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Politics & Government

Climate Change and LI Sound Impact Subject of Summit

Panelists at the 22nd Annual Long Island Sound Citizen's Summit discussed a variety of topics to better educate and prepare us for future disasters.

“It’s sad that one day my children will look back and remember how nice the summers where when they where young,” said New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson Friday when he opened the 22nd Annual Long Island Citizen’s Summit.

The day-long series of series and lectures was called Superstorm Sandy and the "New Normal": Rebuilding for Resiliency and Adapting to Climate Change.

Organizers said people were left wondering—in the wake of the devastating October 2012 storm that left millions without power and caused billions of dollars of property, both public and private—how to successfully address the changing climate and impacts on our infrastructure, policy and natural resources.

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The summit took place at Iona College in New Rochelle. The event was sponsored by Save the Sound, the Long Island Sound Study and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.

“The simple goal is to make the sound safe for human health,” said Curt Johnson from Save the Sound. He showed a map of the Long Island Sound’s oxygen levels which revealed that New Rochelle and the surrounding southern Westchester area had the worst levels.

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“Nutrients from chemical plants run off into the water dissolving most of the oxygen supplies,” Johnson said. The Sound Shore was color coded black, meaning that most wildlife would have a difficult time surviving. 

New York and Connecticut alike are both trying to do something about this awful pollution in the southern parts of the sound. Both are trying to reach a predetermined goal of 58.5 percent reduction by 2014, as established by the Long Island Sound Total Maximum Daily Loads. As of 2011, they where close to 80 percent of the way to this goal.

“We in leadership positions are failing the people we serve,” Bramson said. “Especially since the work you (the audience) do is extraordinary.”

Andrew Revkin, environmental blogger for the New York Times, likened the Sound to “water sloshing in a shallow pan.”

“We need more basic education measures taken to better teach people through simple graphics,” he said, adding that most of the younger generation is mostly disengaged on the subject of climate change and climate control.

Much of the summit was spent talking about how New York and Connecticut addressed certain issues of climate change, including the rising sea levels and rebuilding the coastline and repairing all of the damage Sandy brought.

The afternoon panels addressed federal and state actions and impacts from Super-Storm Sandy.

Anthony Ciorra, of the United States Corps of Engineers, said that the federal government has budgeted $5.35 billion for Sandy-related projects, of which $3.5 billion was for future construction and $1 billion for coastal repairs.

“The annual budget for the Corps is $4.75 billion,” he said.

During the summit, it was noted that New York legislators are in the beginning stages of creating a bill that would take into consideration future hurricanes and disasters such as Sandy or Irene.

“We should look no less than 100 years ahead,” said New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright, in reference to this bill.

New York State Senator George Latimer further explained this bill.

“It’s partly about science and partly about political science,” he said. “Local governments lay out various projects of zoning. They then put together a template of what they need for funding.”

“If you want a grant, you must have a plan,” Latimer said.

He also explained how there is a flood mitigation fund in place, and how Governor Cuomo is trying to increase and expand this fund.

Sergio Alves, an Iona College student and Dobbs Ferry resident, said there needs to be more awareness on climate change and how it impacts the Long Island Sound.

“We lost power for a few days, so it would be nice to have future measures to prevent this from happening,” he said.

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