SPRING 2019 | Volume 50 | Number 2

An old Rhode Island community faces a familiar modern dilemma: whether to welcome new industry or preserve the land and bay TidesMAGAZINE

Save The Bay Turns 50!

Energy Hub or The Long Battle 50 Ways We’ve a Bay for All? With Litter Saved the Bay

SAVEBAY.ORG 3

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Save The Bay: What’s Inside...

50 Years on 4 Save Te Bay Turns 50! Discover our history and join the Front Lines the celebration.

8 Who Saves the Bay? Staf Profle: Do you recall the Bay 50 years ago? Topher Hamblett, 31 years Perhaps you grew up along its shores, with Save Te Bay visited during the summer months, or 12 Education moved to the Ocean State for work or to the present day. Some environmental How Central Falls students are school. You may remember the industrial challenges don’t really go away; they just making connections. pollution, raw sewage, fsh kills, damag- change in shape or color. Take energy ing coastal development, oil sheen, tar infrastructure projects, the foundational 16 Cover Story balls, and the blind eye of government. issue for which Save Te Bay was formed. Energy production hub or a Bay By 1970, people from all walks of life In the 1960s and ’70s, the Bay was for everyone? Te ongoing cried foul, stood in protest, demanded threatened by proposed oil refneries, defense of our founders’ vision action, and started a movement. Save LNG terminals and nuclear power plants. for Narragansett Bay. Te Bay, founded in 1970, became this Today, the Bay’s watershed—critical to movement. the health of the Bay—is threatened by a 21 Who Saves the Bay? Save Te Bay turns 50 in 2020, natural gas power plant and solar sprawl Donor Spotlight: and we have much to celebrate. We’ve (see story on page 16). Te Beinecke Family been on the front lines of every major Given the looming challenges of 22 Development battle to protect and clean up the Bay. a changing climate, land use changes, Become a Bay Champion! By all accounts, the Bay is cleaner and development pressures, and constrained healthier than it’s been in a century. Te government, Save Te Bay as the voice 24 Advocacy Narragansett Bay Estuary Program’s and defender of the Bay is as relevant How we changed the oil 2017 State of the Bay and its Watershed as we have ever been in our 50 years. I transportation industry, plus report documents this remarkable hope you enjoy the stories in this and our fsheries management. recovery. upcoming anniversary issues that bring Tis issue of Tides is the frst of this point home. 29 Who Saves the Bay? four issues that celebrate our 50th Volunteer Spotlight: anniversary and take stock of our past Alan Nathan, volunteer since 1974 accomplishments and look ahead to the future of Narragansett Bay and Save Te ON THE COVER: Bay. We have much to be proud of, but Jonathan Stone it is unsettling to see so many recurring Executive Director In 1971, in a story called “Te Tempting of a Small themes as we compare our earliest decades Town,” LIFE magazine published a feature story authored by Rhode Islander Roger Vaughan, about how the town of Tiverton battled to defeat a pro- posal for a new oil refnery. Te group, called Save Our Community, would become Save Te Bay. In the photo, the seven members of the Tiverton, R.I. town council sit on the wooded property proposed as the refnery site. TIDES MAGAZINE | Save The Bay | 100 Save The Bay Drive, Providence, RI 02905 401-272-3540 | savebay.org | [email protected]

Mission and Vision: Save The Bay works to protect and improve Narragansett Bay and its watershed through advocacy, education and restoration efforts. We envision a fully swimmable, fishable, healthy Narragansett Bay, accessible to everyone and globally recognized as an environmental treasure. 4 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

Save The Bay is Turning 50:

Join the Celebration! BY CINDY M. SABATO, D I R E C T O R O F COMMUNICATIONS

December 1979

1980 SENTINEL Save The Bay

FIVE DECADES OF PROGRESS: 1970 - 1983

1972 Champions and 1972 participates in the Opposes and defeats formation of the 1970 construction of a nuclear Coastal Resources Save The Bay is founded facility at Rome Point in Management after Save Our Community North Kingstown, R.I. Council. defeats a proposal for an oil refinery on the shores of Tiverton. SAVEBAY.ORG 5

L e f t : P r o v i d e n c e R i v e r, c i r c a 19 7 3 . C e n t e r : S c a r b o r o u g h

B e a c h , 19 7 3 . P h o t o s c o u r t e s y o f Na t i o n a l A r c h i v e s a n d R e c o r d s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n . B e l o w : A b o u t 5 0 0 c o m m u n i t y m e m b e r s j o i n e d u s fo r o u r E a r t h D ay B i r t h d ay P a r t y o n A p r i l 2 7, a n a f t e r n o o n f i l l e d w i t h s c i e n c e , a c t i v i t i e s , p e r fo r m a n c e s ,

m u s i c a n d m o r e t o k i c k o f f o u r 5 0 t h A n n i v e r s a r y Celebration.

Today, in 2019, love beads, acid rock, the Chicago Seven, and Vietnam are behind us, but Save The Bay re- mains steadfastly on the watch pro- tecting and improving Narragansett Bay for all to enjoy. This “little group (that) wouldn’t last longer than 6 months” will celebrate 50 years of advocacy for “The afternoon was filled with activities, Narragansett Bay next year. games, performances, and science demon- “On April 27, we kicked off an 18-month- strations. And we announced award long celebration of our 50th anniversary with winners of our Art Contest, in a community-wide Earth Day Birthday Party which school-aged kids were Follow at Easton’s Beach. Hundreds of community asked to capture the theme members joined us, starting off the day with ‘My Bay’ in drawings and the fun at: a beach cleanup, something that’s become a painting. We’ll use the SAVEBAY.ORG/ signature volunteer activity for Save The Bay,” winning designs on our said Executive Director Jonathan Stone. BayCamp t-shirts this sum- 50-YEARS mer,” Stone said.

1975 1979 Successfully campaigns Save The Bay turns its focus to to defeat placement of water pollution problems that a Liquefied Natural 1977 literally make the Bay an open Gas plant on Prudence 100 people take part in a cross-Bay sewer. Our first target is the Island, R.I. swim from Jamestown to Newport Providence sewage treatment to call for greater efforts to improve plant, rated second-worst in water quality in Narragansett Bay. New England by the EPA for The Save The Bay Swim is born. dumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Bay each year. 6 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

Follow the fun at: SAVEBAY.ORG/ 50-YEARS

Saving the Bay has always been a community effort, and • And in all the months in between, help make our events bigger today we invite our community of members and supporters and better than ever: to join our 50th Anniversary Celebration between now and • Sponsor a swimmer or swim team at the Save The Bay September 2020. Swim on July 27, 2019. • Share your favorite Narragansett Bay memories, stories and • Join us at our 2019 Annual Meeting and Taste of the Bay, photos on our new 50th Anniversary webpage, and explore June 13, 2019. others’ stories as well. SAVEBAY.ORG/50-YEARS • Volunteer for the International Coastal Cleanup on • Revisit some of our historic victories in our 50 Ways We’ve Saved September 14, 2019 The Bay story series, which will continue to grow throughout the • Attend our Artists for the Bay Show Opening on year (see page 24 for one of them). SAVEBAY.ORG/50-YEARS December 5, 2019.

• Get a copy of our new coffee-table book on the history of “These are all critical fundraisers for us, but importantly, they are advocacy for Narragansett Bay, coming in June 2020. Authored tremendous opportunities to celebrate the incredible improve- by local naturalist and writer Todd McLeish, this easy read begins ments in Narraganset Bay from 1970 through today,” Stone said. well before the founding of Save The Bay and takes readers through the many eras of the cleanup of Narragansett Bay. “While Save The Bay has been at the vanguard, the cleanup of Narragansett Bay has always been a community effort; we love that Todd is highlighting many of the people, organizations and agencies that have played a role in the Bay we know today,” Stone said.

• Be A Champion for Narragansett Bay and help propel Save The Bay into the next century of Bay advocacy by making a donation to our $8 million 50th Anniversary Campaign (see story on page 22).

