True As Far As It Goes...

From today's Connecticut Post:

... seven years after the state launched its Nitrogen Credit Exchange program, there is no clear indication hypoxia in the Sound is declining. The hypoxic area spiked in 2003, and from 2004 to 2008 has fluctuated slightly below the 20-year average, dropping in some years and rising in others, according to a state report.

And yet there are still five years to go until the 2014 deadline for reaching the nitrogen reduction goal (plus three years beyond that for New York City to reach the extended deadline it was put on). So while it's true there's no clear indication that conditions are improving, it's a bit unfair to expect that there would be.

Add to that the reality that New York City, by far the biggest contributor of nitrogen to Long Island Sound, has yet to finish its sewage upgrades (and that nitrogen from the city actually increases for part of the duration of its construction work) and that Westchester County is still getting its work underway and it makes worries about failure a bit premature, in my opinion.