SOURCE:
https://libn.com/2019/10/03/lawmakers-call-for-legislation-to-fight-illegal-dumping/
By Adina Genn - October 3, 2019
Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Doug Smith || Facebook
Elected officials on Long Island are proposing legislation to fight environmental crimes and illegal dumping.
The suggested legislation would incorporate recommendations from Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini’s special grand jury report that looked at the impact of illegal dumping and other environmental crimes on Long Island.
Sini and New York State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, the chairman of the senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, began working on the legislation with other lawmakers in an investigation known as “Operation Pay Dirt,” which looked at illegal dumping.
Conducted by Sini’s office, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Suffolk County Police Department, the investigation resulted in a 130-count indictment charging 30 individuals and 9 corporations. All of the defendants charged pleaded guilty. And the ringleader was recently sentenced to two to four years in state prison.
Now, the state “needs laws that are clearer and laws that have more severe penalties for people who are polluting our environment and risking contaminating our aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for Long Island,” Sini said in a statement.
“This proposed legislation will give prosecutors the tools they need to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes and hold those individuals accountable who would pollute our communities to line their pockets,” he added.
Sini said officials have been “working together across levels of government as well as with environmentalists, law enforcement, and scientists to determine and enact the necessary changes in order to protect our residents and the environment.”
Kaminsky said in a statement that the grand jury report revealed “serious gaps in our state laws.”
As a deterrent, Kaminsky is now introducing a “comprehensive anti-dumping bill that will add new and tougher crimes and penalties for those who seek to pollute our environment and neighborhoods.”
Lawmakers showed bipartisan support.
Assemblyman Doug Smith said in a statement that the legislation would “modernize our laws to protect the people of Long Island from illegal dumping and sand mining. These heinous acts destroy our communities, contaminate our drinking water, and jeopardize public health.”
State Sen. Anna Kaplan said in a statement that the legislation would “prevent future crimes and finally give our law enforcement the tools they need to prosecute bad actors who poison our communities.”
“There are toxic sites across our island that may have been prevented had the law allowed a jail sentence for the pollute,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment said in a statement.
“The only way to stop it is to let criminals know that if they engage in that behavior, they’re going to get caught and pay the consequences,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in a statement.