As part of its mission, the Pine Barrens Society relies on news coverage and press releases to disseminate our messaging and developments revolving around our work. The Pine Barrens Society has a frequent presence on print, radio and television in order to spread information pertinent to the future of Long Island’s Pine Barrens and water quality. Check out the most recent coverage of The Society and our latest news releases.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Best of the Rest Campaign Formally Announced.
On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 11 am, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society announced a drive to acquire vital lands that have not yet been permanently preserved. The “Best of the Rest” campaign, as coined by John Turner, one of the Society’s founders, is designed to secure those parcels that will ensure protected habitat and clean drinking water for Long Island residents. The Long Island Pine Barrens Society’s mission is to combat overdevelopment and ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk OKs taking money from sewer fund to ease budget woes
The Suffolk County Legislature approved Tuesday taking $44 million from a sewer fund to plug county budget holes after voters approved a controversial ballot measure to help finance county operations. The legislature approved the sewer fund transfer about a week after the county Board of Elections announced Proposition 2 passed 348,357 to 301,407. The ballot measure asked voters to authorize the county to tap the sewer fund and avoid repaying it to help balance the ...
Read More
Read More
Did Prop 2 really pass?
The election battle that didn’t end today The fate of Proposition 2 in Suffolk County still is not clear. After Election Day, "yes" votes easily outnumbered "no" votes on the proposal to divert funds from a sewer fund to help the county budget, and the margin expanded after mail-in votes were counted, with the proposal seeming to pass, 348,357 to 301,407. So what’s the problem? Paul Sabatino says Prop 2 failed. The former deputy county ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk voters OK use of sewer fund to reduce deficit
Suffolk voters approved a proposition authorizing the county to tap into a dedicated sewer fund created to protect drinking water in order to help plug county budget deficits, a county election official said. The final vote was 348,357 in support of the proposition to 301,407 opposed, according to final results released by the county Board of Elections on Thursday. "This is a victory for Suffolk taxpayers, our police and essential employees," County Executive Steve Bellone ...
Read More
Read More
LI Pine Barrens’ Richard Amper – His life’s work hits a milestone in 2020
Richard Amper and the Long Island Pine Barrens Society were the charging force behind the 1993 Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act, which protects the growing acreage of the Pine Barrens forever. This summer, the society reached the milestone of 100,000 acres of preserved land within the Pine Barrens. A goal since the society’s inception, Amper, executive director, said it has been a gratifying campaign that has taken the better part of 30 years. “More ...
Read More
Read More
Environmentalists Consider Lawsuit Over Suffolk County Sewer Fund Raid
A controversial ballot proposal in Suffolk County to use sewer stabilization funds to fill holes in the budget is still too early to call. Now, an environmental group says the proposal could lead to a lawsuit. County Executive Steve Bellone declared victory Wednesday on the measure he introduced months ago to redirect about $180 million away from the sewer fund and use it to help plug pandemic-related budget shortfalls. “Our COVID relief measure, proposition 2, ...
Read More
Read More
Republicans, environmentalists urge ‘no’ vote on Suffolk sewer fund proposition
Suffolk County Republican legislators joined with the Long Island Pine Barrens Society on Wednesday to urge residents to vote against a ballot measure to take money from a county sewer fund. They said the proposition would violate a court order and reduce funding for sewer infrastructure projects. Proposition 2, which is on the ballot Nov. 3, asks Suffolk voters to approve the transfer of $44 million from the sewer fund to a taxpayer trust fund ...
