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Category: Rensselaer Lake (Six Mile Waterworks)

Ward Stone — NYS Wildlife Pathologist Worked for the People

Ward Stone — NYS Wildlife Pathologist Worked for the People

Editor’s Note: Ward Stone died on February 8, 2023 at the age of 84. Ward Stone was a friend of Save the Pine Bush and often spoke at SPB vegetarian lasagna dinners. Here are two letters which describe Ward. The first letter was written by long-time friend, Lewis Oliver and sent to many media outlets, but, never published. The second letter from Tom Ellis was published in the Altamont Enterprise. Dear Mr. Seiler: The front-page article about the death of…

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Save the Pine Bush Appeals Decision Approving Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush

Save the Pine Bush Appeals Decision Approving Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush

For Immediate Release: June 25, 2001 ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush filed an appeal to the State of New York Appellate Division, Third Department over the Albany County Supreme Court’s ruling to approve the expansion of the Albany Landfill in the Pine Bush. Save the Pine Bush is appealing on the grounds that the permit approval was illegal because the Department of Environmental Conservation’s authority to grant a variance expired on Dec 31, 1995. Lewis B. Oliver, Jr. filed…

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SPB Newsletters Listed by Date – 1990s

SPB Newsletters Listed by Date – 1990s

2020s 🦋 2010s 🦋 2000s 🦋 1990s Search Newsletter Archives: 1999 🦋 1998 🦋 1997 🦋 1996 🦋 1995 🦋 1994 1999 December 1999, January 2000 Garbage in the Pine Bush – City Proposes Landfill Expansion SPB Files Most Unpopular Suit Yet – Sues the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally Thank You to All Who Responded to the Emergency Appeal 1st Annual Pine Bush Walk-a-Thon a Sucess! October/November, 1999 Save the Pine Bush Sues…

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The Islands of Radix Center

The Islands of Radix Center

by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Scott Kellogg and Justina Thompson spoke at the September 19th SPB dinner. Scott is the executive director of the Radix Center at 153 Grand Street in the South End of Albany. Justina is a 19-year-old student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute majoring in sustainability studies. Both are highly enthusiastic about their work and are accomplished experts in environmental education. Before they began, Grace Nichols spoke briefly saying insect populations are rapidly declining for multiple reasons. These…

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Proposed Lincoln Park Sewage Treatment Plant

Proposed Lincoln Park Sewage Treatment Plant

by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Dan Van Riper spoke about the proposed Lincoln Park sewage treatment facility at the May 16 SPB dinner. His wife, Lynne Jackson, introduced him saying Dan has studied the sewage issue for more than ten years and written about it extensively on his blog Dan began saying, “This is a really complex issue and if you don’t understand it, I don’ blame you.” He said the city wants the treatment plant in the ravine along…

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Nabokov’s Blues

Nabokov’s Blues

Nabokov’s Blues Save the Pine Bush Sues City of Albany and Department of Environmental Conservation Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush filed suit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the City of Albany over the permit approval for the City of Albany P-4 landfill expansion on Rapp Road. Save the Pine Bush is suing on the grounds that the permit approval was illegal because the authority to grant a…

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More on the West Nile Virus

More on the West Nile Virus

More on the West Nile Virus Arbor Hill Environmental Justice Asks for a Cleaner Patroon Creek Patroon Creek, from Lake Rensselaer in the Pine Bush through the Tivoli Preserve and Arbor Hill to the Hudson River, once was one of the state’s most polluted streams. Now The Arbor Hill Environmental Justice Corporation has filed a petition to designate the creek as safe enough for fishing and swimming even though it doesn’t meet the more rigorous water-quality standards for the designation….

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Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush

Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush

Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush Walk, Hike, and Bike the Pine Bush The Pine Bush is a beautiful place to walk. The soft, rolling sand dunes are a walker’s dream. You can take a bus to the Pine Bush from downtown Albany. The Pine Bush is the perfect spot for outdoor activities. Save the Pine Bush sponsors walks almost every month of the year. Join us! – Ed. Announcing Albany’s Newest Bicycle Path by Jerry Mueller, Mar./Apr. 91…

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Jack Fights Back – McEneny Debates A Letter Jack Fights Back McEneny Debates A Letter By Daniel Van Riper Unexpectedly, John J. “Jack” McEneny is fighting for his job. The State Assemblyman from the 104th District, which runs from Albany to Schenectady to the Hilltowns and includes most of the Pine Bush, spoke to about 50 people at the July 29, 1998 lasagna dinner at 1st Presbyterian Church in Albany. He is being challenged in the Democratic Primary on Sept….

