Senator Ken LaValle calls upon Army Corps of Engineers and EPA to stop ill-conceived plan to dump dredge spoils in LI Sound

Today, I joined with other elected officials, environmentalists, and civic leaders to call upon the Army Corp of engineers and the EPA to stop the ill-conceived plan for dumping dredge spoils in the Long Island Sound.

Throughout my tenure as State Senator, I have worked to put in place policies and programs to protect this vitally important resource.  This year alone, we secured $5 million towards clean water studies and initiatives across Long Island. To dump dredge spoils from potentially contaminated sites would do irreparable harm to Long Island Sound. There have been numerous studies that collectively demonstrate pollution, overfishing, and contaminated dredge material disposal have eroded the health of the Sound over time, thereby reducing its resilience capacity to deal with additional ecological stressors. The Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA need to discontinue their attempt to implement this plan.

 For detailed information, please see below:

US Army Corp of Engineers Dredged Material Management Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Information

Public Hearings

Two public hearings will be held in New York: on Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 in the Village Center at Port Jefferson at 101-A East Broadway in Port Jefferson, N.Y.; and on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015 at the Marriott Long Island at 101 James Doolittle Blvd. in Uniondale, N.Y. Registration for all meetings will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the hearings will start at 6 p.m.

Hearings will also be held in Connecticut.

Public comments on the Draft DMMP or Draft PEIS should be forwarded no later than Sept. 18, 2015 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, (ATTN: LIS DMMP/PEIS Program Manager Meghan Quinn), 696 Virginia Road, Concord, MA  01742-2751 or by email to: meghan.c.quinn@usace.army.mil.

 Click links below for details:

Dredged Material Management Plan

http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/Topics/LISDMMP/LIS-DMMP-Main-Report-PRDraft-August2015.pdf

Environmental Impact Statement

http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/Topics/LISDMMP/LIS-DMMP-PEIS-PRDraft-August2015.pdf

Hearing notice

http://www.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/Topics/LISDMMP/LIS-DMMP-Public-Notice14Aug2015.pdf

 For other information please see:

http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Missions/ProjectsTopics/LongIslandSoundDMMP.aspx

Senator LaValle's letter of opposition to the Army Corp plan can be downloaded below.