Rep. Peter G. Palumbo, D-Cranston, introduced a bill the other week to create what must be the longest name for a legislative study commission in state history.

So as not to waste too much ink, we’ll print the name in its entirety just once. For the record, it’s the Special House Oversight Commission to Undertake a Comprehensive Study of the Enactment of Solid Waste Reuse Legislation in the State of Rhode Island, and to Ensure Proper Supervision, Meaningful Disclosure, Full Understanding, Compliance, Environmental and Health Protection, Nuisance and Blight Abatement, and Public Awareness About Remedial Actions Soon to Be Taken at the Cranston Sanitary Landfill Site Pursuant to Such Solid Waste Reuse Legislation.

There are other commissions with names that fall short of succinct — for instance, the Special Senate Commission to Study and Make Recommendations Related to the Problem of Cyberthreats and Cyberbullying, or the Special House Commission to Study the Effects Natural Disasters Have on Property Insurance Costs and Requirements in the State of Rhode Island. But Palumbo’s commission — which the House voted to create — has them beat by a factor of three. (Political Scene wonders whether there is a Guinness world record for this.)

The commission with the 64-word name is designed to monitor the recapping of the former Sanitary Landfill Inc. dump on Pontiac Avenue in Cranston.

The landfill stopped accepting trash in 1985 after years of leaching hazardous waste into the nearby Pawtuxet River. In 1988, the state began investigating whether the owners, Daniel and Jack Capuano, were using material containing cancer-causing PCBs to cap the closed dump.

Palumbo, who was on the Cranston City Council at the time, remembers getting a phone call from a constituent reporting “spacemen” in his backyard. Those men turned out to be investigators from the state Department of Environmental Management, and they were checking for radiation with Geiger counters. Meanwhile, Palumbo said, children were in their yards playing with the material — “auto fluff,” the material left over after cars are shredded and the metals removed — “building snowmen with it in the middle of the summer,” he said. The state, he said, “didn’t even have the decency to call us and let us know what they were doing.”

The state ended up ordering the closing of a nearby playground and advised people living near the dump site not to use their backyards. A cleanup ensued, with the landfill ultimately covered — auto fluff and all — with a plastic cap, loam and grass, and the Capuanos ultimately pleaded no contest to 715 charges of illegal dumping. They were fined $2.8 million.

Now, the dump needs recapping, and Palumbo said he was “taking a proactive measure to let them know they’re going to be monitored, so they do it right.”

“I want to make sure there’s no radioactive rats the size of dogs running through the neighborhood,” Palumbo added.

The study commission will comprise five members, all appointed by the House speaker. Palumbo says he envisions it including himself and other lawmakers and a councilman from that area.

So why the long name?

There’s no official explanation — Palumbo said the name was suggested by legislative staffers and lawyers who vetted the bill before he introduced it. “I didn’t really care what they called it,” he said.