HUDSON HIGH

Friends of a Clean Hudson took on GE's propaganda machine, and won

Bend in the River Coalition takes on GE propaganda machine, and lives to tell about it

Whether it was the $10 million low-ball number General Electric CEO Jack Welch told his shareholders, or the $60 million reported as speculation in The New York Times, there is no doubt that the General Electric Corp. (GE) spent a wad of cash on its campaign against the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to clean PCBs from the Hudson River. For Hudson Valley residents, the GE propaganda campaign was a ubiquitous part of daily life from December until April. It included full page adds in the daily papers, radio spots and classy TV commercials with top-notch production values. From Albany north to Glens Falls, it seemed that every third billboard sported the blue and white GE adds urging residents to let the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) know if they opposed dredging. Even some of the buses in Albany turned blue. And to top it off, GE paid for two half-hour infomercials that ran on all four local TV stations.

If the goal was to saturate the region with its anti-dredging message, GE’s strategy worked. If the goal was to crush the opposition, demonize the EPA and isolate the environmental movement, well that’s another story, because on July 31, word leaked out that EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman would be ordering full scale dredging to rid the Upper Hudson River of 100,000 pounds of toxic PCBs.

Forced to respond to what was arguably the most expensive corporate PR campaign ever waged on a regional environmental issue, New York’s sometimes fractious environmental movement came up with a remarkably unified effort that was decisive in winning this milestone victory. Although groups like Scenic Hudson, Clearwater and the Hudson Riverkeeper have been engaged in the PCB cleanup campaign more-or-less for two decades, it was the need to answer GE and coordinate strategy for the 11 public EPA hearings the led decisively to creation of the Friends of a Clean Hudson coalition. Ultimately, a dozen groups participated, keeping in touch through occasional face-to-face meetings and lots of conference calls. Subgroups were organized, including one to develop media strategy, and worked to ensure that all coalition representatives were conveying the same message. That committee continues today, along with another that meets weekly to develop plans for presenting information on the human health impacts of PCBs to residents of upriver communities. Early on, the coalition established its own website, www.cleanhudson.org, and sought joint meetings with policymakers like Gov. George Pataki and Whitman.

The variety of groups in the coalition allowed for the implementation of a broad strategy. The Natural Resources Defense Council, for instance, contributed its scientific credibility and its national stature while the Arbor Hill Environmental Justice Corp. represented the interests of communities of color along the river. Environmental Advocates and the New York Public Interest Research Group represented the coalition in the state Capitol and helped mobilize state lawmakers. And the Sierra Club both turned out hundreds of activists at the public hearings and supplied inventive outreach props, including t-shirts, lawn signs and radio ads.

Several of the coalition’s achievements stand out. One week before the April 17 close of the public comment period, Clearwater, Scenic Hudson, EA and the Sierra Club combined membership lists organized by state Assembly districts that bordered the river. Adding up to 26,000 names, the members received a computer generated pre-recorded phone message from Pete Seeger, urging them to call the EPA and voice their support for a river cleanup. During, and immediately after, the calls, the coalition’s website recorded a four-fold increase in the number of hits, presumably people seeking additional information at Seeger’s urging. Another coalition effort that paid off was the Cleanup Cruise, a 3-hour boat trip organized for the media that took reporters to the most notorious PCB hotspots between Schuylerville and Fort Edward.

Ultimately, the not-always-easy effort at building coalition unity paid off with the last minute request that the Governor personally intervene with Whitman as rumors of a sweetheart deal with GE began to spread. Although Pataki’s call to Whitman and his public support for a comprehensive cleanup was crucial in winning support form the EPA and the White House, months of work by Friends of a Clean Hudson set the stage through public advocacy and media outreach. And then came the opportunity to meet personally with the EPA chief. The coalition had less than 24 hours from the time the invitation arrived to the moment when its 12-member delegation sat down at the table with Whitman in her Washington, D.C., headquarters. Months of work paid off as the group delivered a strong, unified message that only a comprehensive cleanup would do.