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The Two Month Debate – Jennings and McEneny In A Death-Grip

The Two Month Debate – Jennings and McEneny In A Death-Grip

The Two Month Debate – Jennings and McEneny In A Death-Grip The Two Month Debate Jennings and McEneny In A Death-Grip By Daniel Van Riper Part 1: The Challenger State Assemblyman and Albany mayoral candidate Jack McEneny found himself being interviewed by the editors of the local media outlet for the Hearst Corporation, the Times Union. After the usual questions they asked him, "How do you get along with the business community?" " Well," said McEneny, "I have a number…

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Remember The Elections? Be Thankful We Still Have Them

Remember The Elections? Be Thankful We Still Have Them

Remember The Elections? Be Thankful We Still Have Them Remember The Elections? Be Thankful We Still Have Them By Daniel Van Riper It’s been 3 months since the November elections, time enough to assess the damage . . . and look forward to more! Here’s a quick roundup, and boy is it partisan: Bond Act Boondoggle More than a few folks were puzzled by Save the Pine Bush’s lack of an endorsement for the Environmental Bond Act, especially since it…

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Lou Ismay and the Environmental Forum

Lou Ismay and the Environmental Forum

by Tom Ellis   One of the things I teach my students is that each of us can learn a lot from our elders, especially those who lead rich lives filled with interesting activities.  With that in mind, several months ago I asked Lou Ismay to speak at a SPB dinner which he did on November 14. Lou was introduced by Jackson Davis, who had taken the Environmental Forum course Lou taught at the University at Albany.  Jackson said when he showed up…

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Pushing and Pulling West: Pending Extensions of the Boundaries of the Pine Bush Preserve

Pushing and Pulling West: Pending Extensions of the Boundaries of the Pine Bush Preserve

Pushing and Pulling West: Pending Extensions of the Boundaries of the Pine Bush Preserve   Pushing and Pulling West: Pending Extensions of the Boundaries of the Pine Bush Preserve By John Wolcott A Little Background When I first started mulling over the notion of a Pine Bush Preserve in 1971, it was with the thought of the opportunity to set aside a large, more or less, continuous bi-city forest for the benefit of car-free city dwellers, stretching between Schenectady and…

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John Wolcott Versus The Dump – Skewering An Inane Document

John Wolcott Versus The Dump – Skewering An Inane Document

John Wolcott Versus The Dump – Skewering An Inane Document John Wolcott Versus The Dump Skewering An Inane Document By John Wolcott Editor’s Note: Save the Pine Bush board member and dedicated enemy of deception John Wolcott has provided a blow by blow commentary on the "Summary of the 2nd Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Extension of the Albany Interim Landfill". This is the legal paperwork required before the City of Albany can start throwing trash and…

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Oppose Drumlin Fields Office Complex

Oppose Drumlin Fields Office Complex

Oppose Drumlin Fields Office Complex   Oppose Drumlin Fields Office Complex Five Minutes to Help Save the Pine Bush No matter where you live, please, call an Alderman about Drumlin Fields by Lynne Jackson Drumlin Fields is a proposed office complex to be built on both sides of Rapp Road in the Pine Bush. Bordered on the north and east by Six Mile Waterworks, this 46 acre development would effectively cut-off Six Mile Waterworks ecologically from the remaining preserve. Ice…

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The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally

The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally

The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally by John Wolcott The Thruway Authority has just completed a hikers’ underpass under the new bridge that carries Route 155 over the Thruway. This was done in response to a proposal presented to the Thruway Authority by Save the Pine Bush and the Sierra Club-Hudson Mohawk Group in May 1999. This hikers’ underpass reconnects two unpaved surviving portions of the colonial Kings Road, the road opened for wagons…

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The Uyt Kyck Drumlin In The Schenectady – Albany Pine Bush

The Uyt Kyck Drumlin In The Schenectady – Albany Pine Bush

By John Wolcott By way of an etremely simplyfied explaination s drumlin is a major and fairly popularly known outwash feature of glaciial retreat. Over hundreds of thousand of years there have been four major glacial periods on earth when glaciers formed and spread north from the South Pole and south form the North Pole. Then there were interglacial warmer periods. There were miner fluctuations of re advance and re retreat. The fourth North American Glacial Advance; the Wisconsin moved…

