[NOT FOR PUBLICATION] UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 97-1241 KENNETH HOWARD, ET AL., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, WATER RESOURCES BOARD, Defendant, Appellee. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND [Hon. Ernest C. Torres, U.S. District Judge] Before Selya, Circuit Judge, Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge, and Lynch, Circuit Judge. John W. Dineen and Yesser, Glasson & Dineen on brief for appellants. Jeffrey B. Pine, Attorney General, and Rebecca Tedford Partington, Assistant Attorney General, on brief for appellee. October 14, 1997 Per Curiam. Upon careful review of the briefs and record, we conclude that appellants' complaint properly was dismissed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim and that their motion to amend the complaint properly was denied as futile. We reach this conclusion for substantially the same reasons stated by the district court in its Memorandum and Order dated December 31, 1996. Affirmed. See 1st Cir. Loc. R. 27.1. -2-