Environment

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation listed 47 acres of East Hampton Airport on its “Superfund” site list on May 23.

Before wildlife biologist Mike Bottini started his 2008 survey to measure the distribution of river otters on Long Island, there was little information on the furry mammal and whether it inhabited the island at all.

Despite skepticism and some downright opposition from two members of the Friends of Havens Beach, the Harbor Committee on Monday agreed that the longstanding village plan to fix the drainage and filtering system for storm water runoff that was installed in 2013 at Havens Beach conforms to the goals of Sag Harbor’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP).

A state Supreme Court judge in Albany on Friday, May 31, blocked the state DEC commissioner’s March 2019 agreement to allow the Sand Land mine in Noyac continue in operation for eight years and even expand its operations.

The Southampton Town Board seemed ready on Tuesday to correct a $22,000 funding error made late last year when it awarded the Village of Sag Harbor $264,000 in Community Preservation Funds for a water quality improvement project proposed by the village’s Harbor Committee and Board of Trustees.

he Shinnecock Indian Nation has announced once again that it will continue to build two 61-foot-high video advertising signs, one each on the north and south sides of the highway, on Shinnecock land the tribe says is sovereign territory, exempt from state and town law.

“Sag Harbor Long Wharf Archeology & History of Havens Beach” will preview a wealth of historic artifacts collected by amateur archeologists and metal detectorists.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle introduced state legislation last week that would prohibit mining on contaminated lands within State designated Special Groundwater Protection Areas.

Should commercial vessels and boats over 55 feet be required to register with the harbor master before mooring or anchoring in Sag Harbor’s proposed “outer management area” beyond the breakwater?That was one several hot topics Tuesday when the multi-year effort to revise Sag Harbor’s waterways code to set the rules for mooring, anchoring and other boating activity outside the breakwater continued before the Village Board and a packed audience at its monthly meeting Tuesday.

With its chairman having declared her opposition to granting a wetlands permit to allow a pool within the required 75-foot wetlands buffer overlooking Ligonee Brook at 36 Fordham Street, the Harbor Committee of Sag Harbor closed its public hearing on the case on Monday, May 13.

Claiming it is a sovereign government, the federally recognized Shinnecock Indian Nation is ignoring a stop work order issued late last month by the Town of Southampton and continuing to put up two towering video screens, one on each side of Sunrise Highway on tribal land in Hampton Bays, that will show animated advertisements 24 hours a day.

Wooden guardrails, the same kind used by New York State on the roads in its park system, have replaced the steel barriers along Short Beach Road between Bay Point and the entryway to North Haven, five years after the Suffolk County Department of Public Works installed them as a safety measure without public notice, touching off a firestorm of community protest.

The voices shouting down local sand-mining operations have been fairly loud lately, but the Southampton Town Board on Tuesday also heard the other side of the debate.

Whenever you take a walk on a local trail this spring or summer, don’t forget to take your eyes off the natural beauty surrounding you and look down at the ground here and there.

Update: Friday, 1:30 p.m. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services announced Friday that it has learned that the individual confirmed to have measles had...