Read More
Read More
Propositions: No and No
Two matters for voters to decide in the form of propositions are included on the Nov. 3 ballots for most Suffolk residents. (Riverhead voters will see a third proposition.) The first would lengthen the term of office for county legislators. The second would allow the county to avoid repaying money it borrowed from a sewer-tax reserve fund. We recommend “no” votes on both propositions. Here is why: If two-year terms are good enough for members ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk voters must turn ballot – Editorial
Suffolk County residents: Flip your ballot. It has two sides this year, whether you vote in person or by mail. Candidates for elected office are on the front page. But the reverse side of the ballot also is important, with three propositions that seek your vote. All Suffolk residents can vote on two of them; the third is only for those who live in Riverhead Town. The issues are significant. Your vote will matter. Please ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk lawmakers approve referendum on tapping county sewer fund
The Suffolk County Legislature voted 14-3 Tuesday to approve a ballot measure for this fall that would tap a county sewer fund to help plug massive budget holes stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Voters in November will be asked to approve the transfer of $44 million from the sewer fund to a taxpayer trust fund this year, and diversion of another $145 million through 2029, according to county officials and an attorney for the Long Island Pine Barrens Society ...
Read More
Read More
Pine Barrens Society Blasts County Proposal To Cut Environmental Funding Amid Coronavirus Crisis
An environmental advocate has leveled harsh criticisms of a proposal by Suffolk County to trim environmental protection funding as it tries to balance mushrooming deficits from the economic impacts of the coronavirus epidemic. The Long Island Pine Barrens Society blasted Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone this week over a county proposal to seek a temporary re-purposing of some sales tax money that goes into a voter-approved water quality protection fund, while the county tries to ...
Read More
Read More
State, local agencies team up to investigate brush fires
State and local agencies are teaming up to investigate the causes of five brush fires since mid-April that scorched more than 100 acres of protected wooded lands in Brookhaven and Riverhead towns. The fires, the first of which broke out on April 16 in an unoccupied 96-acre section of Brookhaven National Laboratory's 5,265-acre campus in Upton, also tore through state and Suffolk County parkland in Ridge and Manorville. A total of 167 acres were burned, including parts of the state-protected ...
Read More
Read More
Bellone Eyes Environmental Protection Programs In Effort To Plug Budget Holes
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has proposed redirecting funds for drinking water protection and land preservation to fill holes in the budget. Suffolk County has faced budget shortfalls before, and this year it could be as high as $350 million. Two proposals from Bellone could help plug the hole. One would forgive millions of dollars that the county owes to the water protection program, and the other would reduce funding for land preservation. Dick Amper ...
Read More
Read More
Bellone seeks to fill budget shortfall with water protection funds
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s administration has proposed diverting millions of dollars from a drinking water protection program to fill budget shortfalls from the coronavirus shutdown. But an environmental group says the proposals could violate a court order and legal settlement from two previous lawsuits. The proposals would divert $44.4 million from a sewer stabilization fund this year and reduce funding for land preservation by 16% through 2022, resolutions show. That money would instead go ...
Read More
Read More
Pine Barrens Commission Hosts Supporters And Opponents At Lewis Road Public Hearing
Proponents of the Lewis Road Planned Residential Development, proposed by the real estate developer Discovery Land Company, said the project could be a boon to the East Quogue economy — and the law allows the development where it’s proposed. Opponents argued the harm to the environment could be permanent, and reviews by Southampton Town officials were mishandled. After three hours of testimony in Riverhead Town Hall on February 19, the Central Pine Barrens Commission adjourned ...
Read More
Read More
Public hearing held on proposal to build luxury homes in the Pine Barrens
A public hearing was held in Riverhead Wednesday on a proposal to build luxury homes and a golf course on hundreds of acres of land in the Pine Barrens. The project, originally called the Hills, was shot down by the town board in 2017. Now with a new name and new zoning, it's back up for a vote. The proposal includes building 118 luxury homes, a golf course and a club house on just under ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk Must Honor Voters’ Choice
Suffolk County whiffed again in its attempt to avoid returning $29.4 million it borrowed from a fund created to stabilize sewer district taxes. That might sound like a bureaucratic snore, but bear with us. There is an important legal principle at work here that has to do with government properly spending the public's money. Former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy borrowed the $29.4 million in 2011 to help balance the county budget. His successor, Steve Bellone, has been ...
