The truth about the Long Island Sound

(posted on October 12, 2006)

Leave it to the Lamont campaign to follow up its outrageous lies about Joe’s civil rights by falsely attacking Joe’s unmatched record of results on Long Island Sound.

This is what this campaign has come to — a dilettante whose greatest environmental accomplishment is trading in his Lexus SUV several months ago to ride around the state in a hybrid is trying to say he’d do a better job of protecting Long Island Sound than the guy who created the EPA’s Long Island Sound Office, continually fought to get funding for state cleanup efforts, and whose leadership on this issue has been recognized with the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters.

The only thing that would make the Lamont campaign a bigger joke is if Ned of all people, with his unmatched record of inconsistencies and hypocrisy, directly questioned Joe’s integrity.

Sadly, that is just what Lamont did, ridiculously suggesting that Joe sold of the Sound for campaign contributions.

That is almost as big a lie as their assertion that Joe didn’t participate in the civil rights movement.

The fact is, the energy bill Lamont is talking about does nothing to hurt Connecticut’s ability to protect the Sound. That is a myth the Lamont campaign is cynically peddling in a desperate attempt to hurt Joe with voters who care about the environment. And just last month, Joe successfully worked across party lines to pass the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which designates $40 million for a Stewardship Committee that would have the authority to designate crucial parcels as ‘Stewardship Sites’ eligible for special preservation funds.

Moreover, Joe has been very clear about why he ultimately ended up voting for the energy bill. He opposed the big subsidies for big energy companies, and has cosponsored legislation to repeal them. But the bill contained a provision that would help save Connecticut homeowners and businesses close to a billion in lower electricity bills, and that was important enough for him to tip the balance and support the bill.

The real question here, since Ned would have blindly opposed the bill regardless of the benefits for Connecticut, is why he would force Connecticut consumers to pay $1 billion in higher electricity prices? Is being rigidly partisan more important that helping his constituents?

Here are the facts about Joe's record of results on protecting and preserving the Long Island Sound:

* In 1990, Joe Lieberman authored legislation that established Office of Long Island Sound Programs within the EPA under section 119 of the Clean Water Act. The purpose of the Office is to coordinate Federal and State activities, assist in public outreach and education, and provide grants to help implement the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Management Plan and Restoration Agreement activities. Since that time, Lieberman has secured millions in funding for the Office, which partially funds the Long Island Sound Study. In 1994, the LISS developed the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for Long Island Sound. The plan identifies the specific commitments and recommendations for actions to improve water quality, protect habitat and living resources, educate and involve the public, improve the long-term understanding of how to manage the Sound, monitor progress, and redirect management efforts.
* In 2000, Joe Lieberman successfully fought to pass Estuary Habitat Restoration Act passed in the Senate. It authorized $40 million per year for five years to ensure a safer, less polluted Long Island Sound. This figure represented a 13-fold increase above the previous yearly funding high of $3 million for Long Island Sound programs.
* In 2005, Joe Lieberman helped broker a deal between the EPA, Connecticut and New York that allowed for the designation of two dredge material disposal sites in Long Island Sound. One of the innovative features of the agreement was the provision for the development of a comprehensive dredged materials management plan addressing the entire Long Island Sound. This plan will enable the states to work with EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to develop long-term alternative uses of dredged material, including beach restoration and upland disposal, thus eliminating the need for continued open water disposal. Lieberman is currently fighting for federal funding for the plan.
* In 2006, the Senate passed the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act (LISSA), which was introduced by Joe Lieberman in 2004. The bipartisan legislation establishes a broad-based “Long Island Sound Stewardship Committee” comprised of all LIS stakeholders, including federal, state, public interest and landowners representatives. The Committee would be charged with evaluating the parcels of land within the LIS region and designating crucial parcels as “Stewardship Sites” eligible for special preservation funds. Under the legislation, the Committee would give owners of Stewardship Sites financial incentive to sell their land to preservation groups or preserve the environmental and public access features of that land by volunteering to sell development rights to the land to the Committee itself. The legislation designates $40 million for the Committee’s budget, to be taken out of the funds authorized for LIS preservation under the EPA’s Nation Estuary Program.
------
Posted by: Eric Blankenbaker on 10/12/2006 at 7:08 PM