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| President's Letter |
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The Power of Good Planning
Daily news reports of California blackouts and the call from Washington, D.C. for a new power plant a week for 20 years are echoing through the Hudson Valley.
Issuance of the final federal permits for the Athens Generating plant in Greene County ended one of the most contentious permit proceedings in recent memory and highlighted significant flaws in the state power plant siting law, known as Article X. Ambiguous regulatory policies inherited by the Pataki Administration that are supposed to protect the scenic and historic resources of New York State and equally weak federal rules exacerbate the problems.
Members of the environmental community recently spent a spring day on the Hudson River sailing the Sloop Clearwater and developing strategies to ensure that energy security is not purchased at the expense of the timeless beauty and ecological splendors that shaped America.
Scenic Hudson, Inc. believes in the power of good planning. To that end, we are working in a coalition with other environmental groups in New York State to put forth an energy plan that will safeguard our region's extraordinary assets while preventing future energy shortfalls.
We advocate:
- Greater investment in energy conservation and renewable resources;
- Reform of the state's power plant siting law to strengthen the voice of citizens in the permit process and to require early public vetting of alternative sites;
- Repowering existing energy facilities with cleaner, less water-consumptive plants;
- New, tougher air regulations on power plants to control four pollutants - nitrous oxides, mercury, carbon dioxide and sulfur;
- Adoption of the most stringent California auto emission standards.
This is the time for the Empire State to demonstrate that it will lead the nation in achieving environmental and economic goals harmoniously.
While we work at this task, we have stepped up our push for the Bush Administration to uphold the proposed cleanup plan from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up PCB hot spots in the upper Hudson River.
During the past months, our work as part of the Coalition for a Clean Hudsonn eutralized the General Electric Co.'s $60 million saturation advertising campaign aimed at derailing the cleanup. We are now taking our grassroots efforts to Washington with support from more than 100 communities throughout the country that have hazardous waste sites in their back yards and share our determination to prevent GE from gutting the Superfund law.
With a decision due in August, it is more important than ever to contact your congressional representatives, Gov. George E. Pataki, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, and President George W. Bush. Let them know you want PCBs removed from the river for your family's health and the economic future of the Hudson Valley (Please see Hudson River PCB Cleanup Campaign Goes National).
This is our last chance to complete the renaissance of our American Heritage River.
Ned Sullivan,
President |
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