Little Compton Considers Joining Portsmouth In Suit Over Tolls

Little Compton officials are considering joining a lawsuit against the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority and several other defendants in response to proposed tolls on the Sakonnet River Bridge.

Portsmouth filed the lawsuit on April 23 in U.S. District Court that accuses RITBA and Michael Lewis, director of the DOT, of violating the Federal-Aid Highway Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. 

Passed in 1969, the act requires government bodies to complete an environmental impact statement before launching projects such as constructing a new bridge. The Portsmouth complaint alleges that RIBTA, Lewis and the Federal Highway Administration did not fulfill this obligation when the initial impact statement on the construction of the new bridge was done more than a decade ago because the impact statement did not consider tolls.

Portsmouth Town Council President Jim Seveney sent an email to the Little Compton council on Sunday, May 4 urging it to join Portsmouth.

"This is going to be an extraordinary cost to townspeople - myself included - who go over the bridge many times per day," said Richard S. Humphreys, Little Compton solicitor.

"I would say the fees would be enormous with this [lawsuit], its not going to be a $15,000 bill," added Humphreys.

Little Compton councilors agreed that a toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge would cause a hardship for residents.

"This is taxation without representation," said Councilor Paul Golembeske. "It's an unfair burden on us down here. We don't have the numbers down here to make a difference in Providence."

Ultimately councilors decided they would need more information from Seveney and Portsmouth Solicitor Kevin Gavin and voted to invite them to an upcoming meeting.

The Little Compton Town Council will meet next on Thursday, May 23 at 7 p.m.