All Long Islanders agree about the need for clean water [“Clean-water funding is crucial in state budget,” Opinion, March 24]. Nitrogen pollution from sewage is causing water quality impairments, fish kills and harmful algal blooms. Contaminants poses a significant threat to our drinking water and health. The good news is that we know how to solve these problems, but we need money.
Highlights
· The final rule announced today by the EPA is stricter than the proposed rule published last year and stricter than the standard adopted by New York State in 2020.
· PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” are harmful substances linked to deadly cancers and other health impacts. They are prevalent in the environment from many sources.
· The federal agency also announced nearly $1 billion in newly available funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help communities comply with the rule.
· Public water suppliers will have five years to comply with the rule if they detect PFAS in their systems.
State officials and the Food and Drug Administration are using a water-tracing dye to track Patchogue's wastewater in order to protect consumers of shellfish harvested in waters off Long Island's South Shore.
On March 25, wastewater from the Patchogue wastewater treatment plant will be treated over a period of 12.5 hours with low concentrations of dye, as part of a study to understand the treated effluent discharging into the Patchogue River and Patchogue Bay.
ALBANY, NY — Today legislators and the PFAS-Free New York coalition gathered in Albany to call for urgent action to pass package of bills for the 2024 legislative session that would curb PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination in New York State. The bills call for eliminating PFAS in key consumer and household products (A3556A/S5648-A), in personal care and cosmetic products (A6969/S4265), and in menstrual products (A5990/S3529); as well as a bill to track the levels of PFAS in effluent released into waterways (A3296A/S227-B).
HAUPPAUGE, NY— Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey were joined today by environmental and labor leaders at a press conference announcing an historic deal that will transform water protection in Suffolk County and pave the way for clean water for future generations.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $479 million in grants for critical water infrastructure projects, including the first funding awarded through the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, which was passed by voters after Hochul pushed to increase the total amount by $1 billion upon taking office.
BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. -- Residents who live near the controversial Brookhaven town landfill are demanding an investigation after they say they've gotten sick by hazardous waste.
Brookhaven, NY (October 9, 2023) – Leaders from the Brookhaven chapter of the NAACP NYS Conference, Citizens Campaign for the Environment (DDE) and the Brookhaven Landfill Action and Remediation Group (BLARG) today called for an independent investigation into the dumping of potentially hazardous waste for years at the town of Brookhaven landfill, exposing neighboring communities of color, teachers and students at the nearby Frank P. Long School and workers at the landfill to serious health risks.
IN THE HILLS of the Hamptons, next to one of the most expensive golf clubs in the country, sits a big pit. It spans an area of just over 30 acres — about six city blocks — and drops more than 100 feet deep in some parts, with heaps of sand scattered throughout. Heavy machinery scoops that sand out of the ground, sifts it, and loads it onto trucks for sale. It’s a mine called Sand Land, and it operates much as it has for more than half a century.
It isn’t supposed to. New York’s highest court ruled more than six months ago that Sand Land’s permits were invalid, and regulators told the company to stop mining. The town slapped a stop work order at the entrance. The state Department of Environmental Conservation (dec) sent inspectors and issued violation notices. Sand Land kept digging.
Brookhaven Landfill rises behind the Frank P. Long Intermediate School and playground in North Bellport.
An underground plume of PFAS and other dangerous chemicals has emanated from the Brookhaven Landfill for decades. The Town of Brookhaven is now ordered to measure how far they must go to remediate affected drinking water sources.
Nothing lasts forever — though there are some notable exceptions: love, according to the poet; sadness, according to the painter; and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, according to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
She was at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge last Friday, July 28, to announce that she had introduced the Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act of 2023, which sets out to regulate the toxic but widely used “forever chemicals” under the aegis of the Clean Water Act.
