Something stinks in Lake George
Supervisor Dickinson balks at protecting lake
The Front Page
Evening update
Saturday, June 5, 2021
By Ken Tingley
Something stinks in Lake George.
This has been the case for decades where the septic systems of property owners along the lake have been leaking sewage of one kind or another.
When I came to Glens Falls in 1988, I remember the newspaper had a weekly feature that reviewed the “hot spots” where coliform levels were judged to be too high.
The town of Queensbury took a big step forward last year when it passed a law requiring septic inspections before any any water-front properties were sold. It turned out problems were found in roughly 80 percent of the properties. That’s a lot of, well, you know. The town of Bolton followed in its footsteps as well.
So when the Warren County supervisors met recently, Glens Falls supervisor Claudia Braymer, an environmental lawyer, suggested the county take the lead and pass its own law requiring septic inspections for properties along the lake.
A few years ago several new invasive species were found in Lake George. It was generally agreed everything had to be done to protect the lake from invasive species because the local economy depended on it. Boat washing stations around the late were quickly opened.
So Braymer’s proposal seemed like smart thinking. After all, this was sewage.
Except to Dennis Dickinson, who oddly enough is the supervisor representing the interests of the town of Lake George where continued sewage problems could be a smelly situation for business owners and tourists alike.
Dickinson argued the new sewage proposals would create more work for the county’s Building and Codes Department. While that may be true, my guess is that the boat-washing stations created a lot of extra work, too, but it was judged something that had to be done.
Most of the invasive species in the lake cannot be seen by tourists. But when it comes to sewage, the tourists will certainly be able to smell it.
Dickinson also said the new standard would force property owners to hire engineers to solve their septic problems. Braymer argued that in Queensbury fixes were made in most cases without bringing in an engineer.
She made a lot of sense.
What doesn’t make sense is why Dickinson is not more interested in protecting the health of the economic engine to the county - Lake George.
That’s what really stinks here, much more so than the sewage being released into the lake. Dennis Dickinson needs to explain why. Then on Saturday, the DEC closed Million Dollar Beach in Lake George because E. coli levels were too high. Dickinson needs to rethink his position.
Quote of the Day
“The scale of Trump’s delusion is quite startling. This is not merely an eccentric interpretation of the facts or an interesting foible, nor is it an irrelevant example of anguished post-presidency chatter. It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government. There is no Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. Hell, there is nothing even approximating a Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. The election has been certified, Joe Biden is the president, and, until 2024, that is all there is to it.”
Charles C. Cooke, Conservative columnist for The National Review.
Tweet of the Day
My husband and I moved our family to Glens Falls in 1988, also. I recall a moratorium on building along the lake because of faulty, leaking septic systems a couple of years later. Claudia Braymer's proposal makes a lot of sense and homeowners who sell need to be held accountable for possible leakage into the lake from their properties. Also, buyers need to be aware of the problems they are paying for. And aren't these town supervisors supposed to protect our interests? Isn't our economy dependent on the health of our lake for tourism?
That’s the way I read it.