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 … SPB Sues City & DEC Over Illegal Landfill in the Pine Bush
Jerry Mueller brings Lasagna to Nicaragua – The Pine Bush as Example for the World Jerry Mueller brings Lasagna to Nicaragua The Pine Bush as Example for the World by Lynne Jackson In 1987, when Save the Pine Bush was only 9 years old, and before any major acquisition of land had occurred because of … 9
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 … Exploring Bus Service to the Pine Bush
Council Sacrifices Pine Bush – Nitido, Hershberg Win Council Sacrifices Pine Bush Nitido, Hershberg Win By Daniel Van Riper Showing a marked lack of common sense, the Albany Common Council voted 9-6 in favor of rezoning 400 and 495 Rapp Road to build an office park called Drumlin Fields in the shadow of the … Council Sacrifices Pine Bush – Nitido, Hershberg Win
Action Alert! Call your Common Council Member- Ask to Vote No on Touhey Action Alert! Call your Common Council Member – Ask to Vote No on Touhey Charles Touhey is back with his proposal to construct an office complex in the Pine Bush. So far, Save the Pine Bush has sucessfully stopped Mr. Touhey … 9
They Don’t Ever Quit-But Neither Do We They Don’t Ever Quit But Neither Do We By Daniel Van Riper Not Again, Charlie We’ve been graciously alerted by Alderwoman Carol Wallace that the Albany Common Council Zoning Committee is being treated to a rerun of developer Charlie Touhey’s proposal to build the “Pine East Office Park” … They Don’t Ever Quit-But Neither Do We
Late Breaking News Late Breaking News By Lynne Jackson On May 15, 1996, the Zoning Committee of the Common Council of the City of Albany voted to recommend the Common Council approve the 13-acre Charlie Touhey office park development located in front on the Dunes, off Washington Ave. Ext. Only Zoning Chair, Carol Wallace, abstained. … Late Breaking News
by Grace Nichols ALBANY, NY: On May 13, 2019, Save the Pine Bush, Environmental Advocates of New York, Radix, beekeepers, farmers, the League of Women Voters, the Working Family Party, the Upper Hudson Greens, and many other activists, joined Grace Nichols and six county legislators who sponsored the bill, to speak out for a policy … Albany Now a Pollinator-Friendly County
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: “If we lose reverence for any part of life, we lose reverence for all of life,” said Save the Pine Bush member Lou Ismay at the April 17th SPB dinner at which Lou spoke about his launching the Protect Your Environment (PYE) Club at SUNY Albany fifty years ago. He … Honoring Lou Ismay at the April SPB Dinner
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: David Ellis of Rensselaer Residents Against Toxic Dumping and Lou Sebesta of Stop Trucks Assaulting Rensselaer (STAR) spoke at the May 15th SPB dinner about “Done with Dunn Landfill: Negative Impacts of Dunn C/D Dump Operations” in Rensselaer, and their efforts to close it. Later in the evening, George Keleshian … Done with the Dunn Dump
by Tom Ellis New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos responded to a March 4 Albany Times Union editorial with a letter to the editor ten days later. The editorial titled, “Weak fines, weak message,” strongly criticized the DEC’s “spotty record on cracking down on local environmental violations.” Specifically discussed were the … DEC Should Enforce the Rules
by Grace Nichols ALBANY, NY: Save the Pine Bush supports a move by Albany County Legislator Doug Bullock and Save the Pine Bush’s Grace Nichols to introduce to the Legislature a Pollinator-Friendly County Resolution. It would be the first time that the County stood with a class of organisms undergoing rapid extinctions globally. We, at … Legislation to Protect Pollinators
Compiled by Tim Truscott Letter: Pine Bush Preserve remains a folly To the editor, Sunday, September 2, 2018 The extension of the lifespan of the Rapp Road landfill is welcome news for Albany taxpayers. It’s unimaginable what the cost of getting rid of our waste will be when we have to close that landfill. I … Letters to the Editor of the Times Union
by Christine Kielb Tom Ellis and Christine Kielb of Stop Trucks Assaulting Rensselaer (STAR), a group of Rensselaer residents and their allies, are continuing their work fighting the tractor trailer truck traffic passing through city neighborhoods to and from the Dunn Construction and Demolition (C&D) landfill. This landfill operation, larger than the Colonie and Albany … Truck Traffic in Rensselaer: Update
by Grace Nichols Have you noticed in driving through rural New York, that your windshield – which once would have been covered with the remnants of countless insect collisions are now fairly clean? This observation has been made globally and linked to severe declines in insect populations. Insects are a critical part of the ecosystem … Pollinator-Friendly County Resolution to be introduced in the face of alarming flying insect declines
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 … The Islands of Radix Center
After my planned Pine Bush hike got rained out in May, it looked as if Mother Nature, combined with the “Hughie” curse, was going to throw me another bone for my June Hike. However, as it turned out, the rain held off just long enough to allow we five hikers to complete our 3.5 mile … Our June 23rd Hike in the Pine Bush
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Tina Lieberman and Susan Lawrence spoke at the June 20 SPB dinner about the power and potential of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). Tina is a member of the Energy Subcommittee of the Albany City Sustainability Advisory Committee. Susan is on the Executive Committees of both the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter … The Potential of Community Choice Aggregation
Save the Pine Bush turned 40 this year. For 40 years, it has protected the Pine Bush and the Karner Blue Butterfly. For 40 years, volunteers have diligently mailed newsletters out. As the technology has changed over the past four decades, so have the options of distributing our powerful newsletter. Assuming you have an email … Receiving our Newsletter via Paper or Email
by Christine Kielb Each weekday, from 6:30 am to 4:00 pm, up to 100 large tractor trailer trucks (18-26 wheelers) arrive off the Dunn MemoriaI Bridge onto Broadway Street in the City of Rensselaer. These trucks travel north on Broadway, turn east onto Partition Street and proceed up and down its steep hills through residential … Landfill truck traffic in Rensselaer affecting quality of life for residents.
