SOURCE:
Denise Civiletti - July 21, 2025
United States Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand came to Riverhead today to warn that the president’s proposed $8 million funding cut from the National Estuary Program could jeopardize ongoing efforts to protect and restore the Peconic Estuary.
The proposed cut is part of the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget, Gillibrand said.
Gillibrand, a member of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee, said there is bipartisan opposition to the proposed funding cut.
In the House, NY-1 Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) is one of 14 cosponsors of a bill introduced by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures (AL-2) that would fully fund the National Estuaries Program through 2031. An identical bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) with one cosponsor to date according to the Senate website, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
“I lead the bipartisan ESTUARIES Act in the House because I represent two of our nation’s 28 nationally recognized estuaries—and I know they’re vital to our economy, our fisheries, and the coastal way of life we cherish,” LaLota said in a press release this morning. “That’s why I’m proud to join colleagues from both sides of the aisle to ensure clean water and healthy habitats remain national priorities for generations to come,”
Gillibrand was one of 20 senators who signed onto a letter to the Appropriations Committee chair and ranking member in opposition to the president’s proposed funding cut to the National Estuaries Program. The letter urges the committee to fully fund the National Estuaries Program in 2026 at $50 million, including at least $1 million for each NEP site and $4 million for a competitive grant program.
The Peconic Estuary is “a beautiful natural wonder” and an “essential part of our community,” Gillibrand said at the news conference this morning at the East End Arts Council’s 11 West Gallery in Riverhead. It plays a vital role in the economy and culture of the East End, with positive impacts on tourism, commercial fishing and recreation.
Gillibrand was flanked at the news conference by Assembly Member Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Sag Harbor) and County Legislator Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead), as well as by representatives of the Peconic Estuary Program, Group for the East End, Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Save the Sound, among others.
The bipartisan support received by the National Estuary Program since its inception more than 30 years ago has made the work of local programs like the Peconic Estuary Program possible, PEP Executive Director Joyce Novak said.
“Across the country, the National Estuary programs have explored and protected over 2.5 million acres of habitat, worked locally to improve water quality…and for every dollar of federal investment, have leveraged $ 17 million in local, state and private sector funding,” Novak said.
There are 28 estuaries in the National Estuary Program, which is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Among them are two on Long Island: the Peconic Estuary and the Long Island Sound Estuary.
“As we face a reduction in funding, we are thrilled Sen. Gillibrand has come here today to show her support for this historic and keystone federal Clean Water program,” Novak said.
“Estuaries are called the nursery grounds for our oceans,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment said. “That’s because fin fish need and use these areas as spawning grounds and nursery grounds to become adult fish, feeding our recreational and our commercial fishing industry. Our shellfish industry also needs our estuaries. And 1/3 of all bird life use estuaries as nesting and nursery grounds. Also, they are one of the most productive ecosystems on our planet,” she said.
“Our estuaries define what it is we love about where we live and we want to protect that,” she said, calling it “a nonpartisan issue.”
In addition to their great economic value and environmental value, the estuary has “another value that’s hard to quantify and hard to measure,” Esposito said. It’s “what connects us to nature,” she said.
“This is the place that we go with our families and we recreate. We put our feet in the water, we learn to swim, we learn to sail, we learn to kayak or paddle board. We love the joy that these water bodies bring us,” Esposito said. “It is worth fighting for, and every dollar that we put into estuaries is an investment of funds, not an expenditure of funds.”
Robert DeLuca of the Group for the East End gave a historical perspective on protection and restoration of the Peconic Estuary, harkening back to 1986, the year after the first brown tide algal bloom. The bloom in 1985 “essentially ended a multi-million dollar scallop industry in the Peconic bays.” The second major summer bloom destroyed just about whatever was left for a harvest following year, he said. “All of us were trying to figure out what to do next.”
“And so began a 40 year journey to protect and restore the Peconic Bay Estuary,” he said. The Group led the creation of a grassroots network called the Bay Emergency Action Coalition. The county health department completed the first major brown tide assessment, which identified the watershed and the estuary, drawing visual observations on an old topographic map, DeLuca said. “The original brown tide study was released in 1988 and its early results were the momentum for change,” he said.
“Eventually the brown tide study became the framework for the nomination document for the entire Peconic estuary, and with a final day of advocacy by Billy Joel, a great friend of our local baymen, in the halls of Congress, and that sealed the deal. And the Peconic Bay Estuary became an estuary of national significance,” DeLuca said.
The PEP, “like so many other National Estuary programs, emerged out of adversity, survived because of a broad based conviction that we could do better and that we would all of our differences unite, fight for positive change and have a staying power to assure future protection and restoration of this priceless cultural, economic and natural wonder we know as the Peconic Estuary,” DeLuca said.
“So as budget cuts loom, we already know adversity. We know what to do. We’re connected to our neighbors and our businesses, and we have to support our elected officials locally here and a wonderful professional team in the PEP office,” he said. “For these reasons…with the help of Senator Gillibrand and our enduring hope for future generations, will make a compelling case for the continued federal funding of the Peconic Estuary, the Long Island Sound, and hopefully other vital estuary programs across this nation.”
