USA: Officials Back Up Long Island Sound Restoration Plan

Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) and Steve Israel (NY-3) led a group of 20 representatives in requesting $10 million for protection and restoration efforts in the Long Island Sound.

The request was sent to the top members of the subcommittee responsible for funding the Interior Department.

“With federal leadership and investment, a strong partnership has been forged among federal, state, and local agencies as well as regional and local stakeholders to coordinate the natural resource and watershed management activities around Long Island Sound,” the representatives wrote. “As part of this effort, the States, Counties and municipalities of Connecticut and New York have invested hundreds of millions of their taxpayer dollars to restore the Sound’s water quality and protect its coastal resources…Sustained federal support for the Sound is important to ensure that this partnership continues its successful efforts to improve the health of the estuary and sustain the economy and jobs that depend upon it.”

Last year DeLauro and Israel introduced legislation to protect and preserve the Long Island Sound. The Long Island Sound Stewardship and Restoration Act would authorize funding for cleanup, water quality, shoreline preservation and other critical environmental and conservation needs.

The bill is supported by the New York and Connecticut Audubon Societies, Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Save the Sound, among other groups.

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Press Release, April 3, 2014