SPARKS FLYING

Jeff Jones

Of the issues that brought over 400 people to the Capitol for Earth Day Lobby Day in April, only one has passed both houses of the Legislature and is on its way to the Governor for his signature. That bill expands the Department of Health’s Statewide Planning and Cooperative System (SPARCS) to include emergency room data.

For more than two decades, SPARCS data, which records hospital discharges, has been used bay public health officials and planners as a valuable research tool for tracking geographic, demographic and time trends in various health conditions. But SPARCS has not included information on New Yorkers whose hospital visits take place in emergency rooms. As a result, many diseases and injuries are not being properly monitored and those who must rely on emergency room care are not been accurately counted. Asthma, for example, is one disease that is often treated in the ER but results in admission to the hospital in only a fraction of cases.

Fortunately, the SPARCS bill worked its way through the Legislature - without ever receiving a single negative vote, either in committee or on the floor - before the budget impasse took hold and brought most work to a halt. The bill, S.3341 (Hannon)/A.1644 (Kaufman), was not promptly sent to the Governor for his signature, however, leading to fears that it too may fall victim to the breakdown in this year’s legislative process.

Leading the fight for passage of the SPARCS bill was a remarkably broad coalition that combined environmentalists and public health advocates with the state Business Council and labor leaders like Health and Hospital Workers Union Local 1199 leader Denis Rivera. The initial impetus for the reform came from ER doctors in the New York chapter of the American College of ER Physicians. Environmental Advocates, which had been working with ER doctors for several years in support of a state asthma registry, actively joined the coalition when it became clear that this would be the most successful way

DIRECTOR'S CHAIR

Val Washington

Last Saturday morning my kids complained about getting into a car and heading into the Adirondacks, leaving behind their friends and various pool parties and air conditioned movie theaters. By Sunday evening they were truly sad to end what turned out to be their best weekend of the summer. It was spent at Little Tupper Lake, the jewel of New York’s acquisition from the Whitney Estate, purchased just a year and a half ago.

At Little Tupper, we canoed the length of the pristine lake to an island campsite set back on a hill above the water. By the time the full moon rose the kids were happily exhausted from paddling, swimming, and setting up camp, but still had the energy for one more circumnavigation of the island by moonlight. The loons called to each other throughout the night and in our morning paddle we came upon a group of seven of them splashing and diving. I had never seen loons cavort before. Some fellow paddlers told us a couple of otters had joined them in a morning swim, rising out of the water to bark at their human companions. We took our time coming back out on Sunday afternoon, stopping at a rocky point and then a sandy beach for more swimming and for lunch. None of us wanted to leave.

Back home there is still no agreement among the state’s leaders on a spending plan for the fiscal year that began on April 1st. One of the casualties of the so-called bare bones budget passed earlier in the month is the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), the pool of money that was largely responsible for the purchase of Little Tupper Lake. The Fund’s popularity made it a candidate for temporary elimination to help assure that all parties will come back to the table around the supplemental budget in September. But this strategy poses a terrible risk. If there is no further agreement, the lack of funds for, among other important environmental purposes, the purchase of park land, could mean the loss of rare opportunities.

In 1994 the state lost the chance to purchase the peerless Follensby Pond, a neighbor to Little Tupper, because of a lack of sufficient funding. As of this writing, there are important land acquisition projects pending on Staten Island, on the edge of the Catskill Park and in the Adirondacks that could also be lost forever if the EPF is not refunded in 2001. New York’s historic attention to our natural legacy can be irretrievably damaged by an ill-timed break in funding.

Please let the Governor and your legislators know that the Environmental Protection Fund is a priority that must not be sacrificed to politics. And don’t forget to get out and enjoy the wonderful public land that is ours because the state has invested in our natural heritage. It represents New York’s greatest tradition.

