Cuomo Wants Plum Island Secrets Revealed

With the Federal Government poised close and sell the 59-year-old Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, on Monday, called on officials to reveal its secrets about groundwater contamination on the island.

Cuomo, who threatened legal action, made the demand, according Newsday at a press conference at Orient Beach State Park where he also stated that the "federal government needs to allow the state to have final sign-off before selling the land."

Cuomo is not the first official to publicly question a sale of the island, which is the result of a 2008 decision to move the disease center to Kansas in 2021.

Late last month, Congressmen Tim Bishop and Joe Courtney, along with Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, urged the Obama administration use executive action to put the brakes on the proposed public sale of Plum Island.

The island, if sold, the officials said would have to be done so through a public auction process — and the officials believe a public sale would yield significantly less money because of new zoning that was enacted on the island by the Town of Southold.

That zoning legislation, which was approved in August, calls for a 125-acre Plum Island research district, which would comprise 20 percent of the island, and a 350-acre Plum Island conservation district, that would make up the remaining 80 percent, which would be a natural preserve.

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Related Reading:

• Politicians Urge President To Stop Sale of Plum Island
• New Plum Island Zoning Unanimously Approved