Federal EPA Says It Has 'Authority' Over Shinnecock Gas Station Project in Hampton Bays

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has told the Town of Southampton that it is acting as the “permitting authority” for the gas station being constructed by the Shinnecock Nation in Hampton Bays — but town officials said it was still unclear whether the agency had issued any permits to the tribe with the project already well underway.

Last week, flatbed trucks carrying 50-foot tube-like fuel storage tanks and long lengths of pipe rolled into the Shinnecock-owned property after 11 p.m., the latest step in the construction of the planned 30-pump gas station and “travel plaza” that tribal officials say they expect to be completed by spring 2025.

Neighbors of the property have called on the town to do anything it can to halt the project, which was planned and begun last winter — also in the dead of night — without any notification to neighbors or the town or oversight of environmental protections or human health and safety.

Town officials say they have been trying to negotiate with the tribe — originally to halt the work, which tribal leaders steadfastly refused to do, and then to disclose the designs, environmental assessments and construction safety protocols for the project.

Town Supervisor Maria Moore and Councilman Michael Iasilli have called the talks constructive.

This past week, Iasilli told resident of Hampton Bays at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting, the town finally got acknowledgment from the EPA that it was involved in the gas station project — in some form.

“We received information from the federal EPA and the EPA is, in fact, involved in the project,” Iasilli said, spotlighting that he has pressed Moore and other town officials to share this with the public but had received push-back. “They have claimed to be the permitting authority on the project.”

Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara said that the EPA doesn’t appear to have actually issued any permits to the project prior to the start of construction.

“We don’t know that,” Iasilli retorted. “They said they are actively working on permits.”

Town Attorney James Burke said that he has been in regular contact with EPA representatives and has forwarded them information about the ongoing construction work, including photos of the site taken by neighbors showing the extent of the construction undertaken in the nine months since the 10-acre site was clear cut last winter.

“I’ve been working with EPA daily … they indicated that they have authority over the site,” Burke said. “We’ve been asking for more details about what they are doing with that authority.”

Tribal leaders have brushed aside the demands for town interference, saying as a sovereign nation they have the right to do as they see fit with their land without oversight by other municipalities.

The town has voiced questions about whether the Westwoods land actually can be considered sovereign land, as is the Shinnecock Neck territory where most of the tribe’s members live, but has taken no direct legal action to challenge the tribe’s claims.

New York State has a lawsuit pending against the tribe over the question, stemming from the construction of two electronic billboards along Sunrise Highway in 2019.

Neighbors continued to challenge the town’s position as a bystander as the project advances — and the tribe’s claims that they are above oversight by the town. They asked that the town give them more regular updates on its efforts to at least get its collective head around the project.

“We know you are meeting with them, but we don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lynn Murcott said. “We just want it stopped until the use of the land is clarified by somebody of authority as to what it can be used for.”