09/05/2008

R.I. says new federal rules for wind farms are no problem
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s top energy official said yesterday that proposed federal rules for leasing offshore ocean space to wind-farm operators will not conflict with the state’s own plan to select a developer to build a wind project off the coast.

09/04/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday through Sunday, September 7 through 14
CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS

Filtered water bottle has Providence roots
Medport, a small company, rolled out the new product this spring in several nationwide retailers.

09/03/2008

Council drops lot change proposal
The measure, for so-called residential compound subdivisions, would reduce the minimum lot size from two acres to one acre.

08/31/2008

South Kingstown boosts recycling program Sept. 1
A new townwide effort aims to increase recycling rates to 30 percent of the trash collected.

08/29/2008

Audubon Society adds land
EXETER –– An additional 73.6 acres of land, that contain the headwaters of the Queen River, have been added to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s Fisherville Brook Wildlife Refuge.

08/28/2008

West Nile found in Pawtucket
The mosquito-borne virus is likely spread through the state, warns the Department of Environmental Management.

08/27/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday August 31 through September 7
AUDUBON SOCIETY PROGRAMS

Options, but no consensus, on Matunuck
Residents and town officials discuss possible plans of attack to prevent or deal with beach erosion.

Wood pellet stoves are hot, hot, hot in Rhode Island
Stoked by skyrocketing prices for oil and gas, Rhode Islanders have snapped up nearly every one of the stoves for sale in the state.

Water park a concern for many
Several who came to a meeting on the Kent County Water Authority’s capital plans wanted instead to focus on the $150-million project slated for the West Warwick Business Park.

Wood pellet stoves are hot, hot, hot in Rhode Island
Stoked up by skyrocketing prices for oil and gas, Rhode Islanders have snapped up nearly every one of the stoves for sale in the state.

Coastal panel OKs house near Point Judith light
The conservation agreements ban further development on two lots near the lighthouse.

08/26/2008

CRMC to vote on plans to build house near Point Judith Lighthouse
NARRAGANSETT — The state’s coastal agency is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to allow a developer to build a house on top of a thicket of phragmites and shrubs on the scenic peninsula just north of the Point Judith Lighthouse.

08/25/2008

Happy homecoming for biodiesel crew / Video
PROVIDENCE — How far could you get on greasy fried foods?

08/24/2008

Woonsocket changes its ways, finds recycling pays
Municipal recycling numbers are up all around the state, and along with them the money communities get back in the state’s sale of recycling materials.

08/22/2008

Kent County Water Authority to give presentation to West Warwick council
WEST WARWICK — When Timothy J. Brown, general manager of the Kent County Water Authority, addresses the Town Council on Tuesday evening, he plans to present an update on the agency’s programs and future initiatives.

Panel: Hour is late for climate
Experts convened by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse warn that the pace of global warming is faster than expected.

08/21/2008

Stump dump owner in compliance
RICHMOND –– The owner of an illegal stump dump off Skunk Hill Road is complying with a consent agreement signed with the town in January to clean up the site.

Gravel company enters plea deal
Charlestown’s Shoreline Gravel Co. does not admit guilt, but concedes that there is enough evidence to prove that it had disposed of solid waste at an unlicensed facility.

Low oxygen levels kill fish in Wickford Cove
More than 1,000 fish were found dead yesterday in the second fish kill in two weeks, this time in Wickford Cove.

08/20/2008

Making the switch: Home heating oil versus natural gas
CRANSTON –– There are eight men crammed into Jimmy Cavanaugh’s tiny basement, and two of the biggest guys are now at the center of attention. They’re maneuvering a dolly holding a new steam boiler, a blue metal boxy device the size of a small freezer, which needs to go into the corner beneath an assembly of 2-inch heating pipes.

Stump dump inspection today
The Town Council president and another member will see if the mandated cleanup is under way.

08/19/2008

Homes in four municipalities to be made lead-safe
A settlement with DuPont in the state’s lawsuit against paint companies will finance the project, which targets 600 homes.

