A plan to reuse treated wastewater to irrigate golf courses, sod farms and nurseries has the potential for "revolutionizing" water conservation on Long Island by reducing pumping from the region's sole source aquifer while avoiding the discharge of nitrogen into coastal waters, a team of environmental experts said Wednesday.
1,4-Dioxane is a toxic contaminant found in drinking water throughout our nation, including water supplies on Long Island. This hidden carcinogen was also found in 80% of personal care products that CCE had independently tested, including shampoos, bath gels, dish soap, laundry detergent, and baby products. Due to CCE’s work, NY State has adopted a law to limit the amount of 1,4-dioxane in household products. The law went into effect this year, however, the list of products that are deferred from complying is extensive!
In addition, we are excited to announce that CCE has partnered with the Yale Superfund Research Center! Yale Superfund Research Center has crafted a study to better understand the impact of 1,4-dioxane exposure on Long Island residents. CCE is providing education and outreach to inform Long Islanders about this new, exciting program. Find out how you can participate in Yale’s health study on 1,4-dioxane.
Join us to learn more about:
The latest science on drinking water and health impacts of 1,4-dioxane
More information on the large quantities of 1,4-dioxane in popular products
The new partnership between Yale and CCE and the health study to begin this year for Long Islanders
When: Monday, April 24, from 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Who: Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, CCE
Dr. Nicole Deziel, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health
Where: Via Zoom. Register today for this free virtual Lunch and Learn.
Thank you for joining us.
Sincerely,
Your friends at CCE
Image by Rebecca Matthews from Pixabay
Help CCE build on our success, and support our campaigns to protect public health and the environment in NY and CT.
Make a contribution today.
Victory! Celebrating the Sunrise Wind Community Benefits Agreement
In March, Long Island celebrated another big step forward for offshore wind in NY! We joined elected leaders, labor groups, community representatives and environmentalists for a press conference to announce the communities benefit agreement for Sunrise Wind. Sunrise wind will be located approximately 30 miles off Montauk, will generate 924MW of electricity, and power nearly 600,000 Long Island homes. The energy will be brought to Suffolk County, in the Town of Brookhaven, via a cable connection to the Holbrook substation. This agreement between developers Orsted/Eversource and the municipalities means $700 million in investments going back to communities for green jobs, park improvements, sewers, schools and more!
Great News! EPA Proposes Limits on PFAS “Forever Chemicals” in Drinking Water
PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” are being found in drinking water supplies in NY, CT, and across the nation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new enforceable drinking water standards, known as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), for two PFAS chemicals (PFOA and PFOS), as well as a combined standard for a mixture of four additional PFAS chemicals (PFNA, PFBS, PFHxS, and GenX). The MCLs for PFOA and PFOS are proposed at 4 parts per trillion (ppt), which is significantly stronger than New York State's existing MCLs of 10ppt for both PFOS and PFOA. CT does not have an enforceable standard for these chemicals. EPA has crafted a strong proposal that is needed to protect public health. Look for updates from us soon on how you can submit a comment to EPA in support of the proposed regulations during the public comment period!
Fighting to Protect the Great Lakes in Washington D.C.
In March, advocates from all eight Great Lakes States traveled to Washington to attend Great Lakes Day. We led a team to meet with New York’s congressional delegation, calling for increased investments in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and clean water infrastructure, as well policies to protect our wetlands and small streams.
Fighting Climate Change in Nassau County
We joined Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan as he announced a new bill that will fight climate change, invest in energy efficiency and embrace renewable energy. The bill will make Nassau County municipal operations carbon neutral by 2035. New York’s climate law mandates a carbon neutral economy by 2050. We applaud Leg. Lafazan for working to make Nassau County a leader in fighting climate change!
Check out our Clean Water Video Series: Progress and Challenges in New York
To celebrate World Water Day, we released a series of six short videos on the progress and challenges associated with protecting NY’s water resources. These videos highlight what successful water quality protection projects look like in the Great Lakes, Finger Lakes, and Long Island. Learn more about the work that has been done to protect New York’s treasured waters, the work left to do, and why we need continued state and federal investments in protecting clean water in New York.
Transitioning to Offshore Wind
New York is poised to be a national leader in offshore wind, with five wind farms already selected and a mandate of 9,000MW of offshore wind by 2035. This will not only bring environmental and health benefits to our communities but will also create thousands of jobs and make NY a hub of offshore wind development. March saw some more big milestones for offshore wind:
NYS hearings on Empire Wind 2. NYS held a public comment period for the Empire Wind 2 project as part of their Article VII process. Empire Wind 2 will power over 600,000 homes in Nassau County via a cable connection to Island Park. We participated in very lively public hearings on the project last month.
