SPEAK OUT: Urge Your Lawmakers to Stop Crippling Cuts to Environmental Funding

This is about more than a moratorium. Instead, a fiscal crisis is on the cusp of giving way to an environmental crisis.Jan. 27 Albany Times-Union Editorial

Gov. David Paterson's recently released 2010-11 budget includes a $79-million cut to the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). For 16 years, the EPF has been the state's dedicated account for projects with wide-ranging economic and environmental benefits. These projects create jobs, attract tourists and help drive the Hudson Valley's emerging green economy. The proposed cuts will bring all this to a screeching halt -- slashing the Hudson River Estuary Program and placing a moratorium on all state land acquisition projects.

WE NEED YOUR HELP: tell your legislators that enough is enough.

Please take a moment to place a telephone call to your local NYS Assembly and Senate members and urge them to:

1. REJECT the disproportionate cut to the EPF and restore the Fund to at least $222 million.
2. RESTORE the Open Space program to $60 million and reject the proposed moratorium on state acquisition of conservation lands.
3. RESTORE the Hudson River Estuary Program to $6 million.

The easiest way to find the telephone number of your local lawmakers is through the NY State Assembly member section and the New York State Senate directory page.

Placing these phone calls will help insure that our state parks remain open and that the Hudson Valley's land resources are protected and continue to provide for future generations. Please call soon!