LEGISLATURE SHOWS
MOST IMPROVEMENT, PARK AGENCY BACKSLIDES
IN ADIRONDACK COUNCIL'S 20TH ANNUAL STATE OF THE PARK REPORT
Local Government Continues
Positive Trend; Governor & Atty. General
Fare Well in Review Frankenpine, Radio Towers, Massive Illegal
Timber Cutting,
Motorized Traffic Take Toll
For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770 (ofc)
518-441-1340 (cell)
518-456-4512 (home)
Released: Thursday, November 10, 2005
ALBANY, NY - Cooperation on environmental
issues between state lawmakers earned the Legislature its highest
marks in three years in the Adirondack Council's 2005 State of
the Park Report.
Meanwhile, local government officials continued to earn more
praise than criticism from the Adirondack Park's largest environmental
organization, as did Governor George Pataki and Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer.
State of the Park 2005 illustrates how the actions of
local, state and federal leaders helped or hurt the Adirondack
Park's ecological integrity and wild character over the past
12 months. The Adirondack Council is a non-partisan, independent,
not-for-profit environmental organization with 18,000 members
in all 50 states. The Council doesn't accept government grants
or any taxpayer-funded support.
"The Park's biggest problems this year came in the form
of huge communications towers, including the fake-tree cell tower,
or Frankenpine, proposed by Sprint/Nextel on Lake George,"
said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal.
"You will see that Governor Pataki again performed well,
although there are some uncertainties over issues such as tower
construction that could have an impact on his legacy.
"Attorney General Spitzer earned yet another perfect rating,
focused primarily on his courtroom efforts to curb acid rain,"
Houseal said.
"The biggest positive step on the federal level was the
implementation of the Clean Air Interstate Rule," Houseal
explained. "It will be huge leap forward in terms of curbing
acid rain over the next 10 years, and beyond. The emissions cuts
that will be required by 2010 are so deep, power companies are
already making cuts in anticipation of the deadline. In 2004,
more than 300,000 fewer tons of sulfur dioxide fell on the United
States from the smokestacks of electric power plants than had
fallen in 2003. Federal policies are finally making it too expensive
to avoid cleanup at the nation's dirtiest power plants. That
will mean cleaner air, healthier forests and less water pollution
across the entire Adirondack Park."
Other federal actions on clean air initiatives were less helpful,
with the Bush Administration pushing ill-conceived plans for
changes to the Clean Air Act's new source review program and
with the Senate's failure to stop a plan for mercury pollution
allowance trading.
Houseal noted that the Park's Congressional delegation brought
large amounts of federal grant money to Adirondack towns that
need help with expensive water and sewage system upgrades. Given
their small populations, yet large numbers of seasonal visitors,
these towns need all the help they can get, he said.
"Perhaps the most mixed reviews went to the NYS Department
of Transportation. It erred wildly this summer when it authorized
a crew to use heavy timber harvesting equipment to remove dead
trees that might fall on to Route 30 between Saranac Lake and
Coreys," he said. "DOT went far beyond its right-of-way
and into the Forest Preserve, hacking down more than 4,000 constitutionally
protected trees - most of them still alive and some with the
Forest Preserve sign still attached to the felled trunk.
"On the positive side, DOT did well negotiating a new plan
for radio towers needed by Canadian Pacific Rail Road, which
runs for more than 100 miles just inside the Park's eastern border,"
he said.
Other highlights of the report
include:
· A section on Other Agencies, including the departments
of health and transportation and state-created local commissions.
· The Tip of the Hat section, where the Council
recognizes other organizations, advocates and corporations that
have made substantial contributions to the Park protection effort;
· A conservation article on climate change and fall foliage
in the Northeast.
· A mini-catalog of "Forever Wild" merchandise
bearing the Adirondack Council's 30th Anniversary logo,
sales of which help support the organization's mission.
A printed version of the State
of the Park can be obtained by leaving us an emailing us at info@adirondackcouncil.org
or by calling 1-800-842-PARK.
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