RI Back In Court In Ongoing Battle With Scrap Metal Company

The state is back in court Friday for a hearing as environmental officials battle a scrap metal recycling company on the Providence waterfront. The state is asking a Superior Court judge to declare Rhode Island Recycled Metals in contempt for willfully violating court orders. The company was supposed to restrict its business operations to scrap metal. But in September, an inspector found junk cars, car batteries, and drums of undetermined waste on the company's waterfront property. The discovery came after the court appointed a special master, charged with overseeing environmental cleanup on the property. The inspector also found a patch of soil soaked in oil, measuring about six feet in diameter. The state's lawsuit against Rhode Island Recycled Metals has been ongoing for more than a year. The state is thinking about buying this property to expand ProvPort, using money from a bond voters approved earlier this month.