By Hank Russell
A water protection bill that was co-sponsored by U.S. Representative Nick LaLota (R-Rocky Point) recently passed the House.
The American Stewardship Act would amend the Federal Water Pollution Act to reauthorize certain geographic programs of the Environmental Protection Agency. More specifically, this would reauthorize and strengthen the Long Island Sound Program and the National Estuary Program, which are key federal water quality and coastal restoration programs that directly impact Long Island.
The bill was approved by a 378-32 vote.
“Long Island families don’t need more talk about protecting our waters; we need results and the American Water Stewardship Act delivers exactly the results we need by locking in long-term support for the Long Island Sound and our estuaries,” said LaLota, co-chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus. “I made sure our local priorities were included in this national bill because clean water isn’t just an environmental issue here, it’s economic security, it’s public health, and it’s our way of life.”
The Long Island Sound Program traces its roots to the Long Island Sound Study, established by Congress in 1985 to identify and address the Sound’s major environmental challenges. The program brings together EPA, New York, Connecticut, nonprofits, and academic institutions to restore and protect the Sound and its watershed, which extends north into New Hampshire, Vermont, and Canada.
The National Estuary Program protects and restores 28 estuaries of national significance, supporting water quality, wildlife habitat, and local economies. Notably, two of those designated estuaries, the Long Island Sound and the Peconic Estuary, are located in Suffolk County, underscoring the region’s outsized role in coastal stewardship.
The bill would also modernize BEACH (Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health) Act grant authorities to strengthen public health protections, including allowing funds to identify contamination sources, expanding the definition of “coastal recreation waters” to cover river mouths and beach-adjacent areas, and directing EPA to incorporate advances in detection and testing technology into its guidance.
“We are grateful to Representative LaLota for cosponsoring this bill and for prioritizing the reauthorization of critical funding of the Long Island Sound Partnership programs that protect and restore the health of Long Island Sound,” said Denise Stranko, executive vice president of programs for Save the Sound.
Dr. Joyce Novak, the executive director of the Peconic Estuary Partnership, said, “The passing of the American Water Stewardship Act is a show of immense support in the efforts to protect our nation’s water quality. Reauthorization of the National Estuary Program ensures that programs like the Peconic Estuary Partnership can continue work to protect and restore clean water, habitat, wildlife, and economic drivers in nationally significant estuaries across the United States.”
The Act is now in the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.