At a Glance:

Rhode Island is blessed with extraordinary oceans, beaches, and sea life. In the past, taking care of them was not as much of a priority as today. The residues of pollution and overuse continue.

A Deeper Dive:

Today Rhode Island is known for sailing and beaches, but in the 1700s it was a hub for whaling and in the 1800s it was where American industrialization began. Improved fishing practices, treatment of wastewater, and other reductions in pollution mean that our bays and rivers are recovering, but slowly.

When Providence started releasing wastewater into the Bay in the 1870s, also with the biological products came dangerous metals (e.g., copper, zinc, lead, and chromium).  These metals are not easily dissolved or consumed, and they remain in the sediments of the bay (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-011-0221-1).  Recognizing the danger, we virtually eliminated these pollutants between the 1970s and 1990s, but they remain in the sediments.

The Blackstone River has extraordinary hydropower–it is one of the steepest rivers in New England. As industrialization began in the US, Slater Mill and other factories were built to take advantage of this resource. Later, other sources of power from electricity and fossil fuels took over, but the river remained a resource: as a dump for the factories.  In 1972, a cleanup called “Zap the Blackstone” set out to restore this river, at the time one of the most polluted in the US.  Where did all of the polluted waters empty at the mouth of the Blackstone? Narragansett Bay.

Understanding Complexities:

The Brayton Point Power Plant was one of the world’s largest coal electric power plants, and it was the largest in New England. So much coal was burned there that to keep the plant cool water from Mt. Hope Bay was drawn in to circulate through the plant and then dumped back into the bay. In the 1990s, concern around whether this excess heat was harming the marine ecosystem began. In response, cooling towers were added to the plant, then it was shut down, and now most of it is demolished. The decreasing heat signature of the plant as these actions were taken was detectable from space (http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.705204). Ironically, climate change has caught up with the warm spot from the plant.  Rather than cooling, Mt. Hope Bay has just stayed near the same temperature while the rest of Narragansett Bay has warmed up under climate change.  So, the ecological concerns of the higher temperatures–once isolated to Mt. Hope Bay–now apply to the whole estuary.

We are learning from our mistakes.  We move toward cleaner and cleaner technologies while taking steps to rectify or remediate our past problems.  Offshore wind will have environmental consequences, but they will be less than those of the fossil fuel based energy systems being replaced.