Shirley Siegal, town environmentalist, dies at 85

John Santa

Shirley Siegal, a Great Neck environmentalist known for her decades-long work with the Nassau County League of Women Voters to help assure the cleanliness of Long Island waterways, died earlier this month.

After fighting a lengthy battle against cancer, the 85-year-old Siegal died on Nov. 4.

Although she was forced to give up her work with the League of Women Voters several years ago because of her battle against cancer, Siegal’s passing came as a blow to the organization to which she belonged for more than 40 years.

“Shirley had an unbelievable energy level,” said Paula Blum, former co-president of the Nassau County League of Women Voters. “When she believed in something she was absolutely gung ho. She was relentless when she felt that something was important and had to be dealt with. It’s going to be a significant loss for the league.”

It was that relentless attitude toward environmental issues that left a mark on any of the members of the League of Women Voters who encountered Siegal.

Esther Ernst worked with Siegal for several years as co-directors of the League of Women Voters’ Natural Resources Committee. The pair attended meetings organized events and attended environmental hearings together during the course of their work protecting area waterways.

“She was very passionate and very committed and very feisty,” Ernst said. “Once Shirley got hold of something she dug into it deeply and worked very, very hard. She was a very smart woman and very accomplished. She did things at a professional level, it seemed to me.”

“We worked very much on water issues,” Ernst added. “She was more knowledgeable about quality and I was more knowledgeable about quantity. She worked very hard on all kinds of issues about water quality and waste management, pollution problems.”

For Rachael Krinsky, the current president of the Nassau County League of Women Voters, Siegal’s legacy was fostered by her ability to create real action from public officials in the areas of water pollution.

“She was able to bring the state in to enforce environmental laws regarding pollution caused by dry cleaning establishments and gas stations,” Krinsky said. “There were situations where there were plumes of toxic material in the water in several local areas, including Great Neck.”

Siegal worked on many issues during her tenure with the League of Women Voters. Krinsky will most remember her for her work to protect and clean the toxicity in waterways in Lake Success and other areas of Great Neck.

“She was an extremely effective person,” Krinsky said. “She was very dedicated to preserving clean water and she had a lot of energy and she worked very hard.”

Sarah Meyland, an associate professor of Environmental Technology at the New York Institute of Technology, was acquainted with Seigal for several decades.

“I have known Shirley probably for about 30 years, but most recently I had the opportunity to work with her on a legal case regarding a well permit going into a part of an aquifer that is under legal protection,” Meyland said.

The Lloyd aquifer is the deepest of three aquifers under Long Island.

When the Suffolk County Water Authority attempted to obtain a permit with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to tap into the Lloyd aquifer to create a well, Meyland, Siegal and several other environmentalists sprang into action.

“It was a three-year effort and Shirley was a key player in the effort,” Meyland said. “In the end we succeeded in successfully opposing the well application.”

A state law dubbed the “Lloyd Moratorium” was established in the late 1980s to protect the aquifer against the drilling of wells without several requirements, including a management program developed by the DEC, Meyland said.

The Suffolk County Water Authority decided to pursue a permit to drill a well into the Lloyd Aquifer in 2005.

“The state was intending to grant the permit,” Meyland said. “I, and some others, found out about it at the very last minute. We had to make a quick decision on whether we wanted to get a group of people together to try and attend a hearing that was going to be basically the end of the process and submit testimony to oppose the granting of the permit. We did attend and did submit testimony. Shirley was a part of that. We became formal parties to the adjudicatory hearing.”

Aside from her work with the League of Women Voters, Siegal also served on The Water Authority of Great Neck North Board of Directors. She was a resident member of the board, who was appointed by former Town of North Hempstead Supervisor May Newburger and current supervisor Jon Kaiman.

“You couldn’t find anyone more passionate, I don’t think, than Shirley,” Meyland said. “She was absolutely a true believer in the need to protect the environment, to protect the water supply of Long Island. She believed in recycling. She lived what she believed, conserved water and did all the things you’d expect a person to do who really believed in environmentalism.”

Seigal is survived by her husband, Dr. Phillip Siegal, her children Matthew Siegal, Margie Siegal and Joan Levine, along with her grandchildren Jake and Chelsea Siegal.

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