08/17/2008

Several hundred fish found dead near Bullocks Cove, East Providence
A few hundred dead menhaden were discovered near Bullocks Cove in East Providence Thursday by one of several teams sampling upper Narragansett Bay in what are believed to be worst-case conditions: high temperatures, low oxygen and neap, or weak tides.

08/16/2008

Paint companies ask judge to make state pay
PROVIDENCE — Three major corporations that won a dramatic state Supreme Court verdict last month, overturning a jury finding that they created a public nuisance by selling lead paints here, returned to court yesterday to convince a judge to force the state to compensate them for some of their costs during the nine-year legal battle.

08/15/2008

Ponaganset biodiesel team arrives in L.A.
It took 4½ days for the three teens and science teacher to make it from Providence to raise awareness about alternative fuel.

08/14/2008

Voters approve waterfront purchase
A total of $2.5 million is allocated to buy land in front of the National Hotel.

08/13/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday Aug. 17-24
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Ponaganset students, teacher ‘selling’ biodiesel as a fuel coast to coast
Ross McCurdy took the late afternoon call on Monday on his cell phone, somewhere outside of Oklahoma City, at a place called the Cherokee Trading Post.

Ponaganset students, teacher ‘selling’ biodiesel as a fuel coast to coast
Ross McCurdy took the late afternoon call on Monday on his cell phone, somewhere outside of Oklahoma City, at a place called the Cherokee Trading Post.

08/12/2008

Brown student project aims to install thousands of energy-saving bulbs in local homes
PROVIDENCE — The students from Brown University were trying to explain their unusual, new environmental program to the elderly residents in a dining room at St. Elizabeth’s Place last week. Standing next to a shopping cart filled with light bulbs, they explained how they would replace every incandescent bulb in every apartment with energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs.

08/10/2008

Environmental Journal: Moniz Dairy, involving 3 generations, named R.I.’s best
Moniz Dairy Farm, in Tiverton, has been named Rhode Island’s 2008 Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year by the Rhode Island Green Pastures Committee. Winning dairy farmers from each New England state will be honored at an awards banquet on Sept. 12 at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Mass.

08/09/2008

Bonnet Shores Beach Club fined $2,500
NARRAGANSETT — A private beach club that has drawn visitors to the Bonnet Shores area of Narragansett since 1929 was fined yesterday for allegedly burying trash on its beach.

08/08/2008

Dead whale freed from rocks and buried
The 15-foot minke whale is buried in the western end of the parking lot at East Matunuck State Beach.

08/07/2008

Hearing tonight on proposed park in Richmond
RICHMOND –– A public hearing on the proposed conversion of the Knowles Mill site, in Shannock, into a public park will be held tonight at 7 at the H.L. Arnold Fire And Safety Complex on Route 112.

Donors help to protect Jamestown farmland
A total of $339,555 has been donated to the town for conservation purposes by 29 individuals, says Town Administrator Bruce R. Keiser, after the local land trust withheld its donation.

Dead whale bring shoreline curiosity in S. Kingstown
A young minke whale, already dead, washes up in Matunuck, drawing curious onlookers and marine mammal experts.

08/06/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday through next Sunday, August 10 through 17
AUDUBON SOCIETY PROGRAMS

Clean water advocates meet in Westerly to take stock of local efforts
WESTERLY — About 35 people gathered in the restored lobby of the Industrial Trust Building, the Westerly Land Trust’s headquarters, to talk about water quality in the Pawcatuck watershed, roughly the southern third of the state.

Kenyon Piece cleanup set by EPA
CHARLESTOWN — The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced a cleanup of hazardous materials at a former landfill on Sand Plain Road starting later this month.

08/05/2008

DEM outlines changes to Beach Pond
EXETER — Just as a meadow might evolve into woods or a pond into a bog, the use of Beach Pond, on the western end of town is undergoing a natural progression, officials from the state Department of Environmental Management indicate.

