DEM Explains Decision, a Community Leader Promises to Fight

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management over the objections of many Rumford residents. 

The controversial waste processing and recycling facility scored a substantial victory from the decision, especially in light of mounting . The permit will allow the facility to process 1,500 tons of waste per day. The site currently processes 500 tons per day.

DEM Assistant Director Terry Gray spoke by telephone about the Department’s decision to grant the license. He also described the process of how the department reviews its licensing, saying that a final decision is based on two factors.

“We have to review the license application against the requirements in our own regulations, and TLA met all [of those] requirements,” he said. “Then we go out for public comment. Then we look at general themes in comments. Then we craft conditions on a license.”

According to Gray, TLA/Pond View was found to have met all regulatory benchmarks for the licensing permit.

On the matter of addressing public concern, Gray recognized the vocal opposition to the facility’s operation on behalf of many Rumford residents.

Gray said that the department noticed that “public concerns were broken into two main categories: odor and dust.”

“We addressed [public concerns] through requiring that TLA have an air monitoring plan,” he said. “And with Omega Pond, we are requiring them to enhance buffer between their plant and the pond: raise height of berm, as well as the height of the fence on the berm. We also are requiring them to increase vegetation on buffer the offer the site.”

The new license will also address residents’ concerns by requiring the maximum capacity of 1,500 tons per day to be attained through meeting benchmarks through three periods, all of which are directly tied to air quality.

While the permit allows Pond View to process 750 tons per day immediately, the company must implement an air monitoring system while reporting the results to DEM to gain incremental expansions.

The license states that in “monitoring period #1,” Pond View must implement an air monitoring system and report its readings for 90 days before it can be considered by the department to expand to 1,000 tons per day.

If passed, the company must air quality readings for another 90 days in “monitoring period #2” to be considered for 1,250 tons per day. After the third monitoring period, the company will be allowed to process at maximum of 1,500 tons per day.

DEM’s press release on the license addressed germane , stating that the department “strongly supports three core principles in current legislation…,” though it did, in several cases, point to no existing laws that would nullify the permit.

The release also noted that many of the resident's concerns pertained to matters that were the jurisdiction of the city of East Providence, not DEM. 

Moments after the decision, Pond View’s Regional Vice President, Jack Walsh, spoke by telephone about RI DEM’s approval of his company’s request.

“We looked to the DEM to review their facts, the process and science,” he said.

Walsh views this decision as an opportunity to move forward with residents in the larger community.

“I care about our neighbors here, and it’s a good opportunity for both sides of this issue to move forward and listen to each other,” Walsh said.

When asked about the pending legislation in the General Assembly, he said that TLA/Pond View is  “actively involved so that the members of the committee know exactly what’s going on here.”

When asked how he will brace for potential backlash from neighboring residents, Walsh said that he is “eager to plan and begin a constructive dialogue on coexisting together.”

Ken Schneider, Co-President of the East Providence Coalition and active opponent of the Dexter Road facility, doesn’t share the same spirit of optimism.

Schneider offered his reaction to the RI DEM’s decision by telephone, moments after it had been finalized, saying that he felt “surprised and depressed.”

“We’re going to push the city to appeal the decision,” he said.

Schneider intends to move forward with his opposition to the facility and anticipates others to do the same.

The city and the Attorney General's office have a lawsuit pending against the facility based on a Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling. They argue that the facility is operating without necessary certificates from the city and state. 

“We’re not going to stop until we get some satisfaction,” he said.

Schneider elaborated saying that “satisfaction” would mean the facility “either moving in an appropriate location that was not near neighborhood homes.”

"We don’t want them moving to another city to torture other citizens,” he said. “They could move to an area like the Port of Providence or even Quonset.”

Mayor Bruce Rogers and Walsh have scheduled a neighborhood walk in the Rumford area on Saturday.