SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - What's going on with the NYS DEC?

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

What is going on with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation?

There was an era decades ago when Tony Taormina was a champion of the environment at DEC. “Tony seemed to know everything about Long Island’s environment and politics,” as Stony Brook University Professor Charles Wurster wrote in his book DDT Wars. Tony was instrumental in the enaction of state laws protecting freshwater and tidal wetlands. He was an invaluable resource for me and other journalists. His titles included director of the Marine and Coastal Division of DEC. There were some others at DEC who also were environmental guardians.

That was then and this is now.

State Senator Kenneth LaValle and State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. had to introduce state legislation this month to prohibit mining on contaminated lands within the state’s Special Groundwater Protection Areas (SGPAs)—because of an extremely anti-environmental move by the DEC. 

In 1987 the State Legislature designated nine areas on Long Island as SGPAs. The stated purpose was to “assure that such vital areas within…sole source aquifer areas are protected and managed in such a way as to maintain or improve existing water quality.” Long Island is dependent on its underground water table—its “sole source aquifer”—for potable water. “In the face of mounting cases of groundwater contamination from toxic organic compounds…and other pollutants, the state needs a program for the designation, protection and management of Special Groundwater Protection Areas,” the legislation declared. 

The SGPAs include: the Central Pine Barrens in the towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton; Oak Brush Plains in the towns of Babylon and Huntington; the Setauket Pine Barrens in the town of Brookhaven; the Woodbury Road-West Pulaski Road area in the town of Huntington; the Hither Hills area in the town of East Hampton; the West Hills area of the town of Huntington (where the renowned Long Island poet Walt Whitman was from)—and the South Fork Morainal Forest in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton;

Messrs. LaValle and Thiele introduced their legislation after the DEC proposed approval for the Sand Land mine in Noyac, operated by Wainscott Sand & Gravel Corp. smack in the middle of the South Fork Morainal Forest, to continue operations for another eight years—indeed to dig 40 feet deeper. 

Neighbors, environmentalists and public officials strongly complained for years about the Sand Land mine polluting groundwater. Not only has sand been mined but the huge hole in the ground—just above the water table—has been used as a dump for various debris including construction debris. Suffolk County Department of Health Services testing found groundwater at Sand Land contained high levels manganese, lead, ammonia and arsenic.

Last year the DEC issued a notice seeking to modify the mining permit it had given for Sand Land. It was expected that the DEC would order Sand Land closed within two years. But the DEC “behind closed doors….has done a complete reversal,” says Mr. Thiele. “The DEC is not protecting our water; it is rewarding the polluters.” The DEC, he charges, made a deal “negotiated behind closed doors with no community involvement” to allow continued mining at Sand Land for eight years.

Mr. Thiele also said he had been attempting for months to schedule a meeting with DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos about environmental issues including the situation at Sand Land, but Mr. Seggos canceled every time. “Now, based on having seen this settlement, maybe now I know why he kept canceling,” said Mr. Thiele.

“The State Legislature must step in to insure SGPAs are protected and managed in such a way that maintains or improves existing water quality as was intended back in 1987.”

Mr. LaValle of Port Jefferson says: “We have the responsibility to assure the availability of clean water for present and future generations. Our obligation is to do our utmost to stop contaminants before they enter the aquifer, well before they become hazards to residents’ health. Ceasing mining activities where the water standards are exceeded is essential to meet our goals. Our legislation is necessary to ensure a healthy water supply.”

Meanwhile, a lawsuit challenging the DEC move has been bought against the DEC with plaintiffs including the Town of Southampton, Mr. Thiele, Noyac Civic Council and neighboring residents.

Despite Tony Taormina and some other environmentally-committed staffers, the DEC has had a spotty history. It grew out of the New York State Conservation Department, established in 1911, with its main function regulating hunting. The legislation establishing the DEC was signed into law amid the new national focus on the environment on the first Earth Day in 1970. However, some at the agency never fully embraced what became its middle name: Environmental. The DEC needs to dedicate itself to sound environmental principles. It must protect critical areas in Suffolk and elsewhere in the state—and reverse its destructive Sand Land stance.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.     

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - We Need To Know Where Sewered Outflow Will Go

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

There’s no Valley Stream any longer in Valley Stream. “It’s gone—Valley Stream is now a stream bed,” Professor Sarah J. Meyland, an expert on water on Long Island, was saying last week. The drying up of the stream that gave Valley Stream its name—and the diminishment of “almost all” the streams in Nassau County—is the result of Nassau sending the wastewater from its sewer plants out into the ocean and bays, the Long Island Sound and other estuaries.

And this could be what will happen in Suffolk County, she warns.

Professor Meyland “is a water specialist with a background in groundwater protection, water resources management and environmental law” as states her biography at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury where she is associate professor in the Department of Environmental Technology and Sustainability. She was co-executive director of the New York State Legislative Commission on Water Resource Needs of Long Island. She also was watershed director for the Suffolk County Water Authority. 

