CRMC Actions Spark Request From CLF for Ethics Investigation

Contact:
Cynthia Giles, RI Advocacy Center Director (401)351-1102
Colin Durrant, CLF Communications Director (617)850-1722

Providence, RI (June 18, 2007) A leading environmental group today asked the state Ethics Commission to investigate members of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), saying CRMC has a history and practice of unsupportable decisions in favor of development requests, nearly all of which are linked to former Rhode Island legislators.

In a 14 page letter to the Rhode Island Ethics Commission, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) cited at least 18 decisions by the politically appointed Council that were in violation of law, unsupported by environmental science or public policy, and were against the scientific recommendation of CRMC’s professional staff.

This record raises serious questions about the integrity and impartiality of the Council, said Cynthia Giles , Director of CLF’s Rhode Island Advocacy Center.

CLF said that no credible reason was given for the decisions, which often sided with the position taken by attorney and former Speaker of the House, Joseph DeAngelis, with whom the Chair of CRMC, Michael Tikoian, has a long-standing business relationship. Although Mr. Tikoian generally did not vote on matters in which Mr. DeAngelis appeared, CLF charged that recusals do not solve the problem: “Mr. Tikoian recused himself at least 80 times,” said Giles. “Such frequent recusal can itself be a violation of the Code of Ethics.”

CLF’s filing with the Ethics Commission praises the professional staff of CRMC but attacks the politically appointed Council, citing “powerful evidence of a lack of impartiality in decision-making.”

Among the cases cited by CLF in its request for an ethics investigation were:

• 2005 approval of a house on property in Bonnet Shores , Narragansett that was 97% wetlands, over the strenuous objection of CRMC’s scientists. One CRMC member who opposed the plan said “this is an egregious abuse of everything I stand for in the CRMC” and another said he was “appalled.” The applicant was represented by Mr. DeAngelis.
• 2004 approval of construction of a house almost entirely in the area near a protected wetland, over the strong objections of the Town of North Kingstown, CRMC’s staff, and other objectors. The applicant was represented by Mr. DeAngelis.
• 2003 approval to clear natural vegetation at the top of a coastal bluff, over CRMC staff’s strong objection and contrary to rules that require perseveration of vegetation for wildlife habitat, pollution reduction and erosion control. The applicant was represented by Mr. DeAngelis.
• 2002 approval to expand Greenwich Bay Marina 270 feet into Greenwich Bay over staff objection because of the harm it would do to one of the most significant shellfish beds in Rhode Island, and against the advice of CRMC’s own subcommittee that recommended reducing the size of the requested application. Mr. DeAngelis represented the Marina.

CLF also pointed to at least two questionable changes to CRMC’s rules, including one where the Council weakened regulations protecting the Salt Ponds for the benefit of just one developer in Charlestown. CLF also called on the Ethics Commission to investigate allegations of improper influence in decision making by the current Speaker of the House that surfaced during a court case regarding the expansion of Champlin’s Marina on Block Island.

“This request is based on a pattern of activity suggesting an abuse of the requirements of public integrity and the obligation of impartiality that the Ethics Commission was created to uphold,” concluded CLF in its letter to the Ethics Commission.

In 2003 a report, the federal agency charged with overseeing CRMC, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found that CRMC’s practice of ignoring its own rules was creating concerns about the Council’s integrity and impartiality, and cited 10 instances when the Council overruled staff and approved development in buffer zones in violation of CRMC rules.

CRMC is a state regulatory agency charged with protecting Rhode Island ’s coastal resources.