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Proposals for Paving the Pine Bush Come Fast and Furiously

Proposals for Paving the Pine Bush Come Fast and Furiously

Proposals for Paving the Pine Bush Come Fast and Furiously Proposals for Paving the Pine Bush Come Fast and Furiously Guilderland, Albany consider destroying Full Protection Areas Guilderland, Feeney and Ford: Town of Guilderland Planning Board officials heard a preliminary proposal to destroy 103 acres of Pine Bush by allowing 30 plush, expensive houses to be built on land owned by Feeney and Ford. This land is adjacent to and just west of the State Preserve. The Albany Pine Bush…

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A Brief Historical Note on the Six Mile Waterworks (Rensselaer Lake)

A Brief Historical Note on the Six Mile Waterworks (Rensselaer Lake)

A Brief Historical Note on the Six Mile Waterworks (Rensselaer Lake) A Brief Historical Note on the Six Mile Waterworks (Rensselaer Lake) by John Wolcott The section of the Pine Bush where the proposed aquatic park would be located is a remaining portion of an early conservation area. This was one of the first tracts, if not the very first, in the state, specifically set aside for forest and water conservation. For this reason there is some additional historical significance…

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A Journey to Nabokov’s Karner, New York – a Conservation Dilemma

A Journey to Nabokov’s Karner, New York – a Conservation Dilemma

  A recent date to speak about Nabokov’s blues in Albany, New York — the state’s capital — afforded me a chance to visit what is left of old “Karner”, New York. Karner is the little hamlet that, in common parlance, has attached its name to Nabokov’s famous endangered species Lycaeides melissa samuelis, the “Karner Blue”. Karner got the nod for samuelis’s common name because Nabokov chose specimens of samuelis from Karner for his type series (the specimens he used…

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The 1914 Pine Bush Preserve – What became of it?

The 1914 Pine Bush Preserve – What became of it?

The 1914 Pine Bush Preserve – What became of it?  The 1914 Pine Bush Preserve What became of it? by John Wolcott In 1914, Albany almost benefitted immensely from the City Beautiful movement. This was part of the Progressive movement, then afoot around the country with its strong public spirit, open, honest better government and conservation bent. This, temporarily, influenced even traditionally conservative Albany. Albany in 1912, commissioned an architect, Arnold W. Brunner, and a landscape architect, Charles Downing Lay,…

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Save the Pine Bush

Save the Pine Bush

Summarized by Grace Nichols ALBANY: At the May Save the Pine Bush lasgana dinner at the First Presbyterian Church, NY State Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone gave a talk summarizing our recent discoveries of pesticide use in the Pine Bush by both the City of Albany at the Rapp Road Landfill and Pine Bush Police and Fire Station and placing it in the context of his 39 years of work with Rezsin Adams, Lew Oliver and other leaders of the Save…

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Save the Pine Bush

Save the Pine Bush

  ALBANY: Bert Schou, Save the Pine Bush volunteer, took some amazing photos of the Rapp Road leachate flowing out of a pipe coming from the landfill into the southern arm of Lake Rensselaer. The photos, taken in early May, show the bright orange color of the stream. One photo shows a frog trying to get by in this surreal-colored water. Since the SPB newsletter is not printed in color, we can’t show you these photos here. Fortunately, Dan Van…

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Save the Pine Bush

Save the Pine Bush

The Army Corps of Engineers extended the comment period on their review of the wetlands that will be destroyed if the proposed landfill in the Pine Bush is constructed. Bert wrote an excellent letter outlining many of the problems of expanding the landfill. The deadline for comments was March 5 and the letter was sent to Heidi Firstencel, US Army Corps of Engineers, NY District: CENAN-OP-R, Upstate Regulatory Field Office, 1 Buffington Street, Blg 10, 3rd Fl, Watervliet, New York…

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The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Discovery Center

The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Discovery Center

On Saturday, September 29, I participated in Save the Pine Bush’s first ever bicycle ride to the Pine Bush, led expertly by Steve Redler. The two of us rode on this glorious morning to the Pine Bush. It took us about an hour to leisurely pedal to the Discovery Center on back roads. I was astonished at the Discovery Center. It is absolutely beautiful. It is gorgeous. When you first walk in, you are greeted with beautiful paintings of the…

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The Dump Expansion is for Who?

The Dump Expansion is for Who?

