Court rejects DEC request to stay ruling invalidating permit for Sand Land mine
A panel of appellate court judges has turned back a state DEC request to stay a recent ruling annulling the Sand Land mine's permit in Noyack. Credit: Doug Kuntz
A panel of appellate court judges has rejected the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s request to stay a recent ruling annulling a controversial Noyack sand mine’s permit.
Southampton Town, civic groups and neighboring landowners took the DEC to court in 2019 over the issuance of a permit allowing Sand Land — which a 2018 Suffolk County report linked to groundwater contamination — to dig 40 feet deeper and operate for another eight years.
A state Supreme Court justice ruled in September 2020 that the permit was valid, but the town appealed. A May ruling by a panel of judges overturned the September decision and stated the DEC disregarded Southampton zoning law prohibiting new mining when it issued the permit.
An order handed down Monday by a panel of judges in the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, Third Judicial Department, denied the DEC’s motion to declare an automatic stay was in effect or grant a discretionary stay as the case moves through the appeals process. The judges voted 3-2.
Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) in a news release called on the DEC to abandon further litigation and close the mine.
"It is now time for the State DEC to respect the rule of law," he said. "Instead of wasting time and money on continued litigation, the more prudent course of action would be to enforce the law, protect water quality and the environment, and close the mine."
Representatives of Sand Land did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DEC is reviewing the court decision. It may now make a motion to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to review the case.
The DEC took the position that a stay was already in place and had previously refused to shut down the mine, according to David Arntsen, Southampton Town’s outside counsel. Monday’s ruling rejected that position, but the state agency has not said whether it will shutter the mine before the appeals process is exhausted.
"They have just taken positions … that don’t comport with our understanding of the statutory framework," Arntsen said of the DEC. "They just have a different view on what they are mandated or not mandated to do."
Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.
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