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2/13/2012
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Port study commission readies release of final report
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 STATE HOUSE – Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed and Speaker of the House Gordon D. Fox will address the legislative commission studying Rhode Island’s port facilities when the panel meets Tuesday, February 14, to review a final report before it is released.
The commission will meet in the House Lounge at the Rise of the House and Senate (approximately 4:30 p.m.).
The commission, created to study the potential economic opportunities in the development of port facilities in Rhode Island, has spent the better part of the past three years assessing potential market opportunities, quantifying the economic benefits and effects of port growth and touring the working operations around the state – including Providence, Davisville and Newport. Over the course of its study, the commission has taken testimony from a number of state officials, including those from the Department of Environmental Management and RI Economic Development Corporations, as well as operators of the ports and owners of several ancillary port operations and other stakeholders.
Assisting in the commission’s study was Dr. John Martin, whose company, Martin Associates, was hired in partnership with the Rhode Island Bays, Rivers and Watersheds Coordination Team.
In an interim report released after the commission’s first year of study, the commission said the state had made significant progress to expand and strengthen the position of its ports, and that, because of the state’s geographic location and other assets, further progress could help Rhode Island resume its place in waterborne transportation and regain the economic and environmental benefits associated with that.
The commission was created by the General Assembly during the 2009 legislative year as the result of a Joint Resolution sponsored in the Senate by Senate President Paiva Weed (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown) and co-sponsored in the House by Speaker Fox (D-Dist. 4, Providence). The Assembly leaders, at the time, acknowledged that Rhode Island is already one of the major ports of entry for autos in the Northeast and that Narragansett Bay has the potential to be a major economic engine for the state because it is one of the nation’s largest protected waterways and is close to the most densely populated regions in the nation.
The two leaders will attend the commission hearing February 14 to compliment the commission for its work and comment on the results of the study.
Chairing the commission are Sen. William A. Walaska (D-Dist. 30, Warwick) and Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown).
Other Senators serving on the commission are Senate Majority Leader Dominick J. Ruggerio (D-Dist. 4, Providence, North Providence), Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin (D-Dist. 1, Providence), Sen. David E. Bates (R-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol), Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, New Shoreham, South Kingstown) and Sen. James C. Sheehan (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown).
Other House members of the commission are House Deputy Majority Whip Donald J. Lally Jr. (D-Dist. 33, Narragansett, North Kingstown, South Kingstown), Rep. Laurence W. Ehrhardt (R-Dist. 32, North Kingstown), Rep. Roberto L. DaSilva (D-Dist. 63, East Providence, Pawtucket), Rep. Leo Medina (D-Dist. 12, Providence) and Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, Narragansett, South Kingstown).
For more information, contact:
Randall T. Szyba, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457
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