Environment

In victory for environmental justice, rushed ProvPort ordinances tabled indefinitely

The Providence City Council met last night to take up a pair of controversial ProvPort ordinances that had been rushed through the Providence City Council Finance Committee on Monday despite angry, passionate testimony from Providence residents .Councilmember Espinal announced that there would be no vote on the ordinances at the council meeting and that the ordinances were to be tabled indefinitely.

Rhode Island News: In victory for environmental justice, rushed ProvPort ordinances tabled indefinitely

December 2, 2022, 10:22 am

By Steve Ahlquist

The Providence City Council met on Thursday night to take up a pair of controversial ProvPort ordinances that had been rushed through the Providence City Council Finance Committee on Monday despite angry, passionate testimony from Providence residents, who said that the deal was being rushed through the process and lacked any community engagement.

In addition, the two ordinances, which would extend ProvPort’s lease for thirty years, had no language compelling compliance with the City’s landmark Climate Justice Plan, or assurances that the voices of the community – that suffers from the pollution the industries in and around the Port generates – would be heard going forward.

But instead of the City Council passing the two ordinances, a last minute agreement was reached to delay passage indefinitely pending conversations with the community, including the environmental justice group The People’s Port Authority.

About thirty minutes before the start of the City Council meeting, outside Providence City Hall, people were gathering for a press conference called by Monica Huertas, Executive Director of the People’s Port Authority.

In her testimony before the Finance Committee hearing on Monday (here and here), Huertas had stressed that the goals of her group and the goals of ProvPort were aligned. They both want clean industries – such as wind power – in the Port, and good union jobs for local residents.

Before Huertas arrived to her own press conference, however, Councilmembers Pedro Espinal (Ward 10) Rachel Miller (Ward 13) arrived with ProvPort lobbyist Bill Fischer to announce that a last minute deal had been reached. Councilmember Espinal represents the neighborhoods abutting the Port and Councilmember Miller is on track to become the next city Council President when a new City Council is sworn in this January.

Councilmember Espinal then announced that there would be no vote on the ordinances at the council meeting and that the ordinances were to be tabled indefinitely.

“As you know, this is very important for the entire City of Providence, but especially to my community in Ward 10 and also the community represented by Councilwoman [Mary Kay] Harris, Ward 11,” said Councilmember Espinal. “I’m here to tell you the for the moment I am very pleased. We have reached a tentative agreement where this matter will be continued tonight until further notice.

“We will be at the table with ProvPort. As things develop, we will be including our community, which is the way to do things. But for the moment, tonight, this will not be heard, it will be continued. So happy to report that and that is in conjunction with ProvPort.”

“Can you tell us about any talks you had that led to this agreement happening?” asked Amy Russo from the Providence Journal.

“Well, it’s concerns from the community,” said Councilmember Espinal. “The community voices are strong and we listened to them. That’s what we’re here for. And taking that into consideration, it’s necessary to talk about this and give ourselves time to actually try to get this bill right.”

“With the talks being continued will there be another opportunity for more public hearings on this? Or more time for folks to comment?” asked Russo.

“As we go forward we’ll let the public know,” said Councilmember Espinal. “That’s to be determined.”

“Does ProvPort want to add anything?” asked Uprise RI.

“I will just say that we appreciate the dialog we’ve had throughout the day,” said Bill Fischer, lobbyist for ProvPort. “ProvPort is a public/private partnership with the City of Providence. We are partners with the City of Providence. We want to have a healthy, good relationship.

“We respect the opinions the other night,” continued Fischer. “We’re going to continue our conversation and see where this goes. We exist. We have tried to be very good neighbors for a long time. We’ve gotten rid of our coal pile. The Sea 3 expansion application no longer exists. We have embraced a green marine certification process at the Port to voluntarily measure our water runoff and things of that nature.

“Offshore wind is our goal. We don’t want tight votes. We don’t want a contentious relationship,” continued Fischer. “Councilman Espinal is our councilman and we want to be supportive partners. The other night was, I think, a rough go for everybody. [There was] a sense of frustration that we felt as well. And I think it’s good to continue the dialog we’re on.”

