The Port of Providence operator has updated its expansion plans to address concerns flagged by environmental advocates at Save the Bay.
The concerns include filling in 31 acres of Narragansett Bay.
ProvPort Spokesman Bill Fisher said the agency has dropped those plans to fill the bay, which he described as a long-term vision. He said ProvPort’s primary goal is to acquire land to attract new tenants.
“And that remains our goal,” said Fischer. “And so we’ve assured Save the Bay and we have adopted a no-fill pledge with Save the Bay related to any pier development in that expansion area.”
Voters will have a chance to approve a $20 million bond that would help pay for the ProvPort expansion. Fischer added the bond will not bail out any polluters on the waterfront.
“We wanted to put this issue behind us so that we could focus on the benefits of this plan,” he said. “We want voters to understand that ProvPort has been a very successful port and a real economic generator for the state of Rhode Island.”
Fischer said ProvPort wants to build on that success.
“Both ProvPort and Save the Bay recognize that communication earlier is always better,” said Save the Bay Executive Director Jonathan Stone, who appreciates how swiftly ProvPort reached out to his organization to compromise.
“And [we] began having a number of discussions about our concerns and how this particular proposal unfolded over time,” said Stone, “and we’re very satisfied that the actions that they’ve announced reflect our concerns.”
Stone said filling the upper Narragansett Bay would undo decades of work by many to clean up the bay. It would also damage the harbor’s resiliency to storms and increase its vulnerability to flooding.