GOVERNOR, LEGISLATURE
STILL NEED TO AGREE ON KEY ENVIRONMENTAL SPENDING PROPOSAL OMITTED
FROM BUDGET
Adirondack Council Cites Current Development
Boom & Many Large Conservation Agreements as Evidence of
Immediate Need for Increased Funding
For more information:
John F. Sheehan, Communications Director
518-432-1770 (w)
518-441-1340 (cell)
Released, Thursday, March 31,
2005
ALBANY, NY - The Adirondack Park's
largest environmental organization today called on state lawmakers
and the Governor to reach an agreement on the Environmental Protection
Fund (EPF), a key component of the state's conservation efforts
that has been left out of the budget that the Legislature is
expected to pass this week.
"Lost in the din of the Legislature and Governor applauding
their accomplishments in passing an on-time budget is the fact
that they should receive only partial credit," said Adirondack
Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "The leaders
should not consider this a budget until all of the main components
have been settled, including the EPF's open space protection
funding and the Quality Communities planning funds.
"The last time a similar situation occurred was in 2001,"
said Houseal. "All parties agreed to increase the funding
then, just as this year. Because they never reached an agreement
on the details three years ago, projects went an entire year
without being funded. It would be tragic to let that happen again
this year."
The Quality Communities funding had been slated to use $5 million
of the EPF to provide planning assistance to villages and towns
without adequate zoning to protect their natural resources and
community character.
"The Adirondack Park's wildest and most remote private lands
are under siege from a subdivision and development boom that
is larger and more threatening than anything we saw in the 1980s
and 1990s," Houseal said. "The Park's shorelines and
backcountry are being carved up at an alarming rate and development
is moving upslope, where it is more visible and causes more polluted
runoff. New resorts, communications towers, and multi-million-dollar
single-family homes are red hot right now and property values
are shooting through the stratosphere."
That means Adirondack communities need planning assistance to
prevent local people from being priced out of the real estate
market, and to prevent the destruction of the natural features
of Adirondack communities that make them such attractive places
to live and visit, he said. The Park's primary economic engine
is tourism.
The Environmental Protection Fund is the main source of funding
for the state's conservation priorities, including open space
and farmland protection, solid waste programs and parks grants.
Since its creation in 1993, the EPF has provided a dedicated
source of revenue for worthwhile capital programs that would
otherwise have gone unfunded in hard fiscal times. It has been
funded at $125 million for the last several years. Leaders have
agreed to increase the level to $150 million for this and subsequent
years.
"All sides have nearly identical proposals," he said.
"They simply need to spend a few minutes together and hash
out the remaining issues so that the Governor can resubmit agreed-upon
language to the Legislature and get this resolved as quickly
as possible."
Because of a recent court ruling, the Legislature cannot amend
the Governor's budget proposals. Lawmakers must either accept
or reject what he sends to them. So far, the Legislature has
decided to wait for an EPF to which all parties have agreed.
"Just within the last year, the Governor has announced that
the state would preserve more than 350,000 acres in the Adirondack
Park," Houseal noted. "Without an EPF, those projects
will go unfunded and that is not acceptable."
Last April, Governor Pataki announced a conservation easement
over 260,000 acres owned by International Paper that had previously
been unprotected. In January, a separate announcement with the
Nature Conservancy will protect 104,000 acres once owned by Domtar,
a Canadian paper company.
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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