In this #LIHerald.com editorial, I look back the #environmental progress that #LongIsland has made over the past 5 years, and I have to say, I’m hopeful:
April 22 is Earth Day, when we come together as a nation — and a planet — to celebrate the natural world and renew our vows to protect the environment from harm.
In honor of Earth Day five years ago, the Herald developed a three-part wish list of actions that government representatives and private citizens might take to help clean up and preserve Long Island’s environment. This year, we decided to take a look back and see how we’re faring in meeting the goals on this seemingly lofty list.
Point One: Cleanup of the Northrop Grumman toxic plume.
In 2016, we wrote, “Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the State Department of Environmental Conservation must find a way to force Northrop Grumman and the Navy to clean up the toxic mess they left behind in Bethpage, Wantagh and Seaford. The toxic plume that formed during World War II beneath the old Grumman aerospace plant in Bethpage is steadily moving southward. Chemicals used to manufacture naval warplanes were carelessly allowed to seep into the ground. If the plume isn’t stopped, it will eventually reach South Oyster Bay, contaminating the fragile wetland ecosystem that hugs the entire South Shore and harming, if not destroying, the area’s fishing and clamming industries. The stakes could not be higher.”
We are happy to report that Cuomo announced a $406 million remediation plan in December among the state, Northrop Grumman and the Navy to clean up the plume. The only trouble: Doing so could take 100 years, showing us, in no uncertain terms, that it’s far better to prevent damage to the environment through government regulation than to allow polluters to have their way.
For more of this editorial, click here.