ALBANY, NY— Leaders of local community organizations, backed up by environmental organizations throughout the state, released a letter on September 19, 2017; calling on Governor Cuomo and the Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) to undertake a full environmental review, including an Environmental Impact Statement on a 16-megawatt gas-fired power plant proposed in Sheridan Hollow, a … SHARE — Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy Forms
by Tom Ellis Rensselaer City residents began meeting last spring after enduring five years of up to 100 huge trucks per day five days a week traverse downtown streets en-route to a construction and demolition debris (C&D) dump at the east end of Partition Street. About 30 residents met September 28 at the Rensselaer public … Residents Object to Polluting Trucks
by Grace Nichols ALBANY, NY: Bees pollinate over 75 % of the world’s plants. The honeybee, A. mellifera is an introduced European honeybee and has been declining since the 1950’s. As of 2007, 29% of beekeepers reported a 75 % loss in their hives due to Colony Collapse Disorder which is thought to be caused … The Wild Bees of the Pine Bush
Save the Pine Bush wishes to thank the late Peter Henner, Esq. and his estate for his generous contribution to Save the Pine Bush. Peter filed several lawsuits on behalf of Save the Pine Bush, attended many SPB lasagna dinners and was a friend to many of us. He is much missed. For more … Thank you, Peter!
by Diana Wright Given the plight of the Albany City Landfill and the dismaying information gathered at the 3 forums held by the City last month, PAUSE would like to form a committee to address the landfill dilemma looming over us. We had a preliminary meeting on July 6 to see what kind of interest … Landfill Committee forming
by Hugh Johnson ALBANY. NY: Judith Enck, former EPA Regional Director of New York State’s Region II, and until recently the first visiting Scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, spoke at the Save the Pine Bush vegetarian lasagna dinner at the Westminster Presbyterian Church on June 21. Like many Americans, … How Can We Reverse the Tide of Trump’s Plan to Eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency? — Part I
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: For many years I have watched state agencies abuse our rights as citizens, taxpayers, residents, and interested parties in regulatory proceedings. The NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (ERDA) and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) are particularly guilty of limiting public access to public information. For example, ERDA held … Save the Pine Bush Volunteers Win Victory for Open Records
by Grace Nichols WASHINGTON, DC: Darting in and out of the crowd, you could catch the energy and creativity of the groups. Huge puppets from El Puente; Reclaiming Appalachian (huge red flag and lots of marchers), right next to Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Environmental Justice and tons of local groups (don’t dump on our … 200,000 marched in DC Heat — Report back — Circle Up
by Tom Ellis Listen to the audio of the presentation here. Albany, NY: Recently retired National Weather Service (NWS) meteorological forecaster Hugh Johnson was the speaker at the April 19 SPB dinner. His talk was titled Is the Earth Running a Fever? and he spoke about climate change and the NWS. He said, “Anything’s possible … Is the Earth Running a Fever?
