[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 135 (Thursday, September 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11447-S11448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          REAUTHORIZATION OF THE EPA LONG ISLAND SOUND OFFICE

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to note the 
critical importance of this legislation, the Water Resources 
Development Act, to the future of Connecticut's most valuable natural 
resource, Long Island Sound.
  Included in the bill is a provision reauthorizing the EPA's Long 
Island Sound Office [LISO], which was established by legislation I was 
proud to sponsor 6 years ago, and which is now responsible for 
coordinating the massive clean-up effort ongoing in the Sound. Quite 
simply, the LISO is the glue holding this project together, and I want 
to express my deep appreciation to the chairman and ranking member of 
the Environment and Public Works Committee--Senators Chafee and 
Baucus--for their help in making sure this Office stays open for 
business.
  Mr. President, the Long Island Sound Office has been given a daunting 
task--orchestrating a multibillion dollar, decade-long initiative that 
requires the cooperation of nearly 150 different Federal, State, and 
municipal agents and offices. Despite the odds, and the limited 
resources it has had to work with, the LISO is succeeding. Over the 
last few years, the EPA office has developed strong working 
relationships with the State environmental protection agencies in 
Connecticut and New York, local government officials along the Sound 
coastline and a number of proactive citizen groups. Together, these 
many partners have made tremendous progress toward meeting the six key 
goals we identified in the Sound's long-term conservation and 
management plan.
  The plan's top priority is fighting hypoxia, which is caused by the 
release of nutrients into the Sound's 1,300 square miles of water. 
Thanks in part to the LISO's efforts, nitrogen loads have dropped 5,000 
pounds per day from the baseline levels of 1990, exceeding all 
expectations. In addition, all sewage treatment plants in Connecticut 
and in New York's Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau counties are now in 
compliance with the ``no net increase'' agreement brokered by the LISO, 
while the four New York City plants that discharge into the East River 
are expected to be in compliance by the end of this year. And the LISO 
is coordinating 15 different projects to retrofit treatment plants with 
new equipment that will help them reduce the amount of nitrogen 
reaching the Sound.
  The LISO and its many partners have made great strides in other 
areas, such as cracking down on the pathogens, toxic substances, and 
litter that have been finding their way into the Sound watershed and 
onto area beaches. A major source of toxic substances are industrial 
plants, and over the last few years the LISO has helped arrange more 
than 30 ``pollution prevention'' assessments at manufacturing 
facilities in Connecticut that enable companies to reduce emissions and 
cut their costs. Also, New York City has recently reduced the amount of 
floatable debris it produces by 70%, thanks to the use of booms on many 
tributaries and efforts to improve the capture of combined sewer 
overflows.

  With Congress's help, the LISO will soon be able to build on that 
progress and significantly broaden its efforts to bring the Sound back 
to life. This week the House and Senate approved an appropriation of 
the $700,000 for the Long Island Sound Office, doubling our commitment 
from the current fiscal year. These additional funds will be used in 
part to launch an ambitious habitat restoration project. The States of 
New York and Connecticut have been working with the LISO and the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a long-term strategy in this area, 
and they have already identified 150 key sites. The next step is to 
provide grants to local partnerships with local towns and private 
groups such as the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Nature 
Conservancy, which would focus on restoring tidal and freshwater 
wetlands, submerged aquatic vegetation, and areas supporting anadromous 
fish populations.
  The funding will also be used for site-specific surveys to identify 
and correct local sources of non-point source pollution. This effort 
will focus on malfunctioning septic systems, stormwater management and 
illegal stormwater connections, improper vessel waste disposal, and 
riparian protection. All of these sources contribute in some way to the 
release of pathogens and toxic compounds into the Sound, a problem that 
is restricting the use of area beaches and shellfish beds and hurting 
our regional economy.
  Finally, the LISO will continue to build on the successful public 
education and outreach campaign it initiated last year. In New York, 
the LISO has already been in contact with public leaders in 50 local 
communities, held follow-up meetings with officials in 15 key areas, 
and scheduled on-the-water workshops for this fall. The LISO is 
planning to conduct a similar effort to reach out to Connecticut 
communities in 1997.
  All of this could have been put in jeopardy, however, if we had not 
acted to extend the LISO's authorization, which is set to expire next 
week. The clean-up project is a team effort, with many important 
contributors, but it would be extremely difficult for those many 
partners to work in concert and keep moving forward without the 
leadership and coordination that the LISO has supplied. So I want to 
thank my colleagues, especially my friends from Rhode Island and from 
Montana, for

[[Page S11448]]

passing this provision before the LISO's authorization lapsed.
  The people of Connecticut care deeply about the fate of the Sound, 
not only because of its environmental importance but also because of 
its importance as one of our region's most valuable economic assets. 
With the steps we've taken this week, we have reassured them that we 
remained committed to preserving this great natural resource, and that 
we are not about to sell Long Island Sound short.
  Mr. President, I ask that my statement be included in the Record 
along with the conference report on the Water Resources Development 
Act.

                          ____________________