Quonset Business Park
QDC Statement on QSS Biosolids 3/31/26
The Quonset Development Corporation welcomes the Speaker of the House’s public commission process, including the sharing of further information and feedback from the public. QDC will not execute a lease with the prospective tenant at this time. These topics will be on the public session agenda for the next QDC Board of Director’s meeting.
QDC Project Updates
For over twenty years, Quonset has operated as an industrial zoned business park. Transitioning from a former military base, the Quonset Business Park is now home to over 260 businesses and 15,000 employees across 3,200 acres.
Quonset is a statewide asset that generated $7 billion in economic output in 2025, including over $2 billion in household income for families and $191.5 million in state and local tax revenues. Businesses at the park contribute $59 million in property taxes, including over $15 million in local tax and PILOT payments to the town of North Kingstown. Additionally, a full summary of our work in 2025 is linked below.
The Quonset Development Corporation (QDC) has received questions regarding several projects at the park. Below is an overview of those projects.
Residents’ Odor Concerns
The Quonset Development Corporation (QDC), which manages and develops the Quonset Business Park, has received odor complaints in the West Davisville area from residents. QDC staff have gone out to multiple sites on several occasions to try to pinpoint both the reported odor and point of origin. QDC has not been able to determine a clear cause.
QDC also received complaints specifically identifying Bitumar’s facility. For the most part, there have been complaints while the facility is closed for the season, leading QDC to believe that there may be another source of the reported odor.
QDC has communicated this information to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, given its expertise in air quality control. QDC will share updates with the Town as more definitive information becomes available.
Additionally, to be responsive to concerns, Bitumar has informed QDC that it has retained an environmental consultant/expert to review its facility.
Bitumar USA, Inc.
Bitumar USA, Inc. currently operates a rail to truck transfer facility of liquid asphalt and other asphalt related products on Compass Circle in the West Davisville section of the Quonset Business Park.
In March of 2023 the Quonset Development Corporation’s Board of Directors approved a ground lease and license to Bitumar for the development of an asphalt terminal at the Port of Davisville. Before the approximately 6-acre site at the Port of Davisville could be developed, extensive utility work and the relocation of Davisville Road was required.
To enable railway access for Bitumar while the roadwork and utility work was ongoing, Bitumar was granted a 4-year license agreement for the West Davisville site, with the future intention of relocating to the Port of Davisville. The license agreement commenced in December of 2025.
Background on the Statewide Wastewater Issue
Waste is generated every day by residents and communities across Rhode Island, which has to go somewhere to be safely managed and treated. Once that waste is processed at treatment facilities, it produces a byproduct in the form of liquid sludge. Managing this sludge responsibly is a critical part of protecting public health and the environment.
Currently, Rhode Island’s cities and towns send their wastewater residuals to a facilities in Woonsocket and Cranston where the slug is processed through incineration. Woonsocket is limiting their acceptance of these materials with a goal of closing the incineration facility entirely.
Quonset’s Wastewater Treatment Facility, which serves the business park and thousands of North Kingstown residents, generates 400,000 gallons of material every year. Like all wastewater treatment facilities in the state, the Quonset Wastewater Treatment Facility will need a facility to transfer the biosolids to.
The Woonsocket closure will be a major problem for Quonset’s facility and communities across the state, both logistically and financially. For these reasons, a Rhode Island-based company is in the exploration phase of a pyrolysis facility at Quonset that would use the latest technology to address this serious issue in an environmentally responsible way.
Quonset Soil Solutions
There is currently a pyrolysis facility operating at 31 Cross Park Avenue that converts wood chips into biochar.
Pyrolysis is the heating of organic material in the absence of oxygen. Without oxygen, combustion does not occur. The biomass thermally decomposes into recaptured gases and biochar- a solid, carbon-rich material. The biochar will then be bagged and likely used as a soil fertilizer. The equipment has pollution control systems, per their permit, and the facility is bound by emissions limits and controls.
Quonset Development Corporation staff have been out to the site several times to ensure that it is operating in compliance with the conditions that we have set for them.
The following permits have been issued for the Cross Park Avenue facility:
• RI DEM Freshwater Wetland Permit and General Permit for Stormwater Discharge During Construction Activities: April 2023
• RI DEM Minor Source Air Permit: May 2023
• QDC Technical Review Conditional Approval: May 2023
Note: Quonset Soil Solutions is a subsidiary of Green Development, a Rhode Island-based company.