• Plan to attend our waterfront 50th Anniversary Gala on Nearly 30,000 community members connect with September 12, 2020. marine life of Narragansett Bay at our hands-on Exploration Center and Aquarium at Easton’s Beach, Newport, R.I. FIVE DECADES OF PROGRESS: 1970 - 1983

1982 1980 Publishes “The Good, the Bad, and Wins passage of an $87 million Bay bond the Ugly” to raise awareness and issue to fund the upgrade and repair of the a call to action to clean up wastewater Providence treatment facility. As a result, treatment plants. thousands of acres of shellfish beds are reopened in the next few years. SAVEBAY.ORG 7

Revisit Some of Your Favorite Bay Memories

One of my favorite memories on the bay is One of my favorite memories of kayaking with my dog Rocco. He was a young Narragansett Bay was a perfect summer day in boxer pup at the time and we weren’t really New England with my family a couple years ago. “sure how well or if he could swim at all, so my “We went on a friend’s boat, the kids swam in the buddy and I tossed an extra life jacket on him, water and played by the shore and we enjoyed put him in my infatable raft while we scooted dinner at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the around Narrow River. Every time I drive over Bay. We went home smelling of sunscreen and that bridge it reminds me of a baby Rocco.” salt water with smiles all around. I love having ~ Josh C. wonderful family memories that involve the Bay.” ~ Jackie C. “I have loved watching my children grow on the banks of the Kickemuit River, learning to swim, sail, wind surf, “I have so many memories and dig for clams, and love and stories. Te Bay is an integral part protect nature!” of my life, from stepping in its cold waters in the early morning for Every July 4, as a child, swim lessons at Sand Hill Cove to I’d kayak with my cousins to laughing hysterically as we fell watch a panoramic view of our stand-up paddleboards “ by Pawtucket Cove. I could go of frework displays from dozens of little communi- on and on.” ties along the water.” I remember all the golden One of my favorite days of summer from age six memories was the time a “to present.” “small group of crabs went swimming by the dock where I was sitting in Barrington, while osprey circled about overhead. My daughter got to see TAKE ACTION! osprey chicks in their nest.” Share YOUR favorite Bay memories and photos with us at savebay.org/your-stories- and-memories

1982 Initiates the Aquidneck 1986 Island Pollution Prevention Helps win passage of a $4 Project to shed light on million bond issue to pay for pollution problems related 1983 improvements to Newport to land use and Begins a campaign to reduce Sewage Treatment Plant. development. pollution waste discharged directly into the Pawtuxet River by Ciba-Geigy Corp. 8 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

WHO SAVES THE BAY? STAFF PROFILE

Topher Hamblett: Save The BY CINDY M. SABATO, Bay’s Voice on Smith Hill DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

One of our longest-serving staff members, Topher Hamblett started What do you wish more people knew about Save The Bay? at Save The Bay as an intern in 1988, after a two-year stint in the I wish more people knew how much we depend on member Peace Corps. Within a year, he was on our full-time staff, focusing support to achieve our mission. A lot of people say they support on initiatives in Mount Hope Bay and the Blackstone River. By the what we do. But we need people to become actively involved, late 1990s, he’d been trained to do legislative lobbying and was through whatever financial contribution they can make and director of advocacy, the position he holds today. through volunteering.

How have you seen Narragansett Bay and the issues it faces What do you do as Save The Bay's director of advocacy? change over the years? When I started at Save The Bay, we I’m responsible for the work of what we call the “policy team.” were still dealing with dumped raw That is our group of front-line sewage and industrial waste on a advocates, Waterkeepers, and regular basis. Beach and shellfish habitat experts working on some of bed closures were more frequent the most important issues, to make and widespread. Salt marshes were a real, tangible impact on the health choked by roads and the dumping of the Bay and public access to the of dredge material. Now we’re Bay. I also represent Save The Bay getting closer to having a swimming at the Rhode Island Statehouse, in beach open up at Sabin Point on the coalitions and before the media. Providence River. Save The Bay has worked hard to reclaim damaged salt What has been the most excit- marshes and rivers that were blocked ing time or battle for you during by Industrial Revolution-era dams. your time with us? And why? The This great progress is now threatened sweetest victories are the ones that by climate change. Salt marshes are have required our perseverance drowning under rising seas. Warm- over many years. For decades, we ing waters are changing the ecology fought for the transformation of of the Bay. High tides are higher than the Providence River and the ever, and flooding from tides and Upper Bay from an open sewer to storms is increasing, both threatening a thriving waterway used by all. We public access to the shore. waged this battle in the courts, at the Statehouse, in city and town halls, and at the ballot box. Do you have any concerns about the future of Narragansett Bay? My biggest worry for Narragansett Bay is complacency. Every In the wake of the 1996 North Cape Oil Spill, Save The Bay led the day we hear: “The Bay is so much cleaner than it used to be.” And volunteer response. We also moved quickly to advocate for policies it is, but we have to protect those gains. Every day we are asked, that would protect the Bay from future oil spills. We championed “So, is the Bay saved yet?” No, never. Saving the Bay requires legislation to require oil tankers to be double-hulled and “notched,” constant vigilance. so tug boats could guide them to port in a much more controlled way. (see story on page 24) Where would you like to see Save The Bay in the next half century? I want to see Save The Bay leading the way, more than What's the key to Save The Bay's nearly 50-year longevity? ever before, on helping the Bay and local communities adapt An ability to adapt to ever-changing conditions has kept us strong to climate change. I hope we are successful in our advocacy and effective since 1970, and it will see us through the next 50 for moving infrastructure back, away from the coast, so that years. I have a deep and lasting respect for the founders of Save the natural systems of the Bay can survive and flourish. This The Bay—people like Louise Durfee, who answered a threat to is incredibly daunting, and I think Save The Bay is up to the her community, and John Scanlon, who created a strong, lasting challenge. n citizen’s voice for Narragansett Bay. The organization has done spectacular work harnessing people’s love and concern for the Bay. SAVEBAY.ORG 9

Save The Bay Action U dates

Advocacy How You • Save The Bay’s advocacy team is reviewing discharge permits, which are all up for renewal, for three of Rhode Island’s larger wastewater treatment facilities. We are Can Help urging DEM to add stricter nitrogen discharge limits to these permits, to move Tell Your Elected Officials What You’re Rhode Island closer to meeting water quality standards for Narragansett Bay. Thinking. Save The Bay has a new tool, called VoterVoice, that empowers com- • During this legislative session, Save The Bay is proposing the creation of an Ocean munity members to quickly and easily State Coastal Adaptation and Resilience Fund that could generate nearly $2 make their voices heard by legislators. million a year for projects that protect natural resources and public access to the When we send you an Action Alert about coast in the face of rising tides, increased flooding and storm surge caused by an issue important to Narragansett Bay, climate change. This “OSCAR” fund would be supported by an increase to petro- asking you to contact your representatives, leum import fees collected in our ports, from 5 cents to 10 cents per barrel. VoterVoice will automatically match you to your correct elected officials and guide • Also during this legislative session, the Office of Energy Resources has proposed you through the simple process of sending legislation concerning the siting of ground-mounted solar facilities. Save The a pre-written and/or personalized message Bay supports some provisions in the bill, including the creation of a plan steer- to your representatives. The whole thing ing renewable energy resources development to already disturbed areas (such as takes just seconds. So the next time you receive our Action Alert, open it, and help rooftops and gravel pits). However, we object to allowing state incentives that us tell elected officials just how important support development in our most valuable forests. it is to voters that we continue to protect Narragansett Bay. Restoration • Riverkeeper Kate McPherson is now implementing a fish monitoring plan in the Mattatuxet River to see how last summer’s removal of the Shady Lea Mill dam has affected, and hopefully improved, the anadromous fish run in this important river. Volunteer for Narragansett Bay. • We are helping the Town of Seekonk, Massachusetts begin a process of planning savebay.org/volunteer for climate change resiliency and prioritizing projects to help with the town’s • Join a Beach Cleanup: Running now municipal vulnerability preparedness. through November at locations all over the state, shoreline cleanups are a chance to enjoy the warmer weather Education and Rhode Island’s beautiful coastline, while getting the whole family outside • This year, three schools are participating in our Salt Marsh Nursery Program. to do something great for your local Students of Lincoln School, Chariho High School, and East Providence Career community. and Technical High School came out with Save The Bay last fall to collect seeds • Volunteer for the Swim: We need and are now all growing Spartina plants in their classrooms. This spring, they join more than 200 volunteers for a variety us once again to replant to growing salt marsh grasses at our various salt marsh of roles during the 2019 Save The Bay restoration project sites. Swim on Saturday, July 27. • Pell Elementary students are planting dune grasses with us this spring. For seven • Join our CVS Health Charity Classic years, Save The Bay worked with Pell Elementary School on year-long, multi- volunteer parking team on June 23-24. experience Bay-based education. Pell students join Save The Bay educators several times each year for learning experiences that include sand dune adapta- tion and restoration projects, going on seal tours, learning about Narragansett Bay animal diversity, watersheds, the impact of pollution on marine life and water quality and more. • Save The Bay Education Specialist Adam Kovarsky has just completed an intensive training program with the National Network of Climate Change Interpretation. Now a nationally certified climate change interpreter, he leads the climate change curriculum within our award-winning education program. 10 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

