Conservation Update 

October 24, 2007

ADK Welcomes Governor’s RGGI Regulations  

 

 In light of the impact of global climate change on New York’s environment, the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) welcomes Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s leadership in issuing draft Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) regulations.

RGGI is a market-based, cap-and-trade program among 10 Northeastern states to reduce power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas. The draft New York regulations released by the Governor today will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent by 2019.

 “New York state’s environment is already seeing the adverse effects of climate change,” ADK Executive Director Neil F. Woodworth said. “Hikers are now encountering deer ticks and Lyme disease throughout most of the state, which is a direct result of moderating temperatures.”

Climate change threatens the local economies of the Adirondacks, Catskills and other areas that rely heavily on winter sports, such as snowmobiling, downhill and cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

Also, a study by the National Wildlife Federation found that lower summer stream flows and higher stream temperatures due to global warming could significantly reduce habitat for brook trout and other cold-water fish in New York. As temperatures rise, the Adirondacks could be plagued by tree-destroying pests such as the Sirex woodwasp, hemlock woolly adelgid and Asian longhorned beetle.

A new study by British and Australian scientists, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that carbon dioxide increases in the Earth’s atmosphere in recent years have outpaced scientists’ predictions.

But the Governor’s release of RGGI is one of several pieces of recent good news on the clean-air front. Earlier this month, American Electric Power Co., one of the nation’s largest electric generators, settled a federal lawsuit by agreeing to cut 813,000 tons of air pollutants annually. Also, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., has announced that he will seek to restore $1 million that the Bush administration cut from a $3.9 million program to monitor acid rain.

The Adirondack Mountain Club, founded in 1922, is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to protecting the New York State Forest Preserve and other wild lands and waters through conservation and advocacy, environmental education and responsible recreation.

For more information, contact Paul Ertelt at (518) 449-3870, (518) 810-7741 (cell) or paulertelt@adk.org