Good News!
Dear Save Seapowet Supporters,
There’s a new law to preserve Seapowet!
Rhode Island’s State Legislature passed a law that went into effect today to protect the waters of Sapowet Cove. The legislation (S 2415A, H 7060A) declares that the waters of Sapowet Cove “shall not at any time be commercially developed or in any way modified from its current undeveloped state.” This honors the intent of the federal grants that were used to create the Sapowet Marsh Wildlife Management Area (SWMA) for recreational use.
Representative Edwards, Senator DiPalma and Senator Felag deserve our thanks for their dedication to Seapowet (Sapowet) by sponsoring this legislation. If you would like, please send your appreciation to their emails below:
Rep. John Edwards, rep-edwards@rilegislature.gov
Sen. Louis DiPalma, sen-dipalma@rilegislature.gov
Sen. Walter Felag Jr., sen-felag@rilegislature.gov
In the closing days of the legislative session and with many other important bills on their plates, Representative Edwards, Senator DiPalma and Senator Felag kept the Sapowet bills moving through the process until both bills passed the House and Senate. There were many competing priorities during this General Assembly. These bills could not have happened without the leadership and experience of Representative Edwards and Senators DiPalma and Felag.
Thank you to those who wrote letters in support of the bills and testified before the legislative committees. Here are video excerpts from community members who testified during the House and Senate committee hearings.
Sapowet is an invaluable public good with an important ecosystem that’s worth protecting from commercial development. In fact, RIDEM Fish and Wildlife recently announced that Sapowet is one of five places in Rhode Island that will receive new grant funds for restoration work and to improve community access to nature!
This new law will make it difficult for an aquaculture application to receive approval from the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) if the proposed location is within 2,000 ft from the Sapowet Wildlife Management Area shoreline. However, the current application has not been dismissed by the CRMC even though it is within the area protected by the new law. Legal help is still needed to make sure these waters will be protected. For the past three years, significant legal costs have been carried by a small group of objectors. Please consider supporting the continued legal defense through the GoFundMe campaign here. We are close but need your support.
More updates to come…
Save Seapowet!