Rhode Island has one facility legally authorized to treat, store, and dispose of hazardous waste — and it sits in a residential neighborhood in south Providence. That makes independent oversight not a luxury, but a necessity.

The Allens Avenue facility has been operating for more than 40 years. In 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited the previous operator for serious hazardous waste violations, including misclassifying waste, improperly maintaining storage tanks, and storing waste too close together. A decade later, in 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted an inspection after a complaint was filed. The case was closed with no action taken.

Now the facility has changed hands again. New ownership doesn't erase that regulatory history — and reassurances from a company's CEO are not a substitute for real accountability.

Rhode Island residents deserve more than promises. They deserve a system that verifies compliance independently, makes inspection results publicly available, and creates a clear process for community input when a facility of this scale changes ownership.

I'm calling on the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the Rhode Island General Assembly to require more frequent, independent inspections of hazardous waste facilities in the state, mandate public disclosure of inspection results and violation histories, and establish a formal community notification process whenever facility ownership changes.

One facility. One state. No room for gaps in oversight.

Sign this petition to demand that Rhode Island put stronger safeguards in place — before a regulatory failure becomes a public health crisis.