AG seeks court order to shut down South Providence scrapyard after blaze

Providence firefighters work to extinguish the burning pile of scrap metal at Rhode Island Recycled Metals, LLC on Allens Avenue in Providence around 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 10, 2024. The blaze was the second one this year. (Photo by Rhode Island Rep. Jose F. Batista)

A second fire in three months at a Providence scrapyard has inflamed calls to shut down its operations amid ongoing safety and environmental concerns.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha in a statement late Wednesday announced plans to take Rhode Island Recycled Metals, LLC back to court in an attempt to close the scrapyard and force the company, currently under supervision by a court-appointed special master, into receivership. The company has agreed to temporarily halt operations until a hearing scheduled for Friday morning before Providence County Superior Court Judge Brian Stern, according to Neronha.

Neronha blasted the Allens Avenue scrapyard as an “ongoing environmental nuisance and public safety hazard.” The fire that broke out late Wednesday morning is the second this year; in April, firefighters responded to a similar incident in which a chunk of scrap metal caught on fire, which the company suspects was arson.

The cause of the fire Wednesday has not been determined, according to Patrick Sweeney, a company spokesperson.

“RIRM is currently completing its investigation, along with the Providence Fire Inspector, to learn the cause and origin of the fire,” Sweeney said in an email late Wednesday. “RIRM anticipates air quality control testing and site inspections will show that there was no meaningful impact to the environment similar to the event of April 11, 2024 caused by suspected arson. While our practices and procedures already exceed industry standards, we will look to modify and strengthen RIRM’s best practices.”

Approximately 45 Providence firefighters spent several hours battling the fire, which sent plumes of smoke swirling above the city waterfront and creating traffic jams, though no injuries were reported, Providence Fire Chief Derek Silva said in a post on X . The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), U.S. Coast Guard and Woonsocket Regional Hazardous Materials team were also called in to help, according to Silva’s post.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Lindsay Lague, chief public information officer for the Providence Department of Public Safety, said Wednesday night.

While Sweeney wrote that the scrapyard plans to reopen Monday, city and state officials, including Neronha, aren’t willing to let the company off the hook so easily.

Neronha’s forthcoming court motion, which was not available as of late Wednesday afternoon, is the latest in a string of lawsuits aimed at forcing the company to clean up its act, both literally and figuratively.

State regulators with the attorney general’s office and DEM took the scrapyard owner to court in 2015 for allegedly polluting the Providence River, violating state laws around water quality and oil control. The company was put under surveillance by a court-appointed special master.

But the problems have continued.

In December, DEM issued a violation notice and an accompanying $25,000 fine to the company for failing to submit required planning documents for handling and properly disposing of hazardous materials, according to documents obtained by Rhode Island Current. The company appealed the notice to DEM’s administrative tribunal days later.

The status of the adjudication process was not immediately available Wednesday night.

Separately, the city of Providence sued the company in April, days before the fire, arguing it has been illegally operating without a license since 2014, according to the complaint filed in Providence County Superior Court. A May court hearing on the city’s request to temporarily halt operations through a preliminary injunction was canceled, and has not been rescheduled, according to online court records. A hearing in the case is scheduled for August 9.

The company also owed the city nearly $160,000 in back taxes, WPRI-12 reported in March.

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley pointed to Wednesday’s fire as further evidence that the company operations must be shuttered.

“This is the second fire at this site in the past few months. It is critical for the safety and public health of our neighbors that operations cease until this facility obtains all necessary licenses,” Smiley said in a statement. “We are again requesting, and in this case demanding, that the state hold them accountable for the multiple matters that are squarely within their jurisdiction.”

Echoing his calls were state and city lawmakers who represent the south Providence neighborhood that includes the scrapyard.

“As the elected legislators who represent this area, we are furious at yet another environmental disaster at our neighborhood pariah, Rhode Island Recycled Metals,” Providence City Councilman Pedro Espinal, Sen. Tiara Mack and Rep. Jose Batista said in a joint statement. “RI Recycled Metals are a bad faith actor whose negligence and malfeasance are poisoning South Providence residents. Enough is enough.”

Their outrage toward Rhode Island Recycled Metals lies within a larger, environmental justice movement that seeks to reverse the heavy pollution from industrial operations along the city waterfront, which sits just east of neighborhoods composed predominantly of low-income and minority residents.

Neronha is also seeking to force the company from oversight under a special master into total control via receivership.

“ It has now become more than evident that the monitoring and oversight provided by the special mastership is not enough — our Office will continue to argue that to adequately protect the public, the full operational control of a receivership is required,” Neronha said in a statement.

Rhode Island Recycled Metals first opened in Providence in 2009, with an initial job of salvaging the Russian submarine Juliett 484, according to news reports. It has since expanded services to include demolition, recycling of various types of metal and scrap parts, marine salvaging and diving for purposes of underwater welding, according to the company website.

Editor-in-chief Janine Weisman contributed to this story.

This story was updated Wednesday night to include comment from the Providence Department of Public Safety.

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