PROVIDENCE — A Superior Court judge has expanded the powers of a special master overseeing the ongoing cleanup of a waterfront scrap metal operation in the city , giving him “complete control and management oversight” of permitting for remediation and redevelopment of the Allens Avenue site.
In the decision released Friday, Judge Brian Stern modified the 2016 order in which lawyer Richard Land was appointed special master and granted him authority over aspects of the operations of Rhode Island Recycled Metals, but Stern stopped short of placing the business in receivership, which would have subjected it to even stricter oversight.
The office of Attorney General Peter Neronha and the state Department of Environmental Management had requested in July that Land’s position be changed to receiver following a fire in a pile of scrap metal that raised concerns over pollution in nearby South Providence neighborhoods …