i'd like to call this subcommittee order this morning we will be holding a hearing on protecting and restoring america's great waters the loan balance sound good morning today's hearing will focus on the current state of a loan now in sound and ways to strengthen federal programs to address continuing impairments of a sound make that today's hearing will many types of fish and wildlife including oysters lobsters and over a hundred twenty species of fish the sound is also an incredibly important economic driver for the region bringing in an estimated five point five billion dollars annually for the more than twenty million people who live within fifty miles of its waters the sound provides a robust commercial fishing industry as well as a popular destination for recreation recreational boating fishing and swim however the long island sound suffers from impairment every summer the sound experience is home full algae blooms create a large create large dead zones that starve the sounds of plant and animal life the oxygen they need to survive in two thousand and seven the area of the dead zone was a four times the size of manhattan the dead zone in the sound is caused by excessive from wastewater treatment plants located within the sound watershed which stretches upstream all the way to massachusetts new hampshire and vermont but these wastewater treatment plants are not the whole picture in terms of majesty and pollution and sow urban runoff is a large and growing contributor of nitrogen and other pollutants too to the sound the long island sound is located in one of the most precipitation runs all of these services and into the streams or storm drains picking up pollutants such as fertilizers heavy metals and pathogens with it and there are other major sources of to the sound that must still be addressed these include atmosphere rate deprivation combat and storage so overflows in agriculture run off one damaging result of the dead zone in the sound is a western sound in the western sound has virtually disappeared and these conditions were also determined to have contributed to the massive lobster dow off that took place in one nine hundred ninety nine when which decimated the sounds lobster population and the result was lobster industry as a result and your labs to catch is zero seven to twelve million pounds were reduced to less than one must still maintain consumption for several types of fish because they are unsafe for human to eat on a daily basis it is because of these challenges that we are holding this hearing on the long island sound that we have made significant progress upgrading wastewater treatment plants in connecticut and new york and reducing their nitrogen loading so the sound however this hour will not be fully restored unless there is more done to address the remaining problems schieffer mali's problems are urban runoff an integration of upstream states into the current program however my witnesses today and look forward to hearing your testimony goal is to use your suggestions and recommendations to create a federal program that will better facilitate restoration of the long island sound thank you restore and protect the long island sound long island sound is unique in a highly productive estuary that is important to the ecological an economy the economic basis over a nation fisheries wildlife recreation and tourism are heavily dependent on a healthy long island sound another s you're sharing systems yet despite its values most estuaries in the united states including long island sound are experiencing stress from physical that are threatened by pollution land development and over use and provides grants to support development of comprehensive conference comprehensive conservation and management plans to protect and restore them the program is designed to resolve issues at a watershed level integrate science into the decision making process foster collaborative problem solving and involve the public unlike many e p a and other federal programs that rely on conventional top down regulatory measures to achieve environmental goals the national asteroid program uses framework that focuses on stake holder involvement and interaction tailoring solutions for problems that are specific to that region in order to achieve estuarine protection restoration goals since its makes inception the national asteroid program has been a leading example of a collaborative institution designed to resolve conflict and build cooperation at the watershed level today the national issue very program is an ongoing non regulatory program that supports the collaborative voluntary efforts of stakeholders at the federal state and local level to program has been many official improving in protecting the conditions of sherry's in the program and the program shows that a collaborative voluntary approach and can provide an alternative to so reliance on traditional command control mechanisms i look forward to the testimony of our witnesses today and hearing about the progress of the long island sound program and how the national estuary program is working and ways to improve the program in the future thank you very much madam chair thank you very much madam chair thank you for holding this hearing i represent the eastern end of long island and the entire northern border of my district is the long island sound so it is a subject of great importance to me and to my constituents and to all of the residents of long island the long island sound and its watershed have sustained new york and connecticut communities for hundreds of years an estimated eight million people live within the long island sound watershed roughly twenty million people live within fifty miles of the sound and business is dependent on the health and viability of the sound account for an estimated five and a half billion dollars in economic activity annually however as our region has grown so has the degradation of our precious water resources like so many other bodies of water across the nation for years the long island they found was exploited not only for its resources but also as a dumping ground for waste many of our panelists today will underscore the sensitivity of the sound and how it can be irreparably harmed either directly through carelessness or indirectly through point and non point source pollution and other factors mr chris miley's testimony is especially troubling as he recalls the one nine hundred ninety nine lobster mortality event and how the degradation of the sound as a resource has fundamentally altered the lobster and fishing communities that surround the sound in my opinion the character of eastern long island was built upon the fishing industry aqua culture and the rural environment and the reason it is the very reason that we draw so many visitors today it is this culture based on our water resources that supports our small businesses and provides the bedrock of our local economy if we allow the sound to further deteriorate the very nature of what makes eastern long island the destination for so many will also deteriorate and will be very difficult if not impossible to rebuild in many ways the sound has been fortunate congress and the surrounding states recognize its importance to the region's environmental social and economic help building upon the goals of the clean water  the efforts of the long island sound study and the inclusion of the sound into the national estuary system has driven decisions about how we care for this abundant yet delicate resource madam chair it is my hope that this hearing will bring attention to the innovative stra strategies that have been implemented by federal state and local entities to protect the long island sound i want to thank today's panelists for all they do to protect the sound and i look forward to their testimony back thank you very much and then   long island sound on our summer vacations many times i remember times when there were floating patches of sewage out in the middle of nowhere where you're practically on the senate side of land during some of the worst times of contamination and that then just as the hudson river which runs through my district today another estuary in need of constant maintenance and help we clean up one source of pollution and it's kind of like playing whack a mole there's another source that comes along you discover chemical pollutants or atmospheric deposition of pollutants that need to be guarded against i completely concur with my colleague mr bishop's comments that you know this is not only a source of tourism which is an important