The Adirondack Council

News Release

For more information:
John F. Sheehan
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Released, Thursday, October 30, 2003

ALBANY, NY - The Adirondack Council today launched a major advertising campaign aimed at persuading Congress to take action -- this year -- to stop acid rain.

The theme of the campaign is simple: Don't Come Home Empty-Handed!

"Acid rain is still the most pressing and dangerous threat to the health of the Adirondack Park," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "Congress has been talking about acid rain quite a bit lately. But it has been 13 long years since Congress has done anything to stop it, or even slow it down.

"If that doesn't change soon, we can kiss the largest park in the Continental United States good-bye," he explained. "The 9,000-square-mile Adirondack Park will have millions and millions of acres of dead and dying trees, dotted with empty, silent lakes. Our tourism-based economy will be a shambles. That's why we are making a big push to persuade Congress to take action this year. The longer we wait to stop the damage, the longer it will take for the Adirondacks, and the rest of the eastern United States, to recover.

"We don't want clean air debate to fizzle or drag into the 2004 Presidential campaign, where it can too easily be eclipsed by campaign politics," Houseal said. "It may be 2005, or later, before we get the same chance again."

The first in a series of newspaper ads will run today on a full page in Roll Call, a Washington, DC-based newspaper read by Congress and Congressional staff. The campaign will continue through the end of the Congressional session, unless Congress passes acid rain legislation first.

Click to View Ad

The Council has run full-page ads on acid rain in both Roll Call and the New York Times in the past couple of years. In addition, the Council sent more than 500 copies of radio public service announcements on acid rain to stations throughout the Northeast over the summer. They feature singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant.

Singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt has also recorded acid rain announcements for the Council.(Raitt worked with the Council from 1992 -1994.) The Council also underwrote public radio programming this year in 10 states and parts of southern Canada.

Houseal said he was pleased to see the impression that the Council's work had already made on Congress. All of the clean air bills currently under consideration by Congress require deep enough cuts to stop acid rain damage around the country, even if they differ in other ways, he said.

"Just a couple of years ago, power company spokesmen were calling us radicals for wanting to see cuts of 50 to 70 percent in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from their plants," he explained. "Now ours is the consensus position. Everyone's bills are at least as good as they need to be to stop acid rain. But if everyone agrees, why hasn't it happened yet? It's time for Congress to stop bickering and pass an acid rain bill."

The Adirondack Council's mission is to ensure the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. Founded in 1975, the Council is a privately funded not-for-profit organization with 18,000 members. The Council carries out its missions through research, education, advocacy and legal action.