On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to fund improvements at two of Rhode Island’s ports. It’s Question 5 on the ballot for a bond that would modernize Pier 2 at the Port of Davisville in Quonset, and expand the Port of Providence. Rhode Island Public Radio Environmental Reporter Ambar Espinoza met with port officials and environmentalists to learn what’s at stake.
Last year, more than 260,000 cars were imported at Quonset’s Port of Davisville. It’s the sixth year in a row that the port has broken a record.
“We have a world class auto import operation down here at the port and have for quite some time,” said Gavin Black, president of the Rhode Island Ports Coalition.
Black said over the past 20 years this car import business has grown more than 500 percent, making Quonset one the country’s top 10 auto import terminals.
“We’re entering the main port area now,” said Ted Kresse, a spokeman for the Quonset Development Corporation, during a car ride to the port’s two piers. “We’re headed down to Pier 1.”
Driving by Pier 1, we see rows of new cars fitted with white protective covers. An occasional loud pop scares away seagulls, keeping their droppings off the brand new cars.
Black said Pier 1 is a true pier, held up by wood pilings that have been in the water since the early 1940s.
“Pier 2 [on the other hand] is really a wharf,” he said, “and it’s much bigger an area than Pier 1. It is much more solidified in its ability to handle very heavy high value, voluminous cargo. So Pier 2 is the real workhorse of the Quonset operation.”
And it’s this workhorse that the Quonset Development Corporation wants to upgrade using different pots of money, including $50 million from the port infrastructure bond, to keep this port competitive in the region.
“And the reason why Quonset has such a unique advantage is because of all this shore side space you see that can fit cargo like automobiles,” said Black.
The port’s specialty isn’t limited to cars. It receives heavy lumber from South America. Seafreeze, the largest producer of frozen seafood on the East Coast, is based here and so is Okeanos Explorer, the largest federal research vessel.
With the opening of an expanded Panama Canal this summer and an emerging offshore wind industry, port officials expect more heavy cargo to arrive at Quonset and ProvPort, two of only a few deep water ports in New England.
“This is where, when offshore wind projects continue to develop, there will really be a need to handle the very heavy cargoes coming through,” said Kresse. “Pier 2 is already into its 60th year and it’s really time that we make the investments to ensure that Rhode Island continues to be such an integral part of the growth of offshore wind.”
Quonset and ProvPort had to share hosting different parts of the Block Island Wind Farm. And that was only five turbines. Kresse and Black said these ports have to be ready to handle larger projects in the future.
Improving the Port of Davisville would mean reconstructing and reinforcing Pier 2 and adding a third area where ships pull up. ProvPort would also need upgrades and expansions.
“Both of these ports Quonset and ProvPort are proven winners,” said Black. “They are highly successful economic engines. They provide thousands of jobs, millions of dollars of household incomes for Rhode Island families and millions more in tax revenue.”
Black said the two ports complement each other. Unlike Quonset, ProvPort specializes in what’s called bulk cargo: salt, coal, cement, scrap metal and liquid fuel. And if it passes, the bond issue would allow the state to purchase more land to attract more tenants to ProvPort.
But port officials aren’t the only ones envisioning a future for Narragansett Bay and its ports. ProvPort is right next to the state’s largest environmental organization Save the Bay.
“ProvPort expanded some of its operations to a former capped land fill closer to Save the Bay here,” said Save the Bay’s Bay Keeper Tom Kutcher. He said ProvPort has been working with the group and state officials to clean up the shoreline and create public access along the water.
By boat, Kutcher patrols the bay and especially this industrial area.
“I’m sure these guys see us coming by,” said Kutcher. “You know, when we talk to them about their operations, they make note that they see us by here. I think it’s important that they know we’re keeping an eye on them. Particularly with DEM, [the Department of Environmental Management] being short-staffed, sometimes I’m their eyes and ears, too.”
During a boat ride along the Providence River with Kutcher, Save the Bay’s Executive Director Jonathan Stone said he appreciates the important role ProvPort and other port operations play in the state’s economy. But he worries about the potential environmental impact of expanding the port.
Stone was pleased by how quickly ProvPort responded to his organization’s concerns about long-term plans to fill 31 acres of the upper bay with a pledge to drop those plans.
“We have no problem with port operations,” said Stone. “Our focus is on pollution. That’s where our concerns lie.”
For example, some of the land that the state wants to buy to expand ProvPort includes the property of Rhode Island Recycled Metals, a company the state is suing for not complying with environmental laws.
A ProvPort spokesperson said the bond money would not bail out the company, which has a lot of cleaning up to do at its property. But Stone still wonders about that.
“The attorney general and the DEM understand fully that this company should not be rewarded for its bad behavior in a buyout,” said Stone, “but how that actually transpires if the state does negotiate an agreement to purchase the property? It’s not clear how the state will ensure that taxpayer money doesn’t pay for the cleanup.”
Stone said on the flipside, if the state buys out Rhode Island Recycled Metals, the cleanup will certainly happen. And that’s what he cares about most.
On Election Day, voters will decide whether to approve the bond issue to upgrade ProvPort and Quonset. They’ll have to weigh issues like keeping the ports’ competitive edge and protecting the jobs they provide. They’ll also have to consider how to protect the bay as a resource for wildlife, boating, fishing and other uses.
See the Voter Handbook to check out state referenda and bond referenda questions. The handbook in Spanish here.
