HARTFORD, CT - Senator Tony Hwang (R-Fairfield), one of the founding advocates of the Long Island Sound Blue Plan (LIS), reflected and lauded the State Senate passage of HJR 53 which legislatively recognized and accepted the finalized plan.
The LIS provides an inventory of the natural resources and uses of Connecticut's Long Island Sound and establishes a spatial plan to guide future use of the Sound's waters and submerged lands. The purpose of the LIS is to facilitate a transparent, science-based decision-making process for the preservation of Sound's ecosystems and resources and the protection of traditional uses, while maximizing their compatibility and minimizing conflicts between them now and in the future.
Senator Hwang offered the following statement of support:
“The LIS has been a long time coming. I want to applaud the efforts by the early advocates, especially former public servants Lonnie Reed and Ted Kennedy, Jr. As the CT DEEP website notes, this is a constantly evolving process, not a plan and I am proud to be part of this process from its very beginning.
“The LIS is about protecting the Sound in the face of climate change and recreational and economic demands. This formalizes a reference to emphasize proper protection and balancing existing human uses, economic activity and the sustainability of marine life and their habitats.
“The LIS provides a catalog of newly accessible information about the Sound. Never has this extent and depth of information and research been gathered together, integrated and mapped, providing a new, in-depth and usable picture for all of LIS, both Connecticut and New York.
“I am also proud to say that this has been a bipartisan, transparent, collaborative process with extensive stakeholder and public input from the start and remained so throughout. The plan provides an assessment and understanding of LIS that we’ve never had before and is favorable to both the economy and the environment. It will enable better decisions and protection for what we need and love about the Sound in a dynamically changing world,” said Sen. Hwang.
Nathan Frohling, Director of External Affairs, The Nature Conservancy said it best, “This is a dream come true for our beloved Long Island Sound. It is testimony to what we can do when we work together for the common good of people and nature. I’m proud of the CT General Assembly who have joined in the best of bi-partisan action to complete this important and final step in a process that began nearly a decade ago. Bravo!”