LIGHTS OUT

A new bill would save energy and turn on the night sky

Nearly everyone, at least occasionally, takes time to lean back and appreciate one of the most beautiful and inspiring sights in the universe - the night sky. What few outside the astronomy community realize, however, is that those looking heavenward today are seeing a good deal less than our ancestors did. At least 2,600 stars should be visible in a moonless sky. Unfortunately, in most cities, and now even in many suburban and rural areas, light pollution blocks all but about 100 of the brighter stars from our view. Recognizing a host of negative impacts from light pollution, the state Senate and Assembly have passed legislation that would begin to limit both the environmental damage and the waste of energy caused by light pollution. The bill, S.3386b (Balboni)/A.5352b (Grannis), will soon be on the Governor’s desk, looking for his signature on what will be one of the few important environmental bills passed during this year’s legislative session.

The loss of the astronomical canopy can be attributed to the upshot of glare when too much artificial illumination enters the night sky and reflects off of airborne water droplets and dust particles. But light pollution is a great deal more than bothersome sky glow, and has consequences far beyond the inconvenience to stargazers. Fugitive light from poorly designed outdoor fixtures poses a threat to wildlife, reduces the livability of communities, is a danger on highways, and is even a suspected health hazard - a recent study suggests that sleeping with light in the room prevents the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps the body fight off disease.

Several states have already adopted measures to meet the challenge of light pollution, and New York is set to join them. The Legislature’s light pollution bill includes provisions for public education, addresses intrusive light trespass, and requires all public lighting to use full cutoff luminaires - lamps that do not send light higher than a horizontal plane - with the changeover to be made as replacement becomes necessary. The bad news is that the bill is in peril of a gubernatorial veto due to opposition from local governments and the state Department of Transportation. Short term cost is the principal argument against the bill, a position that ignores the long-term advantages: using low pressure sodium fixtures, instead of cheaper, old-fashioned mercury lamps, can provide enough in energy savings in the first year to make up the difference in cost, and they last considerably longer.

Some might argue that light pollution is an unavoidable consequence of modern life. But light pollution is preventable, since it results from wasted illumination that is needlessly spilled to the sky and elsewhere from poorly shielded and improperly installed outdoor light fixtures. One of the principal consequences of this waste is unnecessary energy consumption. According to a study commissioned by the International Dark-Sky Association five years ago, at least $1.5 billion worth of electricity nationwide is being sent into the night sky for no good reason.

The solution is simple. Outdoor lighting needs to be restricted to carefully directed, shielded fixtures that keep the illumination within the required space. If properly planned and engineered, these lamps use energy-efficient bulbs that provide only as much light as needed, and can distribute the illumination using shielded fixtures that point light downward. Full cutoff luminaires can also be fitted with devices so that they are only on when necessary.

Some communities have begun to do something about light pollution. Tucson, Arizona, for instance, regulates all outdoor lighting - full cutoff luminaires with appropriate shielding are required and all display lighting must be turned off by 11:00PM. Not only is Tucson saving about $350,000 in annual lighting expenses, but the surrounding area - which is ringed by several observatories - is experiencing a boom in astronomical tourism, primarily stargazers whose neighborhoods are no longer conducive to viewing the night sky.

With New York at a challenging energy crossroads, the light pollution bill is particularly timely. By signing it into law, Governor Pataki will join the Legislature in benefitting the environment, wildlife, consumers and night sky-gazers across New York.

SITE SPECIFIC

Paving it over and waving goodbye is no solution to toxic pollution

The state Legislature’s so-called bare bones budget includes just enough money to keep the state Superfund limping along for another year. There is still reason to hope, however, that stronger support for Superfund will be part of a supplemental budget, and that talks on a new brownfields program will also continue this year. As part of that discussion, Environmental Advocates has been warning of the dangers of what is becoming known as the "pave and wave" solution. These concerns have now been elaborated in a new publication, Pave and Wave, A Citizen’s Guide to Competing Superfund Cleanup Proposals, released this summer by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). The report critiques the approach to environmental cleanups advanced in Gov. George Pataki’s proposal for revamping the state’s Superfund and brownfields programs. Although the Administration is quick to point out that its plan maintains the strictest cleanup standards (one in one million cancer risk), NYPIRG and EA argue that these standards are undermined by provisions that would allow developers to chose their own cleanup remedies, including the option to merely pave over contamination.

