Rhode Island Resources

RI Brownfield Programs

RI Department of Environmental Management Brownfield Main Page 

State funding program: the state periodically releases Request for Proposals for the Brownfields Remediation and Economic Development Fund. There is currently no open solicitation for the program. 

Liability relief program: the Industrial Remediation and Reuse Act provides a framework to establish remediation agreements and covenants not to sue for prospective purchasers, as well as liability protections for innocent landowners and tenants. The forms are available on the RIDEM website.   

Brownfields Inventory

The Office of Land Revitalization and Sustainable Materials Management maintains several site inventories under the site remediation and brownfields program, solid and hazardous waste and underground storage tanks programs. Site inventories can be found here: http://dem.ri.gov/programs/wastemanagement/inventories.php

Regulatory Framework

Additional laws and policies can be found here.  

Planning Documents

RI communities develop comprehensive plans in accordance with Chapter 45-22.2 of the Rhode Island General Laws. These plans follow general principles outlined in the State Guide Plan and undergo an approval process; a list can be viewed here. A 5-year implementation report is also mandated and a list of submitted report can be found here. 

State and Town Data

The RI Planning Information Center provides a range of resources based on demographic data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and other agencies. A link to additional data sources including economic, education and health indicators is also provided.

The Rhode Island Geographic Information System (RIGIS) distributes open geographically referenced datasets that represent a wide range of topics, including transportation, infrastructure, and the environment.

Public Health Data

The RI Environmental Public Health Tracking Network provides a variety of relevant data at the county level, for several years and in certain cases disaggregated by gender and race.

Specific categories of interest to brownfield grants:

Asthma

The RIEPHTN data portal includes data for asthma prevalence, emergency department visits and hospitalization rates; data is available at the county level.

Cancer

The CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network includes a map in the Data Explorer Tool by census tract for two cancer indicators: crude prevalence of cancer among adults and number of breast cancer cases for a 10-year period. These are NOT actual cancer rates; they are modeled on the basis of survey responses and the PLACES project (Population Level Analysis and Community Estimates).

The United States Data Statistics website includes data visualizations with actual cancer rates, which are available at the county and congressional district level.

The RIEPHTN data portal includes data for different types of cancer at the county level (the same as the national network data).

Birth Defects

The only dataset available nationally for birth defects is through the CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network and it provides data at the county level for 11 different types of birth defects.

Lead Poisoning

The RIEPHTN data portal includes data for number of children tested, and Pb blood levels below 5, between 5 and 10 and above 10 μg/dL at the county level.

New cases by municipality for 2020 are available on the RIDPH Childhood Lead Poisoning website.

SparkRI StoryMap on Pb in drinking water includes a map for Providence elevated Pb level by census tract.