New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and dozens of Long Island elected officials are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to stop the Army Corp of Engineers’ plan to continue to dump dredged materials into Long Island Sound for the next 30 years.
Cuomo said Thursday that it’s absurd to spend so much time and money in cleaning up the sound as another branch of government makes it worse.
“So it’s like one of those cartoons, where they’re shoveling out on one side and the other side is shoveling back in.” Cuomo said.
Dredging is mainly done in Connecticut to keep its rivers and ports navigable. The plan has the endorsement of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the state’s congressional delegation.
More than a dozen Long Island lawmakers joined New York’s governor on Thursday to send the EPA a letter. They say the continued dumping of dredged materials from Connecticut will adversely affect quality of life in Long Island.
“We will take every action that we can, we will use every resource and if that include legal action to stop the federal government because this cannot happen. Period.” Cuomo said.
In a statement, the EPA said it has not made a final decision on the plan but that it strikes a balance between the need to safely navigate Long Island Sound and the need to protect it.
A final decision is expected later this year.