he December 1971 issue of the Save The Bay SENTINEL—the forerunner to this mag- Tazine—trumpeted “Coastal Resources Management Legislation Historic Step For- Creation ward for Rhode Island.” Creating a state agency dedicated to protecting Rhode Island’s coastal environment and managing development in coastal waters and lands was one of and Reform of Save The Bay’s very frst actions. And we won. We know this agency today as the Coastal Resources Management Council, or CRMC. Embedded in the new law was a clear and powerful statement of the CRMC’s man- the Coastal date: “preservation and restoration of ecological systems shall be the primary guiding principle upon which environmental alteration of coastal resources shall be measured.” Resources Back then, the CRMC included a professional staf of environmental experts and a politically appointed council of eight gubernatorial and eight legislative members. Among Management them was Save The Bay president Dr. William Miner, who had led the fght against a James- town oil refnery more than a decade before. The CRMC was charged with developing rules, procedures and plans for coastal protection and development. Its jurisdiction is generally Council defned as three miles ofshore to 200 feet inland from a coastal feature, such as a beach, dune, barrier, wetland, clif, bluf or rocky shore, and 200 feet from manmade shorelines. The CRMC established application processes for development proposals, and adjudicat- ed contested cases. The CRMC had sweeping authority over the development of Rhode Island’s coastline. Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, the CRMC presided over hearings on development proposals for hotels, condominiums, marina expansions, energy facilities and more. And BY TOPHER HAMBLETT, Rhode Islanders witnessed brazen political infuence at work. DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY A series of controversial decisions by the CRMC revealed serious conficts of inter- est among appointed members of the Council, some of whom were elected ofcials. CRMC members also included lobbyists from the petroleum, real estate and marina industries, some of whom con- tributed to the campaigns of the legislators who appointed them to the Council. One of their controversial decisions was approval of the Atlantic Beach Hotel in a fragile coastal feature in Middle- town. Another was a development project at Bonniecrest in Newport, which “led to the National Park Service stripping the area on Ocean Drive of its National Historic Landmark status, the highest designation it bestows,” according to Save The Bay archives. Having championed the creation of the CRMC and keenly aware of the CRMC’s shortcomings, Save The Bay joined Common Cause, the Audubon Soci-

December 1971 December ety and Friends of the Waterfront in a 1984 coalition called “Reform the CRMC” to “propose an alternative structure for the Council.” As Save The Bay presi- dent Michael Keating put it, “Here in Rhode Island, we are entitled to a Coastal Resources Management Council that makes critical decisions about the future of our environment free of the perception of confict of interest.” While the coalition succeeded in enacting some reforms, it was unable to change the law that allowed the Speaker of the House to appoint legislators to the Council. That proposal was considered a direct attack on the power of the General Assembly itself. That fght would be fought, and won, some 35 years later. In the 1990s, Save The Bay once again joined Common Cause in a “Separation of Powers” campaign to deal with built-in conficts of interest throughout Rhode Island government. For Save The Bay, this fght was largely about the CRMC. With legislative leaders appointing their fellow lawmakers to the CRMC, oversight and accountability were impossible because “the fox was guarding the henhouse.” After years of relentless struggle, the Separation of Powers campaign claimed victory in the mid-2000s, frst through a voter referendum and then a Rhode Island Supreme Court advisory opinion. Legislators serving on the Council resigned their seats. SAVEBAY.ORG 11

Oct./Nov. 1984 However, the written law about CRMC’s makeup didn’t reflect the separation of powers amendment until 2018, when Save The Bay legally challenged several of the governor’s appointments. In response to our legal action, the R.I. General Assembly codified the power of the governor to make appointments and the Senate’s “advise and consent” role in approving them. The 2018 reform also specified that the governor must clarify the appointed or elected office that each municipal appointment holds, to ensure that coastal communities, which are most directly affected by CRMC decisions and regulations, are adequately represented on the Council.

Te Coastal Resources Management Council considers the Block Island ofshore wind farm proposed by Deepwater Wind. Photo: CRMC.

“CRMC is nationally recognized as a leader in devel- oping coastal plans; its experienced staff works hard to protect our coastal resources. While the 2018 reform bill represented an important step forward for the legitimacy and accountability of the Council, the bill fell short on other key reforms,” said Executive Director Jonathan Stone. “Today, Save The Bay is doggedly pursuing the unfin- ished business of strengthening agency capacity, profes- sionalizing the Council, and aligning the agency’s policies, procedures, and regulations more closely with Rhode Is- land’s Department of Environmental Management. We are working with legislative leaders and agency personnel to enact additional reforms,” said Stone. One cannot overstate the importance of these reform efforts. After all, the Ocean State faces severe environmen- tal impacts from rapid climate change. Given its coastal jurisdiction and specialized expertise, the decades ahead will see the CRMC play a critical role in protecting natural resources, preserving public access, managing coastal de- velopment, and reducing vulnerabilities to rising seas. Time is short. The moment for reform is now. n 12 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

EDUCATION Modern-day Save The Bay Juniors Central Fall Students Discover the Bay in Their Own Backyard

BY KATY DORCHIES, M A R K E T I N G & GRAPHICS SPECIALIST

The site of a former drive-in movie theatre might not look like an educational experience at first glance, but for nine Central Falls High School students, the reclaimed Lonsdale Drive-In is their Save The Bay field studies “classroom.” While Save The Bay used to rely on the stories and experiences of our community’s youth, like the one told in the clipping to the left, our educators and education programs now steer the community’s youth to those experiences. For the students in Central Falls High School’s AP Environmental Science class, the journey to connecting with their local environment involves hiking past a once- paved parking lot, away from a lightly-trafficked bike path, and into the seven acres of restored meadow and wetland that is now known as Lonsdale Marsh. These students participate in the Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program with Save The Bay. During monthly visits over the course of the school year, they are participating in a diverse curriculum—including topics from food chains, biodiversity and habitat loss, to pollution, hazardous waste and water quality—that help them answer the question, “How healthy is your local ecosystem?” Lonsdale Marsh is a key wildlife habi- tat area nestled along the Blackstone River, a major tributary to Narragansett Bay. The marsh is home to a tremendous variety of plants and other life, making it the perfect field studies location. It is also conveniently located a mere two miles from Central Falls High School. “Despite its proximity to the school, most of the students didn’t even know that the marsh was there when we started working with them,” said Save The Bay education specialist, Meghan Kelly, who leads the B-WET program at Central Falls High School alongside fellow education specialist, Jeannine Louro. Kelly and Louro are making the most of the site, not only by introducing stu- dents to it for the first time, but also by taking a new approach in the way they present the B-WET program curriculum. SAVEBAY.ORG 13

“Rather than trying to teach “It’s just as important to students to identify every individual understand how to advocate plant, which can be overwhelming, for the environment as it is to we’re teaching them to observe their understand why to advocate field site using a holistic approach,” for the environment,” said Save explained Louro. The Bay’s Director of Education, “The students are learning to Bridget Prescott. “We want to assess the health of the marsh in its make sure these students have entirety,” said Kelly. “They’re recog- educational experiences that in- nizing the overcrowding of plants at spire and a road map for putting the upper marsh, the lack of biodi- that inspiration into action.” versity in the middle marsh, and the Jumping into action hasn’t quantity of invasive plants taking over been a problem for the nine the site.” Central Falls High School stu- This approach allows the students dents. While studying human to take what they’ve learned in their population impacts, they par- daily science classes and apply it to ticipated in a mock land-use how they observe an entire local habi- auction, learning about the tat. They begin to understand how complex negotiations that sur- everything from biodiversity to human round matters of development population impacts the balance and and environmental conservation. health of a local ecosystem. During a water resources lesson, “It’s one thing to learn from they took to the streets on foot the book,” said Laura Stanish, the in order to mark storm drains. Central Falls High School students participating in the B-WET class’s science teacher, “It’s another program in nearby Lonsdale Marsh get a frsthand look at the local And, in late spring, they’ll dig thing to go out, make your own marine life (above) and pull the highly invasive mugwort plant their hands into the dirt at the observations, see how the habitat from the path (left). now-familiar, “backyard” Lons- works, and learn how to collect dale Marsh in an attempt to free samples and take measurements. future visitors from the highly-in- First-hand observations and hands-on programs like B-WET is a powerful one. It vasive and non-native mugwort experiences are impactful in their own right, brings the theoretical into the personal; a along the path they’ve walked with Save but are even more so in this case because personal connection is the backbone of a The Bay educators all year long. n they are taking place locally. The experience makes the science all the more realistic.” future Bay steward’s environmental advo- The B-WET program is funded by a The classroom-to-backyard connec- cacy—another topic at the forefront of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- tion that takes place during experiential B-WET program. istration grant.