Read More
Read More
Another Suit Targets East Quogue Golf Course Plan
A controversial development proposal, now going by the name Lewis Road PRD, tops the calendar for regulators and arbitrators in the region this month. If approved, the plan would comprise a residential development of 118 units, an 18-hole private golf course and other private recreational facilities on 588 acres of land in East Quogue, 65 percent of which would be open space. The site is north and east of Lewis Road, near Spinney Road, extending ...
Read More
Read More
Supreme Court Says Suffolk County Must ‘Immediately’ Pay Back $29.4M
Suffolk County will have to "immediately" pay back $29.4 million that it took in 2011 from a sewer fund to balance its budget under a ruling made by State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Farneti. The decision said that an earlier judgment in the case should have directed the county to refund the money to the fund, which was raised through a voter-approved, quarter-cent sales tax. Suffolk County has filed a motion to reargue the case ...
Read More
Read More
Long Island’s Pine Barrens: A Treasure Worth Protecting
Nearly 30 years ago, the state Pine Barrens Protection Act set the goal of acquiring and saving a huge swath of pristine Suffolk County land from development, for the good of current and future generations. We now know that effort succeeded. The New York State Pine Barrens Commission found this year that more than 100,000 acres have been safeguarded across an area stretching from Farmingville to Hampton Bays. There are several victories to celebrate in that hard-fought ...
Read More
Read More
‘Water We Going To Do?’
Scientists, public officials, environmental advocates, and others, about 180 people, gathered at the Radisson Hotel in Hauppauge on November 19, to discuss the effort to restore Long Island’s water quality. The Long Island Clean Water Partnership assembled experts on the subject to discuss progress to date and immediate actions necessary in the coming year. Long Island’s drinking and surface waters are being contaminated by nitrogen pollution from individual cesspools and septic tanks, as well as ...
Read More
Read More
Obstacles Ahead
It’s tempting to cast aspersions at the Southampton Town Planning Board for its 4-3 vote in October approving the preliminary subdivision and site plan applications for a major golf resort in East Quogue. But the truth is that, with a tip of the hat to the three women on the board who voted on principle to try to slow its progress, there was little traction to allow the Planning Board to derail the Lewis Road ...
Read More
Read More
Long Island Can Turn The Ugly Tide Of Polluted Waters
On Long Island, we find ourselves drawn to the water that surrounds us. It calls us, and we seek it out. The water is a place to swim and boat, to fish and surf, to paddle and sail. We walk and bike along its shore, stretch out before it to read a good book, and eat dinner while gazing at its moonlit beauty. For some of us, it’s a place of work. For most of ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk Officials Unveil $4 Billion Plan To Fight Nitrogen Pollution In Surface Waters
Suffolk officials have unveiled a $4 billion, multiphase plan to combat nitrogen pollution in surface waters plagued by algae blooms and fish kills by replacing aging cesspools with high-tech sewage systems that do more to remove nitrates. The Subwatersheds Wastewater Plan, which would last more than 50 years, calls for the creation of a countywide wastewater management district and a new, but unspecified, revenue stream by 2022 to help finance grants and loans for homeowners and to overhaul the septic systems beginning in 2024. Once a ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk County Required To Pay Back $29 Million To Water Quality Protection Program
Suffolk County must refund more than $29 million to its water protection program, according to a state appellate court decision last week. The court ruled that former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy illegally transferred $29,409,109 from the county’s Drinking Water Protection Program to “plug holes” in the general budget, according to Paul Sabatino II of Shoreham-based Gordon & Juengst. The county is now required to pay it back. Mr. Sabatino, who is representing the Long ...
Read More
Read More
Pine Barrens Commission To Review Impact Of Proposed Luxury Golf Development
The state commission in charge of protecting the Long Island Pine Barrens reaffirmed its authority to review a possible 600-acre golf course and housing development in East Quogue. This pleased environmentalists who were concerned that developers were trying to evade scrutiny. For over four years developers have been trying to build a luxury residential community and golf course. The project would add a coveted tax base to the South Fork: high income earners who don’t ...