City of Long Beach Votes on Empire Wind 2. City of Long Beach voted yes to maintain control of Ocean Beach where the cable for Empire Wind 2 plans to come onshore, which will allow the city to participate in the review process for the project. We testified at the hearing and are planning to do extensive outreach in Long Beach and Island Park this spring and summer, so stay tuned for more events.
We hosted a Lunch and Learn with Community Offshore Wind, a joint venture between RWE Renewables and National Grid. Community Offshore Wind was one of the six lease winners in the New York Bight and their awarded seabed is the largest parcel, with the potential to host three gigawatts (GW) of capacity and power over one million homes. Community Offshore Wind has submitted to NYSERDA's third offshore wind solicitation and provided an overview of the project including information from their fisheries, stakeholder engagement, permitting, and project development teams.
Wind Education at Uniondale High School. CCE is working with Uniondale High School to educate the students about Offshore Wind. We met with the faculty staff in March and presented to them about offshore wind. In the spring, we will be engaging the students in a three-part educational program about Offshore Wind, Renewable Energy and Climate Change which will end with fun and exciting discussions and adventures for the students. We look forward to this journey!
Protecting Our Pollinators
One of our top legislative priorities for 2023 is the Birds and Bees Protection Act. This bill would limit unnecessary uses of toxic neonicotinoid pesticides (A.K.A neonics), which have decimated bee populations, polluted drinking water, and have been linked to adverse human health impacts. Last month we continued to push for state legislation to ban the sale of neonic treated corn, soybean, and wheat seeds; and ornamental uses on lawns, gardens, and golf courses. By banning just these few uses, we could eliminate 85-90% of all neonics used in New York and protect our pollinators, water quality, and human health. Email your elected representatives today and urge them to pass the Birds and Bees Protection Act!
Pushing for Water Reuse on Long Island
We were proud to stand with Seatuck Environmental Association as they released their new Water Reuse Road Map & Action Plan for Long Island last month. Reusing water has the potential to reduce harmful nitrogen in coastal waterways while restoring the region’s aquifer resources. Water reuse is a crucial component of restoring water quality and protecting our sole-source aquifer for future generations, and this important plan provides guidance for important water reuse projects.
2023 Long Island Sound Summit
We partnered with The Nature Conservancy and Save the Sound to host the 2023 Long Island Sound Summit: Funding & Strategies to Tackle Local Water Pollution. This fantastic Long Island Sound clean water event brought together 100 Network members, policy makers, environmental advocates, and clean water professionals across the Sound to learn about resources for clean water project design and implementation and to discover new collaboration opportunities to advance key projects. Thanks to all who attended and made the event such a success!
Upcoming: Lunch and Learn with Yale - Impacts of 1,4-Dioxane Contamination on Long Island
1,4-Dioxane is an emerging contaminant of concern found in drinking water throughout the nation and was found in 80% of personal care products tested. New York has been a leader in the fight to combat 1,4-dioxane contamination, but there is still a lot of work to be done to protect our communities from this toxic chemical. We have partnered with the Yale Superfund Research Center to engage with Long Island communities to better understand the impact of 1,4-dioxane exposure on Long Island communities and ways to mitigate that impact. Join us on April 24th at noon. Register today for this free virtual Lunch and Learn.
Upcoming: Join Us for Earth Day Advocacy Day in Albany!
Earth Day is right around the corner and to celebrate CCE is joining advocates from across the state for a lobby day in Albany. Join us to show your support for healthy people and a healthy planet in an in-person Earth Day Advocacy Day with NYS policy leaders on Tuesday, April 25th. Talk to your legislators, urge them to pass key environmental bills to protect New Yorkers! Register TODAY and we will see you in Albany!
SOURCE:
https://huntingtonnow.com/op-ed-water-reuse-increasingly-important/
By Karl Grossman - March 19, 2023
“Water reuse has been increasingly recognized as an essential component in effective
water resource management plans,” says the “Long Island Water Reuse Road Map & Action
Plan” unveiled last week. “The United Nations formally acknowledged the importance of water
reuse in 2017,” it adds.
“The benefits of water reuse have long been recognized and embraced in other parts of
the world,” it continues. And now in the United States, “approximately 2.6 billion gallons of
water is reused daily.”
But in New York State, “large-scale water reuse projects have been limited. There are a
few projects in upstate New York and one on Long Island,” the “Riverhead reuse project” which
started in 2016 “to redirect highly treated wastewater, as much as 260,000 gallons per day” from
the Riverhead Sewage Treatment Plant to “irrigate the nearby Indian Island County Golf Course”
instead of, as had been the practice, dumping it into Flanders Bay.
