Sandra Thornton Whitehouse, the wife of U.S. Sen.-elect Sheldon Whitehouse, has returned to her $100-an-hour job as an environmental consultant to lawmakers at the Rhode Island State House.

First hired by then-House Speaker John B. Harwood in April 2000, Sandra Whitehouse was paid $71,625 in consulting fees by the House of Representatives in fiscal year 2004; $88,100 (which was almost as much as Democrat Charles Fogarty made as the state’s full-time lieutenant governor) in 2005 and $12,825 during the first half last year.

No bills came in after last February. By then, she was hard at work on her husband’s ultimately successful campaign to unseat Republican Lincoln D. Chafee and could be seen, at his side, on his way to and from his public appearances, debates and press conferences.

Asked what she will be doing for House Speaker William J. Murphy and his leadership team during the 2007-08 session beginning Tuesday, House spokesman Larry Berman said: “Sandra Whitehouse, who has a doctorate in marine biology, handles policy issues for the House regarding the environment and how they might impact other issues, such as economic development.

“She attends hearings … the latest being one on the LNG issue, and she will be researching the Quonset Point issue and how the environment would be impacted by a possible expansion that Speaker Murphy has asked to be studied.

“She is also currently researching the management of the drinking water supply in Rhode Island for potential legislation this session,” he said.

Dr. Whitehouse, as she is called at the State House, has a Ph.D in biological oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, and a B.S. from Yale University.

In the past, she worked for the state’s lawmakers on the potential development of an aquaculture technology park at Quonset Point, a Narragansett Bay Summit, a Marine Waterways and Boating Facilities Act, research monitoring of the Providence River dredging project and a review of the state’s fisheries licensing system in anticipation of the approaching end of a moratorium on new licenses.

Most recently, Berman said, Whitehouse worked with Rep Eileen Naughton, D-Warwick, on legislation that led to the creation of the Environmental Coordination Team, with the Senate policy office on a Marine Resources development plan. She also worked on an analysis of environmental impacts of proposed LNG terminals in Providence and Fall River (Weaver’s Cove).

-- Journal staff writers Katherine Gregg, Scott Mayerowitz, Scott Mackay and Elizabeth Gudrais