The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says this week it had planned to closely monitor the water quality underneath a sand pit in eastern Long Island. The department gave the mining operation a permit to grow the sand mine in March.
The State Supreme Court, however, is now ordering the sand mine to stop the expansion.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation allowed Sand Land Corporation to expand its mine in Noyack with additional water quality monitoring. The permit calls for the mine to be shut down in eight years.
Environmentalists, officials and residents have sued to have the decision overturned.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the mine needs to be closed, and the groundwater remediated right away.
“We want our groundwater protected, we want to know our drinking water on the South Fork of Long Island is protected, and we know Sand Land is a known polluter.”
Esposito says the expansion of the mine is a threat to public health.
The injunction will stop the mine’s expansion until court hearings in the fall.
