Final State Budget Provides Resources to Protect Long Island Environment
$2.5 billion water program and $300 Million Environmental Protection Fund will provide critical funding to protect Long Island land and water
New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF, WE-Sag Harbor) today announced that the 2017 final State Budget provides historic levels of funding to protect Long Island’s environment, including $2.5 billion in capital funding for clean water, as well as $300 million for the Environmental Protection Fund. Earlier this year, Thiele was the first state official to propose a major bond act to improve water quality.
Included in the environmental funding package is:
- $110 million for land acquisition for source water protection statewide;
- $75 million to upgrade and replace outdated cesspools and septic systems statewide;
- $1 million to Stony Brook University Water Technology Center for research, development, and pilot projects to remove 1,4-Dioxane from the water supply;
- $3 million for Suffolk County and the Stony Brook University water Technology Center to address nitrogen loading from septic waste;
- $250,000 to the Long Island Regional Planning Council for the Long Island Nitrogen Reduction Plan (LINAP);
- $200,000 for the Peconic Estuary Program;
- $6,050,000 to eradicate invasive species, including the southern pine beetle.
Thiele stated, “New York State has devised a three-pronged attack on the decline in water quality. (1) A plan to clean up Long Island waters, (2) Research to create new affordable technology, such as nitrogen removing septic systems to implement the plan, and (3) Necessary funding to implement the plan by providing the new technology. In particular, I am proud of the leadership role the East End has taken in cleaning up our water. The decision of East End voters, by margins of 75 to 80%, to extend the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund and to permit up to 20% of revenues to be used for water quality improvement projects led the way in attacking declining water quality. Now, both Suffolk County and New York State have followed our lead with new funding to upgrade septic systems and cesspools. No one is in a better position than the East End to leverage these state and county programs.”