Read More
Read More
Robin Amper, Steadying Force Behind Drive to Conserve LI Pine Barrens, Dies at 72
Robin Hopkins Amper, a Lake Panamoka resident who was the steadying force in battles to protect the Long Island pine barrens and their environment, alongside her husband, died at home Friday. She was 72 and died after a four-year battle with metastatic breast cancer. "She was genuinely interested and cared about people. It wasn’t superficial, or a public stance," said her husband, Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society. "She was ...
Read More
Read More
Tensions Run High At Central Pine Barrens Commission Meeting
Tensions ran high at the Central Pine Barrens Commission meeting at Brookhaven Town Hall last week during a discussion of whether the board should review a developer’s proposal to build a golf course resort in East Quogue. Chairwoman Carrie Meek Gallagher, who also serves as regional director of the State Department of Environmental Conservation, said at the meeting on Wednesday, April 10, that she had been “promised a response” from the Southampton Town Planning Department ...
Read More
Read More
Environmentalist Calls On Supervisor To Recuse Himself From Pine Barrens Commission
East End environmental groups are pushing Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, who serves as a member of the Central Pine Barrens Commission, to recuse himself from the board’s decision on whether to assert jurisdiction over a proposed golf course resort in East Quogue. Dick Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, labels Mr. Schneiderman as an avid supporter of the proposed project since the developers, Arizona-based Discovery Land Company, first introduced their ...
Read More
Read More
Environmental groups push property tax or water hike for septic improvements
Environmental groups are pushing for a Suffolk County ballot measure that would raise $70 million a year through either property taxes or water bills to combat nitrogen in waterways by improving wastewater treatment. The groups submitted ballot language to the county attorney’s office March 8 that will ask voters to approve a property tax line dedicated to grants for nitrogen-removing septic systems, sewer expansions and sewage treatment plant improvements. Separately, the groups have circulated among ...
Read More
Read More
Pine Barrens Commission Meeting Draws Large Crowd To Urge Board To Review East Quogue Golf Course Proposal
The Central Pine Barrens Commission unanimously voted to re-send a letter to the Southampton Town Planning Department—the same one that was sent to the regulatory board last year—seeking information regarding the details of a proposed luxury golf course resort in East Quogue. The commission’s meeting on Wednesday, held at Southampton Town Hall, garnered community members from across the East End—the majority of which held signs reading: “SAVE OUR WATER, SAVE OUR PINE BARRENS.” Among them ...
Read More
Read More
East End Environmental Groups Call On Pine Barrens Commission To Review East Quogue Golf Course Proposal
East End environmental groups are calling upon the State Pine Barrens Commission to review a proposed luxury golf course resort in East Quogue to determine if the project conforms with the New York State Pine Barrens Act. Dick Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, an advocacy group, is leading the charge, with support from Bob DeLuca, who has served as president and CEO of the Group for the East End since ...
Read More
Read More
Pine Barren Preservation Will Help Protect LI Water Supply
The Peconic Land Trust and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have announced the preservation of a parcel of land in the Central Pine Barrens core that will help protect Long Island’s drinking water aquifer. With funding from the DEC, the Peconic Land Trust is able to proactively identify and protect areas with groundwater that could otherwise be contaminated from development. “We have been working with the town ...
Read More
Read More
Shoreham Land Gets Protection, but Purchase is Still Years Away
Protections against development of about 800 acres of newly designated core pine barrens around the never-opened Shoreham nuclear plant took effect Jan. 1, even as the state continues to explore how and when it will buy the woodland property. Under state law enacted last year, the 800 acres became part of the core pine barrens preservation area starting this year, said John Pavacic, executive director of the Central Pine Barrens Planning and Policy Commission. That designation means it ...
