Take up PCB fight, governor
From the Poughkeepsie Journal
We´ll be the first to admit it: Gov. George Pataki is an
extremely busy man. Aside from trying to figure out how to coax the state
Legislature to keep spending in line and pass an already-late budget, how
to avoid an energy crisis, how to position the state from falling into a
recession and how to fund some laudable environmental programs such as the
Superfund, the governor managed to squeeze off time to travel to Puerto
Rico to criticize a United States defense strategy.
Whew. Facing re-election, the governor took this jaunt to appease the
approximately 1.3 million Puerto Ricans who live in New York, some of whom
are adamantly against U.S. test bombing on Vieques, a small island off
Puerto Rico´s east coast. But we recently wondered why Pataki would spend
his time this way, with so many other important matters mounting right
here at home.
Let´s elaborate on that point today. If the Republican governor is to
use his clout to sway the Bush administration to do anything, it should be
this: Let the federal Environmental Protection Agency move forward with
its plan to get PCBs out of the Hudson River. PCBs - polychlorinated
biphenyls - are suspected of causing cancer and other health problems.
You would think the governor would have a lot more to say about such an
important health issue in his own state.
One letter doesn´t cut it
Yes, the Pataki administration has come out in favor of dredging. But
the governor himself - as the state´s leader, as an environmental
advocate, as the former mayor of a Hudson River community - could be far
more vocal on the subject. To date, he´s allowed the state´s top
environmental commissioner to write a letter to the EPA indicating the
state´s support for ``remediation.´´
Not good enough. Not even close. If he can find time to travel to
Puerto Rico for a good cause, surely he can find time to go to Washington
on behalf of a cleaner Hudson River. There, he should meet with the Bush
administration about the EPA´s cleanup recommendations. He might even drop
by the office of his former neighboring governor, Christine Todd Whitman,
who just happens to be running the EPA these days.
Why should he do this? Because the EPA´s decision will have a profound
impact on New York - and the river. We´re talking about a $460 million,
multi-year project to clean up the Hudson - and a necessary one when you
consider General Electric Co. put about 1.1 million pounds of PCBs into
the river from its Hudson Falls and Fort Edward plants before the practice
was outlawed in 1977.
While the public comment period for EPA´s recommendation is over,
intense lobbying is just getting started in Washington. In a perfect
world, the EPA´s final decision, expected in August, will be based on
science, not political considerations. But GE has lined up some heavy
hitters, including former U.S. Rep. Gerald Solomon, former Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell and others, to make its case to the Bush
administration against dredging.
As a guardian of the state - and someone who routinely touts his
environmental accomplishments since taking office - the governor must be
a visible force for dredging. This isn´t a job to delegate to
environmental underlings, to sign off on one letter supporting cleanup and
then moving on. This is about leadership and courage and pushing for
what´s best for the state - and the river. The fishing industry has been
devastated by the presence of PCBs in Hudson waters, PCBs continue to pour
over the federal Troy Dam each year, heading downstream, and they are
harmful to the survival and growth of fish, birds and mammals. EPA
studies, in turn, have been exhaustive, and its science and models have
withstood intense peer review.
The governor needs to more forceful with his position. It´s time he
uses his political weight to counteract GE´s lobbying tactics by telling
the federal government - in spades and in person - why dredging ought to
move forward.
What you can do
Here´s how to tell Gov. George Pataki what
you think about his efforts to date to urge the federal government to
clean up the Hudson River:
Gov. George E. Pataki
Executive Chamber, State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
(518) 474-8390
gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us
Copyright © 2001, Poughkeepsie Journal