08/04/2008

Adventures at Hand: Clamming is R.I.’s perennial pursuit in the mud
NARRAGANSETT –– The tide was running out of Point Judith Pond as the two women, spattered with mud, moved their buckets, crouched down over the flats and searched for the telltale “eyes” beneath their feet.

DEM grant bolsters pump-out stations
The $235,726 will defray the cost of three pump-out boats and four stationary pump-out stations for boaters around the Bay.

07/31/2008

Elusive and inconclusive
More than 3,000 butterflies, and at least 45 species, were spotted this summer during the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s fifth annual butterfly count.

07/30/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday , August 3 through 10
AUDUBON SOCIETY PROGRAMS

07/29/2008

Superfund liens put on three properties in Cumberland
CUMBERLAND — The U.S Environmental Protection Agency has filed Superfund liens on three properties in town that are part of the Peterson/Puritan Inc. Superfund site.

07/28/2008

A nice day for annual Bay swim
The Save the Bay fundraiser draws hundreds from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and beyond.

Adventures at Hand: R.I.’s wildlife refuges a rich treat that’s easy on the budget
CHARLESTOWN — “White pines have five needles in a bundle.

07/26/2008

Championing horsepower, habitat with the Green Car Journal
WASHINGTON — Ron Cogan’s friends were worried. Was he flipping out, taking one of life’s curves a little too fast? He was a California-based automotive journalist, a car guy gone environmental.

07/25/2008

Profile: Ruhle praised as fisherman who fought for his industry
Three fishermen — Phil Ruhle, his son Phil Jr. and his brother James — visited Seattle last year to be honored by an environmental group for inventing a commercial fishing net that actually helps conserve some fish. A friend who was with them was amazed at how many people knew the Ruhles.

07/24/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday July 27 through August 3
AUDUBON SOCIETY PROGRAM

Mapping the ocean: SAMP will target areas for renewable energy projects
State regulators and researchers from the University of Rhode Island are about to begin a two-year project to map out sections of nearby ocean waters to identify suitable spots for renewable-energy developments.

07/23/2008

Blackstone Explorer offers a cruise-food combo
Central Falls Landing buzzes with people on a recent July evening.

Constructing a tower of power in Somerset
SOMERSET — The girders have been poking above the tree line for weeks. You can see the change in the skyline near the Brayton Point Power Station as you travel west across the Braga Bridge.

Elusive and inconclusive
At least 45 species — more than 3,000 butterflies — were spotted this summer during the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s 5th annual butterfly count.

Butterflies flutter by in record numbers in state count
More than 3,000 butterflies, and at least 45 species, were spotted this summer during the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s fifth annual butterfly count.

Annual butterfly count turns up 45 species
At least 45 species — more than 3,000 butterflies — were spotted this summer during the Audubon Society of Rhode Island’s fifth annual butterfly count.

Eco-students happy college residence halls are going green
NEW YORK — This fall, students at Sarah Lawrence’s Warren Green hall will be composting together, monitoring their electricity usage and drying their laundry on a clothesline. They will share appliances, cooking and shopping to reduce waste and energy, and use electric light as little as possible.

07/20/2008

Paddlers follow a new trail awash with history
The invitation for the inaugural paddle of a new Roger Williams Paddle Trail from the middle of East Providence to downtown Providence was somewhat difficult to comprehend at first.

07/19/2008

Save the Lakes goes to war for state’s freshwater resources
Last summer, an invasive weed took over the Smith and Sayles Reservoir in Glocester, the dense, prickly fronds making it impossible to navigate its 173 acres by boat.

Save the Lakes goes to war for state’s freshwater resources
Last summer, an invasive weed took over the Smith and Sayles Reservoir in Glocester, the dense, prickly fronds making it impossible to navigate its 173 acres by boat.

