The Tidewater Communities Project
Resource Page
Management of the property and its hazards
Management of brownfields like Tidewater is driven by the "polluter pays" principle, which designates polluters responsible for the costs of 'fixing', or remediating, contaminated sites. This principle was adopted at the federal level in 1980, with the implementation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), more commonly known as the Superfund Act. More specifically, CERCLA designated those involved in contaminating these sites and current owners of contaminated sites as potentially responsible parties, or PRPs. Rhode Island lawmakers adopted these principles into state law in 1995, in the Industrial Properties Remediation and Reuse Act.
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) holds primary responsibility for overseeing the remediation of the Tidewater site. [The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) occasionally oversees certain kinds of work on the site, such as the recent response to the discovery of pcbs on the property.] Rhode Island's rules for managing contaminated sites are contained in the Department of Environmental Management's Rules and Regulations for the Investigation and Remediation of Hazardous Material Releases - Remedial Regulations, for short. According to these rules, the responsible parties of a contaminated site must undertake a thorough investigation of the property and then propose a remediation plan based on this analysis. Once the responsible parties have submitted a plan that the
Source: GZA GeoEnvironmental, Holder Decommissioning and Demolition Project Completion Report.
Asbestos abatement at Tidewater
Department of Environmental Management deems acceptable, the plan is presented to the public, and members of the community are invited to comment. DEM officials make a final determination on the remediation plan after taking into consideration these public concerns.
CONTACTS
RI Department of Environmental Management:
Leo Hellested
Chief, Office of Waste Management
401-222-2797 ext. 7502
Joseph Martella II
Senior Engineer, Office of Waste Management
401-222-2797 ext. 7109; joseph.martella@dem.ri.gov
Barbara Morin
Supervising Environmental Scientist, Office of Air Resources
401-222-2808 ext. 7012
RI Department of Health:
Robert Vanderslice, PhD
Healthy Homes and Environment Team 401.222.7766
Robert.Vanderslice@health.ri.gov
As the current owner of (the majority of) the Tidewater Site, National Grid is one of the site's primary responsible parties (PRPs). In early 2011, an environmental firm hired by National Grid, GZA GeoEnvironmental, submitted the first part of the remediation proposal: the Site Investigation Report. GZA submitted the second part, the Remedial Action Work Plan, a few months later, on July 29, 2011. The DEM has been considering the proposal since that time.
As the Tidewater Communities Project shows, National Grid has conducted significant work on the Tidewater site even though DEM has yet to approve the remediation plan. According to DEM officials, this has been necessary because National Grid uses a portion of the site to operate a natural gas regulating station and an electric substation. For instance, National Grid conducted an upgrade to the gas regulator in late 2012 and early 2013. Other projects that have taken place, however, like the holder decommisioning project and work to fix a deteriorating pipe associated with PCB contamination, are more clearly linked to the remediation project.
The Tidewater Communities Project was developed in response to public perceptions that the property owner did not adequately prioritize considerations of human harm in planning and carrying out some of this work. On this website, you can find a detailed account of how the gasholder decommisioning project, in particular, fueled these perceptions. You can also find an analysis of the shortcomings in the regulatory process that led to exposures during the gasholder project. Finally, you can read about ongoing efforts in the broader Tidewater community to ensure that concerns regarding potential harm are prioritized in the management of the property and its hazards.