must provide for regional coordination and scope, while respecting and allowing for regional differences in our approach.
The interim report of the Commission reflects the right points and priorities, and we commend you for an excellent job given the short time and limited resources available. It is now incumbent on us, the stakeholders, to give you the specifics:
The funding need is significant. The stimulus request for estuary restoration projects alone was close to $3 Billion; the amount allocated for this purpose was around $160 Million- a small fraction of the need. But we have shown, again and again, that any investment in habitat restoration and environmental protection strengthens our economy, improves our quality of life, and pays direct dividends back to people by giving them clean water and healthy ecosystems for generations to enjoy.
We must invest in environmental monitoring so we can measure and understand the impacts of our activities- both good and bad.
The way we carry out federally-funded habitat restoration needs to be improved and clarified. Today, even with strong initial federal agency support, the non-profit partners need to work hard every year to raise additional federal funds and non-federal matching funds for each project, resulting in tremendous inefficiency, added expense, and long delays in seeing through vital projects to completion.
We recommend that there be a single, designated lead federal agency for each project that is given the mandate and the funding up-front to see the project through to completion. In particular, NOAA and NRCS seem well-suited to serve as the lead on estuary habitat restoration at the federal level.
Marine spatial planning is an essential tool to achieve effective ecosystem-based management and it deserves our strong support. We must plan not only for conservation of the ocean and coastal resources, but for responsible and sustainable uses. This means fisheries policies that truly conserve and protect species and their habitat and provide for the long-term survival of marine life, fishermen, and fishing communities. Similarly we must plan carefully and comprehensively for sustainable aquaculture, for energy facilities siting, and for safe and secure marine transportation. Rhode Island’s Ocean SAMP is a good template for the nation on this.
To date, we have failed utterly to coordinate these priorities on a regional and national basis. Let me give you an example: Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River form the northeastern arm of the Narragansett Bay Estuary and have been on the national stage in recent years for the right and the wrong reasons.
First the good news: thanks to the efforts of dedicated residents and good public servants in state and federal agencies over two decades, we were able to secure National Wild and Scenic status for the Taunton, and achieved a landmark settlement with the region’s largest power plant, Brayton Point, whose owners have committed $500 million to install cooling towers to protect Mount Hope Bay winter flounder populations.
Here’s the bad news: This same Bay and river are now severely threatened by a massive Liquefied Natural Gas proposal- Hess’ Weaver’s Cove- which got preliminary approvals from the FERC and Coast Guard, and would dredge up and then dominate the Bay with completely unnecessary gas infrastructure.
There is something obviously wrong with this picture. How can two decades of hard work by thousands of dedicated citizens who have fought for the Taunton and Mount Hope Bay be so easily discounted in order to accommodate a project that appears to benefit only a private company?
Our congressional delegation asked FERC and other agencies to engage in serious regional planning for our energy and environmental future and were denied this sensible request in favor of case-by-case review. This makes no sense at all.
This administration has a golden opportunity to have a real impact on future regulation and policy. These hearings and this task force is a strong step in the right direction. Thank you.
This is important stuff, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to host it in Rhode Island.
I encourage you all to check out the President's website on this and make comments on-line: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/oceans/
A draft of my remarks to the Task Force follows:
Comments of John Torgan
Narragansett Baykeeper, Save The Bay, Rhode Island
Before the Interagency National Ocean Policy Task Force
September 24th, 2009
Providence Listening Session
Thank you, to the distinguished members of the Task Force, and to President Obama for this extraordinary opportunity to speak to you about these issues at the very heart of our Nation’s environment, economy, culture, history and identity in the world. The ocean and coast, and in particular- our estuaries, rivers, and bays sustain us, enrich our lives, and bind us together with other coastal states and countries in one vast living and dynamic ecosystem. It demands our attention, and needs our help.
I am speaking today for Save The Bay, Southeastern New England’s largest non-profit environmental group, and we are also affiliated with the international Waterkeeper Alliance, and are founding members of Restore America’s Estuaries, collectively representing more than a hundred thousand people.