by Grace Nichols, July 26, 2009 The survival of the Federally Protected Karner Blue Butterfly in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve is in doubt here in Albany – its numbers have been critically low for at least ten years. This butterfly was first named by Vladimir Nabokov, the famous writer, and became one of … Save the Pine Bush
by Tom Ellis Albany, NY: Kim Fraczek, Co-Director of the Sane Energy Project spoke on “Gas Infrastructure — The Big Picture” at the January 18 SPB dinner. She is very enthusiastic opinionated, and optimistic about blocking construction of many of the proposed natural gas pipelines in New York. She displayed an interactive, online map of … Kim Fraczek Speaks about the Sane Energy Project and Mapping PipelinesKim Fraczek Speaks about the Sane Energy Project and Mapping Pipeliness
by Lynne Jackson Albany, NY: Chris Hawver, Executive Director of the Albany Pine Bush Management Commission, spoke at our February 2017 Save the Pine Bush dinner. Chris began his presentation with a really sweet tribute to Rezsin Adams. Chris said that when he first started with the Albany Pine Bush Preserve commission that he was … There would be no Pine Bush Today without Save the Pine Bush and Rezsin Adams
by Lynne Jackson In an unusal twist of fate, Pine Bush land that is currently publicly held is being considered for development by the City of Schenectady. Called the Woodlawn Wetlands and Dunes Area, it is located in the Pine Bush ecosystem in the City of Schenectady, on the border of Albany County and Niskayuna, … City Owned Land Up for Grabs
2016 was a fairly busy year for the environment and for PAUSE. We began by joining with the Break Free Coalition in January to plan the nationally covered Break Free From Fossil Fuels march and rally here in Albany in May. More than 2500 people gathered in Lincoln Park from as far away as Wyoming … People of Albany United for Safe Energy — PAUSE Year in Review
Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Hell and High Water: New York Responds to Climate Change was title of the talk given by Mark Lowery at the November 16 SPB dinner. Mr. Lowery is a climate policy analyst in the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Office of Climate Change (OCC). He said OCC helps NYS mitigate … Climate Change and Hell and High Water
CALL 866-846-4075 The Pilgrim Pipelines would carry explosive fracked oil along the New York State Thruway and through six counties, from Albany to New Jersey, and return flammable refined products north. If constructed, the two pipelines would threaten our drinking water, risk the safety of dozens of communities, and promote fracking and climate change chaos. … Call-In Week to Governor Cuomo – Coming Up January 23-27, 2017
The Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission is releasing its Draft Management Plan Update for public review and comment on October 4, 2016. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 25, 2016 from 7:00-9:00pm, at the Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center, 195 New Karner Road, Albany, NY to gather public comment on this document. People … Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission Releases 2017 Draft Management Plan Update
Report from Tom Ellis The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) held public hearings that I attended on September 20 and October 25 on the application of the Town of Colonie to greatly enlarge its landfill located along the Mohawk River near Route 9. Dozens spoke against the proposal citing concerns about odors, aesthetics, noise, … Landfill Expansion Proposal in the Town of Colonie
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Bryon Backenson of the NYS Health Department DOH) spoke at the October 19 SPB dinner about climate change and arthropod-borne diseases. Mr. Backenson is a research scientist and Director of Investigations and Vector Surveillance Control in the DOH Bureau of Communicable Diseases Control (BCDC). He is also an assistant professor … Climate Change and Arthropod-borne Diseases
The editorial “Question and answer time,” Sept. 4, regarding a late August state Senate public hearing on PFOA contamination in Rensselaer County said the central issue is “why a village of 3,500 people was drinking contaminated water for more than a year after officials first knew of the problem” and asked “what could have been … Bad air a problem in the South End
NEW SCOTLAND — A man of principle and passion, Peter Henner worked for causes he believed in with the same logic and commitment he used when playing chess. He tackled his legal work as he tackled mountains on climbs with his wife — with a sense of adventure. “He always told everything straight,” said Nancy … Peter Henner
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: When we learned that US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional administrator Judith Enck would be speaking in Albany the same evening Save the Pine Bush as the scheduled August dinner, SPB decided to cancel the dinner and hear Ms. Enck speak. On August 17, Ms. Enck, formerly of Albany, … Judith Enck Meets with Ezra Prentice Residents
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Julien Bouget of Sun Edison was the speaker at the June 15 SPB dinner. Mr. Bouget has been in the wind business since 1999. He was born in France. He was introduced by Tim Truscott. Tim told me later that Mr. Bouget studied physics in college. Mr. Bouget said … Wind Energy
by Mark Schaeffer Save the Pine Bush will launch a series of programs on the climate crisis and practical solutions at our September 21 meeting. That meeting will include a discussion of NYRenews (www.NYRenews.org), a new statewide coalition devoted to a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy, environmental justice, and creating large numbers of … Save the Pine Bush — Addressing Climate Change
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 … Dan McCoy Speaks at Save the Pine Bush
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Carol Waterman introduced former county legislator Timothy Nichols at the January 20 SPB dinner saying Tim sponsored a bill vetoed by Albany County Executive Dan McCoy that would have blocked pharmacies in Albany County from selling tobacco products. Tim, who was also Chairman of the legislature’s health committee, and lost a … Former Albany County Legislator Tim Nichols: Politics & Tobacco
By Tim Truscott The following is an interesting, though brief, article by Alan Woods of the Toronto Star on the findings of a study done by a Quebec provincial agency regarding fish in the Chaudiere River at Lac-Megantic following the disastrous oil train fire of July 6, 2013. The impression given to the public … Are Cuomo’s Oil Spill Trailers a Fix for Spilled Oil?
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Retired University at Albany economics professor and McKownville Improvement Association president Don Reeb was the speaker at the November 18 SPB dinner. Don spoke about SUNY Poly — formerly College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE): The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Don is 82 years old. He said the neighborhood contain 900 … Don Reeb — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
By TU Editorial Board on December 29, 2015 at 3:30 AM When the city of Albany in 2009 convinced New York state to let it do one more landfill expansion, it knew the deal: In exchange for a bigger dump, the city would have to fund a substantial restoration of the fragile Pine Bush. … A thorn in the Pine Bush
In 1996, the Iroquois Pipeline Co. pleaded guilty to four felony counts and paid multimillion dollar fines for overseeing hundreds of criminal violations of the Clean Water Act during the construction of a 375 milelong gas pipeline across New York state. A decade later, the construction of the Millennium Pipeline resulted in the same … Say ‘No’ to proposed pipeline