Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 12, Number 3 • Early Summer 2004
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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By: David Higby, Environmental Advocates of New York
Comprehensive Great Lakes restoration and better protections against Great Lakes water diversions got its latest boost when the New York State Assembly accepted a request by Environmental Advocates of New York to hold a field hearing on the two critical issues. A diverse group of interested parties gathered in Rochester to give four hours of testimony to the chairs of the Environmental Conservation and Rural Resources committees and the Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus. Members and staff of several legislative commissions, including those for Water Resources and Toxic Cleanups,were also in attendance.
The testimony, from academics, environmentalists, local officials, water users, and grassroots activists, was informed and wide-ranging. Governor George Pataki’s spokesman, Donald Zelazny, said the work now being accomplished by representatives of the Great Lakes governors to assure regional control of major water withdrawals and diversions (a process known as the Annex 2001), could set a precedent worldwide for responsible water management. Sierra Club New York Conservation Chair Hugh Mitchell pointed out that toxic hot spots known as Areas of Concern (AOCs) remain unresolved. Ray Vaughn, a scientist for the state Attorney General, explained how invasive aquatic species, a menace on the verge of spiraling out of control, and one that already costs the state millions, could become the largest single threat to the basin and its economy.
Great Lakes United’s Reg Gilbert warned that if the current attempt to pass a meaningful “Annex 2001” reform of basin water rules is delayed, thirsty midwestern and southern states could use their increasing voting advantage in Congress to block future proposals, effectively take control of Great Lakes water out of the hands of basin states governors.
The hearing’s findings make one thing very clear: In the debates that will be taking place over the next few months and years about protection against water diversions and other Great Lakes issues, New York State has much at stake.
On April 20, 2004, over 300 of Rochester, New York’s most environmentally aware citizens gathered to share information and to hear Peter Lehner, head of the Environmental Protection Bureau of the state Attorney General’s office. Lehner’s topic was air pollution, specifically New York’s efforts to work through the courts to achieve some relief from upwind discharges that result in an ongoing fouling of the state’s air. This is a matter Lehner knows well since he and his boss, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, are leading a coalition of eastern seaboard states in suing midwestern power plants for the damage their pollution causes: the $100 billion per year, for instance, in health costs nationally ($400 million in New York).
As comprehensive as Peter Lehner’s answers were, however, the sheer volume of informed questions that he fielded served to remind the crowd that New York’s Great Lakes Basin faces a mounting list of environmental problems. Issues such as cleaning up New York’s six Areas of Concern – areas identified by the US and Canadian governments as the worst toxic hot spots in the Great Lakes, the continuing invasions by aquatic invasive species that cost billions, and a proposal to make the St. Lawrence Seaway usable by larger vessels.
What emerged from Lehner’s discussion is that the incremental progress made by the Attorney General’s office has largely been the result of forcing adherence to existing statutes through litigation made possible by the “citizen suit” provisions of the clean air act, clean water act, and other federal laws. There is no replacement, however, for solid laws that address specific and emerging environmental problems – particularly on the state level. There are signs that New York may be waking up to its current Great Lakes environmental imperatives.
Karen de Vito |