The EPA has recently issued a decision which will continue the practice of dumping dredge material in the open waters of eastern Long Island Sound. While the EPA has attempted to convince the public that it is mitigating the impacts of this polluting practice, the truth is that the EPA decision is just more of the same. While we continue to see a decline in overall water quality, The EPA is countenancing the continued pollution of one of our most precious resources.

The fact that the disposal site is entirely within Connecticut waters is of no consolation to the people of Long Island. One of the first lessons we learned as children when our mothers put us in the bathtub with our siblings is that what one sibling does in the bathtub affects everybody in the bathtub. This dumping will affect all of us.

In an August letter signed by more than 30 federal, state and local elected officials, including myself, the Governor provided notice to President Obama and EPA officials that the state will take necessary steps to prevent the EPA from issuing a rule allowing dredged materials from Connecticut to be dumped in the eastern region of the Long Island Sound. I urge the Governor to take the necessary legal action to stop the EPA.