Has DEM lost its teeth?

Over the last year, environmental regulators have kept a close eye on the Woonsocket Wastewater Treatment Facility, clocking more than 30 inspections of the municipally-owned sewage plant. 

What they found: at least 21 permit violations, 26 odor complaints and three occasions in which partially untreated sewage was dumped into the Blackstone River, according to court documents. 

Yet the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) never fined, or otherwise penalized, the city or the private plant operators.

Environmental advocates say the Woonsocket sewage plant is the latest example of an alarming shift away from stringent environmental enforcement in favor of a more “business-friendly” approach. 

“What has happened over the last several decades is a reduction in staff and a reduction in the willingness to do the hard work of enforcement,” said Topher Hamblett, advocacy director at Save the Bay. “It’s a resource issue, but it’s also a political will issue.”

It’s not like Woonsocket Wastewater Treatment Facility is getting off scot-free. 

Earlier this month, DEM and the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General filed suit against the city and private operators of the sewage plant for repeatedly breaking state and federal environmental laws. 

Environmentalists and users of the Blackstone River praised the news of the lawsuit. But they couldn’t help but wonder why DEM hadn’t cracked the whip earlier.

“It was frustrating it had to happen a third time for an enforcement to happen,” said Stefanie Covino, program manager for the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative. “We had been anticipating an NOV.”

Slow process

Notices of violation, or NOVs, are the most common, formal enforcement tool for DEM. The legal notice usually comes with a hefty fine of $25,000 a day – versus a less formal “expedited citation” of up to $5,000 – and sets out a legal appeal process, said Terrence Gray, DEM director.

Like any legal enforcement, the process moves slowly and often ends in a settlement in which the company or group agrees to pay a smaller penalty than originally charged and also fix the problem, Gray said.

Gray rebutted allegations that state environmental regulators had backed down from enforcement. It’s hardly the heyday of fines and penalties that characterized the 1980s, he acknowledged, but that’s because there were more problems to address then, he said.

“We build much stronger cases now but we just don’t find as many egregious violations,” Gray said. “I think the level of effort and inspections has been pretty constant but the number of cases that merited NOVs has gone down.”

And in the recent past, NOV numbers have remained steady, said Gray, who took the helm of the state agency last June. He estimated the department issues about one violation notice per week, for an average of 50 per year.

Data documenting the number of violations, along with other types of warnings and informal notices per year was not immediately available. Michael Healey, a spokesman for DEM, told Rhode Island Current in an email that this information could only be obtained through a public records request because of the amount of information and multiple offices that would need to collaborate.

Which is a problem itself, according to Mike Jarbeau, Narragansett Baykeeper for Save the Bay. DEM used to publish an annual report detailing inspections, violations and compliance, but hasn’t done so regularly in a decade.

“It’s hard for the public, and concerned organizations to find out what the actual numbers are,” Jarbeau said.

Lack of transparency on compliance and inspection data

Gray said the agency stopped publishing the reports because of the time and effort required by employees. However, he also said staffing in the compliance office has held steady at around 26 people for the last decade.

Going back further, though, data from DEM published by Save the Bay shows that the compliance and inspection office has seen its staffing cut by nearly half over the last 20 years, from 45 full-time employees in 45 to 24 in 2020. 

As for funding, spending on DEM has increased in the last several fiscal years, from $84.7 million in fiscal 2021 to $154.9 million in the revised fiscal 2023 budget. Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s proposed fiscal 2024 budget calls for $121.5 million in funding, along with eight new, federally-funded positions for a total of 425 department employees.

Gray also said DEM was drafting an NOV against the Woonsocket sewage plant when it decided to partner with the attorney general’s office on a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Providence County Superior Court on March 15, gives the city of Woonsocket, Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., and Synagro Woonsocket, LLC  until May 15 to respond, according to Brian Hodge, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office. As of Tuesday, no responses had been submitted, according to online court records.

The charges come with fines of up to $35,000 a day, an onerous penalty though not one that Attorney General Peter Neronha said he is hoping to collect.

Advocates are optimistic the lawsuit will help end the pattern of stinky sewage being dumped in the Blackstone River. But it still leaves open the question of enforcement for other companies.

“It used to be that if you were doing something wrong, DEM was going to find out and they were going to hold you accountable,” Jarbeau said. “These days, there’s not much incentive to play by the rules. You can risk it and just pay a small fine or maybe not even get caught.”