part of our economy but that the health of our bodies of water especially our major estuaries will be and are an indicator of the health of this planet and  the connecticut department environmental protection third witness mr peter scully he is a regional director of long island sound reasonable office with new york department of environmental conservation following mr kelly is miss jeanette brown miss brown is executive director of the stanford water pollution control authority located in stanford connecticut she is also the vice president of the water environment that aeration associated with connecticut done for the environment and i fixed witnesses morning with age me what it suggests is that the changes that have gone on in the long island sound watershed over four hundred years are the same changes that many other systems as stories across the country  have experienced or will experience long island sound in essence going through a cycle of agricultural development industrial development urban and suburban development has seen many of the changes again that  are occurring and will occur in other systems a positive aspect i believe is that some of the the innovation and commitment that's been applied to long island sound also provides some direction for how to approach issues elsewhere in the country i'm director of e p a s long island sound office located in stamford connecticut stamford connecticut our job is to and has directed by under the clean water act is to coordinate the management conference by state partnership in long island sound and to support implementation of the comprehensive management plan for the sound to do it we take a comprehensive and inclusive approach we look at long island sound as an ecosystem unhindered by political boundaries we recognize that human use is a vital component of that system and that science must inform all of our work we work through partnerships and collaboration and we bring together the skills and resources of sister federal agencies state and local agencies the private nonprofit sectors and our research institutions developed to develop a shared vision of where long island sound should go and again based on on sound science what are some of the key activities that we support we have state and federal staff dedicated to long island sound working on many of the issues we support research and monitoring to understand the status and trends in habitat and water quality and connect these trends to causes we support implementation of water quality and habitat restoration watershed planning non point source pollution abatement and land protection activities and we support an active education and outreach program to involve local communities i mentioned briefly some of the tangible benefits from investments that have been made in the restoration of long island sound the discharge  contaminants in in the sounds watershed as reporting the toxic release inventory have decreased by ninety percent since one thousand nine hundred eighty as a result of those decreases we are seeing lower levels  toxic contaminants in the sediments in the fish and shellfish of long island sound i recently sample work supported by the long island sound study and were conducted by both state of connecticut and state of new york samples striped bass and bluefish and found that p c b levels have decreased by fifty percent compared to levels from the one nine hundred eighty s and these data have been used by both state health departments to update fi consumption advisories for long island sound clearly we've identified the problem of nutrients to long island sound they've been greatly reduced through a nutrient reduction program and there have been innovative approaches in new york and connecticut and new york the bubble strategy for aggregating permit reductions and connecticut tonight from credit exchange program there's been progress in habitat restoration  restoring meadows of ill grass to long island sound and in understanding broader changes in development throughout the the watershed let me just touch on some of the key  challenges that are ahead one is certainly that we have the challenge of further reducing pollution in the light of continued development increases in population in the watershed and continued development and clearly limited be expanded to include the upland states of massachusetts new hampshire and vermont we will need to incorporate those additional sources into a total maximum daily load that establishes allocations for nitrogen reduction to long island sound and we will need to clearly stick to fundamental yes in maintaining investments in the water in the region's water infrastructure and also continue to foster a climate of innovation there are some clear examples the national nonpoint education for miscible officials program actually started in the state of connecticut through a long island sound study funded project within the watershed but also expand the the concept to include what we call bio extraction technologies to remove nitrogen from the sound and the concept is using filter feeders like oysters or seaweed that can be harvested from the sound and through the active culture we can help support water dependent jobs in long island sound we can improve the ecosystem through the functioning of these elements as well as remove nutrients from long island sound in a cost effective manner we have a international conference coming up actually this december to bring leading experts throughout the world today to discuss this potential application for the long island sound we all also working to integrate the efforts to address climate change impacts into long island sound and we will continue to work with our sister federal agencies bringing staff into the program and making sure that we are integrating water quality habitat and management of living resources i would just mention one last item suggested tech technical fix to section one thousand of the clean act and that would be to add the word cooperate so that it would read that would allow you to cooperate and coordinate activities and implementation responsibilities with other federal agencies this would give us specific legislative cooperative authority for federal interagency agreements again to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the program i want to thank you the committee for the opportunity e p a believes it's vitally important to the economy of the region and the ecology the sound it's habitats and living resources as well as its you the users to reauthorize appropriations for section one nineteen of the clean water act and e p a clearly believes that the partnership  innovation commitment i've characterized along on sunday study have brought positive environmental results i'll be happy to answer questions at the end of all the panelist comments thank you for your time thank you very much almost doubles your time we do read your statements so you don't have to read them all but if you could give us a strong so i'm very appreciative and good morning and thank you madam ranking member bozeman and members of the subcommittee my name is amy mirella and i serve as a commissioner of the department of environmental protection appreciate this invitation to speak to you about long island sound i'm pleased to report that connecticut and our long island sound study partners have made great strides in managing this sound despite resource limitations on the parallel difficulty to the task sometimes signs of progress come in unusual ways this past june a pod of nearly two hundred bottlenose dolphins passed through the sound for the first time in at least thirty years we think this is an important symbol of the sounds improved quality there is widespread agreement that water quality is a primary issue of concern to the health of sound and hypoxia is our primary water quality challenge i was asked today to speak to connecticut's training program as a means to reduce nitrogen the pollutant most responsible for hypoxia in connecticut our nitrogen training program has accelerated accelerated progress with sewage treatment plant nitrogen control while minimizing cost we placed our municipal sewage treatment plants under a single general permit and then require the aggregate discharges from all the plants to meet a nitrogen reduction target and individual plant can meet the allotted reduction either through actual reduction or by purchasing credits generated by another facility the trading program also recognizes that the impact of a plant's nitrogen discharge depends on the