On Thursday, May 27, the New York State Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court annulled the 2019 Department of Environmental Conservation permit allowing the Sand Land mine to dig deeper (and closer to our aquifer), and to expand horizontally. The court ruled that the DEC overstepped its authority in granting a permit. The DEC ignored Southampton Town’s zoning laws and the authority to protect its drinking water when the department issued this 2019 permit.
The Noyac Civic Council worked tirelessly to get the DEC to protect our groundwater rather than allow the expansion of operations at the Sand Land mine when contamination in our aquifer beneath the mine was made known by the Suffolk County Health Department.
This ruling did not just happen. It took grunt work along with tears of frustration for years to bring us to the finish line. Without the tenacity of our NCC members and its partners, we would not have gotten this ruling.
The NCC thanks our partners who helped to achieve this ruling: the Group for the East End, the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Save Sag Harbor, the Southampton Town Civic Coalition, Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr., Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, and the Town of Southampton.
Now we wait for the town to take enforcement action.
Elena Loreto
President
Noyac Civic Council
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