Protect Long Island Sound
More than 2 billion gallons of untreated sewage pour into Long Island Sound every year, closing beaches and contributing to massive hypoxic dead zones of water with little or no oxygen. In addition, short-sighted Supreme Court decisions have left more than half of Connecticut’s streams vulnerable to pollution — including streams that flow into the Sound. The EPA can help fix this problem and protect the Sound by updating Clean Water Act standards, but polluters and anti-environmental members of Congress are threatening to block action.
Vast, but vulnerable
If you’ve been to Long Island Sound, you know what’s at stake. So many of us have spent summers enjoying the Sound. Families travel from across the state to swim at Hammonasset Beach, relax at Rocky Neck State Park or sail on the Sound’s waters. The Sound is part of our heritage and part of the natural legacy we want our kids to inherit and enjoy.
More than half of Connecticut streams unprotected
Unfortunately, two recent Supreme Court decisions left more than 50 percent of the streams and wetlands that feed the Sound at risk of more pollution.
That’s a threat we can’t afford. Nearly 300,000 pounds of toxic pollution were dumped into Connecticut’s waters in 2010 alone, and much of this pollution makes its way to the Sound. Beaches are frequently closed due to high pollution levels, with more than 100 closings or health warnings each summer. “Dead zones” of low oxygen levels spread across the Sound each summer, covering an area as large as seven times the size of Manhattan.
Polluters trying to block protections for the Sound
Recently, President Obama took the first major step in decades to protect the Sound by announcing plans for new guidelines to prevent pollution from flowing into the Sound and many other waterways across the country. But already the coal and oil industries, Big Agriculture, and their allies in Congress are doing everything they can to block this clean water victory before it's even finalized. We know that a win for big polluters means less protection for the Sound.
We can’t compete with polluters' lobbyists dollar for dollar. But we also know the public is with us—and if we can prove that to our elected officials, we can win. That’s why we’re mobilizing Connecticut residents to take a stand for the Sound. Contact your Senator today, and tell them you want to see Long Island Sound protected.
Tell your senator you want to see Long Island Sound protected.
Key Facts
- Sen. Rand Paul introduced a bill that would block the president from ever restoring protections to our waters, and take our clean water laws back to the days before the Clean Water Act.
- Nearly 300,000 pounds of toxic pollution were dumped into Connecticut’s waterways in 2010. Much of this pollution makes its way to the Sound.
- Your action and support can help us protect Long Island Sound—in the same way that it enabled us to win new clean water funding in Connecticut in 2007.