2021 -- S 0970

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL

MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR JANET COIT ON HER NEW POSITION WITH THE UNITED

STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND THANKING HER FOR HER SERVICE

AND MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT DEM ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF RHODE

ISLAND

     Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Ruggerio, McCaffrey, Goodwin, Euer, and Miller

     Date Introduced: June 22, 2021

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit has been a

champion for the environment her entire life. Director Coit is a graduate, magna cum laude, of

Dartmouth College and earned her Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School where she was

President of the Environmental Law Society and a member of the Environmental Law Journal.

Her passionate advocacy for the environment continued with her work at the Department of the

Interior and Department of Justice, acting as environmental coordinator for Senator John Chafee

and Senator Lincoln Chafee, as well as serving as Counsel to the United States Committee on the

Environment and Public Works; and

     WHEREAS, Director Coit moved to Rhode Island in 1997 and worked for ten years as

the State Director for the Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s most important environmental

nonprofits. Under her guidance, the Nature Conservancy oversaw some of Rhode Island’s largest

land conservation projects; and

     WHEREAS, Appointed Director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental

Management in 2011, for more than ten years she has earned wide praise and respect for her

diligent efforts to protect Narragansett Bay, improve water quality, address the needs of the State

Park System and confront climate change; and

     WHEREAS, Director Coit has chaired the Executive Climate Change Coordinating

Council since its inception, and has worked tirelessly to promote clean energy, reduce emissions

and implement plans to make Rhode Island more resilient to the grave environmental impacts that

are being caused by climate change. Thanks to her leadership, Rhode Island has implemented

new grant programs for the remediation and reuse of contaminated sites; and

     WHEREAS, Under Director Coit’s direction and guidance, vast improvements have been

made within Rhode Island’s State Park System, which receives more than nine million visitors

each year. Staffing has been improved, a new pavilion was built at East Matunuck State Beach,

and new boat ramps and recreational fishing improvements were installed in Narragansett and

Goddard Park. Other improvements have included greater public access to parks, waterways and

nature; and

     WHEREAS, Director Coit has worked successfully with three Rhode Island Governors

and the General Assembly to promote green bonds every two years, and the electorate has voted

overwhelmingly in support of tens of millions of dollars to increase open space, farmland

preservation, water quality and recreational improvements, and to better safeguard and protect the

natural wonders that bless the Ocean State; and

     WHEREAS, Director Coit has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of

her outstanding stewardship of Rhode Island’s environment. Most recently, she received the New

England Women in Energy and the Environment’s Achievement Award, and the Gary S. Sasse

Distinguished Public Service Award from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. Last

year, Director Coit received an honorary degree from Roger Williams University School of Law.

She was also inducted into the American College of Environmental Lawyers and received the

Environmental Business Council Paul G. Keough Environmental-Energy Award for Government

Service; and

     WHEREAS, Director Coit played a vital role in attracting the Volvo Ocean Race

Newport Stopover event in 2015, which drew more than 130,000 fans and brought $47 million

into the local economy. In recognition of her tireless work to bring this event to Newport,

Director Coit received the “Mary Brennan Tourism Award” from the Rhode Island Hospitality

Association. The race returned to Newport in 2018, featuring the theme “Turn the Tide on

Plastics,” and included the fourth annual Ocean Summit; and

     WHEREAS, Other distinguished awards received by Director Coit include Sail

Newport’s President’s Award and the Annual Leadership Award from the Rhode Island Saltwater

Anglers Association, both given in 2015. She was recognized as one of Rhode Island’s most

powerful women by Rhode Island Monthly in 2014, and received the “John H. Chaffee

Conservation Leadership Award” from the Environmental Council of Rhode Island. She was

named “Boater of the Year” by the Rhode Island Marines Trades Association in 2013, and is a

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recipient of the "Salomon Award" from the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association; now,

therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby thanks Director Janet

Coit for her many years of distinguished and tireless service to the State of Rhode Island and her

support in protecting the environment. She has accomplished much in the important fight against

climate change, and has improved the lives of all Rhode Islanders by safeguarding and improving

the natural wonders of our Ocean State; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That this Senate hereby wishes Director Coit much success in her new

duties with the United States Department of Commerce; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Director Janet Coit, Rhode Island Department

of Environment Management.

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