plant's proximity to the sound trading right ratios recognize that one hundred pounds of nitrogen discharged in greenwich will have a one hundred percent impact on the hypoxic zone while one hundred pounds discharged in hartford will have one fifth the effect following natural  provides a financial incentive for nitrogen reduction at plants whose discharge most directly impact oxygen levels overall we estimate that trading will save three hundred to four hundred million dollars in construction when fully implemented in two thousand and fourteen compared to the individual permit approach in addition to hypoxia other difficult and costly management issues facing the sound include beach and shellfish bed closures after rain events which can only be addressed by addressing some water land use patterns that impair the biological health and product productivity of our eco systems acquiring new land management techniques such as green infrastructure and low impact development the need to preserve and protect undeveloped land the need to negotiate protocols and processes for environmentally responsible management of dredge sediments and finally underscoring the complexity of the sound is the a pension potential effects of climate change with its projections that climate change will bring increased temperatures increased water levels and more severe storm  summary there is much we have done and much that remains for us to do the long island sound study has been an excellent forum for collaboration among the state's federal agencies and the public providing funding and motivation your support has been instrumental to our progress and we ask for continued support from this of the subcommittee and congress to help us build on our progress in protecting and improving long island sound for dolphins and people like thank you very much thank you very much good morning gentlemen johnson ranking member bozeman and distinguished members of the subcommittee on behalf of new york governor david paterson and department of environmental conservation commissioner p grannis thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today in new york state's efforts to protect and restore long island sound i am the director of the long island regional office of the new york state department of environmental conservation my testimony today will address the actions which new york state has taken in concert with our counterparts in connecticut and u a to restore the sound i will also address the state's recommendations for actions which we encourage the subcommittee to consider to enhance our efforts to restore the sounds water quality and bountiful natural resources the achievements we've made to date have occurred under the auspice auspices of the long island sound study a twenty four year cooperative project that is part of the national estuary program the study culminated with the approval of the comprehensive conservation and management plan for long island sound a blueprint to improve the health of the estuary the c c m p identified seven priority areas for implementation in the sound low dissolved oxygen or hypoxia toxic chemical contamination pathogens debris health of living resources in their habitats land use and public outreach and involvement as one of the c c m p s key actions municipalities which abut the sound must upgrade their waste water treatment facilities to virtually eliminate nitrogen discharges which cause hypoxia which impairs the feeding reproduction and growth of aquatic life contaminated sediments impair resources and make it more difficult to dispose of dredged material long island sound beaches are periodically closed along with seventy three percent of new york's productive shellfish beds because of high levels of pathogens potentially disease causing organisms that reach the sound through storm water new york state county and local governments anticipate spending an estimated one point one billion dollars on wastewater treatment upgrades in addition to the millions already invested state and local funds also being used to restore aquatic habitats control non point sources of pollution acquire valuable open space provide access and to undertake many other essential projects but new york cannot restore long island sound alone we appreciate our partnership with us e p a other federal agencies our counterparts in connecticut local governments not for profit organizations and and most importantly a very committed citizenry in two thousand congress approved long island sound restoration act so that the federal government could share in new york and get a commitment to the sound list for can be used for a wide variety of projects including habitat protection restoration sewage treatment plant upgrades program management monitoring education research and special projects new york appreciates the without continued congressional advocacy for this important history however we fear that efforts to restore long island sound will continue to limp along the issues i have raised while important are subsumed by the critical issue of sea level rise and its potential impacts on long  natural resources water supplies and communities sea level rise is contributing to salt water intrusion into the sound sole source ackland to the long island sole source aquifer which the entire region relies upon for its drinking water sea level rise ma determine future ways water treatment needs to prevent groundwater degradation for example it may be necessary to upgrade existing sewage treatment plants and to construct new plans to eliminate the use of aging and failing septic systems while we need for federal support for wastewater treatment upgrades to reduce discharges to the sound it is also critically important to address storm water discharges that have resulted in the closure of shellfish beds federal assistance is needed to restore habitats of this biologically productive region such as title and freshwater wetlands shellfish bonus sanctuaries and to mitigate barriers to fish passage invasive species also must be targeted finally i want to briefly mention list  quality but to ensure public access to it to date lissa has not been as effective as it sponsors of visioned new york believes that amendments could be made to streamline this law and possibly fold it into lists were we deferred to the subcommittee to determine whether it would be feasible to get solidly both of these laws under one umbrella thanks again for this opportunity to address you today thank you very much brow is good morning madam johnsen chair johnson and ranking member bodman and the others have committee members my name is jeanette brown and i'm the executive director of the stanford water pollution control authority one of the largest wastewater utilities in connecticut also vice president the water environment federation which is devoted to the preservation enhanced point of global water environment monitored to be here today to discuss the connecticut nitrogen credit trading program and its impact on the water quality of long island sound since in the late  eighty s as spent a great deal of time working on ways to optimize nitrogen removal at wastewater treatment plants not only to benefit stanford in long island sound but also the wastewater community at large and have since served on the nitrogen credit trading board since its inception when the trading program was proposed several municipalities in connecticut were opposed to it many did not understand the concept of the trading program so wanted a free market system rather than the state the in the bank connecticut conference mayors conducted several meetings between municipal government leaders treatment plant managers and state environmental agencies to those meetings a better understanding of the program rose and municipal leaders began to understand the potential value of the program the standard treatment plant receives wastewater from stanford but also from the neighboring town of dairy and we serve a population of about one hundred thousand in december of two thousand and one we began a project to upgrade and expand the treatment plant at a cost of one hundred  mill in dollars of which approximately fifty million dollars was devoted to nitrogen removal stamper discharges to the area in long island sound known as the hot spot the most impaired region our mayor dam a lawyer he felt it was critical to the health of long island sound that we proceed with the upgrade quickly and the major selling point to our governing board was the nitrogen trading program and the fact that we