Westport News - Still Miles To Go
The health of Long Island Sound has come a long way, but more still needs to be done to restore it.
"Protection & Progress," the 2005-06 Long Island Sound Study (LISS) biennial report, which was released in June, shows that progress has been made in a number of key areas, but that more money and public involvement are vital to future successes.
Long Island Sound, which is 110 miles long, is one of the largest urban estuaries in the United States and provides economic and recreational benefits to millions of people in Connecticut and New York as well as natural habitats to more than 1,200 species of invertebrates, 170 species of fish, and dozens of species of migratory birds, according to the LISS' Web site, www.longislandsoundstudy.net...
According to the Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE), the state Legislature has designated $110 million in general obligation bonds each year for the next two years for treatment facility upgrades, but action has not yet been taken on the bonding package for the state's Clean Water Fund. The Legislature is supposed to return to session the week of July 23 to consider the bonding packages for this and other projects.
As for the other challenge, Tedesco notes that "new development cannot impose the same burden on the environment as past development if we expect a different environmental outcome for our streams and rivers and for the Sound. We must develop and grow in ways that generate less polluted runoff, while protecting and restoring open space and natural habitats. The region has the human capital to accomplish this."
