Effective opposition to additional rails or rail realignments that destroy environmental and cultural treasures such as the Carter Preserve, the Pawcatuck River, or our historic mill villages “would be meaningfully more difficult under the 2025 SPEED Act, which would limit the role of the National Environmental Policy Act in shaping projects with federal funding or permits”
CT Mirror story on Amtrak’s New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study. Unlike NEC Future, the new study is not being conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a federal law that requires agencies to evaluate the environmental impacts of major infrastructure projects before approving them. Gregory Stroud said. “How do you engage with a federal process if you don’t know what rules it’s governed by?” Post links to story at CT Mirror.
Amtrak has the go-ahead to move forward with a long-awaited two-year study to decide how best to achieve high-speed rail service linking New Haven and Providence on the Northeast Corridor. Will it include the destructive “Old Saybrook to Kenyon Bypass?” This is just the beginning—there is nothing definitive yet. Story is at the CT Examiner and you may need a subscription to read.
“Human development has divided turtle habitat into small pieces, resulting in islands of resources separated by roads and other uninhabitable landscapes.” Learn about the plight of local turtles in this article from ecoRI.
“You see all the steam coming off the compost, all that vapor,” he said, pointing through the screens of his covered porch in Charlestown to the large pile of organic materials in view, “that’s a product of the microorganisms … they eat that food and break it down to become the best part of our soil.”
“That’s a floodplain forest,” he said. “Pin oaks mixed with red maple. When the glacier retreated, a meltwater river likely piled sand here before the moraine, which these pines tolerate, while the lower plain became swampy and friendlier to the forest community across from us.”
In this post are two great local nature videos. One by former Richmond residents Michael Russo and Cathy Cressy and the other by Elise Torello of South Kingstown, plus information on the upcoming 2025 Video Festival to show off Rhode Island’s natural wonders scheduled for Sunday, February 23.
Weidman said the new law enables development by right of ADUs in homes near Charlestown’s environmentally sensitive salt ponds, which the state Coastal Resources Management Council, she said, rates as already beyond their capacity to safely tolerate more wells and septic systems. She remains unhappy that an effort to carve out these areas in the legislation was rejected.
On Friday, July 12, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter issued a preliminary decision, siding with private property owners who seek to overturn the state’s new shoreline access legislation passed last year by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee. The RI Attorney General disagrees with the decision. Story at ecoRI News.
If passed, the legislation (S2928/H8148) would replace the current structure of politically appointed board members with a state department that would allow current CRMC staff, which has the necessary expertise on coastal issues, to make decisions in the best interest of Rhode Islanders and the Ocean State’s coastal resources.
Francis C. Carter Memorial Preserve is known for a few things – from holding the title of the second largest nature preserve in Rhode Island to sweeping landscapes created by glaciers. It may be best known, however, for having some of the best hiking trails in Rhode Island. Seven hiking trails meander through the lush 1,100-acre nature park.
A fragile stretch of sand runs nearly 2 miles between Spray Rock Road to the Breachway in Charlestown, but thoughtless motorists, empowered by commercials that glamorize Jeeps pulverizing non-pavement space, treat the Quonochontaug Sand Trail, and the dunes and beach that run parallel with it, as their private racetrack. Full story this week at ecoRI News.
On May 3, the CT Examiner interviewed Joseph Barr, Director of Network Development in the East Coast, who is working on the New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study. The Kenyon to Old Saybrook bypass is not off the table and Mr. Barr speaks of a past Environmental Impact Statement as if it was complete, but NEC Future never had environmental data for Charlestown and nearby towns. We will need to get that environmental data to them all over again. See our web page on the Federal Railroad Administration Plan for background.
“Because they had such a failed public process before, and because what they proposed was so devastating to the environment, historic resources, to people’s homes, they ought to want to start with a really open process, because people will assume that they don’t have any other ideas, because I’ve only heard of two, and one has been taken off the table. So if they have another idea, no one knows what it is, and the people in the path of that other idea ought to know, too.”
CHARLESTOWN — Years after a proposed “Kenyon to Old Saybrook” high-speed-rail bypass through areas like the historic district of Old Lyme and and Stonington’s Olde Mistick Village sparked public outcry in Connecticut, few realize the pivotal role that Charlestown played in stopping the plan, or at least delaying it until now. Story at CT Examiner.
The on-going “New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study” will recommend a new off-corridor route that meets goals for time and capacity included in the 2017 NEC Future Record of Decision. Whether that means a return to the idea of a bypass, such as the controversial route previously planned through Charlestown, or a direct inland route between Hartford and Providence is not yet clear, although a recent interview with Congressman Joe Courtney hinted that the direct inland route may already be off the table.