QSS Biosolids, LLC
QSS Biosolids, LLC, (formerly Global Soil Solutions) an affiliated entity of the Cross Park Avenue facility, is exploring another use for pyrolysis at a site on All American Way.
Pyrolysis is the heating of organic material in the absence of oxygen. Without oxygen, combustion does not occur. The biomass thermally decomposes into recaptured gases and biochar- a solid, carbon-rich material.
Pyrolysis would be used to create biochar from the byproducts of the wastewater treatment process. The pyrolysis process would differ significantly from the wastewater treatment process that has unfolded at a facility in Woonsocket. Unlike the facility in Woonsocket, the proposed facility at Quonset will not be an incinerator. The facility will not handle or treat medical waste of any kind. The process that QSS Biosolids is exploring involves de-watering of the sludge at an off-site facility not located in North Kingstown. The resulting product – a “cake like” substance- would be used as feedstock for the biochar process, not unlike the wood chips are now for the system on Cross Park Avenue. Before QSS Biosolid, LLC would be allowed to open this type of facility, they are required to meet certain conditions and requirements established by Quonset Development Corporation.
Some of those conditions include:
• All required permits – including a RI DEM Minor Source Air Permit
• A demonstration of a biosolids biochar using wastewater processed material
• Confirmation that the manufacturing process can achieve the intended results
• A contract with the Narragansett Bay Commission to supply the facility with feed stock materials
• Other conditions related to the facility building, like lighting plans, building permits, fire protection, etc.
At the request of the Speaker of the House, Quonset agreed to an in-depth review of the pyrolysis proposal by a specially appointed legislative commission conducting a comprehensive statewide evaluation of waste management strategies. QDC supports this step which will allow for broad public input and help ensure all options are carefully considered.
Recent correspondence related to the proposed biosolids project from the North Kingstown Town Manager, Ralph Mollis and QDC Managing Director, Steven J. King is available below.
Background on the Statewide Wastewater Issue
Waste is generated every day by residents and communities across Rhode Island, which has to go somewhere to be safely managed and treated. Once that waste is processed at treatment facilities, it produces a byproduct in the form of liquid sludge. Managing this sludge responsibly is a critical part of protecting public health and the environment.
Currently, Rhode Island’s cities and towns send their wastewater residuals to a facilities in Woonsocket and Cranston where the slug is processed through incineration. Woonsocket is limiting their acceptance of these materials with a goal of closing the incineration facility entirely.
Quonset’s Wastewater Treatment Facility, which serves the business park and thousands of North Kingstown residents, generates 400,000 gallons of material every year. Like all wastewater treatment facilities in the state, the Quonset Wastewater Treatment Facility will need a facility to transfer the biosolids to.
The Woonsocket closure will be a major problem for Quonset’s facility and communities across the state, both logistically and financially. For these reasons, a Rhode Island-based company is in the exploration phase of a pyrolysis facility at Quonset that would use the latest technology to address this serious issue in an environmentally responsible way.
Additional Communications and Updates
Revolution Wind Offshore Cable
Quonset is committed to supporting clean energy generation. For the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm, electricity generated offshore is delivered to Rhode Island via an export cable that makes landfall at the Quonset Business Park. From there, the power is transmitted to an onshore substation in North Kingstown, where it is integrated into the regional electric grid for distribution to homes and businesses.
As of March 2026, Revolution Wind is delivering power to the grid. The contractor is continuing to test various systems at the new interconnection station and substation off Camp Avenue. They are also working on restoration around the site.
Battery Energy Storage Facility
GDQ ESS, LLC is proposing a battery storage project that would capture and store power from the electric grid during off peak hours and feed it back into the electric grid during periods of higher electric demand. The 208-megawatt storage facility would be built on approximately 10 acres of land off Callahan Road, positioned well away from the park’s outer boundaries.
The project executed an interconnection agreement with ISO New England, the regional power grid operator, in November of 2025.
Additional approvals and requirements include:
- RI Energy Facility Siting Board: application pending
- RI DEM Freshwater Wetland Permit: March 2026
- RI DEM RIPDES Permit: June 2025
- QDC Technical Review Conditional Approval: pending
Board of Directors
Chair Stefan Pryor
North Kingstown Randy Wietman, David T. Miele
East Greenwich Thomas C. Plunkett, Esq.
Jamestown Barrett Cavanagh
Gubernatorial Lauren Burgess, Shawn Kerachsky, David Langlais, Adam Lupino, Eric Shorter, Michael F. Sweeney, Esq.