""

Conservation Update

ADK’s Advocacy Efforts Continue to Pay Dividends

 

Adirondack Mountain Club’s advocacy efforts are continuing to pay off in increased protection for the Adirondacks, the Catskills and other wild places in the Northeast from the ravages of acid rain.

Under a settlement with New York and other states, Duke Energy Corp. has agreed to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from its Gallagher Generating Station by 86 percent. This settlement will not only eliminate nearly 35,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions each year from this Indiana power plant, it will also help pave the way for future settlements and further pollution reductions.

The settlement would not have been possible without earlier federal court victories by ADK and its partners.

This settlement was based on Duke's violation of the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act. During the Bush administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tried to eliminate the NSR program and seriously undermine the states’ lawsuit against Duke. ADK was directly involved in two court cases, both of which went to the U.S. Supreme Court, to prevent EPA from gutting NSR. If ADK and its partners had not prevailed in court, Duke’s defense position would have been greatly bolstered and an out-of-court settlement would have been unlikely. ADK was the only Adirondack environmental group to play a role in either of these cases.

ADK’s hard work on these cases kept the teeth in the NSR provisions, leading to out-of-court settlements with such polluters as American Electric Power and Cinergy Energy. We expect more settlements in the future.

Read more about this case and ADK’s advocacy efforts of this issue.

  

Neil F. Woodworth
Executive Director

Allison D. Beals
Director of Government Relations and Conservation
Adirondack Mountain Club
301 Hamilton St.
Albany, NY 12210
(518) 449-3870
allisonbeals@gmail.com