It’s supposed to be the peak of the fall foilage season during the Columbus Day weekend, so I grabbed a quick preview for you.
The leaves are waiting for you!
Rainmaker
Foster Brook Dredging Almost Complete
Click on the image to see it in full scale.
Just wanted to give everyone a further update on the dredging. Right now it’s almost completed. This picture was taken on Monday afternoon as they wrapped things up. They were just about done with the dredging then. Yesterday they were out of the water and are now working on the roads, cleaning up the access site and hauling away the material. Later this week they’ll take out the silt curtains. Pat Gorman says he thinks everyone “will be happy”. I’ll post an update and more pictures later this week.
Thank you, Lake George Association!
First Day of Autumn
Even the water looks colder now.
Bits of Everything
President Asks Governor Not to Run
MSNBC reports that President Obama has asked Governor Paterson not to run for re-election. Quite frankly I am not surprised. We’ve gotten more taxes, more regulations, no school tax relief, and stimulus money used to fill in the state budget deficit.
Post Star reports on Stream Rules Delay
The Post Star reports on the delay in moving ahead on the stream rules. My only problem with this article is that it neglects the fact that Washington County and the towns of Dresden and Putnam have also passed resolutions opposing the stream rules. Memo to the Post Star, Lake George has an east shore.
Stream Rules Delayed Again
This was released by the Lake George Park Commission today.
They seem to be finally admitting that these rules will be costly. The documents they are preparing “will assist the Commission and the public in evaluating the potential cost impact of the regulations on the Commission, local government and regulated entities“. In other words, us. The taxpayers!
If they take this amount of property off the tax rolls, taxes will increase.
You may remember my post here about the Center for Watershed Protection. To date, they have never allowed me to interview anyone from the Center for Watershed Protection. I was going to ask, but have never been allowed to inquire, about what happens to property taxes in jurisdictions that have passed these regulations.
Looks like they can’t sneak this one by after all.
Foster Brook Dredging Update
Just wanted to give everyone an update on the dredging. The dredging is going very well to this point. The contractor is making great progress. The photos shows the road built out to the delta with the excavator creating piles that are then hauled out by a pay loader. A 2nd curtain has been installed to keep any silt from escaping to the lake. It is working very well. Lots of people are watching! (And now so are you!)
Update 9/18/09
I’ve gotten a lot of interest in these pictures so here are the full resolution images for a better view:
Sign Time
Seen on Narrow Island
Bits of Everything
A Bad Harvest?
The Post Star recently had an article about Dresden Town Board member, John Barber, and his apple orchard. It discusses the problems he has had with bad weather this year. (John’s seat on the Town Board is not up for election this year.)
Coast Guard Proposes New Rules for Ballast Water
The Washington Post writes about proposed new Coast Guard standards for ballast water treatment that had been long awaited by people concerned about the impact of invasive aquatic species transported via ballast water in ships. This would apply to ships passing through the canal that runs through Whitehall.
Rattlesnake with a Red Tail
This was recently forwarded to me. It’s a rattlesnake with its tail tagged and painted red by the DEC.
It was spotted near the dock for sites 3 & 4 on “Floating Battery” island, which is part of the Mother Bunch Group.
The DEC spotted it, and went to warn the campers. Unfortunately, the two campsites had tents, but the campers were not around to let them know the snake was visiting.
The DEC marks rattlesnakes they find for someone who does a study on them. This is a particularly big one. It’s probably at least 5 feet long and wide as a soda can in the middle! Makes you want to rent a house next summer!
If you’ve never heard a rattlesnake, it makes a sound almost exactly like a baby’s rattle. I heard one once but never saw it.
Now we’ve all seen a particularly big one!
Bits of Everything
Post Star Editorial on Making the APA Pay
Sound familiar?
“The agency’s staffers can read. They knew they were twisting the law beyond any legitimate shape, but they pushed ahead anyway, in bad faith.”
It’s not just happening in Huletts. The APA is taking unjustified positions in other areas also. For this they’ll most likely pay. Literally. Read the Post Star editorial here.
How Do You Spend You Day?
The NY Times has this neat interactive graphic which shows how different groups of people spend their day. Cool.
Post Star Reports on Foster Brook
You can read the Post Star’s article on Foster Brook here.
Here’s the bottom line.
The APA’s involvement:
nearly prevented the project from happening.
added approximately $5,000 or more to the cost.
results in 100 to 150 dump truck trips of 20 miles each, instead of 1/2 mile each.
cost everyone time, energy and aggravation.
didn’t do anything to help the environment.
Enviros Can’t Take Truth: Try to Change What Happened
I just got off the phone with the Post Star reporter who will be doing a story over the weekend about the whole Foster Brook saga. The reporter told me that the APA spokesman who they interviewed made the assertion that the APA went out of their way to accommodate us.
As the landowner of where the dredged material was going to be put, I can say that is completely untrue.
They weren’t cooperative on their site visit when they alleged the material was waste and both the LGA representative and I argued with them on the spot.
They weren’t cooperative when the DEC told them their interpretation was wrong and in conflict with theirs.
They weren’t cooperative when I wrote to them on August 18th and told them that if they continued their interpretation; “we doubt we would be able to file this permit and/or allow our property to be used for accepting the dredged materials.”
They weren’t cooperative when we asked to see a draft permit leading up to Labor Day so we could update the community on what was happening. They waited until Tuesday, September 8th, after everyone had left for the weekend.
They certainly weren’t cooperative when they issued the draft permit, which attempted to declared our property a “waste disposal area” and place other ridiculous conditions upon us. (Don’t be surprised by this, but they weren’t cooperative with the Post Star reporter either, refusing to release the draft permit to him, but don’t worry I did.)
If you want to know the truth, they weren’t cooperative at all. They hoped that by springing a permit on us at the last moment which we told them we wouldn’t accept, and which the DEC told them was wrong, they would blow up the deal entirely for at least another year and maybe permanently. They didn’t expect that the LGA would find another location to accept the materials. That’s the truth.
No where in this whole saga did they care about the environment.
They certainly didn’t care about the tiny smelts who can’t run up the stream anymore because they’re being blocked by the delta.
They didn’t care about 100 dump trucks going over the mountain to a site 10 miles away as opposed to our site less than a mile away.
The only thing they cared about was their extreme anti-people agenda which we just told you about. This is a perfect example of why a high level state official told me these radical environmentalists, “have no credibility left with anyone”.
Enviro Smackdown: Foster Brook on Again
I am happy to report that I just spoke to the Lake George Association and the Foster Brook project is on again. The Town of Dresden will be accepting the dredged materials and while this will add additional cost to the project, the project will be starting within days. No one sees any need for the Adirondack Park Agency to be involved.
The DEC should be amending the dredging permit and any delayed work will get done.
While I will be working on a more complete report in the days ahead, there are some heroes and villains in this story.
Many thanks go out to all of you for contacting the Governor’s office. It did help. Secondly both the Lake George Association and the Town of Dresden deserve worthy praise for their efforts to see this project through. The Town of Dresden understood what was happening and quickly stepped up to the plate. Finally, the DEC understood the importance of this project and was cooperative throughout.
To those sad people at the Adirondack Park Agency, who claim they are “environmentalists” but are nothing more than people unfriendly-elitists, shame on you. You know where you can shove your definition of “waste”. I was told by one official that these so called “environmentalists” “have no credibility left with anyone”. You can expect some eye-opening stories about the hypocrisy of many in this crowd over the next few months.
I’ll have another update soon.