ADIRONDACK LAKES SURVEY
CORPORATION IS ADIRONDACK COUNCIL'S
2006 CONSERVATIONIST OF THE YEAR
Congressman Sherwood Boehlert honored for fight against acid
rain
during House tenure
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released: Thursday, July 06, 2006
RAQUETTE LAKE, N.Y. - The Adirondack
Council, one of New York's largest and most influential environmental
organizations, today announced it would name the Adirondack Lakes
Survey Corporation as its 2006 Conservationist of the Year at
the Council's annual Forever Wild Dinner at Great Camp Sagamore
on July 8.
At the same dinner, the Council will honor Congressman Sherwood
Boehlert on the eve of his retirement from the US House of Representatives,
for his work to fight pollution causing acid rain while he was
Chair of the House Science Committee.
"The Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation (ALSC) has been
vigilant in monitoring and documenting the effects of pollution
on the waterways of the Adirondack Park for twenty years,"
said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal.
"Due to their data, the Adirondacks have been the poster-child
in calling for stronger state and federal laws and regulations
to limit emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which
cause acid rain, and mercury.
"The expertise of the staff at the ALSC is unparalleled,
and their commitment to science not motivated by politics has
been crucial to ensuring that their findings are accurate and
unarguable," Houseal explained. "Data from ALSC research
has become the foundation of some of the most important state
and federal laws and regulations. The Park's recovery from acid
rain damage is possible now, in large part due to the new understanding
we have of our aquatic ecosystems as well as the level of contamination
they have encountered."
The ALSC will receive a specially commissioned, museum-quality,
hand-carved loon in recognition of its accomplishment.
Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, who will retire at the end of
his term this year, has been a staunch advocate for stronger
federal regulation of pollution causing acid rain, mercury emissions,
and greenhouses gases including carbon dioxide. He served as
Chairman of the House Science Committee, where he held a hearing
on acid rain pollution as part of a conference on the subject
co-sponsored by the Adirondack Council in Washington, D.C. in
2001.
"Congressman Boehlert has been a champion for the Adirondack
Park throughout his career in the House of Representatives. He
has never backed down in the face of pressure from industry,
and has not acquiesced to the demands of the current Administration
to ignore serious environmental and public health problems created
by the combustion of fossil fuels from electric generation units
or automobiles.
"Some of the most important bills aimed at reducing power
plant emissions and protecting water quality have been sponsored
by Sherwood Boehlert," Houseal said. "The Adirondack
Park is forever indebted to him for his honorable service and
his unwavering values."
The ALSC is the 22nd annual winner of the Council's Conservationist
of the Year Award. Other Conservationist of the Year winners
include: Gov. George E. Pataki, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, New York
Times Editor John Oakes, NYS Senator Carl Marcellino, NYS Assemblyman
Richard Brodsky, NYS DEC Commissioners John P. Cahill and Erin
Crotty, Adirondack Park Agency Executive Director Robert Glennon,
and Adirondack activists Clarence Petty and Peter Borrelli, the
late Paul Schaefer, and the late State Senator and Public Service
Commission Chairman Harold Jerry.
Founded in 1975, the Adirondack Council is a privately funded
not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the ecological
integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. With members
in all 50 United States, the Council carries out its mission
through research, advocacy, public education and legal action.
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