U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) called for increased funding for the preservation and restoration of the Long Island Sound’s water quality and diverse habitat last week.
Suozzi urged members of the House Appropriations Committee to increase federal funding for the Sound on March 10.
“The Long Island Sound is our ‘National Park.’ More than 25 million people from Long Island, New York and Connecticut live within an hour’s drive of the Sound,” Suozzi told committee members. “There is so much more that we can accomplish with your help.”
Since arriving in Congress in 2017, funding to clean up the Long Island Sound has increased by more than 500 percent according to a release sent out by the congressman’s office.
Suozzi also serves as co-chair of the Congressional Long Island Sound Caucus alongside Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).
“I grew up swimming and fishing in the Long Island Sound,” Suozzi. “My children do today. I have devoted a significant part of my past 25 years in public service to cleaning up pollution, dramatically reducing nitrogen, modernizing sewage treatment plants, and restoring shellfishing.”
Despite improvements to water quality since the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Sound was still prone to sewage spills and high levels of nitrogen in the 1990s.
Since efforts began to clean up the Sound in the 1990s, Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have signed bills that provided funding for restoration.
