Cuomo wrong about sand mining veto

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has long championed Long Island’s clean water, but I believe he got it wrong when he caved to bureaucrats and industry lobbyists who don’t see a problem with continued sand mining on sites with significant contamination ["Cuomo vetoes sand mining bill," News, Dec. 16]. It’s not just the obvious issue of contaminating drinking water, but who knows where this mined material ends up after it’s blended with other materials. It’s these concerns that led a yearlong Suffolk County grand jury to call for more local control of mines and likely led to the State Legislature’s nearly unanimous approval of the bill to provide it. In my view, the Department of Environmental Conservation dropped the ball regarding critical oversight of mines, and now that contamination has been found, it has teamed up with industry to bury the issue and get back to business as usual. The governor’s work is hard, and it’s understandable he’d look to the DEC for guidance, but when that agency is too close to the industry it regulates, the outcome rarely benefits the public interest, and I believe that happened here. We don’t need a study to tell us that mining and selling contaminated material isn’t a good idea — we need action.

Bob DeLuca,

Southold

Editor’s note: The writer is president of the environmental nonprofit Group for the East End.

Linking poster to vaccine isn’t right

I don’t think it was right that Nassau County Executive Laura Curran modified the Rosie the Riveter poster or that Newsday published a photo of it ["Cuomo: Feds to do nursing homes," News, Dec. 5]. It originally was made for the ships and planes used by our military who fought, with hundreds of thousands dying, in World War II. I’m sure another picture could have been made for the COVID-19 vaccine instead of this one, especially since Curran toured the veterans’ Wall of Honor in Eisenhower Park, where my name appears as well as my father’s.

Bernard Fradkin,

Jericho

Editor’s note: The writer is a Korean War veteran.

There’s other corrosive reporting

I see the overwhelming majority of Newsday opinion writers insult and humiliate President Donald Trump. I find it hard to believe that Newsday can’t find an occasional pro-Trump opinion writer. One recent, blatant op-ed was Lane Filler’s attacking Fox News for its opposing views because it supported Trump ["Blame con artists, not their victims," Opinion, Dec. 4]. He assailed Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson but never mentioned personalities from CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS or NBC — Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo and Joe Scarborough, to name a few — for their corrosive "reporting." Filler goes on to refer to the Trump "con," blaming his enablers, but not his supporters, for what Filler perceives as a chaotic, divisive, racist administration. I’m not sure where that puts the 74 million people who voted for Trump. He calls them the "victims" of the con. Surely, he’s not suggesting that 74 million people are stupid enough to be "conned." Or is he? It appears that Filler lays absolutely no blame on congressional Democratic leaders for today’s chaos, division and tribalism, or gives them much responsibility for politics’ sorry state.

George Cumberland,

Holbrook

Lane Filler blames politicians, such as Rep. Lee Zeldin, for perpetuating President Donald Trump’s lies. But people need to take responsibility for their own actions. Anyone who reads a reputable newspaper or watches a national news program should know that Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself and lies daily. "Mexico will pay for the wall" and "the Chinese are paying the tariffs" are two of the most obvious lies that his supporters continue to believe. To me, the blame lies with Trump’s supporters, many of whom are white and are still smarting over having to live under a Black president for eight years. I believe there is still so much racism in our country today. I see it with my own family and friends. People choose to watch Fox News, listen to racists such as Rush Limbaugh and believe the garbage on the internet because it reinforces what they feel inside. They’re the ones who have to take responsibility for enabling this madman to bring our country to its knees.

Steven G. Berner,

Miller Place

Biden deserves what Dems gave Trump

President-elect Joe Biden wants to "heal and unite" the country? For nearly four years, President Donald Trump was harassed nonstop. Many Democrats said he was an "illegitimate" president from the day he was elected. Not to mention "Russia, Russia, Russia" and the waste of time spent on an impeachment, which failed to remove him. Do Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris think 74 million people who voted for Trump are going to forget all this because he says so? In my view, this country will not come together just because Biden wants it. So I say Republicans should push back the liberal agenda as much as possible for the next four years, same as Democrats have done to Trump.

Steven Zollo,

West Islip