Amtrak officials acknowledge that the ground rules for the new study guarantee a new off-corridor route and require the same metrics previously used to justify a controversial high-speed-rail bypass through Charlestown and coastal Connecticut. Read text of story in the CT Examiner.
Frosty Drew is the most accessible dark-sky area east of the Mississippi. Light pollution poses a serious threat to nocturnal wildlife, as it has negative impacts on plant and animal physiology. It can confuse the migratory patterns of animals, alter competitive interactions of animals, and change predator-prey relations. Full story at ecoRI News …
Federal Railroad Administration announced $16.4 billion of funding for passenger rail projects along the Northeast Corridor, and additional funding to reevaluate and finalize high-speed rail options across southeast Connecticut and southern Rhode Island. The study follows up on the “Kenyon to Old Saybrook Bypass” proposal for an inland high speed rail route slated between Kingston, R.I. and Old Saybrook that faced multi-state opposition and was set aside in 2017.
“With the park’s master plan undergoing an update, a potential option is increased lighting. Lighting would ruin the park’s unique view of the night sky, which every year attracts thousands of visitors. Town Council President Carney says, “We hear it about the dark sky, people who value the dark sky,” but she notes the park is for the recreational use of all Charlestown residents.” Read the full story in Nov. 4 Providence Journal.
Global insect populations have declined by as much as 75 percent during the past 50 years, according to scientists, potentially leading to catastrophic impacts on wildlife, the environment and human health. Most studies point to habitat loss, climate change, industrial farming and pesticide use as the main factors driving the loss of insects, but a recent study in the United Kingdom points to another cause: light pollution.
The lawsuit, filed on September 25 by David and Linda Roth, who own two properties in Westerly, charges that the state illegally seized private property without due compensation when it passed the shoreline access law in June. The complaint also claims the General Assembly exceeded its powers when it passed the law.
Owners of beachfront property in Rhode Island went to court Friday to fight a new state law that moved the border between their private land and the public beach to 10 feet inland from the “seaweed line.” Story includes a link to the lawsuit.
As the Town Council works to weaken Charlestown’s development regulations and remove local environmental protections, the legislature enacted many new land use laws that will also weaken environmental protections. This article from ecoRI News discusses some of those state legislative changes. “By erasing the part about protecting the environment in a significant manner, the General Assembly misses a key point about public health and neighborhood well-being: If we don’t protect the environment, we can’t protect ourselves.”
Once again, the General Assembly sidelined bills that, in other states, have shown a proven and powerful impact on reducing litter and increasing recycling rates for materials, such as plastic, that could be repurposed to make new commodities. At the Rhode Island Statehouse, the loudest speakers against bottle bills include people representing liquor, grocery, and convenience stores.
How to Spend a Beautiful Summer Weekend in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Beaches and hiking trails await, not to mention a unique shopping destination, award-winning Indigenous cuisine, and an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet—just a short road trip from Boston. Read the full story in Boston Magazine …
The settlement will require Kenyon to expeditiously implement plant improvements until it achieves 12 consecutive months of compliance with its permit limits for copper and whole effluent toxicity. Failure to achieve compliance will trigger automatic monetary penalties. As an additional condition of the settlement, the company is required to pay a $10,000 civil penalty for their past violations and also pay $40,000 to the Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic Rivers Stewardship Council who will direct the money to projects promoting the restoration, preservation, and protection of the Pawcatuck River, with a particular focus on the area downstream from the Kenyon mill.
In the rain on May 20, the Nature Conservancy named a 3-mile loop trail for Tarzan Brown in the 1,100-acre Carter Preserve in Charlestown. This story in the Boston Globe includes a description of the day’s ceremony to dedicate the trail and a very large, immovable, stone monument. There are videos of RI TNC director John Torgan’s speech, Thawn Harris’s speech, singing, drumming and more. This is just one more reason to continue to protect the Carter Preserve from being bisected by new train tracks.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (CT) said the only way to significantly speed travel along the existing rail line is to build new track “in places where there isn’t track today. And building new track involves some dislocation.” The proposed Old Saybrook to Kenyon, RI rail bypass that runs through Charlestown will remain part of the forthcoming New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study that Amtrak applied for funding for on March 27.
How municipalities respond to the demand for housing has significant consequences not only on community character but also residents’ quality of life and the resources they depend upon for their drinking water, livelihood, and recreational pursuits.