would receive revenue to help offset our user charge the standard treatment a grade was completed in the late in late two thousand and five by mid two thousand and six we were removing considerable amounts of nitrogen so far we have been able to offset some of the incremental costs of nitrogen removal by selling nitrogen credits forty five percent offset in two thousand and six fifty eight in two thousand and seven and seventy three percent in two thousand and eight between forty five and seventy per cent of the incremental cost of operation a maintenance for nitrogen removal is covered by the revenue obtained by selling credits now that's just the incremental a one m cost and does not cover does not reflect the total cost this is very significant however when you understand that we would have been required to remove nitrogen whether or not there was a trading program after working with the trading program for the past seven years i'm totally support of the program not just because we are a big seller of credits but the program is an economical and fair way of meeting water quality standards it is important to understand that municipalities have to comply with environmental regulations whether or not they can afford to do them in connecticut the treatment plants are required to remove nitrogen and soon many of them may be  moved to require maybe be required to remove phosphorous upgrading treatment plants is expensive and there's limited grant money available to help offset improvements even with grants there still significant debt service the training program allows officials in towns to evaluate the cost of upgrade versus the cost of continually purchasing credits in some cases town officials are putting off upgrades for a short period of time five years and other cases they determine that it's more economical to purchase credits long term to this point i've been focusing on point service sources but there is a major concern about how we deal with nutrient and pollutants being carried by non point sources this is a critical issue that does not have an easy fix and will cost significant amount of bunnies many times impaired body was of water cannot be helped by regulating the waste water discharges but because most of the pollutant comes in through storm water discharges storm water management is very expensive and complex trading programs may play a big part in managing storm water discharges of nutrients also it's important to have highly trained regulators and engineers and operators and water environment federation is taking a very active role in training engineers and regulators we are currently doing a document for e p a talking about nutrient removal at secondary treatment plants and also providing training documents for operators that have to operate the treatment plants and designers who designed the plants as you can see i strongly believe that connecticut's training program is a cost effective and administratively viable approach to addressing nitrogen discharges from wastewater treatment facilities  president i would note that beyond connecticut long island sound watershed based trading is a potentially cost effective and efficient approach to achieving in maintaining water quality goals and providing that water quality benefits to provoke a pollutant load reductions  is very important that we consider trading programs when we're looking at the overall health of bodies of water such as long island sound thank you thank you very much good morning terr member bozeman congressman the ship and english members of our of the subcommittee i'm honored to be here today and thank you for taking the time to consider the reauthorization of the long island sound restoration act since we can't take you on a historic sailing expedition aboard a new haven i thought a few snapshots might help you experience the degree modern technology will allow the sounds wonder and culture as i highlight some of the challenges still plaguing our great water body in one thousand nine hundred four the region rallied around the six goals captured in the comprehensive conservation management the long island sound restoration act has come to be the premier tool in that the c m p's implementation toolbox section one thousand is a solid statute that is well at once broad providing the needed flexibility to adapt and change resource management course as research around long island sound develops and specific enough to ensure restoration efforts continue to be measurable however there are four broad areas we perceive as hindrances to addressing water quality issues still impacting long island sound funding enforcement by state legislative coordination and an aging management plan for the last ten years section one thousand has authorized forty million dollars each year for activities associated in the further end of the c c m p unfortunately the historical record also indicates that only a small fraction of that figure is ever allocated with the highest appropriation in two thousand and five yielding less than a sixth and the lowest in two thousand and seven using less than a thirty s even more room section one thousand is identified as a source to fund expenses sewage treatment plant nitrogen reductions while connecticut has employed clean water fund reinvestment and an innovative nitrogen training program it has a staggering five billion dollars sewage infrastructure need over the next twenty years and york the situation is more alarming with only a modest state allocation in  entire burden of required upgrades in new york city and westchester county if and when they are accomplished will fall squarely on the shoulders of residents full is refunding for each of the next five years paired with ongoing state investments could substantially dent the upgrade price tag and provide for progress in other c c m related efforts equally important and extra complete linked to the inadequate but adequate funding is adequate compliance and enforcement currently the best laid plans are merely that plans whil binding interim milestones incorporated into a c c m p or an option to ensure enforceability the teeth for the long island sound plan are derived from the various statutory and regulatory programs used to regulate existing facilities and projects or evaluate new activities that could impact the sounds watershed it is the way we use and enforce those basic federal state and local laws that will dictate the timing insufficiency of long island sound clean up unfortunately enforcement becomes tougher a state budgets get tighter and agency staffing in the last two years alone say the sound has been forced initiate legal enforcement actions against five industrial polluters and bridgeport connecticut even more troubling is the lag in reducing nitrogen loading that appears to be surfacing in new york city and westchester county consent orders have potentially granted a three year t m d l compliance extension in connecticut limited clean water funding lead to a reissued in relaxed nitrogen general permit section one thousand special phys that ongoing special emphasis in granting be given to four key areas unfortunately support of ongoing enforcement programs seems to have gotten the short shrift while compliance and enforcement are critical they are only as good as the underlying laws in a water body co owned by two states regulatory parity is essential section one  thousand state legislators be convened to assess potential coordinated legislative efforts just last year new york and connecticut did come together legislators discuss clean water funding at the long island sound summit but those efforts are limited and voluntarily attended a true by state if not multi state legislative committee is needed not only one that will identify existing differences in state environmental quality statutes stormwater programs fisheries management coastal policies but one that will have the power and wherewithal to map and enact coordinated legislative policy actually the c c m p should be a living document one that can and does adapt to changing or improve science it is worn well with age but there is a need for review refresh and recommitment with this context as citizens advisory council is embarking on sound vision an effort to create a unified picture of our progress what we have spent where it is gone the new issues that have arisen what our next steps are and what it might take to get to the envision while section  requires that modifications to the c c m p be reported to congress does not prescribe any mandated revisitation the