Her numerous degrees include a master’s of science in water resource management from Texas A&M University; bachelor’s degrees in both marine biology and geological oceanography from Humboldt State University; and a law degree from St. John’s University School of Law. She has developed a number of environmental laws for New York State and the federal government.

Streams on Long Island “are fed by groundwater flow. In Nassau, when the water table dropped, water could no longer reach streams,” Ms. Meyland explains. In the 1960s and 70s, with the funding from the Clean Water Act, “wholesale sewering was happening in Nassau County and the county would not allow any land-based wastewater discharge. Every sewer plant in Nassau sends outfall into the Atlantic, bays, the Long Island Sound and other estuaries. And this led to a lowering of the water table.”

In Nassau, “they knew that was going to be the outcome in advance. Some 90 percent of the county is sewered with the wastewater not returned to the aquifer system. The engineers knew what the impacts of this would be to the underground water table, but the public didn’t know and the public wasn’t consulted.”

Will this be the fate of Suffolk County where there has also been an emphasis—increased in recent years—on sending outfall of wastewater from Suffolk’s sewage systems into the Atlantic, bays, the Sound and other estuaries?

In Suffolk in the 1970s, the Southwest Sewer District was constructed with a sewage plant at Bergen Point in West Babylon built to discharge 30 million gallons a day of wastewater into the Atlantic. The administration of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has been pushing to pipe more wastewater to the plant and out to sea including from a massive project called the “Ronkonkoma Hub”—although Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine had called instead for full treatment of that wastewater and its recharge back into the ground to replenish the underground water table.

Some 30 percent of Suffolk is covered by sewers—the remaining 70% utilizes cesspools. More than half of the sewer systems utilize recharge back into the ground—but these are small private plants, mainly built for housing developments.

Larger sewer plants in Suffolk utilize outfall. 

On the western portion of Long Island, outfall of wastewater was how Brooklyn lost the use of its groundwater as a potable water source. Long Island is designated a “sole source aquifer” region—its underground water table, the aquifers below, its water source.

The loss for Brooklyn of use of groundwater for potable water was caused by outfall and consequent entry into the lowered water table of saltwater, explains Professor Meyland. The loss in Queens came because of “over-pumping.” With the lowering of the water table, saltwater intrusion occurred destroying the aquifer as a potable water source. Because of the “massive damage to the aquifer system in Brooklyn and Queens,” they needed to receive potable water from the reservoir system constructed upstate a century and more ago with conduits bringing potable water down to New York City.

How will central and eastern Long Island get potable water if the aquifer system on which they depend is destroyed as a source of potable water? “The upstate reservoirs are at capacity,” said Professor Meyland. “New York City is only one drought away from being in a serious crisis. And the city is expecting one million additional people by the end of the century.” There’s no water available from this upstate system for Nassau and Suffolk, she said.

Professor Meyland, a Huntington resident, says that if serious damage is done to the underground supply of potable water for Nassau and Suffolk: “We’re out of luck.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.                                       

Theatre Review - 'The Wizard of Oz'

‘The Wizard of Oz’ - Produced by Theatre Three, Port Jefferson - reviewed by Jeb Ladouceur 

When iconic composer Harold Arlen teamed up with lyricist ‘Yip’ Harburg to create the songs for‘The Wizard of Oz,’ the pair unwittingly contributed to what has become one of the most enduring stories in the show business trivia canon. 

 

In 1932 Harburg had provided the lovely lyrics for, among other classic numbers, ‘April In Paris.’Accordingly, when in the early forties a French newspaper reporter was on assignment interviewing theater celebrities in this country, the journalist sought out the famed lyricist and asked him what he assumed was a simple question: “What is your favorite memory of your time in Paris?” 

 

To the interviewer’s complete surprise, Harburg answered that he had never been to Paris. “What?” The reporter was absolutely stunned. “You created one of the most memorable songs ever written about ‘The City of Lights’ … you captured the very essence of Paris … and you say you were never there? Impossible!”

 

With characteristic aplomb ‘Yip’ Harburg merely shrugged and said, “Well, I’ve never been ‘Over the Rainbow,’ either.”

 

Those of us who had yet to witness a live performance of the stage production, ‘The Wizard of Oz,’adapted from one of the greatest motion pictures ever filmed … in any genre … made up for lost time when we attended the show’s Long Island debut at Theatre Three this past Saturday. And, what an entertaining experience it was!

 

Not only were we treated to a production that perfectly illustrated the sure-footed genius of director Jeffrey Sanzel, and the breathtaking scenic design of Randall Parsons, but we saw a musical that within fifteen minutes bowed in with a surprising and incredibly acrobatic dance routine. Furthermore, the showstopper was served up by a dozen sub-teen ‘Munchkins,’ some of whom were making their stage debuts … though you’d never guess it. Can you say impressive? The prediction here is that all of these kids are going places should they decide to stick with the theater. And they’ll owe a lot to their mentor, Jean P. Sorbera, who has choreographed more than sixty productions.

