Please note, tonight's Narragansett Town Council Meeting it is noted on the agenda they will be discussing the land lease deal between the RIDEM and the Procaccianti Group.

Below is the email I received from the Director.  He noted he sent it to me last week, but he resent it today.   It could have been lost amongst my other emails.   In any event, here is the Director's Response:

I have not heard of anyone from the Town of Narragansett, elected officials, and concerned citizens endorse the response he has noted in bold below.   Everyone I have spoken to have been against the Procaccianti Group issuing out the RFPs.

Dr Alba:

Thank you for your email and thoughts on the future of Galilee.  As you know, we are proceeding deliberately with respect to the lease and are requiring the tenant to issue a Request for Proposals to identify potential options for the property.  We adopted this approach, in part, based on the feedback we received from the Town of Narragansett, elected officials, and concerned residents.  We intend to evaluate the responses to that RFP with the intent of finding the highest and best use for the site.  In terms of infrastructure at the port, we completely agree with the need for significant investment in the port to make it more resilient to the impacts of climate change and to address the repairs that are sorely needed to support our commercial fishing fleet.  We are seeking funding from multiple sources to support those critically needed projects.   I hope to have positive news to report in the near future in this area.

I apologize for the delay in my response.  Although I am a lifelong Rhode Islander and have enjoyed many informal walks around Galilee, I have only been serving as Acting Director for about six weeks now and definitely still have a lot to learn about the operation and maintenance needs for this critical port.  Galilee is a treasured part of our culture, and we are all committed to making the best decisions for the future of this facility.

Once again, I appreciate your passion and input on these issues.  Please enjoy the rest of your summer and I can assure you we will be as completely open and transparent as we can as this progresses.

Sincerely,

Terry Gray

Terrence Gray, P.E.

Acting Director

RI Department of Environmental Management