management conference should come in to be commended for recognizing the need to retrace the region's steps however a provision requiring a dissenting review and revision of the c c m p would simultaneously create accountability transparency and consistent didn't you to incorporate adaptive management lessons it is true that the trial that challenges remain however in the last five years of liz rudd the region has made great strides stormwater pilot programs and miles of newly restored fish runs in connecticut and two prominent cases of hard fought coastal policy defense in new york remind us that this is a region filled with innovation and will power if it can be done it will be done and we are good morning members of congress thank you very much for holding this hearing my name's adrian esposito i'm the executive director of citizens campaign for the environment where a by state organization with six offices throughout new york and connecticut and eighty thousand members i'm going to just make three points i don't want to be redundant you've heard a lot i think the point here is what can you do well thank you for asking we do have some suggestions the first thing we need to talk about is funding as you may know two federal laws allow they have to be sixty five million dollars per year allocated to a long island sound restoration programs the stewardship act allows up to twenty five million and long island sound restoration act allows up to forty million dollars these aren't arbitrary numbers but rather these numbers were identified from the need what is the need to carry on those programs well the need is sixty five million dollars per year i guess but what have we received not that in two thousand and six we were allocated two point two million in two thousand and seven two point seven million and in two thousand and eight five point five million we are receiving between two and four percent of the identified need some members of congress recently in the u s senate have said to me adrian why haven't we done better with restoring the sound and i said give us more you'll get more that's really the truth but there's a bigger truth and that is that the the year to year way that funding is allocated x is a roadblock to initiating some of the long term projects that are needed to restore the sound from year to year we don't know how much money we're getting some years it was threatened we weren't getting any at all and when you don't know if you going to get between two million or five million or six million it's hard to start programs and projects that will take four and five years for the results to come in if you don't know if you're going to have funding for five years down the line so we're asking congress for two things one is we need more money but we also need the you to think differently about how you allocate money for four great water bodies we need it in three to five years of increments not year to year because that is acted as a roadblock to the law as your holistic programs that need to be implemented the second thing i want to talk about of lobsters why you may ask well the reason is that every water body has that one species that identifies and and characterizes the water body and for that of the long island sound that's lobsters i'm sure mr chris molly will talk about that being a lot from him but we want to say that the federal government unfortunately has been app sent in the restoration of the lab the population with the exception of funding that was provided in one thousand nine hundred nine or the year two thousand main has a successful venus program new york has nothing connecticut to their credit has worked to emulate maine's the notch program and to put some  local characterization on it every year we battle in connecticut to get the money for the venus program it's in the budget it's out the budget it's in the budget it's not an expensive program three hundred thousand four hundred thousand dollars per year is needed for three consecutive years new york does not have this program we can't venus half the lobsters that are on the connecticut side and do nothing on the new york side it doesn't work that way i hope you'll agree with me when we say lobsters move and they don't pay attention to the political boundaries we need one venus program that allows for the females to be thrown back into the water for three consecutive years so we can build up our laps the population in the heyday was forty million dollars of resources we believe this would not be an expenditure of funds but rather an investment of funds from the federal government last thing i just want to mention that no one mentioned yet is we also thing the federal government can do is to have a lot scale cohesive comprehensive by state public education campaign it's not just government's responsibility to care for and protect the long island sound we have a job to the public needs to be enlisted and yet they have not been been so let me just tell you the the long island sound study released the public perception survey back in two thousand and six not very good news what the results found that ninety percent of residents agree that human severely are abusing our environment but yet only seventy percent the residents felt that they did anything that  environment that they did nothing so seventy percent felt that it wasn't their fault it was the other people's fault they also found that there wasn't anything that they could do to improve the quality of water on long island sound but the neighbors could do things that would improve the water so we're getting it a little bit of as members of the public but the public is not really engaged in how they can help and how that their actions are meaningful in protection of the water body so whether it's not using fertilizes not using on the surrey pesticides disposing of ways whether it's cigarette butts or the ubiquitous plastic bag these are all things that people can be doing to enlist in protection of the sound and yet the message is not getting through westchester county has done some good educational components and so has many of the nonprofit sector but really we need some federal leadership in this area as well all the great water bodies have this the chesapeake has unified messaging we do not have that for the long island sound so if i had to choose three things i would say to you we need consistent funding for three to five year intervals we need a  notch program that is sponsored by the federal government which helps our lobsterman and a lot of the populations and we need to engage in a list the behavior of the public to change and become stewards of the water body thank you for the opportunity to comment thank you very much morning madam chairman members of the committee i want to thank you for this opportunity speak before you committee dysmorphia my name is nicholas chris malia live in guilford connecticut and i've been a commercial lobsterman and shellfish middle island sound for thirty seven years i have so much as saying so little time to say it in the interest to avoid redundancy in my testimony i just like to highlight a few points prior to a significant mortality event in one thousand nine hundred ninety the lot of the fishery was the most important commercial fishery in connecticut and long island and long island sound in two thousand just after the mortality event in the fall of one thousand nine hundred nine u s department of commerce declared the last of the fishery an oil and sound a commercial fishery failure due to a resource disaster the general consensus of the long island sound lobstermen where the mortalities were related to water quality and the spring of mosquito control pesticides during the west nile virus crisis in the fall of one thousand nine hundred ninety following this mortality event and initial assessment of the economic and human impact was conducted by human ecology associates in january of two thousand and eight found that approximately seventy percent of the western sound lobstermen had lost a hundred percent of their fishing income in the following year and the remainder lost thirty to ninety percent of their income the study also noted that because of the severity and suddenness of the die off the lobstermen found it difficult to switch to other fisheries or new vocation basic fish fishing infrastructure of lobster host sailors bait dealers equipment suppliers restaurants were all impacted and to this day the few remaining lobstermen have to travel out of state to get bait supplies at present the few remaining