One of the big questions that has kept popping up over this epic winter is what to do with all the snow.
There have been a variety of answers, including melting it with a Snow Dragon.
As a last resort, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection is allowing municipalities to dispose their snow into waterways due to the inordinate amount of snow-- if they have approval and there are no other options. That has environmentalists in New York seeing red, rather than green.
While the policy states that municipalities must first look to clear snow in other ways, the dumping decision has groups like the Citizens Campaign for the Environment concerned for the ecological future of the Sound.
“It’s one more assault on Long Island ecology,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Campaign told the North Shore Sun, “We’ve worked for 20 years to restore and protect the Sound and — while we understand that the state is making this the exception and not the rule — we wish there was a better option.”
Environmental groups said that, by dumping snow in the Sound, we're also dumping things like cigarette butts, plastic bottles, oil, gasoline, road waste and even animal feces along with it.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said snow and ice must not be visibly contaminated with material other than salt and sand from road clearing activities.
Kevin McAllister, from the Peconic Baykeeper, said the policy has the same negative effects as pollution from stormwater runoff.
“We should be striving to clean up our waters," McAllister told the North Shore Sun, "as opposed to contribute to their degradation.”
