At a 2025 Environmental Roundtable hosted by State Senator Anthony Palumbo in Riverhead last Thursday, where elected officials from across the East End met with environmental interest groups, East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers used her time to speak about one of the town’s biggest environmental issues, coastal resilience, and the fear that some projects may no longer get the federal funding that small municipalities rely on.
She pointed to Ditch Plain in Montauk, where the town is planning a dune restoration project that it hopes will protect the neighborhood in the event of future major storms. “We’re building the dune to be FEMA-compliant,” she said, “so that we can be eligible for some kind of federal funding to help us. Well, without FEMA what’s the point?”
This sentiment was echoed by Kay Tyler, executive director of Concerned Citizens of Montauk who was also present at the roundtable, held at the Suffolk County Community College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Center. She was specifically concerned about the federal Army Corps of Engineers’ Fire Island to Montauk Point project, which allowed for a major replenishment of Montauk’s downtown beach last year, and whether the long-term funding to maintain it is secure. “Are we committed to this 30-year project of putting sand on our big beaches from Fire Island to Montauk?” she asked. “Where are we with that, or do we have any assurances that this is going to continue? Because this is something that we need to explain to our children. And I don’t know what the answer is right now.”
Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni responded that funding should continue as long as the project is done “within the Army Corps of Engineers specifications.”
But those questions were perhaps better answered by federal officials. While Representative Nick LaLota was not present, he did send his district coordinator, Francis Martin, on his behalf, to the forum hosted by state legislators. Mr. Martin could not give direct insight into federal funding questions, but advised the roundtable attendees to contact Mr. LaLota’s office in the event that they notice any federal funds are frozen.
“I was thinking that maybe we could join together with other municipalities and send some information up to Congressman LaLota on how important FEMA is for our recovery efforts, and for funding for the Ditch Plain dune that we’re in the process of going through permitting for,” Ms. Rogers told her colleagues as she recapped the event at an East Hampton Town Board meeting on Tuesday.
Last Thursday’s roundtable, which Mr. Palumbo hosted alongside Assemblyman Schiavoni and Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, tackled topics including new housing construction across Long Island, and how to cleanly dispose of the debris after, light pollution and its effect on the environment, and upgrading the South Fork Commuter Connection train line.
Among those also in attendance were County Executive Ed Romaine, Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski, County Legislators Catherine Stark, Anthony Piccirillo, Dominick Thorne, Steve Englebright, and Ann Welker, and Southold Town Councilmen Greg Doroski and Brian Mealy. There were representatives from such organizations as the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, Peconic Land Trust, the Long Island Farm Bureau, the Nature Conservancy, NY Sea Grant, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, Eastern Long Island Surfrider Foundation, Stony Brook University, Save the Sound, the Peconic Estuary Partnership, and the East Hampton chapter of the International Dark Sky Society.
Mr. Palumbo took time to highlight some recent environmental wins including an increase of $31 million in the state budget to go toward capital projects and bond funds, bringing the new total up to $2.6 billion, and that the state’s Environmental Protection Fund is being raised to $400 million.
For more than two hours the officials and advocates discussed their environmental goals and needs.
Adrienne Esposito of Citizens Campaign for the Environment brought up a bill currently in the State Senate that would ban the intentional use of toxic “forever chemicals” in a number of household products, noting that as of last week the Senate had removed cookware from the list of banned items. The chemicals, including perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly called PFAS, have been found to be hazardous to humans and wildlife. “We want to urge you to please leave it [cookware] in the bill,” Ms. Esposito said. “Nowhere in New York State are people waking up and saying, ‘My god I hope there is still PFAS in my frying pan. . . .”
Additionally Mr. Schiavoni had the Peconic Estuary on his mind at the event, noting the importance of a top-down approach to issues that affect multiple parts of the East End. “I think conversations like this are imperative,” Mr. Schiavoni said, “and it’s going to certainly take input from all levels of government and all of the towns to preserve and restore, in some aspects, the estuary.”
Elected officials spoke about their commitment to preserving the East End, and some expressed frustration at the perceived inaction by the New York State government on some of the issues. County Executive Romaine noted that while he had supported the Environmental Bond Act in 2022, which made $4.2 billion available for environmental and community projects, he hadn’t “seen any money from it.”
The forum continued an annual tradition started by former Senator Ken Lavalle and former Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. that gave environmental groups a chance to raise issues of concern with the people who have the power to solve them.
“I just wanted to give a shout-out to them,” Senator Plaumbo said at the outset, “because those two gentlemen did really amazing things for our communities for many, many years.”
“This is very important to us as legislators and it’s very important to hear your voice,” he added later.
With Reporting by Christopher Gangemi