lobstermen oil and sound are not optimistic about the future in the lobstering industry what is happening to our lobster now is something that is pretty specific to long island sound you're not going to find some of these problems that we now experience in other northern waters for example a recent study done an economic assessment of the connecticut commercial ops the fishery done by the connecticut sea grant program and i just received this so it wasn't in my testimony and it was several survey questions and i just wan focus on a survey question number eleven which asked what do you envision for your fishery in five to ten years and the response of the majority to fishermen was most of the respondents felt that the entire industry would be extinct in five to ten years or that it would continue to deteriorate the lobs in from the eastern end of long island sound continue to see a large percentage of their catch with shell disease at times forty to fifty percent of the catch is affected it is a disease whereby the lobsters immune system prevents a lobster from producing the enzymes necessary to produce chitin which is needed to harden the shell not to mention the economic issue of attempting to sell a shell disease lobster to a wholesaler and they are not very appetizing looking looking creatures for customers in a place and preliminary data from the university of connecticut researcher shows that female lobsters have a higher rate of incidence of shell disease in that affected females caring f their tails maemo prematurely before the eggs are released ending any chance of larval survival municipal can't municipalities continue to use pesticides met the brain to control mosquito larvae they actually have programs where slow release bearcats are placed in drainage basins to kill mosquito larvae and what happens is the pesticide eventually makes its way into long island sound this chemical is designed to kill mosquito larvae which very much like a lobster larvae in impact it doesn't discriminate between the answer po more centered to the sound from the shoreline the atlantic states marine fisheries commission has determined that the southern new england lobster stock is depleted however overfishing is nonexistent which can only lead to the conclusion that the stock is being impacted by water quality issues which are impacting the ecosystem but the same determination of the a s m s c does not address the collateral impacts of water quality but rather chooses to implement regulations limiting the lobster means catch which is already below the sustainable economic level of the fisherman what we will lose will be the true stewards of long island sound the lobstermen that find fish there every specific waters year long and well the first  observe changes in the sound an ecosystem in the last few years the fish trawling industry has been all but eliminated and the fresh fish brought in daily by these boats local connecticut port ports is gone as we develop aquaculture programs in schools and encourage our children to seek involvement in the fishery it is our obligation to ensure those opportunities the opportunities exist for them in the future one has only to read our stolen future by theo colborn and john mars to be reminded how fragile ecosystem is and if we neglect actually now we will we will have eliminated our children's opportunities in these fields in closing i believe we need broad acceptance of the fact that the sources of the problem are extremely difficult ones to address and will require sustained collaboration between administrative and regulatory agencies legislators coastline residents boaters recreational commercial fishermen and those with commercial interests difficult choices will have to be made by surrounding communities farming and other entities that impacts what you non point source water runoff if we all have to sustain the ecosystem necessary to retain long island sound viability i fear that connecticut may get an unpleasant surprise one spring finding that the fragile sound that they look so forward to enjoying every year can no longer be utilised because we may reach the threshold at which the sound can sustain living aquatic life i'd like to leave it with one thought when those programs landed  i guess i would just i would concur with esposito those comments about the need for an education program which all of your agencies or  nonprofit organizations can help with in we in government at all levels of government needs to help with this weekend i was fortunate to be able to announce along with our  state officials the planning of two storm water control no runoff infiltration and retention programs that are being funded with stimulus dollars that came from the federal government to the state government county my hometown in eastern county has a ten mile river running through actually runs into connecticut and winds up and going on sound more directly but i guess i have a couple of many questions and more than we have time for but realize that they each individual and their family and their children are a part of the ecosystem this is not a situation where it's just a matter of lobstermen losing their livelihood it's that we also are all drinking the same water one member  past cycle for the first time in the two years and nine months that i've been here the number one item we've been asked for has been water heater clean drinking water or wastewater treatment and  or sewage treatment sooner or later all winds up in the same body of water and the water cycle continues in it including the micro contaminants like the insecticides that we just heard about and prescription drugs  to better inform the public that we are literally connected living in this in this environment with the lobster you know brother and sister lobster and and secondly would we be affected by and how should municipalities plan for the projected sea level rise say a medium scenario not even worst case scenario i'm hearing some pretty scary numbers in terms of and what's likely to happen to them not to mention railroad beds and highways so it's part of the education that needs to go and not just contamination of the water but all of us being public education question asked and i would say i mean as a grassroots specialist for the last twenty five years i started when i was ten i can tell you that the most challenging thing to do is to change public behavior it's very difficult however it also reaps the best and the biggest rewards because then you have sustained change and right now we don't have any specific messages that we're giving to the public in a cohesive collaborative manner throughout the long island sound watershed so to answer your questions to say glee i didn't mean to imply it be easy but i do mean it's doable that we would have to have messages much like the marketing campaign that would empower the public to know that their actions matter and their actions do actually impact the beneficially or adversely the water quality in the long island sound so we would need one message throughout the whole water shed including new york and connecticut which is why zinc we need some federal guidance on this to have one message to have one set of actions people can do that we start with and once that starts to briefly one of thanks for the opportunity i just i can't say any more succinctly what adrian said about the public education aspects as you correctly raise with regard to the sea level rise concern that you raise and i think that's a daunting challenge in new york our state legislature created a sea level rise taskforce to generate a report for policymakers to consider that addresses all the issues that you had raised and their daunting about the implications of sea level rise and how they have implications for every level of government and infrastructure along the waterfront whether it be wastewater treatment or other the significance of the  economic implications and redo infrastructure this is daunting so i think that i have no real answer other than to say policymakers and government officials on all levels have i think have a responsibility to try and keep that issue and the need to plan ahead front and center and that's not going to be an easy thing to do because as you know particularly the time of fiscal crisis getting policymakers to focus on those types of issues long term planning as opposed to  crisis of the day is inherently difficult and it's something we need to as environmental agencies try to keep focused on thank you very much just real briefly changes here  sea