 

The starring roles in this most memorable of all children’s stories (based on the novella by L. Frank Baum) are almost too numerous to expect in one theatrical adaptation. Indeed, virtually all of the play’s headliners, including Dorothy’s indispensable dog, Toto, act, sing, and dance their way (well maybe not Toto) into our hearts without missing a beat. And it is essential that they do so consistently, because much of the musical’s magic stems from the universality of its message … that differing appearances and human frailties notwithstanding, nothing trumps love and friendship. And of course, “There’s no place like home.”

 

It would be foolish to grade the actors in this production according to their perceived talent … all are equally in command of their lines and inflections … all demonstrate brilliant stage presence … and (wonder of wonders) all sing and dance beautifully, while playing off one another at the same appropriate pace. Two or three key actors might be expected to achieve that kind of synchronization, but for thirty to attain it, is a significant rarity.

 

That said, there is one performance which (possibly because of the nature and complexity of the character portrayed) deserves to be labeled exceptional. It is that of ‘The Wicked Witch of the West’ as interpreted by the magnificent Theatre Three actress, Linda May. Even an audience composed largely of six, seven, and eight-year-olds was compelled to rise up and cheer Ms. May’s enactment of protagonist Dorothy’s nemesis during the curtain call.

 

If there was a sprinkling of boos, they undoubtedly represented a testimonial to the convincing nature of Linda May’s presentation, and the entire cast surely recognized the catcalls as tribute … not brickbat.

__________________________________________________

 Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s newest thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced to a standing room crowd at the Smithtown Library on May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

St. James Celebrates Designation As Cultural Arts District

Community Gathers to Mark the Celebration of an Official Cultural Arts District Along Lake Avenue in St. James

“There has always been something about St. James that has fostered community pride. It was and is a place where people have come together in the past and still do… it is a place where, no matter who we are or what we think, we always share one commonality – we love our hometown.” - Natalie Weinstein

Ribbon cutting celebrating Cultural Arts District in St. James (photo by Nancy Vallarella)On Sunday May 19th, Celebrate St James hosted State, County and Town Officials as well as local residents at the Lake Avenue Gazebo to commemorateits designation as an official Cultural Arts District.  The ceremony included a custom artwork unveiling by local artist Arline Goldstein and a ceremonial toast and ribbon cutting. The ceremony was led by Natalie Weinstein of Celebrate St. James.

“An artist looks at life around him or her and sees something that most of us can not… They see colors on a blank canvas, they see the finished product looking at a blueprint. They hear a song in their heads reading sheet music… They see potential. They see an extraordinary future. As we cut this ribbon today, I ask that you take a moment, find your inner artist… And Imagine the Potential.” - Supervisor Ed Wehrheim

Celebrating the arts was NYS Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick (seated) The Town Board voted unanimously on April 25th to declare an overlay cultural arts district along Lake Avenue in St James. The district encompasses Lake Avenue from Route 25A (at the St. James Firehouse) on the north end down to Woodlawn Avenue on the south end. The next steps will involve the appointing of a Cultural Arts committee, to work within the community to foster and attract local artists, musicians, cultural and entertainment businesses.

The Cultural Arts District is intended to highlight the arts, cultureDance Magic Ballroom Dancers (655 Middle Country Rd, St James) Lexi Andrea, Marianne López, Yelena Mirsakova, Tricia Toback, Gregg Toback, Saket Kashettiwar, Steve Bennett, James Tase, Carolyn Brooks and entertainment for residents and visitors alike, creating much needed attractions, tourism and foot traffic along the St James small business district.  

Junior Fishing Tournament At Caleb Smith Preserve

Junior Fishing Tourney at Caleb Smith Preserve

The 17th Annual Junior Angler Fishing Tournament, sponsored by the Friends of Caleb Smith Preserve, will take place on Saturday, June 8 at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve, West Jericho Turnpike (Route 25) in Smithtown. There will be two groups fishing: ages 5 - 8 from 9 - 10:30 a.m.; and ages 9 -12 from 1-3 p.m. at the catch-and-release event. Trophies will be awarded in three categories at each session. 

udge Peter Paquette measures one of the 17 fish that Ryan Green caught to win a prize for most fish caught in the morning session last year. For the second year, a special presentation of a new fishing rod and tackle box will be awarded in honor of the late Tom Troccoli of Smithtown, who enjoyed fishing and accompanied his young grandson Joseph at several junior angler tournaments.The presentation will be awarded at the close of the tournament through a drawing of names of those registered in the afternoon session.

Anthony Giambone, 9, with his dad Will at last year’s tournament.Those interested in participating in the tournament must register by Saturday, June 1. Anglers under age 10 must be accompanied by an adult. The fee is $10 per entry for anglers of Friends members; $15 for anglers of non-members. The entry fee includes bait, tackle, junior angler tee shirts and refreshments. There will also be goody bags for all participants.Fishing rods are available if required. 

For more information call the Preserve office at (631) 265-1054, Wednesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or Tom Tokosh at (631) 979-3371. 2019 Flier-JrAnglerTournmt-2_ (1).pdf

Visit www.friendsofcalebsmith.org for information about Friends activities, and events.