Read More
Read More
Proposal Would Ban Tree Clearing for Solar Farms
Future solar energy installations in Riverhead Town will not be permitted in areas where tree clearing is needed, according to a proposal before the Town Board Tuesday. The measure had the support of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, whose executive director, Richard Amper, spoke at Tuesday night’s public hearing on the proposal. “The Pines Barrens Society applauds the Town of Riverhead’s effort to safeguard its woodlands,” Mr. Amper said. “The proposal will make sure ...
Read More
Read More
Suffolk, Riverhead Mull Partnership in Peconic Land Acquisition
RIVERHEAD - Suffolk County is hoping to partner with the Town of Riverhead to purchase 16 acres of land along the Peconic River. The town would then maintain the land as a park. Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith says she is interested. However, some on the Riverhead Town Council say the project is too costly. “You’re talking about administrative costs, we’re talking about engineering costs, just basic upkeep with buildings and grounds,” says Councilman James Wooten. Wooten says ...
Read More
Read More
Group Sues to Block ZBA Approval of East Quogue Luxury Development in Pine Barrens
Environmentalists, civic leaders and a state assemblyman on Wednesday filed a joint lawsuit seeking to overturn a Southampton Town decision that makes way for an East Quogue luxury development and golf course in the pine barrens. The Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals voted Nov. 15 that an 18-hole golf course could be considered an accessory use to a residential subdivision and could thus be built under current zoning. The court challenge, known as an ...
Read More
Read More
Michael LoGrande Dead; Former Suffolk County Executive Was 80
Michael LoGrande, a passionate planner with a bulldog drive who served as Suffolk’s county executive, Islip supervisor and Suffolk Water Authority chairman and led efforts to save tens of thousands acres of the county’s pine barrens, died Tuesday. He was 80. LoGrande died at East End Hospice in Westhampton Beach after an eight-month battle with esophageal cancer, a disease that was diagnosed only two weeks after his daughter, Michele died of cancer in March. “My ...
Read More
Read More
Opponents Raise Concerns Over Southampton ZBA’s Decision To Approve Golf Course
Several community members spoke out in opposition to the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeal’s decision to approve an 18-hole golf course as an accessory recreational amenity to a 118-unit subdivision in East Quogue on Friday. Leading the argument were three environmentalists, Dick Amper, Bob DeLuca, and Andrea Spilka, each of whom made it clear that the ZBA’s decision, in their opinion, paves the way for “disaster.” Mr. Amper, executive director of the Long Island ...
Read More
Read More
Police Still Looking for Suspects Illegally Dumping In Pine Barrens
Some cagey scofflaws have chosen the precious woods among the 100,000 acres of protected Pine Barrens land as their personal dumping ground. They apparently don’t want to pay for the proper disposal of toxic materials. Police told CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan on Monday that they need help from the public to catch the suspects. Not far from the trail center, just off the Long Island Expressway service road in Manorville, a young couple may have never ...
Read More
Read More
Environmentalists: Long Island estuaries in water quality ‘crisis’
The quality of Long Island's estuaries reached "crisis" levels this summer, with nitrogen-rich waterways afflicted by a combination of the most widespread rust tide algae blooms in recent memory and fishkills caused by oxygen-starved waters, environmental activists said Tuesday. A new report, compiled by Christopher Gobler, professor at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, which studied Long Island's coastal waters from May through September, found excessive nitrogen pollution was fueling an array ...
Read More
Read More
On the Hunt for Unloved, Unstudied, Yet Super Important Lichen
We arrive at Cupsogue Beach, near the eastern tip of Long Island, in the foggy morning after a long drive from Manhattan. After an hour scouring the dune scrub, there is no sign of what we’re looking for. “This is the unglamorous job of trying to find something that’s rare,” says James Lendemer, a lichenologist at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. We’re searching for Cladonia submitis, more commonly known as “beach broccoli” ...
