The Adirondack Council

News Release

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John F. Sheehan
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Released, Monday, September 15, 2003

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Adirondack Council has accepted an invitation to join President George W. Bush in the White House East Garden at 2 p.m. on Tuesday (9/16) to call on Congress to approve legislation that would curb acid rain nationwide.

"It's an honor to be called to the White House to draw attention to this critical environmental issue," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "The six-million-acre Adirondack Park is suffering from the worst acid rain damage in the United States. More than 500 of our lakes and ponds are too acidic to support their native life. Acid rain is killing our trees at an alarming rate and mercury has poisoned the fish.

"It's time to stop this menace," Houseal said. "We need Congress to pass effective legislation and not come home empty-handed."

Houseal said the East Garden gathering is the just the kind of event we need to capture the nation's attention on acid rain. The Council has been working toward that goal since the late 1970s, when acid rain was first discovered in the Adirondacks.

"In his visit to the Adirondacks last Earth Day and in his State of the Union address in January, the President made it clear that he wanted to help put an end to acid rain," Houseal said. The chairmen of key Senate and House committees have submitted legislation in response to the President's request and have begun holding hearings on the bills. Four other major proposals have been introduced by other members of Congress.

"The President is taking it upon himself to remind Congress that the bills must pass this year, or they may be delayed until 2005 or later as the nation focuses its attention on the Presidential campaign," Houseal said. "Meanwhile, the Adirondacks will only get worse. That would be tragic."

The East Garden event will precede, by a few hours, a reception and silent auction the Council is holding in Washington, D.C. at the historic family home of one of the Council's former trustees. Gary Heurich (HI-rick) is the grandson of Christian Heurich, who started the Olde Heurich Brewing Company on the site of what is now Kennedy Center, on the Potomac River.

A sale of some lands and conservation easements on the family estate in the Adirondacks helped to finance the re-establishment of the Olde Heurich brewery, makers of Foggy Bottom ale and beer (available in the Washington, DC area and the Adirondacks). That 1992 land deal resulted in the permanent protection of the largest undeveloped shoreline parcel on Lake Champlain (more than a mile), as well as 2,700 acres of habitat for migratory birds and the endangered timber rattlesnake (acreage added to state's Forever Wild Adirondack Forest Preserve).

The silent auction will include Guided Wilderness Tours, Hand-Crafted Gifts from Adirondack artisans, Overnight Accommodations at Famous Adirondack Resorts; Whitewater Rafting Tours, signed copies of Gary Randorf's new coffee table book "Adirondacks: Wild Island of Hope," Ski Passes to Whiteface Mountain, site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Downhill Competitions, and much more.

The Adirondack Council's mission is to ensure the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. It carries out that mission through research, education, advocacy and legal action. The Council is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization that doesn't accept government grants or taxpayer supported funding of any kind. The Council has offices in Elizabethtown (main office) and Albany (media and government relations) and 18,000 members.