Remedy selection is the process of determining how cleanup standards will be met. For any site, there is a range of possible techniques depending on the nature of the contamination and the physical characteristics of the area. Remedies range from permanent solutions that completely remove contaminated soil, to impermanent solutions that cut off exposure pathways, such as containment or capping contamination with a barrier like asphalt or cement. The current Superfund law includes a "preference for permanence," but the Governor’s proposal abandons this language and applies a preference for permanence only to "hotspots" of contamination, which are not clearly defined in his bill.

The choice of remedy determines the possible future use of the site as well as whether engineering controls, which require ongoing maintenance and monitoring, or institutional controls, such as deed restrictions and public notice of use limitations, will be necessary. Impermanent cleanups tend to be less expensive but they leave toxics on site. Research shows that engineering and institutional controls frequently fail to be protective over time.

As an example of the hazards that can result from impermanent cleanups that rely on caps and engineering controls, the report cites the notorious Dewey-Loeffel Superfund site in rural Nassau, Rensselaer County. In 1984, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) capped and sealed the former hazardous landfill to prevent leaching. When the controls failed, contamination leaked into the groundwater, affecting private wells, and into tributaries of nearby Nassau Lake, where fish now have elevated levels of PCBs. In January, DEC announced that it would spend $8.6 million to repair the leaking landfill in the hopes of removing part of a 2,000 foot-long underground plume of chloroform, trichloroethylene, benzene and other toxic substances.

Evidence of failed pave and wave policies can also be found in New Jersey, where that state’s brownfield law has encouraged redevelopment of contaminated land by making it easier and cheaper for developers. This has led to a project in Edgewater, on the Hudson River shoreline, that includes a village of homes, stores, hotels and a parking garage to be built on top of a 10-acre, 18-inch thick concrete platform over a contaminated site. Even in the construction phase, workers have become ill from digging in the soil, and a dockworker, who vows to never return to the job site, accidentally set fire to the bare ground with an acetylene torch.

As the reuse of contaminated industrial property is encouraged by laws designed to revitalize urban areas and curb sprawl, strict guidelines must ensure that these sites are properly cleaned up and that health risks are eliminated. In the comprehensive Brownfields Coalition bill supported by Environmental Advocates, which also addresses Superfund sites, developers can take advantage of a streamlined cleanup process with clearly protective standards that don’t include pave and wave solutions.

For a copy of Pave and Wave, A Citizen’s Guide to Competing Superfund Cleanup Proposals, contact NYPIRG at 518-436-0876. For a copy of Make Sure Our Cities Have a Future, Environmental Advocates’ primer on brownfields in New York State, which also explains the approach taken in the Brownfields Coalition bill, contact Sarah Gardner at 518-462-5526, ext. 242 or sgardner@eany.org. Also available on the web at www.eany.org.

RUNNING HOT

Kyle Rabin

The Bush Administration’s plan to weaken proposed energy efficiency standards for air conditioners and heating pumps is drawing fire from environmentalists and state government officials in New York. If the proposed change is finalized, it would weaken a higher standard, originally scheduled to go into effect last February. That standard would have made central air conditioning units 30 percent more efficient and saved enough energy to power one million homes per year over the next two decades. But acting on a directive from the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE) twice postponed the rule’s implementation, before publishing its proposed change in the Federal Register on July 25. At issue is a debate over how much the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) for new central air conditioners and heat pumps should be raised. An increase from 10 to 13 SEER was approved in the final days of the Clinton Administration. The Bush plan would lower that by one-third.

In a lawsuit filed June 19, the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, and California joined national environmental and consumer groups, charging that the Energy Department violated federal law by delaying and weakening the higher standard. "Under federal energy law, DOE can’t change an energy efficiency standard to make it weaker," said Katherine Kennedy, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are asking a U.S. District Court to order the Energy Department to reinstate and enforce the higher standard.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the President’s focus should be on improved efficiency. "Instead, the Bush Administration has dramatically weakened one of the most effective ways to conserve energy. We are seeking to compel the Administration to adopt a more forward-looking course that will help lower energy bills and reduce air pollution."

