On Friday, Associate Justice Brian P. Stern granted Special Master Rick Land authority to guide Rhode Island Recycled Metals through its environmental permitting process, including permits related to land remediation and stormwater control. Land, an attorney for Chace Ruttenberg & Freedman, LLP, says the judge’s decision on Friday is good news.
“I’m encouraged that we’re moving in the right direction. It has been a long and at times grueling process,” Land said in an interview.
According to the ruling, since 2018, Rhode Island Recycled Metals, or RIRM, has been found in violation of at least four statewide environmental laws, and has experienced four fires, including one in July which sent plumes of thick, black smoke across Narragansett Bay.
The office of Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha wanted Land’s status to be upgraded from special master to receiver – a position which gives a court-appointee oversight over all aspects of a business.
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.
