Supreme Court sets course for more pollution in Adirondacks
Chapman Museum hosting exhibit on quilting
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The Adirondack Park is more popular with tourists than ever before.
It's mountain vistas, clear lakes and pristine wilderness is something to be coveted and protected at all cost for future generations.
Unless you are a Supreme Court justice.
By a 5-4 vote on Thursday, the Supreme Court blocked the requirement that factories and power plants in the Midwest cut air pollution that drifts into the Eastern states because it believes that agencies such as the EPA don't have that type of authority.
This is the agency that has cleaned up pollution significantly in our country over the past 50 years.
Ten years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency implemented standards to stop other states from ruining our environment here in New York. The problem dated back to the 1970s when the emissions from coal-burning power plants in the Midwest contaminated Adirondack lakes.
By 1990, federal research showed that more than 700 Adirondack lakes and ponds - about 25 percent of the total - were too acidic to support native life. Spruce and fir forests in the high elevations were dying.
The Adirondack Park was in crisis.
That trend was reversed by the EPA holding those Midwest power plants accountable.
It makes you wonder how the justices see their role in the Supreme Court to reverse effective standards that are protecting our environment over their belief that federal agencies do not have the authority to improve our lives.
As far as I'm concerned, the Supreme Court might as well take those black robes and pull them over their heads.
When Glens Falls native Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone for the Supreme Court building in 1932, he said "The republic endures and this is the symbol of its faith."
That faith has been eroded just as this ruling will erode the local environment in the Adirondack Park.
This was the third ruling against the EPA in recent years. Previously, the court had limited its authority to address climate change and water pollution.
Consider that for a second. The court is eliminating the authority of researchers and scientists to set standards to make our world a better place. Instead, the court is ruling that only members of congress like Rep. Elise Stefanik can make those decisions.
On her website under her positions on energy and environment, it reads "The North Country is home to the largest and most diverse ecosystem in New York State, and Congresswoman Stefanik is committed to protecting its six million-acre Adirondack Park, multiple lakes and river systems, and thousands of miles of trails."
Unfortunately, she continues to have a horrible environmental record that is among the worst among New York's represenatives. Ironic, considering her district is made up mostly of natural beauty and inhabited by outdoorsmen and women who want their world protected.
Just look at who two of the plaintiffs were in this case against the EPA: One was a pipeline operator and another U.S. Steel. Neither has much of a reputation with the environment.
One one hand, the current Congress has been the least productive legislative body in history and on the other hand, the Supreme Court is stripping the federal government of its ability to pick up the slack.
It was a bad day for people Thursday.
And I fear it is going to get worse.
Stitches in Time
The Chapman Museum's latest exhibit is "Stitches in Time" which celebrates the art of quilting.
As I looked through the exhibit this past week, my favorite quilt was the Glens Falls Bicentennial Quilt from 1975-76.
Hope you get a chance to check it out this summer.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
We need more justices appointed to our Supreme Court ASAP. In the 1860’s, america’s population was 35 million. We had 9 justices. Our population is now 350 million. We need at least three more so America can be better represented by folks who support the majority of Americans rather than dark money. ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸
The impact of "acid rain" was real. I guess polluters just don't care about anything except $. God forbid they use ingenuity to come up with cost effective ways to decrease the pollution. Makes me wonder if OSHA will lose "teeth" like the EPA.