Dr. Michael Reuter testifies before the Senate Committee on Environment & Agriculture on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. Gov. Dan McKee has nominated him to serve on the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. A full Senate vote is expected March 20. (Screenshot/Capital TV)
As lawmakers consider a flood of policies aimed at shoring up — or washing out — the controversial Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, they are also moving to fill its ranks.
The Senate Committee on Environment & Agriculture on Wednesday unanimously backed Gov. Dan McKee’s appointment of Dr. Michael Reuter to serve on the 10-member council. The full Senate is expected to take up Reuter’s appointment on March 20, according to Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson.
“Dr. Reuter’s passion to improve the health of Rhode Islanders and the environment around them makes him a perfect addition to the council,” McKee said in a statement Thursday. “I look forward to working with him to find creative and sustainable ways we can manage Rhode Island’s future.”
Amid calls to reform politically appointed CRMC, another member resigns
Reuter’s appointment, if approved, would fill one of four open spots on the council, which oversees public access and development along the state’s 400 miles of coastline and beaches. He would fill the vacancy left by former council member Catherine Robinson Hall, who resigned in May 2024, two-thirds of the way through her three-year term.
Hall, a former Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) staff attorney who now works as a coastal policy professor at Williams College, cited work and family obligations as reasons for her resignation.
The politically appointed council has been plagued by criticism over its lack of expertise in complex legal and environmental topics and controversial decisions sometimes at odds with recommendations by its renowned, expert staff. Vacancies have also led to a string of canceled meetings, with the council unable to meet the six-member minimum to vote or conduct other official business.
Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, a South Kingstown Democrat and chair of the Senate Environmental committee, acknowledged the attempts to reform the CRMC pending before the Rhode Island General Assembly. However, with four vacancies, Reuter’s appointment helps to ensure the council and staff can continue their work, at least for the time being, she said during the hearing Wednesday.
Coastal advocates, lawmakers and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha have for years sought to eliminate the politically appointed council, reshaping the agency as an administrative one akin to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM). Bills introduced in the Rhode Island House by Rep. Terri Cortvriend, a Portsmouth Democrat, and Rep. Jay Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, both seek to abolish the council. Edwards’ bill would funnel the agency into DEM, while Cortvriend’s would keep it as a standalone, coastal administrative agency.
No Senate companion bill has been introduced as of Thursday.
Reuter, a board-certified podiatric surgeon at Medical Associates of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Hospital’s Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine and The Miriam Hospital, told lawmakers Wednesday he applied for the council position based on his experience on the Barrington Harbor Commission. Many of the dock and rights-of-way applications the harbor commission considered eventually landed with the CRMC.
“I would love the chance to be able to see those things through,” Reuter said.
Reuter also spoke to his experience dealing with the agency as a homeowner, frustrated by delays in having basic permitting applications approved that were needed to allow his family to finish renovations and return to their home.
State senators peppered him with questions about his stance on the state’s 2023 law enshrining shoreline access, how he would balance property owners’ rights with protections for coastal resources and whether he would heed the recommendations of the council’s expert staff.
“I am a man of science,” Reuter said. “I am a doctor. I live in data all day long.”
Reuter proclaimed a love for Narragansett Bay and the state’s natural resources, curated through living in Rhode Island for most of his life. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Roger Williams University in 2003, before receiving a doctorate in podiatric medicine from New York College of Podiatric Medicine in 2008, according to his resume.
Reuter also serves as an active member on Sail Newport’s advisory council and on the board of directors for the Providence Community Boating Center, according to McKee’s office. He is also vice commodore on the Barrington Yacht Club Board of Governors, according to the yacht club website.
Jed Thorp, advocacy director for Save the Bay, questioned Reuter’s experience and expertise in coastal matters, noting that there had not been sufficient time for the organization to vet Reuter’s credentials ahead of the hearing.
“The nomination process is, in that way, flawed,” Thorp said, stressing the importance of the ability for public review on a consequential panel.
Save the Bay has not taken a position on Reuter’s appointment, though Thorp reiterated the group’s push for more sweeping reform to the agency.
Michael Woods, chairman of New England Chapter Board of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, agreed.
“I am not sure even having a full 10-member council would solve some of the problems that are plaguing the council and have plagued the council for years,” Woods told lawmakers during the hearing Wednesday.
Olivia DaRocha, a spokesperson for McKee’s office, said the administration is “actively recruiting candidates” to fill the other three open seats on the council.
Thorp noted that four of the five politically appointed members — the sixth council member is a representative from DEM — have expired terms. State law lets appointed panel members serve beyond their three-year terms until a replacement is named or they are appointed for a new term.
Updated to include Dr. Michael Reuter’s resume and a response from the governor’s office regarding additional appointments.
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