The proposed rollback would increase electric demand in New York and nationwide. By 2030, the increased demand in the Northeast would equal the output of five average-sized (300-megawatt) power plants, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Nationwide, electricity demand would increase 18,000 megawatts by 2030, equivalent to the output of 60 average-sized plants, costing consumers an additional $18.4 billion in utility bills. And the nation’s power plants would emit another 45 million metric tons of carbon pollution, an amount equal to the output of about 30 million cars.

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES IN SHORT

Minding Mercury

Mercury is increasingly recognized as one of the most dangerous toxic substances, having been linked to a host of afflictions, including brain, kidney, and fetal damage. It is also proving to be much more pervasive than was previously believed. Researchers, for instance, recently found that New York City's Central Park Lake contains ten times the amount of mercury found in many industrial sites; statewide mercury warnings have been issued for 22 water bodies, including five reservoirs supplying water to New York City. Among the main sources of mercury in the environment are older power plants and waste facilities - incinerators and landfills. But efforts to eliminate this potent contaminant have met with setbacks like the Bush Administration relaxing emission standards and the sidetracking of seemingly easy steps to take mercury out of the waste stream. To make sure the mercury crisis is not further neglected in New York, Environmental Advocates has joined with other environmental and public health organizations to form the Mercury-Free New York coalition. For more information contact David Higby at 518-462-5526 ext. 239.

Think Globally

Unprecedented population growth coupled with increasing resource consumption, pollution and waste is one of the most serious threats to a healthy and sustainable environment. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), along with the Center for Environment and Population, will be conducting town hall meetings in October and November on population and the environment in Rhode Island, Vermont, New York and Michigan. The meetings will highlight the release of the United Nations Population State of the World Report entitled Fund Footprints and Milestones: Population and Environmental Change and the release of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Atlas of Population and Environment. Publication of the reports is especially timely with next year’s Rio+10 review of the 1992 Earth Summit. As part of the Capital District Coalition for Family Planning and the Environment, Environmental Advocates, the New York State affiliate of NWF, and Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood will be organizing the New York meeting at the State University of New York at Albany. The meeting will feature speakers from the United Nations Population Fund and AAAS, as well as local professors and community leaders and activists. For more information on population and the environment, visit: www.nwf.org/population.

PERPETUAL MOTION

Keeping track of who's coming and going

Environmental Advocates said goodbye to a key staff member with the June departure of Nuclear Project Director Kyle Rabin. After nearly three years at Environmental Advocates, Kyle accepted a position as energy policy analyst with the Council of State Governments in its New York City office. He was the driving force behind the creation of EA’s Nuclear Policy Project and an important part of the organization's energy policy team. His colleagues will miss Kyle’s hard work, his willingness to help his coworkers and, most of all, his wonderful sense of humor.

Also on the move, but this time within EA, is Laura Cisco. Laura took on EA’s critical legislative tracking system early this year. As legislative assistant, Laura follows key environmental legislation and manages the distribution of memos of support or opposition to the members of the state Legislature.

EA is fortunate to have three talented interns working this summer: Kate Clark is working with Project Director David Higby on light pollution, the Hudson River PCB cleanup, motorized vehicles in sensitive wilderness areas and timber theft. Kate is a Skidmore College senior majoring in english literature and psychology and spent this past spring studying in England at University College London. Caitlin Driscoll is working with both the development staff on EA's annual gala and Program Associate Sarah Gardner on EA's grassroots brownfields lobbying effort. Caitlin, a senior history major at the University at Albany, was a student assistant at the New York State Comptroller's Office and has volunteered much of her time to organizations including the Sierra Club and Amnesty International. Ben Krass is working with Executive Director Val Washington in her role as an adviser to the Michigan Environment Council in its efforts to measure the success and failures of state governments in protecting the environment. He is also assisting member organizations involved in preserving coastline and fighting costly, and ultimately harmful,