Environment

Could new bill ‘muddy the waters’?

Despite some welcomed tweaks and additions, local politicians, environmentalists and farm industry leaders reached this week for comment on the updated bill all expressed lingering concerns.

Bill Toedter, president of the North Fork Environmental Council, an all-volunteer environmental advocacy group in Mattituck, said the state DEC does not have the budget, resources or expertise to undertake the roles proposed in the bill.

“The DEC abandoned its responsibility to care for and manage our groundwater long ago,” Mr. Toedter said. “They are not equipped to do so now. Without a massive increase in funding, the DEC cannot take on these tasks.”

When asked about the state agency’s limited funding, Mr. Sweeney said he believes the state DEC “can do these things without extending its current resources.”

Compared to the earlier proposal, the new bill takes a broader approach to tackling water quality issues and places restrictions on the use of pesticides and the way they are applied. The original bill hadn’t mentioned pesticides. It also mandates oversight of just how much water is actually being taken from the aquifer, an effort for which no regulatory body has previously been held responsible.

Mr. Toedter said putting an agency in charge of monitoring supplies was a welcome change in the proposed legislation, pointing out that multi-jurisdictional agencies have been regulating the integrity of drinking water sources, in many cases across state lines, elsewhere in the U.S. for years.

Long Island Farm Bureau executive director Joe Gergela was hesitant to reflect on the bill so soon, saying agricultural insiders would “look at it carefully and keep an open mind.” He added, however, that there is at least one addition they will not support: restricting the use of three pesticides — imidacloprid, metalaxyl and atrazine — specifically mentioned in the new bill.

“The environmentalists are still pushing for zero tolerance of three pesticides of concern,” he said. “[The data available] is not based on sound science and absolutely not something we’re going to support.”

Mr. Gergela said imidacloprid is currently being detected in the aquifer at levels considered safe according to state Environmental Protection Agency standards. He also noted that the DEC has already been working on a long-term plan — the Long Island Pesticide Pollution Prevention Strategy — with the goal of protecting the island’s water supply from pesticides.