More Modern-day Save The Bay Juniors

Save The Bay’s educational programs have been inspiring 360 High School community youth for years—and the students’ advocacy After learning about the dam- efforts are improving every year! Just take a look at these aging effects of microplastics other recent student advocacy achievements: on marine life through Save The Bay’s B-WET program, Mt. Hope High School students at 360 High School Members of the Mt. Hope High School Environmental Club in Providence decided their exceeded all expectations when they undertook a campaign single-use water bottle buying to replace plastic utensils in their cafeteria with reusable habits needed to change. In metal utensils. The students presented an intricate cost 2018, they developed surveys, prepared a petition, collected estimate for their proposal to their school’s budget/facilities signatures and earned a grant to fund a water refilling sta- subcommittee and then the Bristol Town Council. Ultimately, tion at their school. The station, funded by the Greenlove the Town Council voted to rid plastic, single-use utensils at, Foundation, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit with a focus on not only the high school, but also at several district schools. providing filling stations to parks and schools, was installed in early 2019. 14 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

The Long Battle BY JULY LEWIS, VOLUNTEER AND INTERNSHIP MANAGER Against Litter

n 1970, Save The Bay was formed into the murky water, preparatory Ito tackle immense threats to our to shoving the boat free. To their water quality and our quality of life. surprise and chagrin, the boys found Threats such as power plants, raw they were standing on discarded beer sewage discharges, loss of wetlands bottles and trash of all kinds. We had, and more. One common, everyday in truth, rammed the boat hard and fast on a large underwater pile of rubbish.” In cooperation with the Rhode Island Marine Trades Feb 1976 SENTINEL Association and the Providence cover Chamber of Commerce, Save The Bay in 1973 launched an Anti- Littering Committee. Its goals were education and prevention, and the work being done on the is- cleanup, and long-range plan- sue. Events like “Dunk for Gunk” had ning. The committee explored a divers bringing trash up into the light “Clean the Bay Day” (noted as a to demonstrate that an out of sight, very large undertaking and not out of mind attitude was turning our feasible) and sought solutions precious Bay into an underwater junk with industries whose products yard. In one of its signature projects, ended up as trash along our the committee produced and dis- shorelines. tributed over 100,000 litter bags, to The Committee found great spread the anti-littering message and nuisance was so rampant that it was cooperation from the media. Televi- encourage proper disposal. included among the seemingly more sion, radio and newspaper coverage Our early articles make it clear difcult challenges of the day. That promoted the anti-littering message that the Anti-Littering Committee nuisance was litter. believed its eforts were making Even in our frst decade, Save a diference. “Exposure of the The Bay staf and members were so campaign has been constant and frustrated with litter that it was the widespread. The efort has had topic of a story in almost every issue April 1973 great impact and is producing of the Save The Bay SENTINEL, as it measurable results. Boaters in was called then. A February 1976 edi- great numbers have been using the torial proclaimed, “Narragansett Bay bags and returning them for proper should not be plagued by bottles, cans, disposal. Attitudes about littering tires, containers, toys, paper glasses, appear to be better. Comments rags, or any one of a thousand objects made to committee members are all foreign to the environmental health of favorable. Awareness of the problem this precious, fragile body of water.” has been heightened and hopefully In our April 1973 SENTINEL, people are learning that everybody Marston W. Keeler told the tale of must help. This should result in grounding his sailboat at Gaspee the development of better habits, Point in an overnight race from Edge- particularly among yachtsmen, wood Yacht Club to Newport. “My fshermen, swimmers and divers.” crew…gingerly lowered themselves SAVEBAY.ORG 15

So significant is the danger of plastics in our environment that we can no longer limit our efforts to individual behavior change. Today’s arsenal against plastic litter includes research and advocacy for local ordinances to limit availability of these products. Save The Bay sits on the Rhode Island Plastics Task Force, which is recommending a statewide ban of single-use plastic bags. This legislative session, we are supporting a bill that would ban release of balloons, which often end up in our oceans. Our Wa- terkeepers have begun trawling local waters to measure the prevalence of microplastics in our waterways. This spring, we will begin Far left: Photograph of litter collected at a 1970s beach cleanup. Above: Volunteers collected 289 work to identify which companies’ products pounds of trash from Oakland Beach during the 2018 International Coastal Cleanup. are most commonly found polluting our shores. As a community, we have blocked At Save The Bay’s inception, plastics Marston Keeler issued a call to action power plants, solved sewage problems, were only just beginning to be widely used in 1973: “For the sake of our grandchildren and reduced industrial pollution. But indi- in packaging. In fact, in all those early ar- and succeeding generations, we can, and vidual human behavior is notoriously hard to ticles on litter, plastic was not even men- we must, return our Bay to its pre-Gaspee change and impossible to legislate. Progress tioned. status. And what can you, as a private citi- lies in teaching people about the effects of In 1970, 35 million metric tons of plas- zen, do to further the cleanup? Become an littering and spreading the idea that we must tic were produced globally, compared to active, participating member of Save The take responsibility for our own trash. Happily, 381 million metric tons in 2015. A cumula- Bay. Do it now!” Today, we also ask you to we have had major successes in this fight. tive 7.82 billion tons of plastic have been join a cleanup, skip the straw, choose reus- Progress Achieved Keep America Beautiful data indicate that visible litter on U.S. roadways was down 61% from 1969 to 2009. That Clean The Bay Day that seemed too big a project to take on in 1973 is now a reality in the form of the International Coastal Cleanup. Save The Bay is Rhode Island’s coordinator for this global event, recruiting more than 2,500 volunteers every September to clean local shorelines and record and report what we find. We now have a thriving education pro- gram that engages K-12 students in clean- ups and watershed programs that teach the impact of litter and how it reaches the Bay. In 2018, we produced anti-littering pub- lic service announcements in partnership with WPRI that were viewed by more than 455,000 households. A New Litter Threat Modern times, however, have introduced a new challenge in our ongoing battle against litter. Barely a blip on the Anti-Litter Com- produced over time. When plastic breaks able, and spread the word that it’s not OK to mittee’s radar in the early 1970s, one litter down, it does not decompose. Rather, it trash the Bay! In 50 years, our children and issue has emerged to become a global envi- breaks into tiny bits of plastic. Plastics are grandchildren may be thanking us. n ronmental epidemic that threatens decades now found in the gills and stomachs of ma- of litter improvements. Plastics. rine species all over the world. 16 Tides Magazine Spring 2019 SAVEBAY.ORG 17

An Energy Hub or a Bay for Everyone? Energy Successes THE ONGOING DEFENSE OF OUR FOUNDERS’ 1970: Save Our Community de- feated the Northeast Petroleum Oil VISION FOR NARRAGANSETT BAY Refinery proposed for the shores of Tiverton.

BY TOPHER HAMBLETT, DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY; 1970: Defeated Algonquin Gas LNG MIKE JARBEAU, BAYKEEPER; AND proposal for Portsmouth. KATE MCPHERSON, RIVERKEEPER 1971: Defeated Tenneco’s proposed liquefied natural gas storage facility on Jamestown. arragansett Bay in 1970 was at a crossroads. An energy boom confronted the Npeople of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. At stake was the 1972: Defeated Narragansett Electric proposal for nuclear power plant future of Narragansett Bay itself. Would the Bay become a hub of energy production, 1989 at Rome Point, in North Kingstown, like neighboring states? Would the people of this region embrace a vision of petroleum at what is now the John H. Chafee refneries, liquid natural gas terminals, and nuclear plants? Or would they create and Nature Preserve. fght for a diferent vision, of a Bay that supported a wide range of both recreational and commercial uses? 1974: Advocated against the New England Electric System’s proposed 2005 Pioneering Vision 900 megawatt nuclear reactors in Charlestown, at what is now Nini- One proposal—for a Northeast gret National Wildlife Refuge. Petroleum oil refnery along the shores of Tiverton—ini- 1976: Defeated New England LNG plan for Fall River. tially drew overwhelming sup- 1976, 2005 & 2009 port amidst promises of good 1977: Defeated Federal Power Com- jobs and other community mission and Tenneco LNG terminal benefts. But a few forward- for Prudence Island.

thinking residents disagreed. 1970 They mobilized as “Save Our 1970 Community” and, in 1970, de- feated the refnery by a single 1977 Tiverton Town Council vote. On the heels of a similar fght 1971 1972 in Jamestown a decade earlier, and this one in Tiverton, these pioneers saw other big- energy proposals looming Bay-wide. They founded Save The Bay to be the loud, re- lentless citizens’ voice for a clean, healthy 1989: Launched a successful cam- paign to defeat NewBay Corpora- Narragansett Bay that supported a wide tion’s proposal for a coal-fired range of uses, in balance. power plant on the Seekonk River in The advocacy of Save The Bay’s East Providence. founders was visionary and incredibly efective. They built an organization that 2005: Defeated KeySpan LNG pro- has successfully fought for the cleanup of posal to expand LNG operation at 1976 Narragansett Bay and transformed the Fields Point in Providence. 1974 2005: Defeated Weaver’s Cove Energy proposal for LNG terminal in Fall River. Top: An oil refnery along the Delaware River illustrates a Narragansett Bay waterfront that might have been, if not for the vision of Save Te Bay’s founders. Photo: Doc Searls, Flickr Creative Commons. 2009: Defeated Hess LNG proposal Above: Save Te Bay’s frst executive director John Scanlon, far right, and others release our report for a massive Liquefied Natural Gas “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Energy” at a forum with the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities. terminal on the Taunton River in Fall Right: A Narragansett Bay watershed map showing the power plant proposals successfully defeated by River. Save Te Bay and our supporters. 18 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

