Senator Ken LaValle and Assemblyman Fred Thiele today announced that they secured $5 million in state funding for a nitrogen management and mitigation plan for Long Island’s waters. The Long Island Nitrogen and Mitigation Plan is an initiative promoted by the Long Island Association, Nature Conservancy, Long Island Builders Institute, and the Group for the East End to identify causes, and recommend courses of action to reduce the amount of nitrogen appearing in our water.

Senator LaValle said, “Nitrogen has been identified as a significant threat to Long Island’s water quality. In order to begin to address this critically important issue, there needs to be a thorough scientific study conducted across both counties. With the funding in this year’s budget, we can begin to properly research and begin planning the necessary steps concerning how to mitigate the flow of this pollutant. I am glad New York is investing in this research, so we may continue to work to keep our waters pristine.”

Assemblyman Thiele said, “With the quality of Long Island’s ground and surfacing waters decreasing, it is imperative that we invest the resources necessary to address the regional environmental crisis of water quality degradation and protect our economic reliance on clean and useable water resources. This funding will help develop a plan, a course of action, to reduce nitrogen in our ground and surface waters.”