Cover photo: Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) (Credit – Matt Meduri)
Long a tradition of former Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), his successor to the First Senate District, Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), has carried this important event in his stead.
The yearly environmental roundtable brings together elected officials, environmental experts, and local leaders to discuss the top issues affecting their communities and what Suffolk County, New York State, and Congress can do to mitigate certain situations before they unfold.
The 2025 environmental roundtable was held last Thursday at Suffolk County Community College’s Culinary Arts Center in downtown Riverhead.
“The Executive Budget is recommending all funds and appropriations of $2.6 billion, with an increase of $89.4 million from last fiscal year,” said Palumbo, opening the meeting, adding that some funds are to reauthorize the “hazardous” site in Calverton – the former Grumman airpark – to Superfund status, as well as to increase the bonding authority by $1.25 billion.
Palumbo shared spending highlights that include $1 billion for services and expenses of climate mitigation and adaptation projects and $400 million for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF).
“I know there are a lot of groups who want to get to $500 million; that’s what we’re still going to push,” said Palumbo. “An appropriation of $500 million for clean water infrastructure in the governor’s budget. That’s near and dear to us.”
The open-mic session began with Adrienne Esposito (pictured above), Executive Director for the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, pushing her concerns of PFAS, a common “forever chemical” that cannot be broken down naturally and can only be removed from water sources through certain types of filtration. Esposito recently joined County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), who was also present at the roundtable, to call on the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mitigate the chemicals leaching into the Peconic River, and ultimately the Great Peconic Bay, from the former Grumman site in Calverton.
Esposito took issue with Senate bill S.187A, which passed in last year’s state legislative session, but did not pass the Assembly.
“The bill bans the intentional input of PFAS into common products such as children’s toys, dental floss, carpenters, and many other products that we use each and every day,” said Esposito. “The State did a great job in passing legislation that banned PFAS in fast food wrappers; it’s working. For some unknown reason, the Senate took cookware out of the bill last year.”
Esposito opined that the legislation is a “priority bill” for many environmental organizations across the state. Esposito also thanked Executive Romaine for “leading the charge” in requesting the State and federal governments reclassify the former Grumman plant as a Superfund site, one that is not active and is in need of ecological remediation.
“We now know that PFAS is entering into the Peconic River, Swan Lake, and Peconic Lake,” said Esposito, adding that a draft letter has been prepared for Senator Palumbo, which she formally requested Palumbo circulate. In addition to calling on the EPA to reclassify the former airpark as a Superfund site, Esposito also requests that there is more consistency in setting water contamination standards.
“The letter calls on the EPA to not weaken the PFAS drinking water standard of four parts per trillion. We cannot go backwards,” said Esposito. “Although New York’s standard is ten parts per trillion, four is way more protective.”
Susan Harder (pictured above), the New York State representative for DarkSky International, requested the resurrection of outdoor lighting codes for New York State. DarkSky International is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that aims to “restore the nighttime environment and protect communities and wildlife from light pollution,” as per their website.
“Back in 2004, there was an effort to pass a comprehensive outdoor lighting code for New York State,” said Harder, adding that while it passed the State Legislature, then-Governor George Pataki (R) did not sign due to what she describes as an “erroneous opposition letter” from then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R).
“We can follow emerging evidence of the impact of improperly installed outdoor lighting on human health as well as on plants and animals. We’ve also had technological improvements [since then], so this bill could be written to incorporate them,” said Harder. “I’d like to work with you both on drafting and subsequently garnering all the support you need to pass a New York State law so that all the communities can benefit.”
Margaret de Cruz (pictured below), Southold Chapter President for the North Fork Environmental Council (NEFC), invoked the issue of zero-waste goals, particularly as construction and renovation companies are concerned. The NEFC was founded in 1972 by concerned Riverhead and Southold residents who fought a 500-acre Sound-front dredging project, ultimately stopping the mining of Jamesport Hills.
“They’re just tearing things apart and throwing them into big, big dumpsters and they’re all going into the waste stream,” said de Cruz. “I would love it if we had a new countywide industry to dismantle, not destroy, so that we could train people in the trades who will also know how to dismantle things without destroying them and you can have a countywide storage salvage space. This would promote reusing materials, it would reduce waste, it would be less expensive to build things, and it would be a great thing for accessory dwelling units.”