The need for a clear, transparent, and efficient Federal Ocean Policy and inter-agency coordination cannot be overstated. Our present policies are grossly inadequate and under-funded. Without a major commitment to reform, we will be tragically ineffective at protecting and realizing the potential of this nation’s most valuable natural and economic resources-our coastal waters and the rivers that feed them.
Ecosystem-based and adaptive management are really just different terms for sensible, practical coordination and execution of work. Fish and birds do not respect nor adhere to political boundaries and neither does pollution. To be effective, we must provide for regional coordination and scope, while respecting and allowing for regional differences in our approach.
The interim report of the Commission reflects the right points and priorities, and we commend you for an excellent job given the short time and limited resources available. It is now incumbent on us, the stakeholders, to give you the specifics:
The funding need is significant. The stimulus request for estuary restoration projects alone was close to $3 Billion; the amount allocated for this purpose was around $160 Million- a small fraction of the need. But we have shown, again and again, that any investment in habitat restoration and environmental protection strengthens our economy, improves our quality of life, and pays direct dividends back to people by giving them clean water and healthy ecosystems for generations to enjoy.
We must invest in environmental monitoring so we can measure and understand the impacts of our activities- both good and bad.
The way we carry out federally-funded habitat restoration needs to be improved and clarified. Today, even with strong initial federal agency support, the non-profit partners need to work hard every year to raise additional federal funds and non-federal matching funds for each project, resulting in tremendous inefficiency, added expense, and long delays in seeing through vital projects to completion.
We recommend that there be a single, designated lead federal agency for each project that is given the mandate and the funding up-front to see the project through to completion. In particular, NOAA and NRCS seem well-suited to serve as the lead on estuary habitat restoration at the federal level.
Marine spatial planning is an essential tool to achieve effective ecosystem-based management and it deserves our strong support. We must plan not only for conservation of the ocean and coastal resources, but for responsible and sustainable uses. This means fisheries policies that truly conserve and protect species and their habitat and provide for the long-term survival of marine life, fishermen, and fishing communities. Similarly we must plan carefully and comprehensively for sustainable aquaculture, for energy facilities siting, and for safe and secure marine transportation. Rhode Island’s Ocean SAMP is a good template for the nation on this.
To date, we have failed utterly to coordinate these priorities on a regional and national basis. Let me give you an example: Mount Hope Bay and the Taunton River form the northeastern arm of the Narragansett Bay Estuary and have been on the national stage in recent years for the right and the wrong reasons.
First the good news: thanks to the efforts of dedicated residents and good public servants in state and federal agencies over two decades, we were able to secure National Wild and Scenic status for the Taunton, and achieved a landmark settlement with the region’s largest power plant, Brayton Point, whose owners have committed $500 million to install cooling towers to protect Mount Hope Bay winter flounder populations.
Here’s the bad news: This same Bay and river are now severely threatened by a massive Liquefied Natural Gas proposal- Hess’ Weaver’s Cove- which got preliminary approvals from the FERC and Coast Guard, and would dredge up and then dominate the Bay with completely unnecessary gas infrastructure.
There is something obviously wrong with this picture. How can two decades of hard work by thousands of dedicated citizens who have fought for the Taunton and Mount Hope Bay be so easily discounted in order to accommodate a project that appears to benefit only a private company?
Our congressional delegation asked FERC and other agencies to engage in serious regional planning for our energy and environmental future and were denied this sensible request in favor of case-by-case review. This makes no sense at all.
This administration has a golden opportunity to have a real impact on future regulation and policy. These hearings and this task force is a strong step in the right direction. Thank you.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Narragansett Bay Loses A Champion: Steve Insana
Sunday morning, Stephan P. Insana of Warwick, passed away suddenly in his sleep. Steve was the founder and first President of the Buckeye Brook Coalition in Warwick. He was an old and loyal friend of mine and of Save The Bay's. We are all shocked and saddened by this tremendous loss.Steve was a passionate and effective advocate. He had a powerful personality, was always enthusiastic, and totally committed to helping others. My greatest memory of Steve was one day in the Spring of 2002, when he called me down to Warwick to show me the phenomena of thousands of river herring at every bend of Buckeye Brook. He was whooping and hollering with joy at the sight of it!
