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For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Communications Director
518-432-1770 (w)
518-441-1340 (cell)

Released, Tuesday, July 27, 2004

CROWN POI NT, N.Y. - One of New York's largest and most influential environmental organizations today called on the Canadian Pacific Rail Road to drop its federal lawsuit against the Adirondack Park Agency and cooperate with state regulators who want to limit the visual blight caused by four 150-foot-tall communications towers the company started building without a permit.

"Governor George Pataki and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer must come to the aid of the Adirondack Park Agency in this fight," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "If CP Rail wins this lawsuit against the APA, and makes it legal for rail road companies to place communications towers anywhere on their lines - without any public input or government oversight - the visual beauty of the Adirondack Park will be spoiled.

"New Yorkers have worked for 112 years to protect the Adirondack landscape from uncontrolled development," Houseal said. "That's a heritage of conservation we can all be proud of. CP's actions threaten to drive a steel spike through the heart of our Park and our heritage.

"This loophole must be closed or it will also be used as a back-door way to allow cell phone companies to place their equipment in locations they would never get permission from the Adirondack Park Agency to use," Houseal explained. "The APA's policy is to require co-location of new communications equipment whenever possible. If CP has the authority to place a tower anywhere, what's to stop them from working with Nextel, Verizon or anyone else, based purely on which locations are most profitable.

"There are literally hundreds of miles of rail roads and rail road rights-of-way in the Adirondack Park," Houseal said. "Rail lines cross 11 of the 12 Adirondack counties, all but Lewis County in the extreme western end of the Park. Several run through or between

View Map of Railroad Rights-of-way

Wilderness Areas, where state law bans permanent structures. Many border historic sites from the French & Indian War, the American Revolution and the War of 1812. All run through communities with tourism-based economies that depend on the uniquely unspoiled landscapes that surround them.

"Frankly, we thought Canadians were better neighbors than this," said Houseal. "The four towers CP wants to build and operate are all the same height as the Statue of Liberty. But they are much less attractive. Instead of being constant reminders of beauty and freedom, these would be constant reminders of shortsightedness and corporate greed."

In early July, CP Rail started building tower support structures at Whallonsburg and Port Kent, without seeking input from the public and without a permit from the Adirondack Park Agency. After receiving complaints from adjoining landowners and The Adirondack Council, the Adirondack Park Agency's enforcement team attempted to stop the construction by sending a letter to the company's headquarters. When rail workers started building the towers anyway, neighbors again complained and the APA issued a Cease & Desist Order. After receiving the order, CP Rail filed a federal lawsuit against the APA in US District Court in Albany. The tower at Whallonsburg was erected in less than five hours.

The four sites chosen by CP Rail for new towers include:

1. Dresden: Located in Washington County, on the south end of Lake Champlain, between scenic Route 22 and Lake Champlain's shoreline.
2. Crown Point: Located in Essex County, just north of Ticonderoga, between Route 22 and the lakeshore. Crown Point National Historic site holds the ruins of both French and British forts, an historic lighthouse dedicated to Samuel de Champlain, a state campground and at least one Native American shoreline encampment dating back centuries. The bridge from Vermont is a primary tourism gateway into the Park.
3. Whallonsburg: Located in Essex County, on the ridge above the historic Village of Essex, which hosts a popular ferry crossing to Charlotte, Vt. The tower here is already constructed and is visible from Route 22, a federally designated Scenic Byway.
4. Port Kent: Located on a peninsula in Clinton County, near the ferry dock from Burlington, Vt. It is just south of Valcour Island, the site where Benedict Arnold stopped a British naval invasion from Canada during the early part of the American Revolution. It is adjacent to two state-owned wildlife management areas and Ausable Point Campground.

"Perhaps the strangest thing about CP Rail's actions in this case is that the Delaware & Hudson Rail Road whose lines CP Rail purchased, in 1992 applied for and received a permit from the APA to build a fiber-optic cable along the length of its right-of-way," Houseal said. "That was a project with no visual impact whatsoever. It is also begs an important question. Why would you want to rely on a radio when you have the fastest, highest-capacity communications cable in the world on your land?"

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.