level is rising water temperatures are increasing some key things that we need to focus on is in the context of protecting habitat we need to protect land that is upland of some critical title wetlands alone long island shoreline so that we can allow migration of these wetlands we need to monitor changes in long island sound so we can anticipate the types of changes and potential impacts that would occur and we have a sentinel monitoring program being established to help us better forecast the kinds of changes that will occur in long island sound and third we do need to have planning across federal state and local levels we have a project working with the state of connecticut for the city of groton to develop a climate change adaptation plan across all levels of government working very closely on on the local level that could be a model then for other municipalities in connecticut and in new york thank you madam chair thank you very much thank you very much madam chair and thanks to all of the panelists for both your least two things we know that the majority of the nitrogen loading in the sound comes from charges from wastewater treatment plants and we also know that a great many of our waste water treatment plants are in need of upgrade or repair and so my question is what if any coordination is there between the long island sound study office and the new york state environmental facilities corporation which as you know controls and allocates the funding for waste water infrastructure projects peter if we can maybe start with you and then mr to the sc an honest answer congressman is that i am not familiar with what level of coordination there is between the long island sound study and e s c but clearly it falls to us said d c to implement the the  and the permit modifications for the wastewater treatment plant so we are very much on top of that aspect of of the waste water treatment plant plant piece of this and we know where the economic needs are in terms of uniphase to upgrades for some of the facilities and we have been supportive of efforts by those owner operators to obtain whatever financial assistance they can through e s c i can't tell you what level parties of the long island sound study have been incorporated fundamentally within the clean water programs of both new york and connecticut so speaking of new york the needs regarding  of the recent stimulus funding was directly applied to long island sound and it points out then the close cooperation this was example both the green point plant in eastern pardon reporting eastern long island sound as well as facilities in westchester county and also some of the facilities in new york city where those funds were targeted at some of the wastewater treatment plant upgrades necessary for one thousand removal with reference to the greenport plant let me just make a point the stimulus has been roundly criticized by a great many  greenport is a community with a year round population of twenty two hundred people they have their own wastewater treatment facility they were under a court order to improve it through the stimulus package they were able to get close to four million dollars to upgrade that plan it does not take a genius to figure out what the tax impact on twenty two hundred families would be of a four million dollar obligation this is an example of the stimulus being used to both improve our environment and to relieve local tax burden quite the contrary from the way the stimulus has been presented second question i'm running out of time both the states of connecticut and new york have made significant investment in in improving and maintaining the quality of long island sound both the states of connecticut and new york particularly new york are in serious financial difficulty let me start with you commissioner morale of how would you how do you anticipate the ability of your state to continue to fund long island study study projects and then mr scully if you could talk with respect to new york thank you for the opportunity to discuss that topic i'm actually very pleased to report that connecticut is quite committed to clean water even in these tight times we've continued with bond authorizations that are substantial for clean water improvements we have a general obligation blant bonds in fiscal year ten first sixty five million and forty five million in fiscal year zero levon as well as revenue bonds of eighty million dollars each year that contrasts with the last recession cycle where it went down to zero so i think the commitment is there and thanks to and large part our nonprofit organizations who have continued to make clear how important this is so i'm confident that while the dollars won't be as substantial as been that they've been a half they are continuing which is extraordinary in these economic times thank you  just have ten seconds i think i would generally echo what the commissioner said is no indication at all of the state of new york would back away from its longstanding commitment to the long island sound  mr to this bill would you describe any relationship formal relationship that you might have with the masses in new hampshire and vermont and currently reducing the water quality  they're currently they've been working very closely with us we have staff from all three states that have been working on a connecticut river work group they all do contribute nutrient pollution to long island sound through the connecticut river massachusetts also through the through the famous and whose tonic rivers they're going to be some tough decisions ahead they do contribute they need to be part of the solution and they need to be incorporated into a co program at the same time they look they have a host of other water quality needs their own coastal waters their own drinking drinking water and we need to develop a program that meets long island sound needs but takes into account again some of the flexibility needed to do it in a cost effective sensible manner and as suggested there are opportunities to try to expand the pollutant trading program so that again we make investments is as wisely as possible affect the sources that have the greatest impact allow them to be partners but in a way that makes economic and environmental sense thank you mr scully and your testimony you noted that a number of federal programs exist to support the restoration of the sound of the long island sound restoration  into a single piece legislation something that the state would would as a community consider past that i don't know i'm not familiar enough with it to make any specific recommendation if there was a program that included massachusetts vermont and new hampshire do you feel that there would be a comprehensive approach if it was a single program that everyone  manchester certainly i think again we need to have all states all contributing sources at the table and contributing it's no different than the challenge out there now you're familiar with in chesapeake bay where again  the first thing that comes to mind is right now the storm or imagine plans are really implemented by the local municipalities whether be a village or a town or the county and it's really done kind of in a hodgepodge mishmash fashion and funding is applied for bias the state the state that allocates the funding and then there's no even for instance madam chairwoman really report that would tell us what programs were implemented where storm water filtration devices  were put in and what kind of impact they've had we used in our testimony model program and nor work which we felt ripped great results and can provide those results in a scientist on a scientific basis so i guess to answer your question we would say that the least we could start with the yearly report telling us where storm water filtration devices have been implemented what kind of green infrastructure has been used to avoid the need for storm water filtration devices and what are the plans for next year even if we had that it's a start but right now because of the localized municipal miss a pole implementation it's a stream we difficult to get a handle on it overrules storm water program that programs that are being used right now for for a long while and sam thank you very much  to that well first of all you know it seems like as i said in the opening the other some things that are you guys are doing really well and we want to compliment you on that i'm going to ask about the team dale because it seems like that's one of the things that's working well this you know what you're referencing to out