Remember when it was reported that the Town Board authorized a state Supreme Court action against the owners of Crown Sanitation on Youngs Avenue, which the town said may have been illegally mining sand on its site?
At the time, Supervisor Phil Cardinale said, “The exportation of any product needs a permit before you can take anything off the property and that permit must come from the Town Board… They shouldn’t be moving soil off the property, and we believe they are.”
The general feeling at that time was of disbelief. Disbelief because there had already been rumors circulating that the Town was conducting its very own illegal sand mining operation over at the Town property on Manor Lane. Why was it okay for the town to break the law? Remember all that?
Well sit down. They are no longer rumors.
Riverhead Town Councilmen John Dunleavy discovered information and believes an elected official has potentially broken the law. He can not state with certainty that the law was broken or was done so intentionally, but he believes it should be further investigated.
Several months ago when these town sand mining rumors were running rampant, Mr. Dunleavy was the Highway Department liaison. After learning of these rumors, Mr. Dunleavy decided to conduct his own investigation. So he asked Councilwoman Barbara Blass to take a ride with him out to the Town property on Manor Lane, so the two of them could take a look and see what was going on.
While there, the two of them observed an obvious sand mining operation. The portion of property that was suspect was located behind a sump, in a run off area for farmland. New sand mining was obviously going on there because the area had grown in size and depth. In fact the depth of the mining was so low; it had reached ground water.
After discovering all this, Mr. Dunleavy and Ms. Blass returned to Supervisor Cardinale and reported their findings. Following that, Mr. Dunleavy asked George Woodson, the Riverhead Highway Superintendent, to look into whether or not the Town had a permit to mine sand at that location. Mr. Dunleavy still has never received an answer.
A few weeks after this, Mr Cardinale removed Mr. Dunleavy from his position as Highway Department liaison. Hmmmmm.
Recently, after speaking to someone from the DEC, Mr. Dunleavy learned that they had received at least one complaint from a private citizen and were starting an investigation which he was led to believe would not be completed until AFTER the coming Town elections.
Overall, Mr. Dunleavy believes some environmental laws may have been broken and would like to know if it was done so intentionally.
Councilmen John Dunleavy should be admired and praised for his integrity. He should be thanked by all the taxpayers of Riverhead for bringing this possible illegality to light by pursuing the truth. Mr. Dunleavy is a hero.
It is important to note, that whenever this investigation is completed, the Town of Riverhead could be liable for millions of dollars worth of fines if the NYS DEC determines that the sand mining was done unlawfully. All this because either Mr. Cardinale the Town Supervisor, or Mr. Woodson the Highway Superintendent, or both, broke the law.
Some might say, well it wasn’t intentional. But how many sand trucks were seen going in and out of there? Too many to count. And shouldn’t Mr. Cardinale and Mr. Woodson have known that they needed a DEC permit? Well let’s see, Cardinale has been Supervisor for the last six years, and didn’t Woodson spend a career in the highway department before getting elected to Highway Superintendent? A reasonable mind would believe they both should have known better.
But this is all much more then another sand story.
Much more then a Town Supervisor with aspirations of becoming a judge; who is arbitrarily enforcing sand mining laws all while knowingly breaking New York State Environmental Law.
Much more then a career Highway Department employee turned Hwy Superintendent giving the order to bulldoze sand without a permit, all while watching the excavation vehicles two feet deep in ground water.
Much more then the mystery of where the sand actually went. Was the sand used for highway department operations? Was it sold? Where did the proceeds go? Where are the records of this? Did anyone personally profit from this? Will we ever know?
This story is about arrogance.
The arrogance of Supervisor Cardinale thinking that he’s above the law. The arrogance of Supervisor Cardinale’s administration. The arrogance of a Teflon Supervisor that doesn’t have to worry about the results of this DEC investigation until AFTER the election.
What the taxpayers are saying is this. “The mining of any sand needs a permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Where is that permit? We need to see it BEFORE the election.”
SEE PHOTOS BELOW!
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- An environmental disaster?
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- An environmental crime
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- Where did the proceeds go?
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- Where’s the permit?
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- How big will the fines be?
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- Where’s the permit?
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- Certainly looks like sand mining
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- So deep they hit groundwater!
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