Ms. de Cruz opined that a task force model could be used for storage and training purposes, but to also set up municipal models for the rest of Long Island to follow.
“We can get two sectors of waste, organics and C&D [construction and demolition debris]. 30% of our waste is organics, 50% is C&D,” said de Cruz.
Palumbo asked how such materials could be recycled, especially in light of recent pushes to eliminate most levels of advanced recycling.
“Right now, we don’t have good systems at all,” said de Cruz. “It’s difficult for small contractors and architects to separate everything. We can set up systems to do that. Are there big markets we can create?”
“The cost can be prohibitive, but the incremental aspects to it, I think, are always smart,” said Palumbo.
“We can identify environmental justice or injustice areas, but we have to bring a boatload of money there too,” said Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue). “It could help with some of the sewer installations, education, or advanced sanitary systems. I think the State needs to dedicate explicitly to the areas that have been identified, like Gordon Heights or North Bellport,” said Thorne, referencing two underserved areas in his district. “We need to take real, substantial action.”
Maureen Murphy, Chair of the South Shore Estuary Reserve Citizens Advisory Committee, requested an increase of $7 million in funding for the “historically underfunded” estuary that flows from the Shinnecock Canal into Nassau County.
“There’s been a revised comprehensive management plan, there’s been some big projects in the Village of Patchogue. We need to see more of those big projects on the South Shore, and now the towns and municipalities are really working together to advance the goals and protect and restore that estuary,” said Murphy.
Southold Town Councilman Greg Doroski (D-Mattituck) called for Executive Romaine and the County Legislature to “open eligibility to municipalities, town-owned and village-owned sewers,” for the purpose of accessing State funds to upgrade them.
“I think the science shows that sewers are the best way to keep nitrogen out of our aquifer and out of estuary,” said Doroski, adding that the $4.2 billion raised from last year’s passage of Proposition Two, while important, is not enough to handle the municipality-run sewer systems. He discussed “aging town sewer infrastructure” in Riverhead Town, Greenport Village, and even Fishers Island.
Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) (pictured above) discussed hiring curators for Suffolk County’s park system, the largest county park system in the country at 65,000 acres and counting.
“Some of those curators should be joint appointments in the Suffolk County Community College and at SUNY Stony Brook through certain departments there, like Ecology and Evolution and Marine Sciences,” said Englebright. “We should be looking ahead; if we are wise, we will use these resources to bring people who will succeed us, our children, into the knowledge of what treasure they truly have here in these valuable natural areas and farmlands.”
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico (R-Center Moriches) (pictured below) expressed his frustration in dealing with New York State, particularly in bringing money into the municipalities.
“We have a state [government] that is bewildering to me,” said Panico. “All issues of government come down to being issues of money. Raise your hands if you’ve seen one dollar of what overwhelmingly passed [the Environmental Bond Act] either by you as a constituent or our constituents. Nothing from the state.”
Panico discussed Brookhaven’s status as one of Suffolk’s only townships to not place a moratorium on battery storage facilities, even going as far as to host a forum to educate the public on the nascent technology. He added that with LIPA and the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), there has been “no support” when it comes to the State’s codified laws on the matters.
“We need money at the local level to make things happen,” said Panico, going further to say that the municipalities have tried to entertain rail as an option for carting off C&D waste, especially in light of the imminent closure of the Brookhaven Landfill, but the State is developing that identified parcel into a warehouse served by diesel trucks.
“What the State says does not match up with their actions; our State government needs to come down and help the local governments, and all of you, for a cleaner environment,” said Panico, subsequently thanking Senator Palumbo and Assemblywoman Jodi Gilgio (R-Baiting Hollow) for their work in the State Legislature.
Present also were freshman Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni (D-North Haven), Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski (D-Cutchogue), Suffolk County Legislators Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville) and Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead), and representatives for Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) and Suffolk County Legislator Chad Lennon (C-Rocky Point).