Read More
Read More
Long Island Wildfires: 3 Times the Pine Barrens have Burned
During the past 20 years, Long Island’s largest wildfires have charred hundreds of acres of the East End’s pine barrens. The ecosystem, 50,000 acres of publicly protected land, needs fire to enrich its soil, to let sunlight penetrate more deeply into the woods. Some species need the flames to open seed pods and remove competition. But when nothing burns, the pitch pine, the scrub oak, the wintergreen and other vegetation, can all serve as fuel for sweeping ...
Read More
Read More
Long Island’s Firefighters Now Better Prepared to Protect Pine Barrens
As deadly wildfires rage in California, firefighters and conservationists on Long Island are determined to use the hard lessons they learned from two massive blazes in the pine barrens to head off another catastrophe. The experts credit everything from controlled burning and new equipment to better coordination and greater community awareness in helping them protect the Suffolk preserve from the magnitude of the wildfires out west. While Long Island isn't in imminent danger, California "does provide a reminder that the potential ...
Read More
Read More
Officials: 6 arrested for illegal dumping in Pine Barrens
RIDGE -Six people were recently charged for illegal dumping that allegedly took place between May and July, according to the Central Pine Barrens Commission. Some of the items that were illegally dumped in several areas of the Pine Barrens include paint cans, a drum set and a boat. Officials say illegal dumping could result in chemicals seeping into groundwater. “If you're caught dumping, you could be subject to tens of thousands of dollars in fines, ...
Read More
Read More
Town Board unanimously votes down proposed change to Q&E requirements
All five Riverhead Town Board members voted no Tuesday on a resolution to change the requirements in the town’s qualified and eligible sponsor regulations regarding the submittal of financial information, but their reasons for doing so varied. The proposal stems from the town’s proposed sale of 1,640-acres at the Enterprise Park at Calverton to Calverton Aviation & Technology, a group headed by Triple Five Group. Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith and Councilwoman Catherine Kent, both Democrats, had ...
Read More
Read More
Environmental Groups Urge Riverhead Not To Go Through With EPCAL Deal
With a decision possible on the fate of more than 1,600 acres of land at the Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL) as early as next week, environmental groups are urging the Town of Riverhead to not approve a deal to sell the property to a group of developers lead by the family that owns the Mall of America in Minnesota. The land in question is the former Grumman Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Calverton, ...
Read More
Read More
Across Long Island, a Race to Keep Up with the Southern Pine Beetle
The southern pine beetle has ripped across Long Island and is now a major threat to the Pine Barrens. The Suffolk County Parks Department received three grants totaling $225,000 to tackle the problem in January 2017, but the threat continues to spread, officials said during a press conference at Hubbard County Park in Flanders. More than 20,000 trees have died as a result of the beetle across the county, officials said. Suffolk County Parks partnered ...
Read More
Read More
Activists at Earth Day Symposium Discuss Ways to Clean Up LI Water
Long Islanders must clean the area’s groundwater and shores before harmful algae destroys fish, drinking water, and outdoor recreational activities, environmental activists said Saturday. During a Earth Day-themed symposium at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Huntington, scientists, lawmakers, and environmental conservationists detailed what’s plaguing the drinking water under Long Island and what’s being done to fix the problem. Andrew Griffith, a marine biologist from Stony Brook University, said fertilizers and wastewater from homes were creating large ...
Read More
Read More
Tappan Zee Bridge Will Be Recycled To Expand New York Artificial Reefs
What’s old will soon be new again. Pieces of the old Tappan Zee Bridge will be recycled and reused. As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, instead of going over water, it will go under water. Like other states, New York is now expanding its artificial reefs. “Is there a bridge heaven? Well, there is a bridge heaven. Bridge heaven is you spend all your life above the water, serving people. And then you to go to ...
