Midway Crossing, septic funds, crab harvests, and Ukraine

Isles’ home should’ve been in Ronkonkoma

An article lamented many of the proposed improvements of Midway Crossing, a $2.8 billion Ronkonkoma redevelopment proposal that included train, airport, retail and a sports complex [“Concerns about $2.8B Ronkonkoma project,” News, July 4]. The problem will be finding a sports team for the complex.

I remember when the UBS Arena at Belmont Park was first proposed as the future home of the Islanders that Ronkonkoma was mentioned and almost immediately dismissed. I remember thinking that there must have been a major hidden agenda tied to ramming the Belmont Park site down our throats. The downside of the Belmont site was obvious: poor access for Long Islanders, poor parking and forget the new Long Island Rail Road station — even when complete, it will still require multiple transfers for most Long Islanders.

This is how Long Island’s too numerous fiefdoms work. One needs to look no further than the Town of Hempstead killing the former Islanders owner’s Lighthouse Project.

The UBS Arena was a mistake. Ronkonkoma would have been the better permanent home for the Islanders.

 — David Rogers, Northport

Septic funds could be spent better

John Tanacredi, executive director of Molloy College’s Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans, is correct in questioning the impact of nitrogen from septic systems on our ecosystem [“Suffolk getting $20M for septic upgrades,” News, July 8].

Suffolk County would have us believe that nitrogen from septic systems unilaterally causes harmful algae blooms, erosion, loss of wetlands, fish kills, and the collapse of the shellfish industry. This is a convenient narrative for obtaining state and federal grants to construct wastewater infrastructure.

The grant money could be better spent on upgrading existing septic systems to conventional standards, not on the non-cost-effective, high-maintenance Innovative and Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems or the central sewer systems that discharge into coastal waters, depleting our groundwater supply.

 — Royal Reynolds,  East Moriches

Crab harvest law has several benefits

The goal of the crab harvest law is not meant to be punitive by limiting the taking of horseshoe crabs [“State gets powers to limit crab harvest,” News, July 7]. Rather, it is intended to implement sensible strategies to produce more horseshoe crab eggs on the beach, resulting in more crabs in Long Island’s coastal waters.
Female horseshoe crabs emerge in May and June each year to spawn, laying tiny eggs along the water’s edge.

Spawning females vary in size, with older, larger females producing more eggs — so, establishing minimum and maximum size harvest limits, which is one strategy provided for in the new law, allows large females to lay more eggs and gives many smaller crabs a chance to spawn at least once before being taken.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has characterized the status of New York’s horseshoe crab population as “poor,” the only ASMFC state so designated.

The provisions in the legislation aren’t meant to adversely affect anyone, but to the contrary, to help Long Island’s horseshoe crabs begin to rebuild from a decades-long decline, a trend the ASMFC is concerned about — for the benefit of fish, shorebirds, the coastal environment and all Long Islanders.

 — John L. Turner, Setauket

The writer is a member of the Seatuck Environmental Association, an advocacy organization.

Democrats stymied from taking action

Lane Filler writes that the Democrats hold the majority in government [“Liberals should rethink plans to leave,” Opinion, July 7]. All that the Democrats really hold in Congress is the House.

The Democrats don’t really hold the Senate because they are held hostage by the filibuster rule. The president is in a futile position because he is stymied by the Senate and the Supreme Court. If Democrats held a true majority, they would be a lot better off.

 — Joy Rubenstein, Lake Ronkonkoma

Why point a finger at Ukraine’s miscue?

What was the point of publishing the Associated Press article “U.N.: Russia, Ukraine at fault in attack” [News, July 10]?

All nations make mistakes in war. To call out Ukraine about this instead of publishing about the “hundreds of Russian attacks across Ukraine that likely constitute war crimes” is cruel. The entire unprovoked action is a crime committed by a man in control of a weak-minded giant. Ukrainians are standing their ground, as we would. The bear is toying with a hare, and we watch in horror.

 — Michele McTernan, East Setauket