I'm confident that the movement Steve built and the people he reached will carry on his legacy and will always keep going strong. We're committed to that. And no one will ever pass by Buckeye Brook again without thinking of him. -JT
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Low Dissolved Oxygen Alert for Narragansett Bay
Over the past couple of weeks, we have observed severe hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen) conditions throughout much of the Upper and Mid-Narragansett Bay including the Providence River, and Greenwich Bay, and extending down the West Passage to Quonset Point.
While we often see low oxygen conditions at this time of year as water temperatures peak, this year it appears to be particularly bad, possibly due in part to the record-breaking rainfall in July. So far, Save The Bay has not received any reports of fish kills, but we are on high alert.
There aren't as many juvenile menhaden, or "peanut bunker", as we've seen in past years, and these are often the first to die off when the conditions deteriorate, so that could be one reason why we're not seeing more dead fish. The following is excerpted from an e-mail broadcast by Chris Deacutis, Chief Scientist for the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a note for folks who may be working out on the upper half of Narragansett Bay over the next 1.5 weeks- it looks like a severe hypoxic (to near anoxic) event is ongoing in Greenwich Bay and Upper Bay north to the Seekonk River , with low DO all the way down-Bay to Quonset area. We are entering a neap tide cycle next week , so tidal energies will stay weak until ~ 8/17. The volume of low DO water column seems substantial at Conimicut Pt. We saw oxygen in the 0.2-0.5 mg/L range in western Greenwich Bay on Tues below ~ 3.5 m, and continuous buoys are indicating things are worsening over wider areas.
I'd appreciate an email if anyone spots any unusual situations physically or biologically.
Chris Deacutisdeacutis@gso.uri.edu Christopher Deacutis, PhD
Chief Scientist
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
Tel (401) 874-6217
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save The Bay would also like to know if you see anything unusual. E-mail me at jtorgan@savebay.org or call 401 272-3540 x 116 to report a fish kill or other water-quality related events. Thanks, JT
While we often see low oxygen conditions at this time of year as water temperatures peak, this year it appears to be particularly bad, possibly due in part to the record-breaking rainfall in July. So far, Save The Bay has not received any reports of fish kills, but we are on high alert.
There aren't as many juvenile menhaden, or "peanut bunker", as we've seen in past years, and these are often the first to die off when the conditions deteriorate, so that could be one reason why we're not seeing more dead fish. The following is excerpted from an e-mail broadcast by Chris Deacutis, Chief Scientist for the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a note for folks who may be working out on the upper half of Narragansett Bay over the next 1.5 weeks- it looks like a severe hypoxic (to near anoxic) event is ongoing in Greenwich Bay and Upper Bay north to the Seekonk River , with low DO all the way down-Bay to Quonset area. We are entering a neap tide cycle next week , so tidal energies will stay weak until ~ 8/17. The volume of low DO water column seems substantial at Conimicut Pt. We saw oxygen in the 0.2-0.5 mg/L range in western Greenwich Bay on Tues below ~ 3.5 m, and continuous buoys are indicating things are worsening over wider areas.
I'd appreciate an email if anyone spots any unusual situations physically or biologically.
Chris Deacutisdeacutis@gso.uri.edu Christopher Deacutis, PhD
Chief Scientist
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
Tel (401) 874-6217
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save The Bay would also like to know if you see anything unusual. E-mail me at jtorgan@savebay.org or call 401 272-3540 x 116 to report a fish kill or other water-quality related events. Thanks, JT
Monday, July 27, 2009
State of Narragansett Bay in Summer '09
It's been a strange summer on the Bay. After a cool, wet spring that had good numbers of adult menhaden and giant striped bass up into the Providence River, it seemed like life in the Upper Bay went through a major transformation around July fourth. Here's a late June striper caught by STB board member Howard Kilguss: 
Brown and green algae blooms came and then settled as massive numbers of comb jellies and other ctenophores bloomed and then died off in the past couple of weeks.
The big news is that the bacteria counts are way down in the River and Upper Bay this year, presumably because of the Narragansett Bay Commission's Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tunnel project, completed in November of '08. See the e-mail pasted at the bottom from the Buckeye Brook folks about the major drop in bacteria at Conimicut Point this year compared to last.
