Protecting our water, horseshoe crabs, ICE, IRA program

Safeguard water before it’s ruined . . .

Long Island is unlike most regions in the country. We do not draw our drinking water from rivers or reservoirs. We live above a sole-source aquifer, the only supply for our homes, schools, and businesses. What we allow into the ground today is what we will be drinking tomorrow.

That’s why Brookhaven Town’s response to the landfill plume demands urgent attention [“Brookhaven’s cleanup options,” News, May 1]. Expanding public water hookups and increasing monitoring are necessary first steps. They protect residents now. But they do not clean the contamination already in the ground or stop new pollution from entering the aquifer.

We have seen this before. From the Bethpage Northrop Grumman site to the Lawrence Aviation Superfund site in Port Jefferson Station, Long Island has a long history of groundwater contamination. What once seemed manageable has become a costly, decades-long burden threatening public health and our drinking water.

Brookhaven should not repeat that history by being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Limiting action to monitoring may save money today, but it will cost far more later in cleanup, water treatment, and potential health impacts.

A balanced approach is needed and includes expanding water access and monitoring, committing to a firm landfill closure timeline, implementing targeted groundwater treatment, reducing waste, and establishing a dedicated landfill remediation fund while securing state and federal support. This is not alarmism; it is stewardship.

On Long Island, protecting our water isn’t an option. It is the difference between a sustainable future and an avoidable crisis.

— Sarah Anker, Mount Sinai

The writer is a former Suffolk County legislator.

. . . This old species needs clean water, too

Stony Brook University Professor Christopher Gobler’s latest State of the Bays warning hits home for anyone who cheered Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signing of the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act in December “Ecologist: Nitrogen a threat to LI waters,” News, April 22].

The 2029 harvest ban is a victory for a species older than the dinosaurs. But Gobler is telling us that the bays these ancient creatures return to each spring are turning toxic. Nitrogen from Long Island’s aging cesspools is feeding algal blooms, breeding flesh-eating Vibrio, and creating summer dead zones that suffocate the eggs and juveniles the new law is meant to save.

We cannot harvest-ban our way out of this. If the water is poison, the crabs we stopped killing will die anyway.

Suffolk and Nassau counties offer homeowners up to $20,000 to replace cesspools with nitrogen-reducing systems that cut pollution by 70%. My parents upgraded our system, and I’m calling our soil and water conservation district this week to learn how to help other families do the same. Residents whose homes still have an old cesspool should investigate the grant.

I’d like to inherit a Long Island where a 450-million-year-old species hasn’t been lost to what’s leaching out of our backyards.

— Brandon Tang, Great Neck

We’re standing for our communities

As a participant in the Hempstead Village rally Friday, I was overwhelmed by the joy and community togetherness that was on display as much as the sentiments against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [“Anti-ICE rally in Hempstead draws 250,” News, May 2].

The League of Women Voters proudly stood behind our banner, proclaiming the need for change, respect for our immigrant neighbors, and a return to the rule of law and tenets of democracy.

Because a lot of partisan rhetoric was expressed by other groups, I want to clarify that our league always was and remains nonpartisan. We do, however, express our views on issues that abridge the word and/or spirit of the Constitution. In fact, as our CEO Celina Stewart stated, we are “in a constitutional crisis.”

— Elise Antonelli, Babylon

The writer is co-chair for the issues and advocacy committee of the League of Women Voters of Huntington.

New IRA offers little advantage to workers

Yet another senseless offer has been made to those of moderate income [“IRA program out of reach for many on LI,” LI Business, May 4]. With income limits at $35,500 for a single filer and $71,000 for married filers, those workers most likely have very little extra funds available for retirement savings. Yet if by chance they do contribute, their tax savings at most is 10% of the contribution.

Here’s the kicker, though. Should they need those funds for an emergency, which very possibly may occur, they will be penalized 10% for the early withdrawal penalty. And have it included in their income, losing whatever tax savings they imagined.

As an accountant, I expect very few will take “advantage” of such a sucker’s bet.

— Michael Lefkowitz, East Meadow