After Rhode Island environmental regulators said they would allow municipalities to dump snow into nearby waterways in the wake of the Feb. 22 blizzard, the regulators said Naval Station Newport and the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in Quonset made plans to do so.
A spokesman for the Naval Station said it dumped 5,000 tons of untreated snow from its Pier 2 into Narragansett Bay on Feb. 23. Public affairs officer Bruce Katz said the move was “deemed mission-essential” for the station.
“The installation commander and base operations are committed to environmental stewardship and are working diligently to balance our operational needs with our responsibilities to the community and the environment,” Katz said in an email.
It is not clear how much snow General Dynamics Electric Boat disposed of, and the company declined to comment.
Because of the large amounts of snow piled up across Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management previously said it would suspend the requirement that towns obtain a permit before disposing of snow in waterways.
Joe Haberek, DEM administrator of surface water protection and water quality, says the agency is making an exception because excess snow can pose a public safety hazard.
“Someone could say we should never be allowing this,” Haberek said. “But we don’t want someone’s 90-year-old grandmother passing away because there was two feet of snow in the road and the ambulance couldn’t reach her house.”
Snow can be contaminated with road salt, sand, litter and other pollutants.
Even though a permit isn’t required under the current exemption, Haberek says local officials are supposed to warn DEM if they plan to dump snow in a waterway. His agency is counting on municipal officials to ensure the snow they plan to dump is not contaminated.
“Given the emergency situation, we’re relying on the municipality to self-verify that it meets the policy,” said Haberek. “It’s a visual check. We’re not expecting anyone to take an analytical sample.”
Haberek said no towns have notified the agency of plans to push snow into waterways. Electric Boat and the Naval Station are the only entities that have submitted plans as of March 3.
While disposing of snow in public waterways is not ideal from an environmental standpoint, Save the Bay’s director of advocacy, Jed Thorp, says his organization understands the need to prioritize public safety.
“Our understanding is that most municipalities are trying to find empty lots and other places on land to pile snow, and only using the water disposal option as a last resort,” Thorp said. “We hope that most cities and towns will only do it when they’ve exhausted other options.”
Haberek says municipalities will be held responsible if it’s discovered that contaminated snow was dumped in a local waterway.
