EPA scientist Nicole Tachiki lauded as new head of Long Island Sound Partnership

A life scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency is the new leader of an interagency program created to improve the health of Long Island Sound.

Nicole Tachiki, named acting director of the EPA's Long Island Sound office in 2025, is now in charge of Long Island Sound Partnership, which began in 1985 as the Long Island Sound Study — an EPA-run effort in collaboration with New York and Connecticut aimed at cleaning up the Sound.

"This was important and it was personal," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at an event Thursday in Port Jefferson to officially announce Tachiki's appointment to the position last month.

Zeldin, a former Republican member of the House representing parts of eastern Long Island, said of the role: "We needed to make sure we got the right person to do this."

He said Tachiki, of New York City, brings extensive experience in Long Island Sound planning, stakeholder engagement and EPA program management. Along with running the EPA Long Island Sound office, following the retirement of longtime director Mark Tedesco  in April 2025, Tachiki also served as acting supervisor of an agency drinking water and groundwater protection staff in 2024, he said.

The Long Island Sound Partnership   was one of the first EPA National Estuary Programs. The Long Island Sound is one of three major estuary systems on the Island.  

  "I'm grateful to work with partners who are committed to growing this program together and having some fun along the way," Tachiki said. "With nearly nine million people touched by Long Island Sound, it's essential that we take the steps necessary to protect its waters, its wildlife and its role in the lives of surrounding communities."

She is in charge of an agency that distributes grants to organizations for a range of initiatives, including research, habitat restoration, water-quality improvements, public education and pollution reduction. In 2025, the agency received $62.8 million in federal and state funding, according to its website, and updates its management plan roughly every decade to set goals for improving the health of the waterbody.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the nonprofit is "thrilled" Tachiki was selected after working with her over the past seven years.

"I think she's the right woman for this job," Esposito said at the Port Jefferson event, which included a roundtable discussion that included Zeldin and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville).

"Leadership matters," Esposito told Newsday, "and it's a complicated issue. It's managing a $40 million budget, working with diverse stakeholders ... and bringing it all together for success."

"Long Island Sound is one of the great success stories for environmental restoration in America, and the leadership for that success story is critically important," she added.

LaLota, co-chair of the House's Long Island Sound Caucus, said Tachiki "is fully engaged in this community" and "has the confidence of everybody who is for this cause."