Reps. Courtney and LaLota Announce Re-Launch of the Bipartisan Long Island Sound Caucus

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Nick LaLota (R-NY) announced the re-launch of the bipartisan Long Island Sound Caucus for the 118^th Congress. The Long Island Sound Caucus was established to enhance collaboration between Members of Congress focused on building support for and advancing issues important to the health, economic activity, and preservation of the Long Island Sound. Reps. Courtney and LaLota will serve together as Co-Chairs for the Caucus in 2023 and 2024.

“No one asks who you vote for when you’re out hiking the trails or fishing the streams of eastern Connecticut, and that’s because protecting our region’s natural heritage is an issue that transcends politics,” said Congressman Courtney. “Protecting eastern Connecticut’s environment and natural beauty is something I’m glad we’ve always found bipartisan support for. Congressman LaLota is a U.S. Navy veteran who I have been glad to serve with this year as a fellow member of the House Armed Services Committee, and I’m excited to combine our efforts to promote and protect the Long Island Sound—a natural treasure that our two districts share. We’re coming off the heels of some major wins last year for the Long Island Sound and for environmental preservation in our region at-large, and I’m ready to work together with Rep. LaLota and the rest of our bipartisan caucus to protect our natural heritage in eastern Connecticut and on the Long Island Sound.”

“I am proud to partner with my colleague from across the Sound, Congressman Courtney, to lead the bipartisan Long Island Sound Caucus. Much has been accomplished before me, and yet much is left to be done. Protecting the Sound is not a partisan issue, it is an issue important to all Long Islanders,” said Congressman LaLota. “The Sound is a vital part of Suffolk County’s economy and unique culture. I was proud to have an amendment unanimously pass the House this year to protect Long Island’s waters from offshore drilling. As co-chair of this caucus, I will continue that work to protect the Sound’s water, fishing, and accessibility for generations to enjoy.”

Congressman Courtney has worked to conserve and protect waterways and natural heritage areas in eastern Connecticut and the region throughout his career. In 2007, the House voted to pass Courtney’s legislation to secure Wild and Scenic protections for Eightmile River, which is an integral part of the Long Island Sound Watershed. It was the first bill he introduced upon being elected to Congress.

More recently, Courtney has helped secure new protections and federal funding to help conserve eastern Connecticut’s natural heritage for generations to come. For example, in the 2023 federal budget passed in December 2022, Courtney voted to secure $40 million for the Long Island Sound Geographic Program—an increase of $8 million over the previous year’s funding levels.

In 2019, President Donald Trump signed into law a public lands package that included the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Wild and Scenic River Act—a bill Courtney helped introduce that designates several waterways within the 300-square mile watershed as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Courtney’s bill officially made the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed eligible for federal funding through the National Park Service’s (NPS) Wild and Scenic Rivers Program to carry out preservation, conservation, and environmental stewardship activities. The 2023 federal budget also included $5.3 million for NPS’s Wild and Scenic Rivers Program.

Rep. Courtney has also been a leader in the effort to save Plum Island. For over a decade, Courtney has worked with the Connecticut and New York delegations to preserve Plum Island as a natural sanctuary. In 2019, he led the introduction of the Plum Island Preservation Act—a bill to repeal the law mandating the sale of Plum Island and to require any further use of the island be for conservation, education, and research purposes. In 2020, language from Courtney’s bill was included in the final Omnibus Spending Package for FY 2021 and signed into law, and the language mandating the sale of Plum Island was officially repealed.

Courtney has also found bipartisan success in efforts to save the Last Green Valley—a piece of Connecticut’s natural heritage that represents the last stretch of dark night sky in the coastal sprawl between Boston and Washington, DC.  Without action from Congress to reauthorize it as a federally recognized National Heritage Area, the Last Green Valley had previously been faced with the prospect of losing federal support through the NPS this year in 2023.

Courtney had previously led a coalition of New England representatives in introducing legislation to save the Last Green Valley through a 15-year reauthorization, and this year his effort was signed into law as part of the National Heritage Act (S. 1942). Passage of the bill ensured that The Last Green Valley officially will officially retain federal support for the next fifteen years. Click here to read more.

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