Read More
Read More
State budget Nixes Solar farm- Article 78 Last Hope
While Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to a 2019 state budget provision that adds over 800 acres of Shoreham property along with approximately 170 acres of Mastic Woods to the core pine barrens, the 100-acre Middle Island Solar Farm was not included. Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organization president MaryAnn Johnston commented there was one more rabbit in the hat: the Article 78 filed against Brookhaven Town and Middle Island Solar Farm managing partner Gerald Rosengarten by ABCO ...
Read More
Read More
Owner: 60 acres of Mastic Solar Farm May Sell for Preservation
The owner of a 100-acre parcel in Mastic Woods said he is negotiating with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office and Brookhaven Town to sell up to 60 acres of the planned solar farm for preservation, even as 60 acres have been clear cut. Gerald Rosengarten, managing director of the Middle Island Solar Farm, said Monday he met with two members of Cuomo’s staff and a Brookhaven Town attorney at the governor’s Manhattan office Wednesday to ...
Read More
Read More
Trees Topple; Environmentalists Race for Solutions
Mastic-While some environmentalists, state officials and others were hoping for a compromised agreement to save some or all of the bucolic pine barrens stands in the midst of two preserved woodlands, tree felling began on the Middle Island Solar Farm property in Mastic on Feb. 28. Sixty acres have been cleared, confirmed MISF managing partner Gerald Rosengarten. Brookhaven Town requires that 40 acres of the 100-acre parcel remain as a buffer. According to Rosengarten, while ...
Read More
Read More
Appellate Court Upholds Suffolk County’s Right To Allow Structures On Preserved Farmland
A state appellate court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling and upheld Suffolk County’s right to allow the construction of farm-related buildings on land preserved by the county for agricultural use. A decision by State Supreme Court Justice Thomas F. Whelan in December 2016 had invalidated laws county legislators enacted in 2010 and 2013 to update its farmland preservation program to allow certain structures to be built on preserved land, including farm stands, processing ...
Read More
Read More
Appellate Court Upholds County’s Farmland Preservation Changes
An appellate court panel yesterday overturned a lower court ruling that county officials say jeopardized the future of agriculture and farmland preservation in Suffolk County. The Appellate Division ruled that a variety of contested uses, including commercial horse boarding and equine operations, agricultural tourism activities — corn mazes, hay rides and “U-pick” operations, for example — and the construction of processing facilities, greenhouses and alternative energy systems are allowable on farmland stripped of development rights ...
Read More
Read More
Court Upholds Suffolk Farmland Preservation Program Changes
The state Appellate Division on Wednesday upheld a revision in Suffolk County’s farmland preservation program allowing auxiliary agricultural uses on land to which the county has purchased development rights. The panel in Brooklyn ruled 3-1 to reverse a 2016 decision by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Whelan. That ruling threw out program changes allowing special use and hardship permits for structures such as greenhouses and barns, and for equine and agritourism uses on land to ...
Read More
Read More
Long Island Solar Project Back on Track After Judge Lifts Restraining Order
On Long Island, construction of a controversial solar farm in Mastic has resumed after a state judge lifted a temporary restraining order on the site last week. The Middle Island Solar Farm is controversial because they’d have to cut down trees to make way for the solar farm. Richard Amper, executive director of the Pine Barrens Society, says, “True environmentalists do not advocate clearing forests for solar. Solar belongs on rooftops, in parking lots, on ...
Read More
Read More
Environmentalists Clash Over Tree-Clearing for Solar Project in Mastic
The head of the Pine Barrens Society called for the resignation of the director of the Pine Barrens Commission as the start of tree-clearing for a Mastic solar farm highlighted a divide among environmentalists. After three days of court battles, developer Gerald Rosengarten of Middle Island Solar Farm resumed clear-cutting of trees on Monday for the first 20-acre phase of development that calls for 60 acres of clearing, his spokesman said. Rosengarten, who in another ...
