The Final Step

As Southampton Town considers aggressive action on sand mines, with plans to use amortization — a tool last used effectively to rid the town of nightclubs and bars the town considered nuisances — to finally end the practice, it’s important to cut through the rhetoric and state some facts.

Sand mines serve a clear purpose and have economic value in a region where construction is a primary driver. But the town quite simply does not allow sand mining — that decision was made years ago, and what mines exist today are preexisting and nonconforming. Amortizing the properties is the last step, but many steps preceded.

Sand mine owner John Tintle has gone hard at the Town Board, connecting the dots with political contributions made by his Noyac neighbor, Robert Rubin, whose private golf course, The Bridge, looks out on the sand mine. He’s suggesting those donations bought this measure, and he’s got every right to complain about the town pushing hard on his businesses.

But this is not a new fight — Southampton Town has been wrestling with sand mines, and Tintle, for years. And his suggestion that there are no environmental concerns to justify the move simply doesn’t match the history.

The Group for the East End first called for an end to sand mining on the East End, because of the environmental damage and the threat to the groundwater supply, 40 years ago. The practice of mining is not necessarily polluting, but these are industrial operations with numerous tools and vehicles using caustic substances, all over gashes that increase the risk to groundwater. They also create holes, which become magnets for waste materials that should be farther above the sole-source aquifer, not down closer to it. That’s a bigger concern since the State Department of Environmental Conservation, for whatever reason, has taken a hands-off approach to regulating the sites.

But the bigger problem is the lack of reclamation, and the blemishes it creates for the topography. Once the mining ends, these sites cannot be left to become garbage dumps, holding pens for vegetative waste (Councilman Bill Pell’s suggestion to repurpose them in such a manner is shockingly uninformed) or storage yards for vehicles. They shouldn’t be eyesores, either. A 100-foot-deep pit with steep sides, filled with water? That’s not a “lake,” it’s a wet abyss.

Southampton Town’s proposal would focus on the existing mine sites and allow active mines to continue operating as long as their current permits allow — so this is hardly as devastating as it’s portrayed. It does, however, walk away from the seemingly endless game of chicken — of court cases and decisions ignored, and DEC apathy. The town took on the right to regulate mines many years back, and this is the final step.

Horror stories about soaring costs seem like scare tactics: Yes, there will be an impact when there is less sand available locally, and some building costs could be affected. But the stakes here include the entire region’s water supply, underground. What’s that worth?

Sand mines might not be the most significant cause of pollution, but the failed attempts to rein in the practice justify a more pugnacious approach. There are still many questions about how sand mine properties should be dealt with. But amortizing them eventually will end a practice that no longer seems the wisest nor best use of the environmentally sensitive lands that surround us.