Mariana Dominguez
On July 6, the Department of Environmental Conservation held a virtual meeting to get input from the public before conducting a three-year study of the potential impacts on groundwater quality of sand mining on Long Island.
In 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the DEC to conduct the study, which includes water sampling and testing on monitoring wells installed at LI mine sites.
There are currently 23 active mines on Long Island, all in Suffolk County. Twenty-one of the mines are commercial and two are municipal. There are seven mines in Southampton, five in Riverhead, four in Brookhaven, three in East Hampton, two in Smithtown, one in Huntington, and one in Shelter Island. All mine exclusively for sand and gravel. Only six places are allowed to dig into the water table.
For over a century, Long Island sand and gravel have been used to provide raw materials for infrastructure development and maintenance for the area and New York City, according to the DEC.
In 1975 the Mined Land Reclamation Law (MLRI) was passed to ensure more consistency in mining regulation.
The “DEC ensures through the implementation of the MLRI that the essential minerals are developed in an environmentally friendly way and at the same time ensures that the affected areas are reclaimed and used productively at the mineral extraction site.”
A few local residents spoke at the meeting, including one who lives on Pine Lake in Middle Island near Roanoke Sand and Gravel. He found that in the eight years he lived by the lake, local waters have receded.
The study will start in the fall and will include a first round of baseline sampling. Participation in the study is voluntary and surface water monitoring will not be part of the study. The DEC is currently compiling a list of contaminants that may be related to mining activities and that the mines will test for. At the end of the study, the DEC prepares a detailed report with its recommendations.
If you want to ask a question, you can do so under [email protected].
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