Bay into one of the most south shore, killing defning characteristics of millions of lobster, the region’s identity and shellfsh, and birds, culture. Over the decades, and leading to the the big-energy proposals closure of more have kept coming, though than 250 square the nature of the propos- miles of water to als has changed with time fshing and shell- and technology. One thing fshing. that has, from the begin- ning, been constant in Protecting Save The Bay’s advocacy Critical Habitat against these proposals; The 1970s also the potential efects on the Above: Te M/V Argo Merchant ran aground and spilled almost 8 million gallons of oil brought two ma- health of Narragansett Bay southeast of Nantucket. Photo: NOAA Ofce of Response and Restoration. Bottom: jor nuclear power and its marine life, public Pennsylvania’s Tree Mile Island nuclear power plant experienced a partial meltdown in plant proposals, health, and importantly, the 1979, renewing concerns over the safety of nuclear power and efectively ending nuclear one for Rome Point people’s (RI.) constitutional interests in Rhode Island. in North Kingstown right to use the Bay. and one along Nini- gret Pond in Charlestown. From Save The Bay’s perspective, Protecting the Waters the amount of water required for the reactors’ cooling system The oil refnery proposals of the 1950s, 60s and 70s included was the heart of the nuclear power issue. More than 1 million hundreds of storage tanks, towering infrastructure, and count- gallons of heated seawater would be discharged from the Rome less tanker ships transporting and ofoading millions of gallons Point plant every minute, drastically raising water tempera- of oil, not only in Tiverton, but on Pru- tures, as much as 20 degrees by some estimates. At Ninigret dence Island, in Jamestown, at Quon- Pond, cooling water was to be supplied set Point, and in the Melville area of by Block Island Sound, delivered to Aquidneck Island. Save The Bay’s the plant by massive 14’ diameter pip- founders were driven by concerns ing buried under the pond and barrier about harmful emissions, odors, beach, before extending out another half spills and leaks into Narragansett mile south. Heated water there would be Bay. discharged further into the Sound. In 1975, executive director “We did not strictly oppose nuclear John Scanlon visited Louisiana to power; but we cautioned against siting gain a better understanding of how decisions that endangered the sensitive, the oil industry might afect Narra- critical features of the Bay’s estuarine en- gansett Bay. Save The Bay believed vironment,” said Save The Bay’s executive that, at most, Narragansett Bay director, John Scanlon, in an early issue of could handle a limited number of the SENTINEL. support facilities at existing in- A coal-fred power plant proposal for © JL JOHNSON dustrial locations like Quonset the Seekonk River in East Providence in Point. But Scanlon saw a level of 1989 brought the same concerns for pro- industrial development that he tecting critical habitat. The company was knew was incompatible with our looking at Omega Pond at the mouth of the vision for Narragansett Bay. We questioned economic Ten Mile River as the source of cooling water, beneft models and warned Rhode Islanders that large oil spills and Save The Bay was concerned about contamination to these were not a possibility, but an inevitability. waters from untreated discharges. A year later, the M/V ARGO MERCHANT, bound for Boston And today, we stand in opposition to the siting of the pro- from Venezuela, ran aground southeast of Nantucket, spilling posed Clear River Energy Center in Burrillville. This natural almost 8 million gallons of oil. In 1989, the M/V WORLD PROD- gas-fred facility would be located in an important part of the IGY ran aground on Brenton Reef, spilling 300,000 gallons of Narragansett Bay watershed, destroying more than 100 acres oil at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. And in 1996, the barge of valuable forest and wetland and disrupting surrounding criti- NORTH CAPE spilled 828,000 gallons of oil onto Rhode Island’s cal habitat that provide water quality protections for the Bay. SAVEBAY.ORG 19

Preserving Public Access energy that can curb greenhouse gas Harvesting offshore wind energy re- emissions, and the threats they can pose quires great care in the siting of wind The steady fow of liquefed natural gas to critical habitat when implemented turbines. Just as with fossil fuel energy facility proposals since the 1970s has carelessly or hastily. sources, renewable energy projects must brought not only pollution concerns, but Even with the hope that renew- be implemented in a way that avoids also signifcant threats to Save The Bay’s able energy may someday replace fos- and minimizes damage to the marine vision for a fully accessible Narragansett sil fuel energy altogether, Save The Bay environment. They must also balance Bay. Proposals for Jamestown, Fall River, wildlife habitat and competing uses of Prudence Island, Providence, Weaver’s the offshore waters, including commer- Cove and Mount Hope cial fishing, shipping and recreation. Bay would have flled the When the first-in-the-nation wind Bay and its shoreline with energy project was proposed for the expansive tanker termi- waters off the southeast corner of Block nals for ofoading prod- Island, Save The Bay comprehensively uct, large storage facili- examined the ecological issues posed ties, and the destruction by the project. By participating in the of valuable coastal lands. Ocean Special Area Management Plan The hundreds of tanker (SAMP) Stakeholder Group, as well as ships moving up and down technical committees on commercial Narragansett Bay every and recreational fisheries, global cli- year would have required mate change, and statutes and regu- frequent closings of public lations, Save The Bay championed access and recreational use protection of the marine environment in signifcant portions of the and evaluated plans for energy cable Bay. siting on the coastal beach environ- “In each of these battles, Save The Bay has fercely de- fended the public’s access to Narragansett Bay. The transit of tankers with fammable, ex- plosive material requires large portions of the Bay to be closed of to oth- er commercial and recreational uses. Up- setting the balance of uses we’ve always enjoyed was, and is, unacceptable,” said Save The Bay Advocacy Director Topher Hamblett.

Renewable Energy, Properly Sited Most of the industrial energy propos- als fended off by Save The Bay were to be powered by fossil fuels, which have caused rapidly changing climate con- ditions that today threaten the health of Narragansett Bay. One response to Top: A 25-foot U.S. Coast Guard boat assigned to the Coast Guard Station Boston, Mass., provides a security climate change is the birth and rapid escort for the Liquefed Natural Gas (LNG) Tanker Matthew in Boston Harbor. Photo: Public domain. growth of renewable energy produc- Above: Block Island wind farm. Photo: Ionna22 / CC-BY-SA-4.0. tion, powered by the wind and sun. But the siting of these new technologies remains committed, foremost, to pro- ments in Narragansett and on Block Is- pose their own challenges to Narragan- tecting Narragansett Bay’s marine and land. sett Bay and to Save The Bay. Today, we coastal habitats and marine species as “After decades of battling large find Narragansett Bay at another cross- well as public access to use our waters. scale, fossil fuel energy facilities, Save roads: the intersection of renewable The Bay was excited by the prospect of 20 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

forested areas of the watershed, than in already developed areas “After decades of battling large-scale, such as landfills, gravel pits, large rooftops, and abandoned fossil fuel energy facilities, Save Te Bay was industrial areas. As a result, last year Rhode Islanders began seeing huge swaths of rural forest areas cut down and replaced by excited by the prospect of Rhode Island sweeping acres of solar panels. As of early 2019, Rhode Island had leading the way in renewable energy production 155 large-scale solar projects underway, covering about 365 acres to combat climate change.” of land, much of which was previously forested. Ground-mounted solar may not bring the heavy tanker traf- fic and public use restrictions that LNG facilities would. It doesn’t pose the risks of spills and pollution that oil refineries would. And Rhode Island leading the way in renewable energy production to it doesn’t put marine species or the fishing industry in jeopardy, combat climate change. At the same time, our mission is to pro- at least not directly. But ground-mounted solar energy threatens tect and improve Narragansett Bay, so we advocate for the most forested lands of the Narragansett Bay watershed, which are vital environmentally-sound siting of wind farms. That is why our staff to the health of the Bay and the region’s ability to adapt to climate actively participated in the scientific, technical and legal working change impacts by storing carbon and maintaining cooler tempera- groups in the siting process,” Hamblett said. tures in rivers, streams, forests and the Bay itself. This new era of renewable en- ergy involves some solar developers leasing large tracts of land, often forested or undeveloped, cutting all the trees, scraping off valuable top- soil, blasting to flatten out the land- scape, and then installing solar pan- els. These solar panels have a limited life and contain toxic materials that could pose serious environmental health threats. Little thought has been given to the decommissioning and disposal process when they are no longer effective. The construc- tion sites are also often a source of nutrient-laden runoff; a 100-acre area clear cut without proper storm- water management often results in large amounts of sediment flowing offsite into wetlands and streams. Save The Bay challenges Rhode Is- land to do it right: tackle climate change while protecting the ecologi- cal resources that we all depend on. We cannot sacrifice forest for solar; we need both. Once again, or rather, still, Save Large-scale solar farms threaten critical watershed habitat and water qual- The Bay finds itself battling, not en- ity in Narragansett Bay. Photo: Brookhaven National Laboratory ergy specifically, but responsible siting of energy sources that will not put our vision for Narragansett Bay and 50 years of progress at risk. It is difficult to imagine what Narragansett Bay would look like A New Threat Emerges in the Era of Renewable Energy had some of the energy siting proposals of the past 50 years come Unfortunately, Rhode Island’s renewable energy laws—important to fruition. Save The Bay’s founders, members, supporters, leader- to tackling climate change—have allowed a new energy challenge ship and staff have always believed that Narragansett Bay is best to emerge in the Narragansett Bay watershed almost overnight. when it is protected as a valuable natural resource for the enjoy- Unintended consequences of these laws have made it is easier and ment of all. The Bay today is far healthier than it was when we were more profitable to erect large-scale solar farms in the undeveloped, founded, but the fight for Narragansett Bay continues. n SAVEBAY.ORG 21