We just observed the first really low dissolved oxygen levels this past Thursday, July 23rd. Our team found oxygen levels approaching zero in the Seekonk and Upper Providence Rivers, which is not too surprising given all the rain we've had. The mid and lower-Bay seem to be in good shape with regard to oxygen levels, all things considered.
July 2009 saw record rainfall, and correspondingly there were a number of swimming beach and shellfish area closures. The RI Department of health website has a lot of good information on that: http://www.ribeaches.org/.
Despite these closures, it's clear that wastewater infrastructure upgrades like the CSO tunnel are paying big dividends already. This is an important lesson for places like Aquidneck Island, South County, and Warwick among other communities facing sewering dilemmas. While there is no single solution for each community, system upgrades do make the water cleaner, and the results can be seen right away. -JT
-------------------------------------------------------------
From Bill Aldrich-
From the RIDOH sampling data, check out below a snapshot of bacteria count decrease from 2008 to 2009 at Conimicut Beach year to date, even given all the rain we have been having.
I think the CSO tunnel is to credit for this, at least in part.
For reference, 10 is the baseline reading and 104 is the reading above which they close beaches to swimming. Red means over that limit, blue means below.
5/20 through 5/31 --- 10, 10, 10, 41 (2008) versus 97, 98 (2009)
6/1 through 6/9 --- 10, 10, 20, 108, 109, 546, 663 (2008) versus 10, 10, 20, 31 (2009)
6/10 through 6/18 --- 10, 31, 145, 146 171 (2008) versus 10, 10, 20, 31, 41, 52, 62, 84 (2009)
6/18 through 6/24 --- 41, 148, 389, 404, 2613, 4884 (2008) versus 10, 10 (2009)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brown and green algae blooms came and then settled as massive numbers of comb jellies and other ctenophores bloomed and then died off in the past couple of weeks.
The big news is that the bacteria counts are way down in the River and Upper Bay this year, presumably because of the Narragansett Bay Commission's Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tunnel project, completed in November of '08. See the e-mail pasted at the bottom from the Buckeye Brook folks about the major drop in bacteria at Conimicut Point this year compared to last.
We just observed the first really low dissolved oxygen levels this past Thursday, July 23rd. Our team found oxygen levels approaching zero in the Seekonk and Upper Providence Rivers, which is not too surprising given all the rain we've had. The mid and lower-Bay seem to be in good shape with regard to oxygen levels, all things considered.
July 2009 saw record rainfall, and correspondingly there were a number of swimming beach and shellfish area closures. The RI Department of health website has a lot of good information on that: http://www.ribeaches.org/.
Despite these closures, it's clear that wastewater infrastructure upgrades like the CSO tunnel are paying big dividends already. This is an important lesson for places like Aquidneck Island, South County, and Warwick among other communities facing sewering dilemmas. While there is no single solution for each community, system upgrades do make the water cleaner, and the results can be seen right away. -JT
-------------------------------------------------------------
From Bill Aldrich-
From the RIDOH sampling data, check out below a snapshot of bacteria count decrease from 2008 to 2009 at Conimicut Beach year to date, even given all the rain we have been having.
I think the CSO tunnel is to credit for this, at least in part.
For reference, 10 is the baseline reading and 104 is the reading above which they close beaches to swimming. Red means over that limit, blue means below.
5/20 through 5/31 --- 10, 10, 10, 41 (2008) versus 97, 98 (2009)
6/1 through 6/9 --- 10, 10, 20, 108, 109, 546, 663 (2008) versus 10, 10, 20, 31 (2009)
6/10 through 6/18 --- 10, 31, 145, 146 171 (2008) versus 10, 10, 20, 31, 41, 52, 62, 84 (2009)
6/18 through 6/24 --- 41, 148, 389, 404, 2613, 4884 (2008) versus 10, 10 (2009)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, June 05, 2009
Public Access Parking Bill Passes the House!
The bill to provide public parking at Rights of Way passed the RI House! Now it's off to the Senate. Thanks for all your help and support. Let's hope this good measure makes it through this year. JT
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