Click here for the full text of the Senator's opening statement and the printed text of all the testimony from the panel. Found only on NNN!

Last Thursday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse drew an overflow crowd to the URI Bay Campus when he convened a panel of experts to report on the state of Narragansett Bay and the impact of global climate change on our local ecosystems. The senator represented the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the event was run like a formal Senate hearing -- each speaker had just five minutes to make a statement, and there were no questions from the floor or the media.

The speakers were Dr. Kate Moran, of URI's Marine Geomechanics Lab; Grover Fugate of the Coastal Resources Management Council; Dr. Jon Boothroyd, state geologist; John Torgan of Save The Bay; and Dr. Caroly Shumway, of the Nature Conservancy.

Also, NNN contributor Susan Genett was on the scene, click here to read about her impressions of the event.

Read more:

Click here to see a video of Save The Bay Baykeeper John Torgan's testimony (turn up your sound all the way). 

Click for local news reports: The Providence Business News, The Providence Journal, The Woonsocket Call.

Learn more about the scientists on the panel:

A recent slideshow and interview with Dr. Kate Moran via Public Radio International. Grover Fugate is chair of the Coastal Resources Management Council.  John Torgan blogs at the Save The Bay site.  Jon Boothroyd is a professor emiritus at URI. Caroly Shumway studies aquatic systems at the New England Aquarium in Boston.