“Reusing water, for some other valuable purpose, provides numerous benefits,” the
“Long Island Water Reuse Road Map & Action Plan” goes on. “These include protecting public
wells and water supplies from salt water intrusion.” It calls for highly treated wastewater to be
used for a variety of purposes here with additional irrigation of golf courses but also of sod farms
and greenhouses, lawns and fields at educational and commercial sites and—highly
important—to deal with “over-pumping.”
Indeed, a lesson for all of Long Island is how Brooklyn—on Long Island’s western
end—lost its potable water supply more than a century ago: by over-pumping and consequent saltwater intrusion, along with pollution, notes John Turner, senior conservation policy advocate at the Seatuck Environmental Association.
So, Brooklyn began getting its water from reservoirs built upstate. There has been talk in
recent years of Nassau County buying water from those New York City-owned reservoirs. But
they are near capacity, says Turner, so the city “has not been welcoming Nassau County with open arms.”
For Nassau and Suffolk Counties water reuse is critical.
The “Long Island Water Reuse Road Map & Action Plan” was presented this week at an
event at the treatment facility of the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District in Nassau
County. Nassau is a case study of how the Brooklyn lesson has not been learned. In Nassau,
which is 85% sewered, its sewage treatment plants dump wastewater through outfall pipes into
nearby waterways and the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound—and as a result Nassau’s
water table is dropping.
An announcement for the event said that it “serves as a kick-off for a new way of
thinking that could revolutionize the way in which our community protects its most precious
natural resource.”
The “Long Island Water Reuse Road Map & Action Plan” charting a course for Long
Island to reuse water from its underground water supply, its “sole source” of potable water, was
created by Islip-based Seatuck working with the Greentree Foundation and Cameron
Engineering & Associates, and a Water Reuse Technical Working Group of 28 members.
Suffolk County is about 25% sewered. Some water treatment plants in Suffolk recharge
treated wastewater into the ground but plants also do what Nassau has been doing, sending
wastewater out to adjacent waters or the ocean or Long Island Sound through outfall pipes.
There has been action through the years on pollutants in the water supply, on quality of
drinking water, in Nassau and Suffolk. There must be a parallel emphasis on quantity.
“Major Action Plan Recommendations” in the new plan, include: “Develop Water Reuse
Regulations/Guidelines…Convene a Long Island Water Reuse Workgroup to develop and
implement strategies…Conduct engineering studies on the most feasible projects…Engage Long
Island Golf Course Association in plan development…”
The “Water Reuse Technical Working Group” for the plan included: Anthony Caniano,
hydrologist at the Suffolk County Department of Health Services; Dr. Christopher Gobler of the
Stony Brook University School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences; Bill Zalakar, president of
the Long Island Farm Bureau; Chris Class, marine scientist at The Nature Conservancy; Joseph
Gardner, president of the Long Island Golf Course Superintendent’s Association; Christopher
Schubert, program development specialist at the New York Water Science Center; Adrienne
Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment; Suffolk County Public
Works Supervisor Madhav Sathe and Deputy Suffolk County Executive Peter Scully.
Projects for water reuse considered in the Town of Huntington in the plan include at: Kurt
Weiss Greenhouses in Melville; White Post Farms in Melville; Deckers and Van Cott Nurseries
in Greenlawn; Northport High School and Harborfields High School in Greenlawn; Holmes
Farms in Huntington; and Del Vino Vineyard in Northport.
For more information on the plan visit https://seatuck.org/water-reuse/
A truck transports waste.
A bill that would allow the Town of Brookhaven to eliminate a zoning requirement that protects open space to allow for a rail spur extension faces pushback from the New York NAACP and local chapters.
Eliminating a conservation easement would allow a proposed waste transfer station in Yaphank to connect to the freight system on the Long Island Rail Road. State NAACP officials warn that hauling away “thousands of tons of trash” by rail would disproportionately harm nearby communities of color.
March 22nd is World Water Day, and to celebrate, we are releasing a video series on the progress and challenges associated with protecting NY’s water resources. From Long Island to the Finger Lakes to the Great Lakes, significant efforts have been made to protect and restore our treasured waters, and this video series provides a glimpse into our progress.
New York has an abundance of water resources that we rely on for drinking water, recreation, tourism, and a heathy environment. Major investments have been made in successful efforts to restore our waterbodies, combat harmful algal blooms, address emerging contaminants, and so much more.
We’ve produced six short videos that highlight what successful water quality protection projects look like and the many benefits they provide to New York. Learn more about the work that has been done to protect New York’s treasured waters, the work left to do, and why we need continued state and federal investments in protecting clean water in New York!
