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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill this week that would have given local governments more control to regulate sand mines in their jurisdiction. The bill would have given local governments the ability to prohibit mining when groundwater contamination caused by the site was documented.
The legislation was pushed by towns and villages in eastern Long Island. More than half of the 23 active-permitted mines on Long Island are in the towns of Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton and East Hampton.
The bill was lobbied against by the region’s construction industry. The governor said the legislation, as is, was “expansive” and “ill-defined.”