August 2009 Newsletter

Rhode Island Sea Grant nominee receives Coastal Management Fellowship
Laura Mattison, from Brown University, was nominated by Rhode Island Sea Grant and successfully matched with the Oregon Coastal Management Program to construct a diked lands vulnerability inventory to support strategic planning for the impacts of sea level rise.

Laura was one of five fellows matched with five state coastal zone management programs at this year’s matching workshop, which was held May 4 through 8, 2009 at Charleston, South Carolina. Other topics addressed in these two-year fellowships include planning for climate change mitigation and adaptation, targeting tools and techniques for sea level rise adaptation, and establishing a coastal resilience index.

Teresa Crean’s presentation at Friends of the Waterfront Annual Meeting
Teresa Crean, Rhode Island Sea Grant’s coastal community planner, presented “Harbor Walking Around North America” at the May 2009 Friends of the Waterfront Annual Meeting, with the help of a URI landscape architecture student, George Christie.  The presentation from that talk is available online. In addition, a base-map documentation of the Harbor is underway, and a design workshop is being considered for October 2009 – please check the website for updates in August/September 2009.

Megan Higgins’ presentation at Coastal Zone ’09
Megan Higgins, research counsel, and co-presenter Dr. Michelle E. Portman, Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, presented findings from their multi-authored paper entitled “Offshore Renewable Energy Siting in Germany and the United States: Legal and Policy Impediments and Supports ” at Coastal Zone '09.   The presentation highlighted the comparison of the U.S. and German approaches to offshore renewable energy development by addressing how each country’s legal and regulatory principles and institutional mechanisms support or impede the development of offshore renewable energy.  Some of the relevant policies/regulatory principles include the public’s role in permitting and in environmental impact assessment, direct market mechanisms, traditional regulation (mandates), and indirect mechanisms. 

Sustainable Coastal Communities Initiative in Newport Harbor
Rhode Island Sea Grant staff are working to maintain the momentum of the two-day waterfront visioning process that took place in October 2007 in coordination with the city of Newport, Newport County Chamber of Commerce, the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Alliance for Livable Newport, Friends of the Waterfront, and the American Institute of Architects. The two areas of ongoing work in Newport Harbor focus on public access and economic conditions in the harbor.

It is expected that this information can then be used to assist local decision makers in the evaluation of future development proposals and their implications on the long-term economic health and vibrancy of Newport Harbor.  This project is scheduled for completion by December 2009.

Related to this effort, the City of Newport is updating its Comprehensive Plan this year, and Rhode Island Sea Grant Coastal Community Planner Teresa Crean has been invited to participate in this process to apply the results of the economic study into the waterfront section of the Comp Plan.

For more information and updates please visit seagrant.gso.uri.edu/ecosystems/ai/ or contact Teresa Crean at tcrean@crc.uri.edu or 874-6626.

Sea Grant Law Fellow Projects: Summer 2009
Four Sea Grant Law Fellows were hired for the summer to undertake a variety of research requests ranging from regulatory guidance for hydrokinetic projects to an analysis of port tariffs in greater New England.   

• Pacific Energy Ventures, based in Portland, Ore., is a consulting firm working on the publication of a “Siting Methodologies Handbook for Advanced Water Power Projects.”  The law fellow assigned to this project is providing research and analysis of federal, state, and local policies, and regulatory requirements for siting hydrokinetic projects to assist in development of the Siting Methodologies Handbook.

• One law fellow is working with the URI Cooperative Extension, URI Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (RI NEMO), and Save The Bay to complete a publication entitled “A Local Official’s Guide to Regulating Land Use in Wetland Buffers and High Water Tables to Protect Water Quality.” The law fellow is working with Save The Bay’s legal counsel and town/city planners to research existing and potential regulations to manage land use in wetland buffers and marginal sites to protect the quality of drinking water supplies, coastal waters, and other water resources.

• Another law fellow is working with both the Quonset Development Corporation’s legal counsel and port director to provide an analysis of the triennial review process for the approval of the state’s new or revised water quality standards, the approval process for marine construction, and the dredging process.

• More coordination in the marine renewable energy project licensing process is necessary for projects to go forward in the United States. Organizations like the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition are working toward that goal. Because a joint renewables office or task force is not likely at this time, a law fellow has been requested is exploring the viability of using memorandums of understanding to facilitate agency coordination. 

For more information on the fellows, types of projects completed by former fellows, and how to request a law student researcher (Advisory Service Guidelines and Advisory Service Request Form) click on: law.rwu.edu/sites/marineaffairs/seagrant/.

Marine Affairs Awarded Grant to Support Renewable Energy in Rhode Island
The Marine Affairs Institute is part of a successful grant awarded to communities in the East Bay region of Rhode Island.  The East Bay Energy Consortium, consisting of nine communities in the East Bay from Providence to Newport (including Bristol, where the Marine Affairs Institute is located) received a grant from the Renewable Energy Fund, funded in conjunction with the Rhode Island Foundation and Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation to conduct a comprehensive study to determine the feasibility of multiple terrestrial and marine sites for wind turbines within the East Bay.  The Marine Affairs Institute will provide legal research and analysis to investigate the existing regulatory framework to site terrestrial and/or nearshore marine wind energy facilities in Rhode Island, and the legal issues posed by nine different municipalities desiring to act as one entity for purposes of siting and utilizing wind energy facilities.  The study is anticipated to be completed in 2010.

August 6: Rhode Island Ocean Zoning: Where NOT to Put a Wind Farm in Rhode Island Waters
7 p.m.
South Kingstown Peace Dale Library, 1057 Kingstown Rd.

August 13: U.S. Offshore Wind Technology: Opportunities and Challenges
7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
North Kingstown Free Library, 100 Boone St., Wickford

September 10: Farming the Deep Blue: Opportunities for Increasing Sustainable Seafood Production in New England
6 p.m. Light supper, 7 p.m. Lecture
URI Graduate School of Oceanography Coastal Institute, South Ferry Road, Narragansett

September 16: Seafood Cooking Demonstration at the Narragansett Community Center
53 Mumford Rd., Narragansett
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.