Protect Long Island Sound
Billions of gallons of untreated sewage pour into Long Island Sound every year, forcing hundreds of beach closings and contributing to massive dead zones. Short-sighted Supreme Court decisions have left more than half of New York’s streams vulnerable to pollution — including streams that flow into the Sound. The EPA can fix these problems by updating clean water standards, but polluters and their allies are threatening to block them. To protect Long Island Sound, we need to show massive public support for clean water.
Long Island Sound at risk
Whether we’re fishing off Montauk or swimming at Rye Beach, Long Island Sound is a huge part of what we love about New York. Yet the Sound’s waters face serious pollution — from sewage overflows, development, unrestricted pollution and more. Environment New York is working to rein in the pollution, and restore Long Island Sound to health.
Billions of gallons of sewage pollute the Sound
Billions of gallons of untreated sewage flow into Long Island Sound each year. The consequences are clear.
High pollution levels have led to hundreds of beach closings or warnings in New York each year. Dead zones spread across the Sound each summer, growing up to seven times the size of Manhattan.
Clean Water Act loopholes leave half of our streams unprotected
Over the past decade, polluters and irresponsible developers have used the courts to strip Clean Water Act protections from small streams and wetlands.
More than half of New York’s streams and hundreds of acres of wetlands are vulnerable to pollution and development as a result. Polluters can dump garbage into streams, developers can pave over wetlands to build strip malls, and the cops on the environmental beat can’t do a thing about it. And it’s not just small streams and wetlands that will suffer — these waterways are the same ones that feed the Sound and help to keep it clean.
The EPA can protect the Sound — but Congress threatens to stand in the way
The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to update clean water standards to reduce pollution in Long Island Sound, but polluters and their allies in Congress are trying to block them. We need to show overwhelming public support for tough clean water standards to protect the Sound and all of our waterways.
This spring, we and our allies across the country submitted more than 170,000 petitions to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, urging her to restore protections to all of our waters and cut sewage pollution. In April, she announced a plan to do just that.
But polluters’ allies in Congress won’t give up — and now they’re threatening to stop the EPA from doing its job. At the same time, powerful corporate interests are preparing for battle: ExxonMobil threatened “legal warfare” if the EPA moves forward with its plan to restore Clean Water Act protections.
Our plan to defend Long Island Sound
We refuse to let polluters and their allies in Congress open our precious waterways to more dumping and development. We’re bringing together New Yorkers from all walks of life to protect the Sound. From anglers to sailing enthusiasts, clergy to scientists, local officials to ordinary families, we all have a stake in keeping our water clean.
But if we’re going to push past ExxonMobil and other powerful polluters, we’re going to need everyone who cares about the Sound to get involved. Join our campaign by sending the EPA a message today.
Tell the Environmental Protection Agency that you want to see Long Island Sound protected.
Key Facts
- More than half of New York’s streams and hundreds of acres of wetlands are vulnerable to pollution and development.
- Billions of gallons of untreated sewage flow into the Sound every year.
- There are hundreds of beach closings or advisories in New York every year.
- Sewage pollution creates dead zones in the Sound each summer that can grow to be up to seven times the size of Manhattan.