Read More
Read More
RELEASE: Clearing of Pine Barrens Acres in Mastic Begins
Pine Barrens in Mastic, which were intended to be added to the Pine Barrens preserve under state legislation proposed by State Assembly Environmental Conservation Chair, Steven Englebright and State Senator Kenneth LaValle, faces immediate clearing, even as environmentalists obtained a Temporary Restraining Order against commencement of solar development there. The preservation bill was vetoed by Governor Andrew Cuomo at the urging of Adrienne Esposito of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Marcia Bystryn of the ...
Read More
Read More
Mastic Tree Clearing to Resume After Judge’s OK
Tree clearing at a 100-acre wooded lot in Mastic is expected to restart Monday morning after a state judge lifted a restraining order issued last week. The move by state Supreme Court Justice William G. Ford Friday afternoon clears the way for construction of a long-contested solar farm on the property to begin. Tree clearing on the southern end of the property had started Wednesday, with several acres cleared until Ford issued a temporary restraining ...
Read More
Read More
Judge Issues TRO for Proposed Solar Farm in Mastic
A state Supreme Court Justice has issued a temporary restraining order to stop clearing and construction at the site of a proposed solar farm in Mastic. The judge’s order temporarily stops tree-clearing that had already begun at the site on Moriches-Middle Island Road in Mastic on Wednesday, when heavy equipment began work just hours after Brookhaven Town issued a building permit for the contested solar farm. State Supreme Court Justice William G. Ford issued the ...
Read More
Read More
East Quogue Golf Course Developers Try Again for Town Approval
East Quogue residents crowded into Southampton Town Hall as developers pitched a new golf course community in a proposal similar to one rejected by the town board in December. More than dozen community members spoke against the plan at a planning board public hearing last Thursday and a handful spoke in favor of the development, although none of their comments are likely to have an impact on whether or not the project moves forward. Planning ...
Read More
Read More
Town and Groups Compile Alternative Lists for Solar
Since the Jan. 11 meeting in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan office, Brookhaven Town, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission and Long Island Region 1 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation staffers have been or will be methodically scrutinizing and vetting appropriate land parcels that can be used for solar as an alternative to cutting down trees in the pine barrens, as well as identifying land ...
Read More
Read More
Gov. Cuomo protects Shoreham woods in 2018-19 budget
Suffolk County elected officials learned last week that with perseverance comes preservation. In a surprising move, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) unveiled in his 2018-19 executive budget Jan. 16 that roughly 840 acres in Shoreham would be preserved as part of an expansion of Long Island’s publicly protected Central Pine Barrens. This proposal — which, if the budget is passed, would make the scenic stretch of property surrounding the abandoned Shoreham nuclear power plant off limits ...
Read More
Read More
East Hampton Ends State of Emergency Over Beetle Infestation
East Hampton officials have ended a state of emergency over the town’s infestation of southern pine beetles, though they continue to fight the insects’ encroachment on the region. The state of emergency ended Dec. 22, capping a period in which town officials removed infested trees at no cost to property owners, said Andrew Gaites, a senior environmental analyst for East Hampton. “We have been authorized by the town board to continue doing the service of ...
Read More
Read More
Letter to the Editor: Don’t Sacrifice Forest for Solar Panels
Nobody thinks we should pit solar energy against land and water protection [“Woodlands deal is up to Cuomo,” Editorial, Dec. 27]. So why are some groups doing just that? Instead of working to get both, they’re demanding solar at the expense of land and water. It started with a proposal to build a solar panel array on pristine forest land in Long Island’s pine barrens. The obvious question: Why put them there and not on ...
Read More
Read More
Gov. Cuomo Vetoes Pine Barrens Expansion in Favor of Solar Plans
Not seeing the forest for the trees is one thing, but a recent decision by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to not preserve the forest or trees for the sake of solar installation is causing a major stir among Suffolk County elected officials. On Dec. 18, Cuomo vetoed a bill co-sponsored by state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and state Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) that called for the expansion of Long Island’s publicly protected Central Pine ...
Read More
Read More
Stay up-to-date on important news related to the Long Island Pine Barrens by signing up for our e-mail list.