doesn't seem to be working well you know if you've got reporting problems and things and i'll be honest that that is something you mentioned you know that money's a challenge i know it is in the states it's a great challenge here also you know and it's been a challenge for even a good you know relatively speaking so i think probably the reality is that's going to continue to be the case not that you don't have very sympathetic ears but but the other you know this is a difficult problem i mean these that sort of thing is something that you know maybe you need to  look to some of the other watershed just to how they've come about and solved you know that problem of kind of getting every the on the right again that's that's just that's just local politics and that's that's for very difficult tell me about the t m t again you're you know we've we've heard testimony from many watershed things in this in that you're all seems to be working was it was it working better than some of the other  areas that we've heard about if i could just start a state of new york in connecticut deserve a lot of credit the local sound t m t l is still the most comprehensive complex team d l in the nation to my mind it may be eclipsed shortly by one being developed for chesapeake bay but states of new york and connecticut had the foresight to realize that that was a necessary approach and to complete that in two thousand and it's been the guideposts then that can be translated sources that are unregulated that do require educational approaches local level commitment and we need to remain focused on those elements and to approve improve the accountability structure so that we do know how well we op progressing toward elements that are not so easily regulated and enforced is there any is there any willingness in this kind of goes back you know when they brought were brought under the trading program in caada get a lot of conversation helped us to get to the right end point there have to be discussions about whether additional sources should come under the trading program that's just a start  but one of the things i'm most excited about was mentioned which is a way to commercially viable options that can be natural ways to reduce nitrogen you wouldn't vision that the most significant concern of local government officials are responsible for the wastewater treatment plant upgrades would be the economic implications of that and in new york using the nine hundred ninety six clean water clean air bond act what the state did was  character and a stick approach basically explain to folks that these modifications are required to protect the sand but at same time making substantial grant awards to the people who are responsible for making the upgrades and as we move now to focus on storm water ice the next big challenge i think we're going to be facing the same types of concerns and that's the reason that we're a storm water is the next big challenge the implications for local government are also significant i'd like to just pick up on something the commission immorality said because i think it's really significant for a long time developers did away with salt marshes and wetlands those wetlands not only allowed for natural nutrient removal settlement traps pathogen traps inertially for fisherman and i think that was one of the big things that need to be looked at is restoration of salt marsh and in critical areas like that ok well thank you very much enjoyed the testimony and really got a lot out of you know something that we might do madam chair fearless leader we really have we you know we've had a lot of different testimonies now from lots of different watersheds we might consider at some point you know having some sort of  conference you know and getting them together and getting us together with them and like you say i'm always struck you know one area seems to be doing such a good job and then you know struggling in another if we can get everybody sitting around the same time on might be conference working to come up with ideas to address america's great water bottles and we are in the very beginning stages of working for across the nation from puget sound to the everglades to long island sound of bringing together the nonprofit communities that are work to restore preserve the great water bodies so to do in collaboration with you would be most ideal i think beneficial and would really help to move all of our agendas forward which is eventual need to restore and protect these water bodies had already mentioned in my testimony one which seems like a very minor fix but it points to the need that the solution as mentioned by some the other panelists has to be integrated and that we need to work effectively across many federal agencies so that little facts i had suggested in terms of expanding the cooperate of authorities to make sure that we have the ability to work affective y with other federal agencies so that we are focusing on clean water restored habitats and healthy and vibrant living resources together is what's needed to to really restore long island sound thank you madam chair i would just like to piggyback on ms esposito and say that i fully support funding to the sixty five million dollars figure as well as multi year funding and i also would support bringing the other states to the table that impact the sound they do not have as much daily responsibility but they certainly contribute so a forum for that discussion would be helpful i agree with the commissioners comments we think that the you know these are regional programs that are ground up in nature and that the real critical need for the program which is working is resources and resources that are repeating over a multi year period of spin suggested by  because some of the research really needs to take place over several years or it would have no value to find a way to address that multi year need i think would be critical i'd like to see funding for public education and mandates for public education as was stated earlier the public does not in many times understand the impact that they have on a body of water and if we can mandate somehow that communities must introduce public education programs in order to be eligible for whatever i think is  very critical item and and to the conference i'm sure the water environment federation would be very happy to help put something together it's a great idea i think the multi state approach to the watershed i think the long island sound study has done a fantastic job of trying to incorporate watershed management in long island sound between new york and connecticut and reaching up into the reaches and i think it's about time that those states step up and join join the party three things i agree multi state involvement it's called eco system based management our nation is moving towards eco system based management which means a holistic approach for our oceans and our estuaries long island sound can be a leader in this number two again with the edge of public education i agree but it needs to be cohesive it needs to be a cohesive message to maximise public involvement handing out a brochure just doesn't cut it and the third one of course is three to five year blocks of funding so that the large past can be completed from beginning to end and have meaning and substance in the restoration process i can only speak on behalf of the lobster industry moylan so we do have agencies who can take care of the sound restaurant but what i'm interested in is the long island sound venus program the industry has put together a long a collaborative effort with legislators industry and departments to get a great program and unprecedented program throughout new england has been that has been monitored by other fisheries i'm a member of the lobster institute of our on the advisory panel and because we monitor unfortunately we didn't receive the funding in time but this is this has an educational component i mean we have the kids on the boat and this is where education begins you want to educate the public so let's educate the students and what are the best do this is in our aquaculture schools we put the kids on the boat they provided a much needed information to the d p in the d c to make great to make administrative decisions just this program for three hundred thousand dollars we were looking for we needed this program i know it's a lot of money in this economic climate but look at the value you getting for sustainability for an industry an education component and much needed information to make the proper decisions for us