New Haven Register - DeLauro, EPA Head Emphasize Sound's Environmental, Economic Importance

News Article

By Wes Duplantier

Few high school students work in classrooms filled with the sound of rushing water and the smell of lobster around them. But, then again, few students do projects like those Sarah Vedder and others discussed Tuesday with one of Connecticut's congressional representatives and the nation's top environmental official at the Sound School.

Vedder, a senior at the vocational aquaculture school in City Point, showed U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy small lobsters that she's been observing in "condos," small sections of pipe, as DeLauro and McCarthty toured the school Tuesday.

A senior who lives in North Branford, Vedder said her work at Sound School has given her lots of options for the future -- she might do more work in environmental research or go to Maine to continue working with lobster; she spent most of the past summer working with them.

Projects like Vedder's are one reason the Sound must be preserved, DeLauro and McCarthy said Tuesday. But they also emphasized the waterway's rippling economic impact on the American economy.

"This is a treasure," DeLauro said. "It's not about just boating, not about recreation, it is an economic engine. Its strength is key not just to Connecticut and the coast, but nationally."

DeLauro is among congressional supporters of federal legislation aimed at further restoring the Sound. In May 2013, DeLauro and others introduced a proposal that would require studies of environmental impacts on the Sound's watershed, public awareness campaigns about the water conditions of the Sound.

It also would require that information be posted online about the environmental quality of the area and that the federal government more closely examine what impact its own activity has on conditions in the Sound.

The proposal has made it past legislative committees in the U.S. House and Senate and is pending in each chamber.

McCarthy, who was confirmed as head of the nation's top environmental watchdog in July 2013, previously was commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection. During her tenure there, the state made significant progress toward restoring the Long Island Sound.

McCarthy on Tuesday said the current major challenge is climate change, which she said could affect places like Sound School, where students rely on water for their learning.

"We now know that it's all connected," McCarthy said. "Climate change is a problem because there's either too little or too much water. That is a fundamental concern and impact issue on the issue of climate change."

In addition to touring Sound School, DeLauro and McCarthy heard feedback from groups concerned about the environment and people affected by the Sound, like veteran lobsterman Nick Crismale of Guilford.

Crismale, president of the Connecticut Commercial Lobstermen's Association, said the lobster industry is "diminished almost to the point of extinction," but said preservation of the Sound still is very important.

He said it is crucial for students to learn about the importance of environmental stewardship from a young age. Children used to learn about it by growing up around the industry, but those lessons have to translated to the classroom, he said.

Crismale, a former North Branford police officer, said he used to give similar talks to students about winter safety and likened the effort to the Smokey the Bear campaign to prevent forest fires.

"It has to be a way of life," he said.

Before arriving in New Haven, McCarthy was in Bridgeport for a walking tour of Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell and to talk about the importance of public and private sector partnerships in improving the environment.

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