WHO SAVES THE BAY? DONOR SPOTLIGHT

For decades, protecting the health and Sarah, Frances, Jesse, Jake and Jake’s The Beinecke preserving the beauty of the southern New brother Ben all comprised the Prospect England coastline, with special attention to Hill Foundation’s Environment Program Narragansett Bay and Pleasant Bay on the committee, whose collective love for local Family: Cape, have been driving forces for the phi- communities and cultures motivated sev- lanthropy of the Beinecke family. Shortly eral initiatives. Tey brought other philan- Stalwart Support after moving to the Ocean State in the thropic families together for a marine and early 1980s, Sarah Beinecke Richardson, coastal resources workshop. Tey engaged for Generations well-known as a longtime, quiet leader in multiple state agencies and stakeholders Rhode Island, was deeply dismayed by the to develop the Shellfsh Management Plan pollution of Narragansett Bay. Looking for of Rhode Island. Tey convened a regional a way to contribute her time, energy and re- conference to investigate nutrient pollution sources toward stopping the pollution and and ocean acidifcation in Southern New cleaning up the waters, she found Save Te England coastal waters. Tis conference Bay, and the rest is history. Sarah became a spotlighted Save Te Bay’s work engaging stalwart, dedicated activist and has been a citizens and advocating for government major donor to the organization ever since! reforms and policies to protect ecologically Eventually becoming the frst woman important estuaries and embayments, stop president of Save Te Bay, Sarah’s lead- pollution of oceans and coastal waters, and BY PENNY FUJIKO WILLGERODT, ership set a tone for the entire Beinecke encourage healthy marine habitats. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, family. Son Jesse W. Smith grew up surf- Te efective advocacy work by Save THE PROSPECT HILL FOUNDATION ing, swimming, and sailing, and became a Te Bay has compelled the Foundation conservation activist in neighboring West- and Beinecke family members to provide port, Massachusetts. His wife Annice was a consistent annual support throughout the regular Save Te Bay swimmer before their years. Pressing aggressively for efective family moved to the West Coast. Nephew policies—in crisis situations when a threat looms to unanticipated opportunities when a chance presents itself to further a posi- tive reform—Save Te Bay’s leadership is critically important in the State of Rhode Island and ofers a national model for other coastal regions in our country. It was a no-brainer for the directors of Te Prospect Hill Foundation to agree unanimously to be one of the frst to sup- port Save Te Bay’s 50th Anniversary Cam- paign (see story on page 22). Te directors thought the Bay Defense Fund would be the logical place to invest a $250,000 capital gift (very major for us!) as this special fund supports Save Te Bay’s ability to respond nimbly to advocacy crises and opportuni- ties when they arise. As a modestly-sized philanthropy, Te Prospect Hill Foundation always enthusiastically welcomes any op- Te Beinecke Family portunity for leverage, so it was delighted Jake S. Beinecke eventually became the to ofer its capital grant as a matching chal- chair of the environment program at Te lenge to help Save Te Bay jumpstart the Prospect Hill Foundation, the Beinecke’s silent phase of the campaign. Te Beinecke family foundation. Sarah’s environmental- family is very proud to know that the Foun- ist sister, Frances Beinecke, former head of dation’s early support helped Save Te Bay the National Resources Defense Council, raise nearly $6 million so far! n delivered two keynote speeches to Save Te Bay members and supporters. 22 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

DEVELOPMENT Be a Bay Champion SUPPORT THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN FOR THE FUTURE OF NARRAGANSETT BAY

BY CHERYL & ANDREW NATHANSON AND KATE & AIDEN PETRIE, CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIRS

Save The Bay turns 50 in 2020! For nearly five decades, Save The are increasingly starved of resources and deprived of the politi- Bay and its supporters have been at the vanguard of the cleanup of cal support they need to do their job. Narragansett Bay, earning a reputation for leadership, integrity and In a major way, the challenges of the past 50 years pale in com- perseverance. Save The Bay has defeated ill-conceived and damaging parison to the extraordinarily complex, subtle, unrelenting—and industrial projects. expensive—threats of today. Polluted runoff, excessive nutrients, It has battled against the dumping of raw sewage and toxic warming sea temperatures, sea level rise, coastal development, de- industrial waste into the Bay. It has spoken out against poor gov- clining marine life, overfishing—all represent grave and urgent perils ernment oversight and policies. It is the only advocacy organization that will continue to demand attention. whose sole mission is to protect and improve Narragansett Bay. And To strengthen Save The Bay’s capacity, flexibility and financial it is uniquely equipped to mobilize diverse interests in bringing about foundation to persevere in its efforts to combat these emerging real environmental change. Truly, we owe the Narragansett Bay we environmental threats and sustain its commitment to the Bay for enjoy today to Save The Bay and its supporters. the next generation, the board of directors is proud to announce Although the cleanup of Narragansett Bay over the past nearly Save The Bay’s 50th Anniversary Campaign. The campaign is a 50 years is a national success story, three inexorable forces put this major fundraising initiative to raise $8 million to help Save progress at risk and threaten to roll back decades of progress. The Bay in four critical areas: 1. Climate change is having a profound effect on the health of 1. A BAY DEFENSE FUND for rapid response the Bay and threatens water quality, habitats, biodiversity, and to unanticipated threats, public access. 2. CAPACITY INVESTMENTS to strengthen the 2. Population pressures are leading to suburban sprawl, organization’s ability to meet future challenges, coastal development, and other human impacts to the Bay’s 1754-square-mile watershed. Much of this growth is driven by 3. AN ENDOWMENT FUND to strengthen Save the economic dynamism of the Greater Boston area, which is The Bay’s financial sustainability, and extending into the Taunton and Blackstone watersheds. 4. ENHANCE PUBLIC ACCESS, boating, fishing and 3. State and federal environmental agencies empowered to pro- kayaking at Field’s Point through construction tect the Bay through the Clean Water Act and other statutes of a pier, which is fully funded as we write.

Photo: Richard Benjamin SAVEBAY.ORG 23

As a native Rhode Islander, I have grown up appreciating the Bay and have always considered it “the state’s most important asset. Save Te Bay started as a protec- tor, restorer, and educator of the Bay I love. I feel a responsibility to participate in maintaining Save Te Bay’s fnancial viability to allow it to continue its work.

~ Alan Nathan, board member, campaign donor, Seagrass Society member We are pleased to announce that, important financial commitment you to date, the campaign has raised nearly can make to Save The Bay is to support $6 million, or 75%, of the total cam- our annual fund. But given the extraor- We would like our children and paign goal, from generous campaign dinary nature of this 50th Anniversary grandchildren to live in a place leadership gifts and 100 percent of Campaign, we do ask you to consider where the air is clean, the water Save The Bay’s board and staff. As we an additional investment in the future sparkles and nature thrives. It head into the home stretch, we ask of the organization as we approach seems to us most of the world you to consider a gift to the campaign. this remarkable milestone. n As we have emphasized with all of would agree with that desire. our generous contributors, the most However, few have the motiva- tion and perseverance to strive for that to happen. Save Te Bay does! Tat is why they are so worthy of Be a Bay our support. CHAMPION ~ Ruud and Laurie Bosman, campaign donor Your gift to our 50th Anniversary Campaign has a lasting impact. By enhancing Save The Bay’s capacity and organiza- tional flexibility, you ensure that we are equipped to:

• Promote environmental progress

• Prevent the undoing of decades of achievement

• Defend against new threats

• Inspire each generation to care for the Bay Join us! 24 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