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff Writer ALBANY – The city of Albany is among the state’s dozen worst polluters for its plans to expand the Rapp Road dump into the Pine Bush, according to a statewide environmental group’s annual listing released Tuesday. Citizens’ Environmental Coalition also cited the General Electric Co. for alleged foot-dragging over the cleanup of the Dewey Loeffel dump in Nassau, Rensselaer County; and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, under former Gov. George Pataki, for underfunding maverick…

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Save the Pine Bush Asks the Albany Common Council for Justice

Save the Pine Bush Asks the Albany Common Council for Justice

Press Release For Immediate Release: September 8, 2005 For Further Information: please call: Lynne Jackson at 434-6659 ALBANY, NY — Save the Pine Bush asks that the Albany Common Council pass a resolution tonight to take land the City of Albany acquired from the Nature Conservancy for preservation and dedicate it to the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission as required in its permit to operate the landfill. Save the Pine Bush further asks the Council to reject Mayor Jennings proposal…

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Integrating the Landfill into the Pine Bush or What do you do with a Landfill?

Integrating the Landfill into the Pine Bush or What do you do with a Landfill?

by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: Dr. George Robinson gave an excellent succinct speech about landfill reclamation at the January Save the Pine Bush dinner at the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. Robinson, an associate professor of biology at the University of Albany, started by talking about the history of landfills. He mentioned many historic buildings, such as the Imperial Palace in Peking, are built on landfills. Landfills, explained Dr. Robinson, are land forms. They are highly engineered, and have about a 25-year…

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Sprawl Costs Money

Sprawl Costs Money

The Schenectady City Council has called for a public hearing on rescinding the 1969 ordinance which established the Woodlawn Preserve on Monday, July 14 at 7:30 at Schenectady City Hall, Jay Street, Schenectady. Members of the public are allowed three minutes each to speak at the public hearing. Speakers are carefully timed by the Council, to ensure that everyone gets their fair chance to speak. City Council members have expressed interest in hearing from residents of Schenectady on this issue….

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The Patroon Creek and the Pine Bush

The Patroon Creek and the Pine Bush

by Lynne Jackson ALBANY, NY: Dr. George Robinson shared his adventures studying and speculations about the mysterious Patroon Creek, Albany’s only remaining above-ground creek at the November SPB lasagna dinner at the First Presbyterian Church. The Patroon Creek begins in Lake Rensselaer, which is in the Pine Bush. The creek is fed by water filtered through huge amounts of sand of the Pine Bush which means that the water is of good quality. This is an unusual situation, because, unlike…

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SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush

SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush

SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush filed suit in July against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the City of Albany over the permit approval for the City of Albany P-4 landfill expansion on Rapp Road. Save the Pine Bush is suing on the grounds that the permit approval was illegal because the…

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Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush

Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush

Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush by John Wolcott One can reach the Pine Bush from Albany by bus. However, it is, at one point, difficult and unsafe. At another point, it is awkward, and, as yet, uncertain. A couple of weeks ago, I tested part of the bus system in person. I took the Number 12 Crossgates bus to Wall-Mart on the Washington Avenue Extension. This is the nearest stop to…

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The Islands of Radix Center

The Islands of Radix Center

by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Scott Kellogg and Justina Thompson spoke at the September 19th SPB dinner. Scott is the executive director of the Radix Center at 153 Grand Street in the South End of Albany. Justina is a 19-year-old student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute majoring in sustainability studies. Both are highly enthusiastic about their work and are accomplished experts in environmental education. Before they began, Grace Nichols spoke briefly saying insect populations are rapidly declining for multiple reasons. These…

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Dan McCoy Speaks at Save the Pine Bush

Dan McCoy Speaks at Save the Pine Bush

by Tim Truscott   There has been plenty of energy pipeline news in the Capital Region of New York during the month of April. Here is some of it: Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline “Suspended” On April 20, Kinder Morgan, the developer for the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) 30-inch diameter natural gas pipeline, announced it was “suspending” the 400-mile, $3 billion proposed project, which would have run from the fracking fields of northern Pennsylvania to Dracut, Massachusetts, near Boston. The NED…

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Crossing paths: Area farmers fear risks from 2 gas pipeline proposals