Videos in this series include:
The Big Picture on Clean Water: Progress and Challenges in New York
Great Lakes Success Story: Green Infrastructure in the City of Buffalo
Great Lakes Success Story: Upgrading Erie County’s Southtowns Wastewater Treatment Plant
Great Lakes Success Story: Nature Based Solutions to Protect Lake Ontario
You can view the entire video series and more on CCE’s YouTube channel. If you enjoy these videos and others on our channel, please subscribe!
Sincerely,
Your Friends at CCE
New York State is suffering from a solid waste and recycling crisis—recycling costs for municipalities and taxpayers have skyrocketed, recycling rates are abysmal, and our environment and health are suffering from pollution caused by excessive plastic packaging. Currently, corporate brand owners bear no responsibility in managing the product packaging waste they have created.
To help address this solid waste crisis, the Governor has included a Waste Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act in her executive budget proposal, while the NYS Senate has included an even stronger policy in their budget proposal. Both will require product manufacturers—not taxpayers—to be responsible for the cost of collecting and recycling the packaging and paper they create. Now the Governor, Senate, and Assembly must come together and agree on a strong waste reduction policy in the final budget that is due April 1!
A strong, effective waste reduction policy negotiated in the final state budget will:
Reduce packaging waste by at least 50%
Increase recycling rates up to 70%-80% (currently at 17%)
Eliminate toxic chemicals in packaging, including PFAS and heavy metals
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change
Provide agency staff to ensure the law is implemented and enforced
Save local governments/taxpayers across the state upwards of $1 billion annually!
Thank you for taking action!
Sincerely,
Your friends at CCE
Since 2016, we have witnessed an increase in whale strandings and whale deaths off of America’s shores. These endangered species are under threat from several sources, including ship strikes, fishing gear, plastic pollution, and climate change. Unfortunately, misinformation about whale deaths and an association with offshore wind development has led to concerns about transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. These local wind projects are crucial to combat climate change, which is not only a threat to whales but also a threat to marine mammals, fisheries, and our communities.
Join us for this virtual educational forum to hear from experts and learn more about the recent whale strandings and deaths, and what is being done on the local, state, and federal level to protect whales. Presentations will be followed by Q&A.
When: Tuesday, April 4, 2023, from 12:00pm – 1:00pm zoom
Where: Via Zoom—register here
Who: Speakers include:
Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, Citizens Campaign for the Environment
Julie Tighe, President, New York League of Conservation Voters
Fred Zalcman, Director, New York Offshore Wind Alliance
Dr. Jill Lewandowski, Director, Division of Environmental Assessment and Center for Marine Acoustics, US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Robert DiGiovanni, Founder and Chief Scientist, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society
Meghan Rickard, Marine Zoologist, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Thank you for joining us!
Sincerely,
Your friends at CCE
FARMINGDALE, NY — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday proposed new enforceable drinking water standards, known as maximum contaminant levels, for two chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, found in drinking water, the agency announced.
One month after submitting a proposal to the state government for clean energy investment, Community Offshore Wind is already starting to invest.
The joint venture between RWE Renewables and National Grid has put over $100,000 into youth STEM education programs for the future workforce, collaborating with multiple community partners in downstate New York to provide access to museums, outdoor spaces, and environmental and marine education for hands-on learning experiences.
New York state generates more than 17 million tons of municipal solid waste each year, with a lackluster recycling rate below 20 percent. Instead of being recycled, much of our waste is going to landfills, being burned in incinerators, or ending up as plastic pollution in our communities and waterways. Each year companies ship billions of products, exacerbating the paper and plastic waste crisis, yet they bear no responsibility for managing the packaging waste they create.
The general aggravation of bad weather became very specific for 30 Long Islanders gathered Tuesday morning at the Melville park ‘n’ ride on the Long Island Expressway. It was 6 a.m., and members of the Long Island Lobby Coalition were waiting in the cold and slush for the bus that would take them to Albany for their annual Long Island Lobbying Day — a bus that never came.
CCE has partnered with The Nature Conservancy and Save the Sound to host the 2023 Long Island Sound Summit: Funding & Strategies to Tackle Local Water Pollution. Join us at this Long Island Sound summit to:
Connect with clean water professionals from across the Sound
Learn about Sound resources for clean water project design and implementation
Discover new collaboration opportunities to advance key projects
The summit will include a plenary panel featuring presentations from NY and CT speakers and will include a panel discussion moderated by Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. Learn about local water quality projects, their successes and challenges, and available resources.
The deadline to register for the Summit is March 23, 2023, at 5pm EST. There is a $25 registration fee which covers lunch for attendees. Scholarships to waive registration fees and attend the Long Island Sound Summit are available. Learn more about Summit scholarships here.
Date:
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Time:
10:00 am – 2:45pm
Location:
The Port Jefferson Village Center
101 E Broadway
Port Jefferson, NY 11777
Thank you for joining us!
Sincerely,
Your friends at CCE