ADVOCACY

Fifty years ago, a group of Rhode Island residents concerned 50 WAYS WE’VE about the risks of oil SAVED THE BAY: spills in Narragansett Bay fought hard to stop the proposed construc- Rerouting Oil tion of an oil refinery in Tiverton and eventu- ally founded Save The Transportation Bay. Their victory wasn’t enough to stop a del- uge of oil from making its way into our water Above: M/V World Prodigy ashore on Brenton years later. But our ef- Reef (1989). Below: North Cape and tug Scan- forts surrounding three devastating oil spills dia marooned on Moonstone Beach (1996). in 1989, 1996 and 2000, led to the altera- tion of the oil transportation industry that diminishes the likelihood of another cata- help prevent ships like World Prodigy from strophic oil spill. Our advocacy brought GPS inadvertently veering off course and caus- technology to large ships and reinforced the ing preventable disasters, Save The Bay’s BY CHRIS CASSADAY, hull strength of oil tankers making business then-Executive Director Trudy Coxe led the COMMUNICATIONS INTERN in Rhode Island waters. These changes are charge. Coxe issued a proposal during a now felt globally and have brought about a special hearing at Salve Regina University, much-needed reformation to the industrial urging the government to implement what sector. was then an experimental state-of-the-art tracking system in ships and military satel- Putting GPS on Tanker Ships lites. This “Differential Global Positioning The nearly-300,000-gallon fuel oil spill by System” would allow the Coast Guard to World Prodigy in 1989 was the first of the keep track of ships within the Bay and no- tify their captains when a ship was running off course. By the end of the year, advocating for GPS integration in large vessels, Save The Bay had begun a campaign before the Mer- chant Marine and Fisheries Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. In July 1990, Congress passed a series of oil spill prevention laws and nominated Narragan- sett Bay to be the first testing ground of the GPS.

Strengthening Ship Construction On January 19, 1996, North Cape ran aground off Moonstone Beach in Washing- ton County, spilling close to a million gallons of home heating oil and, as a result, killing millions of animals throughout 250 square spills that caused Save The Bay to challenge miles. Many Rhode Islanders still remember federal laws and regulations. Recogniz- the stench of oil and decaying marine life ing that integrated GPS technology would that perished during this event. SAVEBAY.ORG 25

After the devastating spill, Save The Bay denounced the oil in- required the phase-out of all single-hulled tank vessels by 2010—a dustry’s tanker parameters, as most ships at the time were only out- monumental victory for Save The Bay. fitted with a single hull. Single-hulled ships contain their cargo just Four years later, in 2000, an estimated 9,700-14,600 gallons of beyond the watertight hull; if the hull is breached, the contents can oil spilled in the East Passage off Middletown. Penn Maritime Inc. immediately leak into the water. Double-hulled ships, on the other from Stamford, Conn. claimed responsibility. While the earlier North hand, contain two separate watertight hulls, with the cargo located Cape spill pushed Save The Bay to advocate for double-hulled barg- within the secondary, interior hull. If a ship suffers a collision, the es, Penn Maritime—though small—furthered our agenda. Had both chance of a spill is much smaller. of these vessels been equipped with double hulls, these spills could We teamed up with have been avoided. then-R.I. State Senator Presidential Recognition Charles Fogarty and then- Over the course of these U.S. Senator John Chafee. three disasters, Save The As a result of our advocacy, Bay fielded over 4,000 effective June 1, 1997, the calls and prepared an es- Oil Spill Prevention and timated 1,500 volunteers Control Act required all in coastal cleanup and large vessels transporting marine bird rescue train- oil or hazardous materials ing to assist with state and to have double-hulls or es- federal agencies. We lost cort tugs. The subsequent hundreds of birds to these Federal Oil Pollution Act spills, but were it not for the volunteer force, the number would have been much higher. Our role in the North Cape spill led to the Rhode Island Coast Guard designating Save The Bay as the official oil spill volunteer coordina- tion center. Rhode Island’s citizens stood against the threats with everything they had. After the spill of ‘89, President George H. W. Bush recognized Save The Bay’s efforts and named us as the 76th of a “Thousand Points of Light” on February 26, 1990, an immense honor for a small nonprofit based in the smallest state of the country. 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the World Prodigy disaster, the 23rd of North Cape and the 19th of Penn Maritime. We at Save The Bay strive to ensure that our waters stay clean and safe for the millions of people who live within the water- shed; when disaster strikes, we are ready to take the call. n

Te January 1996 grounding of the North Cape spilled nearly a million gallons of home heating oil of Moon- stone Beach in southern Rhode Island. 26 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

Where Have All the Fishes Gone? Concerns About Fisheries Management Are as Old as Save The Bay

BY MIKE JARBEAU, NARRAGANSETT BAYKEEPER

e’ve been talking about fsh for a cern about the big boats from neighbor- National Fisheries Wlong time at Save The Bay. After ing states stripping our Bay of menhaden, Management Introduced all, a “fully fshable” Narragansett Bay thereby reducing food for stripers and In the 1970s, while Save The Bay was is woven within our vision statement. other species. Estimates at the time were gaining our footing, major changes were Recently, a number of news stories have that commercial boats were taking as taking place that would afect the orga- drawn attention to concern among the much as 80 percent of menhaden popula- nization’s ability to advocate for better local fshing community that the Bay is tions from Narragansett Bay. fsheries management at the local and losing some of its economically impor- Atlantic menhaden were, and are, national levels. One of those changes tant species. A look back at our frst de- known for their important role at the bot- was the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fish- cade of SENTINEL newsletters suggests ery Conservation and that even then, there Management Act, which was widespread concern established the nation’s about fsh populations in fsheries conservation Narragansett Bay. Thus and management struc- began a generation of ture. Save The Bay advocacy The Magnuson-Stevens for improved fsheries Act provided a venue for management that contin- states, the fshing indus- ues today. try, and others like Save The Bay to participate Commercial Fishing in the federal manage- Concerns ment process. Another Fifty years ago, foreign important development fshing vessels were a was the establishment of frequent sight of New the Exclusive Economic England waters, where Zone, which gave nations they harvested massive control of their natural resources out to 200 nau- amounts of fsh, to the tical miles—and meant dismay of local fshing the end of the foreign interests. In addition, tom of the marine food chain. They are feets. The future of domestic fsheries, fshing boats from Massachusetts, New flter feeders that eat plankton and serve and how the new regional management Jersey, and other states were common- as a food source for striped bass, bluefsh, plans required by the Magnuson-Stevens place in Narragansett Bay. An April 1975 osprey and other key species. While not Act would be implemented, were uncer- SENTINEL article questioned whether typically consumed by humans, menha- tain. such large-scale commercial fshing was den are prized as bait by recreational and We argued in our 1970s newslet- afecting the abundance of Atlantic men- commercial fshermen and harvested in ters that regulators needed to account haden in the Bay and their ability to re- massive numbers to be processed into for menhaden’s importance within the cover from poor spawning years. Two fertilizer, animal feed, and other com- ecosystem and to the other species. We years later, in May 1977, Save The Bay modities. Back then, a strong belief was still argue this today for all marine spe- that commercial fshing of menhaden cies. The Narragansett Bay ecosystem cited fshermen’s concerns about dimin- kept important game fsh like striped is a complex community of living organ- ished striper populations along north- bass and bluefsh from entering the Bay isms, habitat, and other elements that east shorelines. And in September of that in search of sustenance. depend on and interact with each other. year, a SENTINEL article expressed con- SAVEBAY.ORG 27

Save The Bay worked remained engaged on many fronts. We’ve closely with other en- maintained our early partnerships with vironmental advocates commercial and recreational fishing advo- along the east coast to cates and participated in state and federal support the measures, management, including the New England which would have set Fishery Management Council. We fight to an exciting precedent protect horseshoe crabs from overharvest- for responsible fisher- ing for biomedical purposes and have ex- ies management in panded our efforts into habitat restoration, the United States. Un- adaptation and protection. Last year, Save fortunately, despite The Bay participated in a successful effort the growing wealth of to encourage the New England Council to knowledge about the pass measures that will protect another im- menhaden’s impor- portant forage species, Atlantic herring. When one part of the system is removed tance and a compre- or altered, the efect on the rest of the hensive outreach campaign to regulators, ecosystem must be considered and taken the measure failed to pass. into account. Save The Bay’s advocacy is On the bright side, Rhode Island lead- directly centered upon the principles of ership and fisheries managers have demon- ecosystem-based management. strated a commitment to ecosystem-based management principles. The players may change, but Save The Bay continues its mis- Progress sion! It is often the case that some of the Finally, in 2017, more than 40 years after biggest victories take the longest to win. we began expressing concerns about fisher- ies management, the Atlantic States Marine Beyond Menhaden Fisheries Commission considered menhaden Since our first foray into fisheries manage- management measures that would take ment issues in the 1970s, Save The Bay has ecosystem considerations into account. As we look ahead to the next 50 years, we expect many of the same issues to persist. Ecosystem-based fish- eries considerations remain criti- cally important, and Save The Bay hopes to see them adopted in all management plans. Narragansett Bay is experiencing an increase in aquaculture operations alongside improvements in water quality and technology, which will require close examination of Bay uses and poten- tial conflict. At the same time, cli- mate change will continue to have major implications for the future of Bay fisheries. Water temperature changes alter Bay dynamics, and sea level rise affects coastal habitat. Climate change adds to the urgency for ecosystem-based management. Needless to say, Save The Bay will be here to serve as an advocate for Nar- Top: Atlantic menhaden provide food for many marine species, including tuna, bluefsh, whales, and ragansett Bay and its resources. n ospreys. Photo: Pew/Gene Helfman. Right: Save Te Bay advocates for stricter limits on horseshoe crab harvesting, as the Rhode Island population has been on a dramatic decline since the 1970s. Photo: Asturnut (talk) via CC by-SA 3.0. Above: Fishing RI Sound. Photo: Chris Goldberg. 28 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