Crossing paths: Area farmers fear risks from 2 gas pipeline proposals

By Brian Nearing — Published in the Times Union, Saturday, June 27, 2015   It’s a long way from a sea of natural gas wells scattered through Pennsylvania’s Bradford County to Libby Reilly’s organic farm off Clarks Chapel Road in Nassau. And it is even longer from her farm, where about two dozen beef cows graze in grassy fields, to remote cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. But these far-flung places share something in common —…

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The Importance of the Tivoli Preserve

The Importance of the Tivoli Preserve

by Tom Ellis ALBANY: George Robinson, a restoration ecologist with the University at Albany’s Department of Biological Sciences, spoke at the June 19 SPB dinner at Westminster Presbyterian Church about the history of restoration planning for the Tivoli preserve. For those unfamiliar with it, the Tivoli preserve is located north of Livingston Avenue and behind the former Philip Livingston school. The Tivoli lake (or pond) is a few hundred yards west of the former school. Also located in the Tivoli…

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Neil Gifford of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission Speaks

Neil Gifford of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission Speaks

by Tom Ellis   ALBANY: Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission Conservation Director Neil A. Gifford was the featured speaker at the March 22 SPB dinner.  Reszin Adams introduced him.    Mr. Gifford said he is a conservation scientist by training.  He said the Pine Bush Commission now has 27 staff, is an authority, the preserve contains 3200 acres, including at least fifteen invasive species.   He said there are hundreds of acres of Blue Lupine planted, the Karner Blues Butterfly population doubled from 2010 to 2011, the preserve…

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Habitat Restoration and Mitigation Project: How it Fits in to the Preserve Goals for Restoration” Neil Gifford Gives Save the Pine Bush Dinner Talk in March, 2011

Habitat Restoration and Mitigation Project: How it Fits in to the Preserve Goals for Restoration” Neil Gifford Gives Save the Pine Bush Dinner Talk in March, 2011

by Grace Nichols ALBANY, NY – Neil Gifford, Conservation Director at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, has been working in the Pine Bush since the early 1990s. He describes the mission of the Albany Pine Bush Commission, a body representing the many different governmental interests in the Pine Bush land, as “to preserve the pitch pine/scrub oak barrens” as authorized by Environmental Conservation Law Article 46 (1988) in which the legislature declared it is in the public interest to protect…

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Save the Pine Bush Newsletters in Date Order

Save the Pine Bush Newsletters in Date Order

Save the Pine Bush Newsletters in Date Order Save the Pine Bush Newsletters in Date Order 1996-1997 December 96, January 97 Newsletter New York to Buy Pineland Tract From L.I. Scouts The Karner Blue vs Crossgates Mall – Secret Meetings and SEQRA Violations The Karner Blue and the Wishing Wells Save the Pine Bush Sues the Town of Colonie November SPB Dinner Speakers Now We’ve Got A Bond Act – Jeff Jones of Environmental Advocates Bethlehem Pickled – Formaldahyde And…

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EPA GRANT TARGETS CONDITIONS IN PATROON CREEK

EPA GRANT TARGETS CONDITIONS IN PATROON CREEK

by DINA CAPPIELLO, Staff writer A $400,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday will place Patroon Creek under 24-hour scientific surveillance, supplying researchers, residents and students with essential information about the stream’s health. This data “will help identify pollutants that may pose a hazard to our citizens,” said Mayor Jerry Jennings. The city applied for the grant on behalf of nine environmental, educational and government organizations. “With this grant, we hope to begin the process of…

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Roads in the Pine Bush – John Poorman Speaks about the CDTC

Roads in the Pine Bush – John Poorman Speaks about the CDTC

by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: John Poorman, Executive Director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission spoke at the July SPB vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner. Mr. Poorman began by describing what the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDTC) is. The CDTC is the designated “Metropolitan Planning Organization” (MPO) for four counties, Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady. Under federal law, the CDTC’s responsibilities are to provide a forum to discuss transportation needs and develop transportation plans in the context of social, economic and…

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Newsletters Articles Ordered by Subject

Newsletters Articles Ordered by Subject

Search Newsletter Archives: What is Full Protection, Partial Protection and who is the Pine Bush? – By Lynne Jackson – June / July 2022 Newsletter A Tribute To Lew Oliver, our wonderful lawyer The Pine Bush’s Most Famous Resident – The Karner Blue Butterfly Save the Pine Bush Victories and Fights The Thruway Authority Comes Across Royally, Dec 99/Jan 00Save the Pine Bush is 25!, Mar/Apr 03 Legislation regarding standing in court We Need the Environmental Access to Justice Act,…

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