A home at last: the Rhode Island office. (Rhode Island).

CLF-RI now has a full-time office, and its first Director of Rhode Island Advocacy--Christopher A. D'Ovidio. Some job applicants have credentials, but D'Ovidio has CREDENTIALS. A native of Warwick, he earned a BS in Natural Resources Management from URI in 1988, then spent six years at the RI Department of Environmental Management, ultimately working there as an environmental scientist. In 1998, he entered San Francisco's Golden Gate University School of Law, graduated last May, and headed back to Rhode Island. He hung out his shingle as a solo practitioner, with emphasis on environmental and administrative law. And he reimmersed himself in the kind of work that inspired CLF to hire him. He volunteered for the Defenders of Greenwich Bay, opposing expansion of a Warwick marina; for Narragansett Bay Watch, opposing an inwater dredge disposal site; and for Concerned Airport Neighbors, opposing the expansion of T.F. Green Airport.

D'Ovidio joins RI advocacy coordinator Jennifer Cole Steele, who continues as RI coordinator. She currently has her sights on our nemesis at Brayton Point, hoping to help close down that notorious polluter. Also on her list: working to prevent a Quonset megaport, preventing lead poisoning, and helping to improve RI roads and highways. But it seems there must be two Jennifers, since she also works as director of The Providence Neighborhood Planting Program, which plants more than 400 trees annually along Providence streets.

A third imposing presence in the new RI office is CLF vice-president Stephanie Pollack. As director of the Southern New England Advocacy Center, her legendary advocacy talents--known throughout Rhode Island--complement those of D'Ovidio and Steele. Environmental malfeasants beware!