Blackstone Valley Tourism Network
Minutes
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Network
A Project of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
May 30, 2008 at 8:30 a.m.
At Bill’s Auto Parts Central Falls, RI
Meeting Summary
Attending:
Robert Billington, Blackstone Valley Tourism
Council
Amanda Wood, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Robert Beadle, Northeast Public Relations
Lorraine Provencher, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Donna Houle, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Alex Sommer, Intern, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Natalie Carter, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Patti McAlpine, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
Gerry Assis, Volunteer 295 Visitors Center
Virginia Sindelar, Grace Note Farm
Halford Welch, JHC Blackstone River Valley NHC
Donna Williams, Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center
Renee Dumont, Artists
Speaker: Donna Williams of Broad Meadow
Brook Conservation Center
Hosts: Paul & Lynn D’Adamo of Bill’s Auto
Parts
Bob welcomed and thanked everyone for coming. He
also thanked our hosts for offering their premises for this meeting.
Bob explained that the location of Bill’s Auto
Parts is along the Blackstone Valley Bike Path and that the new
segment that was dedicated on Monday was immediately to the rear of
this building. The new segment is unusual in that it’s stilted so
that walkers, etc. can get a great view of wildlife, etc. that are
located in the marsh just under the bike path. The Lonsdale Marsh
Site was returned to its natural environment a few years before.
He noted how Bill’s Auto Parts, although a
recycling center, has a mission similar to that of all the
Blackstone Valley partners who wish to see a clean river. He added
that Bill & Lynn will be giving a tour of the facility after the
meeting.
Bob then introduced Donna Williams from the Broad
Meadow Brook Conservation Center in the Quinsigamond section of
Worcester.
Donna thanked everyone for coming and explained her
position and the Blackstone River Campaign to have the Blackstone
fishable/swimmable by 2015. One of the components of this campaign
is to focus on the storm water runoff and the waste water treatment
plants and toxic sediments. The Blackstone River is a river of
national significance, is an American Heritage River, and was
designated by President Clinton as one of the 14 rivers in the U.S.
that has a partnership with the E.P.A. and the Army Corps of
Engineers.
Donna showed a power point presentation explaining
various subjects having to do with this campaign with much data and
statistics. Some of the slides showed how the flood of ’05 impacted
the river and what can be done to lessen the storm water runoff
impact in the future. Donna took a few minutes to explain that a
watershed is land and water and is a natural system of drainage and
that there are 524 square miles in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
and ends at Narragansett Bay. She explained that it takes bi-state
cooperation and collaboration to keep cleaning the bay.
Donna also explained that the Blackstone River
Coalition was born when the Worcester Sewage Treatment Plant had a
mishap and thousands of gallons of raw sewage flowed down the
Blackstone River. She added that impervious cover in urban
landscapes generates 16 times the runoff of a vegetated area and
water quality of streams, etc. This group works with communities and
local retailers and developers to increase low impact development to
increase filtration and reduce storm water volume in both commercial
and residential sites. The group also works with homeowners. She
also showed sites where natural and unnatural filtration were
compared and how natural filtration was better and how natural
vegetation and plants as well as rain gardens were necessary.
Donna added that there are 80 volunteer monitors
throughout the Valley and that on the second Saturday of every month
from April to November, they retrieve water quality data at 81
sites. This data is so extremely reliable that RI DEM and MA DEQ
utilize this data.
Bob thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and
asked everyone to take a tour with our hosts to see how recycling
takes place at this business.
Paul thanked all of us for coming to his site. He
stated that he is President of the RI Recyclers Association and is
instrumental in teaching other like businesses how to recycle
properly. To attempt to keep his site safer, he has erected a fence
between his business and the bike path as well as creating a hay
bale berm and a rock buffer which will help to keep any run-off from
leaving his site. He explained that when he purchased the business,
he cleaned over 8000 tires from the site and has slowly and
efficiently removed other contaminants.
Paul then gave all attendees a tour of the entire
operation. He explained how the recycled vehicles are purchased,
categorized, and marked so that each worker knows what has to be
done to each vehicle. They are also marked so that parts can be
easily retrieved for customers and/or distributed to various
wholesalers. Paul also added that a vehicle does not stay on site
more than a week. After all that can be salvaged is saved and all
liquids are removed, the remainder of the vehicle is sent to the
crusher. The crushed vehicle is then sent to the shipyard in
Providence to be sent overseas to be recycled. The following is also
accomplished:
-
Oil is cleaned with micro-organisms from
retrieved parts
-
Retrieved oil is used to heat the facility
-
All tools are powered from a single efficient
compressor and in turn the company receives a tax rebate for
efficiency
-
Hazardous spill kits are placed around the
entire facility (no spills to date)
-
Liquid removal is conducted with a vacuum pump
to remove maximum amount of contaminants
-
National chain stores purchase parts because
the requested product is clean/efficient/safe/reliable.
For the record, everyone who toured this facility
was truly impressed and that this business was a recycling facility
done right. Donna Williams added that she would be sending Paul a
window sticker that states that this business is “In Business for
the Blackstone”.
Adjourned: 10:30 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lorraine Provencher
Recording Secretary
