Despite a sea of public opposition, dumping of dredge spoils is slated to continue in the Long Island Sound for decades — and the news has environmentalists and elected officials outraged.

The United States Army Corp of Engineers has released its highly controversial Dredge Material Management Plan, which sparked heated opposition locally, opening the door for continued dumping at four sites in the Long Island Sound that were initially slated to close in 2016. The newly released final plan calls for the renewed designation of the four sites in the Sound for open water waste disposal of dredge spoils — according to the plan, dredged materials will continue to discarded at the disposal sites for 30 years.

Adrienne Esposito of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment reminded that environmentalists led a bi-state campaign in New York and Connecticut against the plan 10 years ago, when it was eventually denied by New York State. New York State will need to challenge the plan once again, if it is to be stopped, she said. "The Army Corps simply ignored the overwhelming public comment to protect Long Island Sound and chose to advance the cheap, easy option of open water disposal instead. They plan to treat Long Island Sound as a landfill and it's deeply disturbing," Esposito said.

In August, Esposito and other environmentalists came before the Southold Town board, to raise their voices and ask for support. In 2004, the DMMP was mandated from New York, Connecticut, and the Environmental Protection Agency, Esposito said, with the aim of phasing out open water dumping in the Sound and providing guidance and tools to create a vibrant re-use program for the dredge spoils.

"Instead, this document is a long-term plan to continue using our Long Island Sound as a dumpster," she said. "The DMMP does not fulfill the mandate set forth in the agreement signed in 2004. The Army Corps' rationale that it's too expensive to protect the Long Island Sound is simply egregious. . . The Corps has clearly treated the public input process as a charade."

According to a release issued by the United States Army Corp of Engineers, the final Dredged Material Management Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement were issued with options given for federal dredging projects in the Long Island Sound region.

Options were also given for non-federal dredging proponents — with potential collective federal, state, local and private dredging activities totaling approximately 53 million cubic yards over a 30-year period, the document states. Sandy materials dredged in and around the Sound are already beneficially used for beach nourishment purposes under federal and state partnerships, and that practice is expected to grow in the future, the ACOE release states.