(Updated – May 17) A bill taking aim at the sale of Plum Island to private developers passed the House of Representatives unanimously yesterday, Congressman Lee Zeldin announced yesterday evening.
“This is a huge step forward in the efforts to protect and preserve this beautiful land, almost all of which is completely undeveloped,” Zeldin said in a statement. “With House passage of this bill, it’s now time for the Senate to act, so that we can get this legislation signed into law by the president this year.”
Zeldin held a press conference in Riverhead yesterday morning to announce the anticipated passage of his bill, which amends a 2008 law mandating sale of the island.
“I’m not here to announce that our legislation will pass the House in the fall, next month or even next week,” Zeldin said during the press conference yesterday. “Our legislation will be voted on and passed today.”
Plum Island, which is owned by the Department of Homeland Security, has housed a federal research center since 1954. In 2008, in an effort to fund a new replacement facility’s construction in Kansas, Congress passed a law dictating that Plum Island would be sold to the highest bidder.
Zeldin’s bill, which was unanimously approved by the House Homeland Security Committee three weeks ago, seeks to reverse that law.
“The bill will commission the Government Accountability Office in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, which currently owns the island, to formulate a comprehensive plan for the future of the island so that a research can be continued and so public access can be permitted while permanently preserving the island,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin sees Plum Island a “bastion” of what Long Island once was, envisioning a place where the community can gather to enjoy nature in a preserved habitat, but also one where scientific research and progress can be made using the existing facilities.
“There are universities, companies, not-for-profits that can open up a path to good-paying, scientific research in the state-of-the-art infrastructure already there. But while that is there, still over 90 percent of Plum Island has been protected,” Zeldin said. “Endangered species — seals, birds, plants —think of how much Long Island has changed from development over generations. Plum Island is what Long Island once was.”
To local officials and environmentalists who have been fighting back against the sale of Plum Island since 2008, the progress is a long time coming.
“It’s been just about eight years, which is 2,500 days of toiling to try to reverse the legislation that was passed in 2008,” said John Turner, spokesperson of the Preserve Plum Island Coalition. “This is the best day we’ve had in those eight years.”
“Over the past eight years of battle, we’ve learned just how amazing Plum Island is. It is a treasure. To have it sold and bulldozed into two championship golf courses, as one noted developer would have it, would be a national tragedy,” said Chris Cryder of Save the Sound. “This bill will provide a pathway to permanent conservation.”
Zeldin, who introduced the bill last April, says the bill’s next steps are to pass through the Senate and get signed into law by the president, something that he hopes will get done before 2017, which marks the end of Barack Obama’s presidency.
“None of us can stop fighting until this bill is signed into law in 2016,” Zeldin said. “This isn’t an effort we want to be starting over with in January.
“Plum Island is not for sale.”