Save the Lakes goes to war for state’s freshwater resources
Last summer, an invasive weed took over the Smith and Sayles Reservoir in Glocester, the dense, prickly fronds making it impossible to navigate its 173 acres by boat.

Save the Lakes goes to war for state’s freshwater resources
Last summer, an invasive weed took over the Smith and Sayles Reservoir in Glocester, their dense, prickly fronds making it impossible to navigate its 173 acres by boat.

07/20/2008

Vertical farms: Zucchini in the sky?
A 30-story farm tower could feed 50,000 people, says a New York public health professor.

Extreme Green
WINTER, WIS. — Machel Piper and Febe Dancier pored over books at the table in their rural home, silently reaching for a shared spoon in a dish of pasta and organic vegetables. Outside, rain drilled the ground from the gray sky. Thunder rumbled.

Extreme Green
WINTER, WIS. — Machel Piper and Febe Dancier pored over books at the table in their rural home, silently reaching for a shared spoon in a dish of pasta and organic vegetables. Outside, rain drilled the ground from the gray sky. Thunder rumbled.

07/18/2008

New campaign aims to cut pollution to Narragansett Bay
“Know Where It Goes” is designed to persuade people to reduce the pollution that flows into local waterways during rainstorms.

07/17/2008

Activists spoiling for fight over Newport’s pollution
Environmentalists have filed a federal lawsuit to force Newport to halt its persistent water-pollution problem.

Portsmouth council OKs $152,000 more for sewer study planning
Although Councilman Peter J. McIntyre changes his vote, the addendum passes, 4 to 3, raising the engineering cost to $381,200.

‘Green’ buildings sprouting in R.I.
A dorm at RIC, a house in Narragansett and a URI dining hall are the latest examples of environmentally friendly building designs.

07/16/2008

Utility plans to invest $32 million in conservation
The same day that local electric rates increased by 21.7 percent, National Grid, the state’s main supplier of electricity, confirmed that it plans to double the amount of money it spends each year helping residential and commercial customers use less energy.

Green calendar listings: Sunday through Sunday, July 20 through 27
AUDUBON SOCIETY PROGRAM

Town looks into contract change to cut trash costs
NORTH PROVIDENCE — Thanks to changes instituted during the last year, the town was able to save $207,000 in tipping fees at the central landfill in Johnston. But, Robert E. Nascimento, town recycling coordinator, said the savings might have been more were it not for a quirk in the contract with the town’s trash hauler.

Frugal cars must be fun to drive, too
DETROIT — In secure conference rooms, engineering centers and design studios across metro Detroit, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors are working to create a new generation of fuel-efficient vehicles without repeating the mistakes that crippled them when oil prices and emissions regulations shook their world in the 1970s and ’80s.

07/15/2008

Portsmouth council OKs expansion of sewer study
Two council members oppose expanding the engineering study, and some residents are wary that it’s a “gimmick” that will lead to more expenses for homeowners.

07/14/2008

State landfill announces free tours of facility
Do you ever wonder where your trash goes? Or those recycled bottles and cans?

07/12/2008

DEM director says agency broke the law
PROVIDENCE (AP) — The state’s top environmental official says his agency broke the law when it cleared land at a Narragansett campground.

07/13/2008

‘Zero-emissions house’ on display during political summit in Japan
As leaders of the world’s most powerful nations discussed climate change at the Group of Eight summit in northern Japan last week, Japan’s big tech companies displayed some of their most cutting-edge solutions in a nearby “zero-emissions house.”

07/11/2008

Health Department reopens beach to swimming
The state Department of Health yesterday reopened Oakland Beach in Warwick to swimming, based on water samples that showed bacteria within acceptable limits.

07/10/2008

Coast Guard calls off search for Conn. man
The Coast Guard has ended its active search for a 65-year-old Connecticut man who fell off his sailboat Monday near the northern entrance to the Sakonnet River.

07/09/2008

Green calendar listings: Sunday July 13 through July 20
AUDUBON SOCIETY PROGRAMS