“At what stage in the dialog will the community be [included]?” asked a person in the crowd.

“I know there’s a lot of focus on the Master Planning Process that was mentioned the other night,” said Fischer. “The Master Planning Process – which is not funded yet – is going to have robust dialog, robust public input. And I would fully expect that the turnout we saw at the council the other night – you all – will be participants in that. And it’s going to be an iterative process.

“One of the reasons the Master Planning Process was put into the document was so that we could work better with the City of Providence to qualify or federal funding – something we couldn’t do because we didn’t have a Master Plan on the shelf,” continued Fischer. “So I’m hopeful it’s going to be a revenue stream for additional funding related to climate change, resiliency and a lot of things we care about.”

“With this being held indefinitely is there any chance this could be held until the next council even?” asked Amy Russo.

“As we meet soon we’ll be looking at those different possibilities,” said Councilmember Espinal.

“So it’s possible that it could be,” said Russo.

“Oh, absolutely,” said Espinal.

“Excuse me because this is my press conference for the People’s Port Authority,” said Monica Huertas, arriving at her own press conference. “And I have not been informed of anything. Nobody has contacted me or called me. No one has contacted the People’s Port Authority or the Office of Sustainability who is represented here.”

Huertas asked Providence Sustainability Commission member Chandelle Wilson to stand by her side.

“We have not been informed,” continued Huertas. “So I do not wish to be bulldozed over again.”

“There’s no ill intent on our part,” stressed Councilmember Espinal. “We just got out of a meeting and I knew that you had a press conference here so we directed ourselves down here to speak to the press and yourselves.”

“All matters are tabled,” said Bill Fischer.

“Nothing will be heard tonight,” said Councilmember Espinal.

“Ho! Ho! Ho!” said Santa Claus. (Really.)

“Good,” said Huertas. “We’re pleased with that and want to continue the conversation. We want to continue the community work that we’ve been doing because we didn’t come to this point because the polluters or City Hall decided to have a good heart.

“It’s because we’ve been organizing and evolving ourselves and speaking to them and extending our hands to them – Chris Waterson and to ProvPort,” continued Huertas. [The news] “makes us really happy and we’re going to keep the pedal on the gas and keep going for the community’s sake and the sake of our children because we’re the ones that live there.”

“And think of our grandchildren,” said Chandelle Wilson. “Thirty years is a long time. We’re looking at the health of my children – my grandchildren. It’s our legacy…

“I’m happy to be at the table to continue those conversations,” continued Wilson. “That’s my neighborhood. I grew up in that neighborhood I raised my children in that neighborhood. I’m here because… I want to be part of the conversation and we want to se real, healthy outcomes for our city.”

“ProvPort does as well,” said Bill Fischer.


At the City Council meeting, community members and allies sat quietly as the City Council moved through the agenda. Though they had been assured that the ordinances would not be passed, this is a community that has often been disregarded and deceived in the past. The ProvPort ordinances were numbers 25 and 26, so there was quite a bit to get through.

In the end, though, the ordinances were tabled – and the two dozen people in attendance – who all stood as the ordinance was tabled – broke into applause and cheers.


This outcome is truly historical in nature. For the first time in Rhode Island the issue of environmental justice has meant something other than a desperate fight to prevent a bad outcome. In the past the People’s Port Authority (under different names and iterations) has fought, unsuccessfully, against National Grid’s expansion of fossil fuels in the Port and successfully against building a garbage depot in the Port, but this latest effort was about getting a seat at the table – and they did.

Going forward, the ProvPort legislation will be shaped, in part, by public input from community members and environmental justice groups like the People’s Port Authority. The opportunity here is for the community to build something good, not just oppose something bad.

There is still much to happen over the next weeks and months. Whatever deal has been crafted could collapse or could pan out to not be as good as what was talked about. Despite that, what happened last night in Providence can be rightly celebrated as a historic turning point for environmental justice in Rhode Island.

See also: