ADIRONDACK COUNCIL
PRAISES GOVERNOR, LEGISLATURE FOR REACHING AGREEMENT ON LARGER
ENVIRONMENTAL FUND
Council Also Praises Pataki for Protecting Research Programs
with Budget Veto
For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Communications Director
518-432-1770 (w)
518-441-1340 (cell)
Released, Wednesday, April 13,
2005
ALBANY, NY - The Adirondack Park's
largest environmental advocacy organization today praised the
NYS Legislature and Gov. George Pataki for coming to agreement
on - and increasing the size of - the Environmental Protection
Fund.
The Adirondack Council also praised Governor Pataki for vetoing
a portion of a budget bill that would have placed a key source
of reliable acid rain research funding in jeopardy.
"We don't mind waiting a couple of extra weeks when the
result of the negotiations is this good," said Adirondack
Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "We are pleased
that they took their time and worked out an excellent agreement.
The fund will grow from $125 million to $150 million over the
next 12 months and remain at the higher level in future years.
That allows a substantial increase in the state's open space
protection account, from just above $30 million to $40 million
annually.
"Just as important is the $3 million added for providing
professional planning assistance to small towns in the Adirondacks,
the Catskills and other rural areas that are being overwhelmed
by new development proposals and threatened by tax-inflating
sprawl," Houseal added. "Our towns are changing too
rapidly for local governments to keep up. They need this help
right away."
Houseal said the additional open space funding was needed for
major projects that had been announced, but were not yet completed.
In the Adirondack Park alone, they include a 260,000-acre conservation
agreement with International Paper in 34 Adirondack towns; a
similar agreement and purchase from Domtar Industries, which
owned 105,000 acres in Franklin and Clinton counties; and, the
Tahawus Tract purchase and conservation agreement covering 10,000
acres in Newcomb, on the southern edge of the High Peaks Wilderness.
In those cases, non-profits such as the Conservation Fund of
Virginia, the Adirondack Nature Conservancy and the Open Space
Institute (Manhattan) provided the up-front money to make the
purchase agreements, and have been awaiting reimbursement. Reimbursement
would make it possible for those groups to move on to the state's
next acquisition priorities.
Houseal added that many Adirondack towns are also need EPF money
for drinking water filtration and sewage treatment.
Veto Praised
Houseal added that the Adirondack
Council was pleased that Governor Pataki had vetoed legislation
that would have imperiled the most important source of acid rain
research funding to which the state has access.
"Somehow, the Legislature was under the mistaken impression
that the annual budget of the NYS Energy Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA) was too insulated from public input,"
Houseal said. "They sought to make its budget part of the
annual statewide budget negotiations. But NYSERDA is overseen
both by state-appointed officials and a citizens advisory panel.
NYSERDA looks five years ahead in deciding which programs it
will fund. The long-term monitoring of lake chemistry in the
Adirondacks and Catskills is dependent upon NYSERDA grants. We
are all for increased state oversight of public authority spending,
but making this program subject to the annual struggle over the
entire budget places it effectiveness at pointless risk."
Some of the studies have been conducted continuously for 25 years
or more. If wrangling over the state budget caused an interruption
of just a few months, some of the programs would be ruined, he
explained. Houseal said the Council will urge the Legislature
not to override the Governor's veto.
Other Details
- All non-capital project spending
plans within the EPF first proposed by Governor Pataki were dropped
by the Legislature, as requested by environmental organizations.
- Starting in 2006, an additional
$25 million will be collected each year from the Real Estate
Transfer Tax to cover the cost of increasing the total EPF from
$125 million a year to $150 million. A coalition of environmental
organizations that includes the Adirondack Council has urged
the Legislature appropriate $250 million for all state environmental
needs.
- Sen. Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury,
led the effort to approve for $1 million in new spending on a
program to remove and prevent invasive species infestations (part
of the April 1 budget deal).
- An appropriation of $3.3 million
was included in the overall April 1 budget agreement to reimburse
Adirondack and Catskill taxpayers in towns where more than one
percent of the annual property tax levy was forgiven by the state
through tax abatements to timber companies and other large landowners.
"All things considered,
it was an outstanding budget year for the Adirondack Park,"
Houseal said.
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.
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