Providence--Environment Rhode Island declared a critical victory for Newport beaches today, as the Town of Middletown agreed to take steps to end its illegal sewage and stormwater pollution. These steps were part of a proposed settlement of a federal lawsuit brought by Environment Rhode Island and four local residents to enforce the Clean Water Act.
“Newport’s beaches are treasured by all Rhode Islanders – vital to our ecology, economy, and quality of life” said John Rumpler, senior attorney for Environment Rhode Island. “Middletown’s decision to take responsibility for its pollution will be appreciated for generations to come.”
Middletown’s sewage pollution has posed a significant public health threat at First Beach (also known as Easton’s Beach) in Newport and the adjacent Atlantic Beach in Middletown. The town’s sewer system was not designed to handle stormwater, and when heavy rain or snow melt deluges the system’s pipes, it discharges sewage from the Wave Avenue Pump Station into a small channel that leads to the beach. In 2008 alone, First Beach failed nearly one-third of its tests for bacterial contamination. In addition to bacteria, sewage wastewater typically contains solvents, pharmaceuticals, and other pollutants – posing additional threats to the health of beachgoers and to the fish and wildlife of Easton’s Bay. Middletown has also been discharging polluted stormwater runoff from two separate outfall pipes directly into Easton’s Bay, near these beaches.
Each of these discharges violates the federal Clean Water Act. In 2008, Environment Rhode Island and four Newport residents - Burton Hoffman, Henry Rosemont, David Wixted, and Ted Wrobel - filed a citizens’ enforcement suit in federal court to compel Middletown to comply with the Act and end its unlawful pollution. (Recognizing that state officials often lack the resources or political will to enforce pollution permits, Congress specifically authorized such citizens’ suits in the Clean Water Act.) Last summer, the case – along with its individual plaintiffs – was featured in a New York Times series on water pollution.
“Clean beaches and bays are not only vital for human health and wildlife. They are also the lifeblood of Newport’s economy,” said Ted Wrobel, one of the plaintiffs.
The proposed settlement of that lawsuit, incorporated into a consent decree filed in federal court today, requires Middletown to implement a plan to address both its sewage overflow problems and its discharges of stormwater pollution into Easton’s Bay. In a sign of Middletown’s new commitment to cleanup, the town has agreed to pay monetary penalties if it fails to comply with the obligations of the settlement.
The parties filed a motion today with U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, asking him to approve the consent decree as an order of the court. Under the Clean Water Act, the United States Environmental Protection Agency must be given 45 days to review the proposed settlement before it can be formally approved by the court.
For Environment Rhode Island and resident activists, however, the Middletown settlement is not the end of the story. The City of Newport has also discharged sewage and stormwater pollution illegally – threatening both Easton’s Bay and Narragansett Bay (especially the shellfish in Newport harbor). The plaintiffs have a separate court case pending to compel an end to that pollution as well.
“We can only hope that, where Middletown has led, Newport will soon follow,” plaintiff Ted Wrobel said.
Plaintiffs in both cases are represented by the National Environmental Law Center (NELC) in Boston, David A. Nicholas of Newton, Massachusetts, and Karen Pelczarski of Providence. NELC regularly represents Environment Rhode Island and its sister organizations across the country in clean water and clean air enforcement litigation.
On a separate front, Environment Rhode Island also helped secure federal funding for communities like Newport and Middletown to upgrade their sewage and stormwater systems.
