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Lawsuit
Filed by New York State Cites Ocean Dumping Act and Coastal Zone Management Act
Violations and EPA's Failure to Address Environmental Impacts on the Long
Island Sound.
You can view
the lawsuit here.
Governor Andrew Cuomo and
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today announced that New York State has
filed a lawsuit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency in
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging EPA's
decision to designate a permanent open water disposal site in eastern Long
Island Sound for tens of millions of cubic yards of dredged sediments. The
EPA's site designation violates the Ocean Dumping Act and the Coastal Zone
Management Act.
"We will continue to do
everything in our power to protect New York's environment, and with the EPA's
unfathomable and destructive decision to turn the eastern Long Island Sound
into a dumping ground - now is the time for action," Governor Cuomo said. "We will
establish that this designation not only poses a major threat to a significant
commercial and recreational resource, but that it also undermines New York's
long-standing efforts to end dumping in our treasured waters."
"Our waters are not dumping
grounds. EPA's first job is to protect our natural resources - yet by
designating this unneeded disposal site, EPA is allowing huge amounts of
dredged waste to be poured into yet another area of the Long Island Sound.
That's unacceptable," said
Attorney General Schneiderman. "We won't hesitate to act when the
federal government fails to uphold its obligation to protect New Yorkers'
health and environment."
In August 2016, the Governor
announced New York's intention to fight the EPA's designation of the eastern
Long Island Sound disposal site because of its adverse effects to the waterway.
Subsequently, the New York Department of State objected the EPA's proposed site
designation as being inconsistent with the Long Island Sound Coastal Management
Program policies. In December 2016, New York State filed a
Notice of Intent to Sue immediately after the EPA finalized its designation.
"New York's waters
remain one of our State's most valuable and cherished assets," said New York Secretary of State Rossana
Rosado. "This action directed by Governor Cuomo to protect Long
Island Sound sends a clear message that he will utilize any and all legal means
to prevent any use of the Eastern Site as we continue efforts to safeguard this
and other natural resources throughout the state."
"The Long Island Sound
is a vital economic and ecological treasure that needs to be protected - not
undermined by the U.S. EPA's outdated dredging management decisions," said Basil Seggos, Commissioner of the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation. "Governor
Cuomo has made it clear that New York State will not tolerate the federal
government gutting its commitment and denying its responsibility for reducing
or eliminating the disposal of dredge spoils in the open waters of this
irreplaceable ecosystem."
In 2005, the states of New
York and Connecticut called for, and EPA subsequently established by
regulation, the important and long necessary goal of reducing or eliminating
dredged material disposal in the estuarine waters of Long Island Sound. In
contravention of the intent of that regulation, in 2016, EPA increased the
number of permanent open water dump sites in Long Island Sound by designating a
third one in eastern Long Island Sound.
The lawsuit charges that, in
designating the dump site, EPA failed: to identify the navigational conflicts
that will be caused by the dump site location, to examine the environmental
impacts of dumping dredged materials under differing testing regimes, to
designate historically used or ocean disposal sites and to properly quantify
the existing capacity at already designated sites. Further, the EPA has been
unresponsive to New York's stated concerns about the reliability of sediment
testing and has made insufficient assurances that the dredged material will not
have a negative impact on the environment, as it has in the past.
New York also maintains that
increasing the volume of open-water disposal of dredged materials, and the
number and availability of open water disposal sites, is inconsistent with
public investment and policies that are already in place aimed at restoring the
Long Island Sound. This lawsuit underscores New York's continuing commitment to
pursue upland alternatives for beneficial reuse of the material to preserve and
protect the integrity of Long Island Sound for future generations.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
