The
      Adirondack Council
 

      
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      Release

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John F. Sheehan, Adirondack Council
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Released, Tuesday, March 25, 2003

ALBANY -- The Adirondack Council today praised the Pataki Administration for following through on a promise to reduce the pollutants that cause acid rain and called upon the State Environmental Review Board to grant final approval to those regulations tomorrow (Wednesday, March 26).

"Governor Pataki is doing what Congress has failed to do," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "If this same level of cuts were applied nationally, acid rain damage would disappear across America. New York is setting an excellent example for the rest of the nation to follow."

Houseal, whose organization has been fighting acid rain since the mid-1970s, said the new regulations would require an additional 50 percent cut in sulfur dioxide beyond the current standard, which equals a 75 percent reduction from 1990 levels. It also requires a 70 percent cut in nitrogen oxides from current levels. It is modeled on the Acid Deposition Control Act authored by US Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1997. Moynihan's bill was the starting point for every acid rain proposal currently under consideration in Congress. It was sponsored last session by New York's two US Senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton.

"Acid rain is killing trees and fish by poisoning soil and water across the East Coast," Houseal said. "In the Adirondacks, more than 500 lakes and ponds have died, along with many of our high-elevation spruce and fir forests. The damage is now moving into low-elevation mixed hardwood forests and increasing in severity. The Adirondacks are not alone in this. Every mountainous area from Maine to Georgia is affected, as well as the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and several mountain ranges on the Pacific Coast. So far, the damage in the Adirondacks is the worst in the nation.

"The new regulations will bring deep cuts that will improve the air breathed by each and every New Yorker," Houseal said. "The reductions will provide substantial benefits for public health. Sulfur and nitrogen-based air pollution can cause and worsen lung diseases in anyone who breathes them. The closer you are to the smokestack, the worse the health consequences can be.

The pollution reductions will also slow the damage acid rain is doing to our historic buildings, monuments and other irreplaceable outdoor works of art, Houseal said.

"New York can't solve the nation's acid rain problem on our own," Houseal said. "More than 80 percent of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides hitting the ground in the Adirondacks are generated by plants outside of New York. That's why we need Congressional action and that's why we are so pleased that Governor Pataki is setting such an effective standard. It will show the nation that this level of cuts is both possible and affordable."

To make the program affordable, companies will be able to sell leftover pollution allowances to other New York power plants, providing a financial incentive to clean up beyond the requirements of the law. Such allowance trading was pioneered in New York in its landmark 1984 acid rain control law and has worked well to reduce pollution quickly when tougher standards are set.

Those companies that cut their pollution beyond the new standards will be able to sell allowances to companies that can't comply in time. However, Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin Crotty will retain the authority to halt or modify any pollution allowance trade/sale that would harm the environment of sensitive areas such as the Adirondacks and Catskills.

"Every sponsor of acid rain-related legislation in the country has included allowance trading in his or her bill," Houseal said.

State Environmental Review Board's approval is the final regulatory hurdle that must be cleared before the regulations can go into effect. The regulations were first proposed by Gov. George Pataki in October 1999. Intense lobbying by power companies slowed the approval process.

"It took courage for the Governor to propose these new regulations and fortitude to bring them to fruition," Houseal said. "We expect the power companies to complain about these regulations today, tomorrow and for a long time to come. But it was the right thing for the Governor to do. We are very pleased he did."

The Adirondack Council is an 18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the natural and human communities of the Adirondack Park through research, education, advocacy and legal action.

The Adirondack Council
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