Dodd, Lieberman Call for Funding to Preserve and Protect Long Island Sound

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) sent a letter this week to key members of the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to support $15 million in critical federal funding for the restoration and preservation of the Long Island Sound. Dodd and Lieberman were joined by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on the letter.

Calling the Long Island Sound "a remarkable natural treasure and an essential economic resource for the residents of Connecticut and New York," the senators called on their colleagues to support $15 million in funding for the Long Island Sound Restoration Act and the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act as adopted in a House-passed version of the Interior Appropriations bill.

"Over the past several years, the Long Island Sound Restoration Act and the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act have been indispensible," the senators continued, in "improv[ing] the health of the Long Island Sound and protect[ing] it for future generations."

The letter was sent to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee as well as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

The full text of the letter is below.

Dear Colleagues:

As the conference committee begins the critically important work of producing a final Fiscal Year 2010 Interior Appropriations bill, we urge you to support robust funding for the Long Island Sound Restoration Act (P.L. 106-457) and the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act (P.L. 109-359). Specifically, we request that you adopt the $15 million funding level included in the House-passed version of the bill.

The Long Island Sound is both a remarkable natural treasure and an essential economic resource for the residents of Connecticut and New York. In addition to boasting a diverse array of plant and wildlife species, the Sound generates nearly $5.5 billion annually from boating, swimming, fishing, aquaculture, and other recreational and commercial activities. Recognizing that these activities depend upon the ecological vitality of the Sound, the federal government and the states of Connecticut and New York have invested millions of dollars on a wide array of efforts to improve the health of the Sound and protect it for future generations.

Over the past several years, the Long Island Sound Restoration Act and the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act have been indispensible in advancing these goals. Since its enactment in 2000, the Long Island Sound Restoration Act has helped many economically-distressed communities in the region clean up their shores and repair their sewage treatment plants. This, in turn, has helped reduce the significant levels of nitrogen pollution present in the Sound and protect the estuary's delicate ecosystem. Building on these initiatives, the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act provides those groups that are most familiar with the Sound's precious and diverse resources the tools to preserve shoreline areas of significant ecological, educational, or recreational value.

While efforts to clean up and preserve the Long Island Sound have made amazing progress in recent years, there still remains much work to be done. It is therefore imperative that these programs receive the federal funding necessary to keep improving the health of the Sound. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.