If you follow the news you'll know Ulster County and especially Saugerties are being very negatively impacted by the release of "turbid" water. That's just double talk for "Dirty Water".
Credits to Patrick Landewe of the Village Board who drafted the letter, and a special thanks to Nancy Schaef who edited it.
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Saugerties Democratic Committee
c/o Mr. Michael Harkavy
302 Old Route 32
Saugerties, NY 12477-4222
January 27, 2011
Eric T. Schneiderman, Esq.
NYS Office of the Attorney General
Environmental Protection BureauThe CapitolAlbany, NY 12224-0341
Re: Turbid releases by NYC DEP into the Lower Esopus Creek in Ulster County
Dear Attorney General Schneiderman:
The Saugerties Democratic Committee of Ulster County wishes to express its deep concern about the impact of turbid water releases from the Ashokan Reservoir into the Lower Esopus Creek in Ulster County. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is showing a blatant disregard for the Clean Water Act and the welfare of downstream municipalities in Upstate New York. DEP has been dumping 450-580 million gallons per day for over 110 days since opening a waste channel in the Ashokan Dam in early October.
The DEP failed to do proper environmental review before opening the waste channel. Now, the people and businesses of Ulster County are seeing downstream impacts on agricultural irrigation, waterfront recreation, stream-bank stability, and fishing. Moreover, the prolonged turbidity is devastating to the health of the aquatic ecosystem. The Lower Esopus Creek includes state designated Trout Waters. The tidal Esopus Estuary is designated as Significant Fish and Wildlife Habitat. A substantial increase in turbidity could destroy or significantly impair these unique habitats.
The condition of the Lower Esopus Creek is vital to the economies and quality-of-life of seven municipalities in Ulster County: Town of Marbletown, Town of Olive, Town of Hurley, Town of Ulster, City of Kingston, Town of Saugerties, and Village of Saugerties. The Creek flows by farms, waterfront parks, nature preserves, public swimming beaches, private docks, historic districts, and commercial marinas. All of these are adversely affected by any prolonged, unnatural turbidity in the creek, which detracts from the use and scenic values of the water.
We respectfully ask that you enforce water quality standards to put a stop to the New York City DEP's turbid releases and reinstate the environmental quality review process for DEP's operation of the Ashokan waste channel. Furthermore, we ask that you enforce New York State Reservoir Release Regulations. Previously, the Ashokan Reservoir had an exemption from these regulations so long as they lacked a proper reservoir release works. Now, the Ashokan Reservoir obviously has the necessary release mechanisms to fulfill the requirements of the regulations and should no longer be exempt. These regulations require monitoring of downstream impacts, which DEP has failed to do thus far and needs to do in the aftermath of this unprecedented release of turbid water.
We support the efforts of our County Executive Michael Hein to negotiate with New York City officials regarding this matter and agree with him that litigation is not a preferable course of action. However, as citizens of Ulster County seriously affected by New York City’s negligence to the well-being of our community, we support any litigation efforts by our County Officials against the City if necessary. It is our hope that New York City DEP will recognize the seriousness of this issue prior to any legal action by the County.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
Sincerely,
Saugerties Democratic Committee
Mike Harkavy, Chair
mharkavy@hvc.rr.com
cc: John Bonacic, NY State Senator; Peter Lopez, NY State Assemblyman; Maurice Hinchey, U.S. Congressman; Michael Hein, County Executive; Amanda LaValle, Director, UC Dept of the Environment; Brian Shapiro, Chair UC Legislative Committee of Government Operations and Environmental Services; Frederick Wadnola, Chair UC Legislature
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c/o Mr. Michael Harkavy
302 Old Route 32
Saugerties, NY 12477-4222
January 27, 2011
Eric T. Schneiderman, Esq.
NYS Office of the Attorney General
Environmental Protection BureauThe CapitolAlbany, NY 12224-0341
Re: Turbid releases by NYC DEP into the Lower Esopus Creek in Ulster County
Dear Attorney General Schneiderman:
The Saugerties Democratic Committee of Ulster County wishes to express its deep concern about the impact of turbid water releases from the Ashokan Reservoir into the Lower Esopus Creek in Ulster County. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is showing a blatant disregard for the Clean Water Act and the welfare of downstream municipalities in Upstate New York. DEP has been dumping 450-580 million gallons per day for over 110 days since opening a waste channel in the Ashokan Dam in early October.
The DEP failed to do proper environmental review before opening the waste channel. Now, the people and businesses of Ulster County are seeing downstream impacts on agricultural irrigation, waterfront recreation, stream-bank stability, and fishing. Moreover, the prolonged turbidity is devastating to the health of the aquatic ecosystem. The Lower Esopus Creek includes state designated Trout Waters. The tidal Esopus Estuary is designated as Significant Fish and Wildlife Habitat. A substantial increase in turbidity could destroy or significantly impair these unique habitats.
The condition of the Lower Esopus Creek is vital to the economies and quality-of-life of seven municipalities in Ulster County: Town of Marbletown, Town of Olive, Town of Hurley, Town of Ulster, City of Kingston, Town of Saugerties, and Village of Saugerties. The Creek flows by farms, waterfront parks, nature preserves, public swimming beaches, private docks, historic districts, and commercial marinas. All of these are adversely affected by any prolonged, unnatural turbidity in the creek, which detracts from the use and scenic values of the water.
We respectfully ask that you enforce water quality standards to put a stop to the New York City DEP's turbid releases and reinstate the environmental quality review process for DEP's operation of the Ashokan waste channel. Furthermore, we ask that you enforce New York State Reservoir Release Regulations. Previously, the Ashokan Reservoir had an exemption from these regulations so long as they lacked a proper reservoir release works. Now, the Ashokan Reservoir obviously has the necessary release mechanisms to fulfill the requirements of the regulations and should no longer be exempt. These regulations require monitoring of downstream impacts, which DEP has failed to do thus far and needs to do in the aftermath of this unprecedented release of turbid water.
We support the efforts of our County Executive Michael Hein to negotiate with New York City officials regarding this matter and agree with him that litigation is not a preferable course of action. However, as citizens of Ulster County seriously affected by New York City’s negligence to the well-being of our community, we support any litigation efforts by our County Officials against the City if necessary. It is our hope that New York City DEP will recognize the seriousness of this issue prior to any legal action by the County.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
Sincerely,
Saugerties Democratic Committee
Mike Harkavy, Chair
mharkavy@hvc.rr.com
cc: John Bonacic, NY State Senator; Peter Lopez, NY State Assemblyman; Maurice Hinchey, U.S. Congressman; Michael Hein, County Executive; Amanda LaValle, Director, UC Dept of the Environment; Brian Shapiro, Chair UC Legislative Committee of Government Operations and Environmental Services; Frederick Wadnola, Chair UC Legislature
===========================
Also see this release from the Ulster County Executive Mike Hein:
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