VOLUNTEERS

Our Power is Still BY CINDY M. SABATO, Our People DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

n an April 1979 Save The Bay SENTINEL Iarticle about the power of volunteers, author Mary Grady wrote, “We’d be lost without the energetic contributions of Save The Bay members.” That statement is as true today as it has been since Save The Bay’s founding in 1970. Our eforts and victories would not be possible without the help of nearly 4,500 volunteers who work with us each year. Save The Bay victories are their victories for Narragansett Bay. Our volunteer needs have changed since President Migliaccio’s call for volunteers in 1975 (see clipping at left). But our need for volunteers has not. SAVEBAY.ORG 29

WHO SAVES THE BAY? VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

July 1974

Today’s Save The Bay volunteers Bay. The first tunnel built by the Bay Com- plant salt marsh grasses, count har- mission has improved the water quality bor seals, greet guests at our Explora- immensely by reducing combined sewer tion Center and Aquarium, and lead overflows and preventing bacteria from beach cleanups. They do water quality fecal matter from entering the water. Un- testing, legal research, data entry and on- der continuing EPA and DEM pressure, line calendaring. They take pictures, help construction of a second tunnel under the us run events like the Save The Bay Swim, Blackstone River will commence in a few and more. And, as members of our board years,” Alan said. of directors and leadership committees, Alan believes Save The Bay has sur- volunteers have guided the direction of vived for almost 50 years because “it start- Save The Bay since the beginning. ed out finely focused on cleaning the Bay One of those board volunteers is and has never veered from that focus. Oth- Rhode Island-born Alan Nathan, who first er environmental groups have emerged joined Save The Bay’s executive board in with wider or different missions, but our 1974 and is a board member today. In the membership and the public at large know years between, he has been on and off exactly what we do,” Alan said. the board as board terms allowed, served Maintaining that fine focus hasn’t al- on our policy and development commit- ways been easy, since Save The Bay staff tees, and supported various fundraising tend to be “very green in their thought efforts along the way. pattern,” Alan said. He said the board, “For a very long time, I have been up- which is comprised of people from vari- set over human activity as it relates to pol- ous industries, has responsibility for steer- luting the ocean and waters in general. In ing the organization back to its focus on By the time Alan joined Save The Bay’s my life, it started with Long Island Sound Narragansett Bay when it begins to stray. board, he’d already been serving on a state being a cesspool, people disregarding the “That’s very important, because we only task force to tackle the problem of raw sew- quality of the water, sewage treatment have so much energy and money,” he said. age spilling into the Bay every time storm- plants that were ineffective, and industry As for the future of Save The Bay, Alan water runoff from streets went into the dumping chemicals in the water,” said Alan, says “our work is never going to end. There sewer system—an effect called combined who lived in Larchmont, New York with his are always things that need to be improved. sewer overflows. family for many years as a child. Trouble just comes. People can rely on Save “Save The Bay systematically went af- “Moving back to Rhode Island, I saw The Bay as the protector of the Bay. We ter those treatment plants, to clean up their the same thing. Sewage treatment plants don’t give up; we keep moving forward. acts and improve their facilities. Building were unfunded and not working very well. “I wish more people, even former awareness around this issue and fighting There were no controls over what industry Rhode Island residents who now live in for these improvements were two of the could and couldn’t dump into our waters,” other states, would consider including Save most important things Save The Bay did to he said. In those years, the seeds of his pas- The Bay in their will. Such donations would improve water quality in the Bay,” Alan said. sion for water quality issues began to take serve as a legacy to help maintain Save The Pressure from Save The Bay was a sig- root. Bay’s financial viability for the next 50 years nificant force behind the creation of the and to help protect Rhode Island’s most pre- Narragansett Bay Commission, which cious asset for generations to come.” n took over operations of the Providence Sewer Treatment Authority at Field’s Point and the Bucklin Point Wastewater Treat- ment Facility in East Providence. In 2005, Alan became a commissioner on the Nar- Opposite Page: Volunteers have always been an important part of our work at Save Te Bay, ragansett Bay Commission. as evidenced by these archival articles in early is- “I felt that my responsibility was to sues of the Save Te Bay Sentinel. Top: a 1974 increase the communication between Sentinel article introduces Alan Nathan to Save Save The Bay and the Bay Commission, Te Bay’s executive board. Left: Board member as these two organizations are by far the Alan Nathan today. most instrumental in the cleanup of the 30 Tides Magazine Spring 2019

Board of Directors Kate and Howard Kilguss Cheryl Nathanson Brooke Lee President Raymond T. Mancini SAVE THE DATE Gilbert Conover Brad Miller Vice President F. Paul Mooney Justin DeShaw Raymond F. Murphy, Jr. Annual Meeting & Taste of the Bay Vice President Tim Palmer Thursday, June 13, 2019 • 5:30 – 9:00 p.m. Gail Ginnetty Aiden and Kate Petrie Save The Bay Center, Providence Vice President Warren Prell Eugene McDermott, Esq. Elizabeth Prince savebay.org/taste Secretary Jeffrey Rasmussen Steve Geremia Michael Rauh 43rd Annual Save The Bay Swim Treasurer Sarah Beinecke Richardson Saturday, July 27, 2019 • 8:55 a.m. Board Members Marty Roberts Start: Naval War College, Newport Michael Blitzer Nancy Safer Robin Boss Finish: Potter Cove, Jamestown Paul Salem savebay.org/swim George Coleman George Shuster and Joseph “Bud” Cummings Stephanie Van Patten Stephen Gerencser Jeffrey Siegal Jenn Harris Eric R. C. Smith Chris Lee Hon. O. Rogeriee Lynn Manning Thompson Anne Miller Philip Torgan Ruth Mullen Geoff Tuff Alan Nathan William Vareika George Shuster Kenneth W. Washburn Samuel Slade Ellicott Wright Robert Vierra Alisson Walsh Executive Director Jonathan Stone Board of Trustees Joan Abrams Staff Trudy Coxe Joan Abrams Kate Kilguss Kendra Beaver Sarah Beinecke Jess Bornstein Richardson Tammy Camillo Dr. Vincent Rose Jackie Carlson H. Curtis Spalding Kaitlyn Cedergren Ellicott Wright Joshua Cherwinski International Coastal Cleanup Gráinne Conley President’s Leanne Danielsen Saturday, September 14, 2019 Leadership Council Nicole Delos Locations all over Rhode Island, times vary Alden Anderson, Jr. Stan Dimock savebay.org/ICC Ruud Bosman Chris Dodge Nick and Wendy Bowen Kathryn Dorchies Timothy Burns Katharine Estes Artists for the Bay Show & Sale Cynthia Butler Lauren Farnsworth Opening reception: Thursday, December 5, 2019 Duncan and Wenley Ferguson Barbara Chapman Maureen Fogarty 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Wayne Charness Topher Hamblett Save The Bay Center, Providence Steve Clark Letty Hanson savebay.org/art Jemma Craig Stephany Hessler Denise Dangremond Mike Jarbeau Elizabeth M. Delude-Dix Jennifer Kelly Joseph DiBattista Meghan Kelly Bradford S. Dimeo Mary Klimasewiski Patrick Driscoll Adam Kovarsky Anne G. Earle July Lewis Jonathan D. Fain Jeannine Louro Connect with Us Mark J. Formica Kate McPherson Leslie Gardner Leslie Munson Save The Bay is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WordPress. Follow along, Thomas P. I. Goddard Eric Pfirrmann share your stories and pictures, plan a visit and spread the word about the importance Bob and Robin Hall Bridget Kubis Prescott Peter Hallock David Prescott of a healthy Narragansett Bay. Steven Hamburg Cindy Sabato Alan G. Hassenfeld Jed Thorp Visit our website at: savebay.org C. Michael Hazard David and Susan Hibbitt Tides Editor: Like us on Facebook at: facebook.com/savebaynarragansett Mr. and Mrs. Richard Cindy Sabato Higginbotham Editorial inquiries to: Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/savethebayri Jennifer Hosmer [email protected] Follow us on Instagram at: instagram.com/savethebayri Read our Tides blog at: savebay.org/tides

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