Jim Gordon at HV Biz has a great piece on the web journal currently about how the control of road salt applications by highway crews can save tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars each year and reduce damage to groundwater supplies and surface water, at least according to a report by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies released Dec. 16.
The report lists 10 ways to effectively control snow and ice on roads while minimizing salt usage, including calibrating equipment, regulating applicators and retrofitting trucks with air and road temperature sensors. Among other practices, they advocate using real-time data available online to determine whether salt should be used.

Salt spread on roads increases the salinity of drinking water and quickly degrades aquatic environments. The salt has a “legacy effect” because it takes decades to flush from a watershed. The problem is growing because road salt use has spiked in recent decades.

New Hampshire in 1938 was the first state to experiment with sodium chloride as road salt. In 1942 about 5,000 tons of salt was used to de-ice the nation’s roads. Currently, between 10 million and 20 million tons of salt are used annually to de-ice U.S. roads.

The report cited East Fishkill, in Putnam County, as a success story. In 2009, the town retrofitted 16 hydraulic winter trucks with temperature, speed, conveyor and spreader sensors and computers to control the amount of salt spread. The cost was $140,000. Officials said the move saved the town $103,810 last winter, so the investment had almost paid for itself in one winter.

The savings derive from reduced salt use. The town used 10,637 tons of salt at a cost of $744,590 during the winter of 2008-2009. It used 7,154 tons of salt at a cost of $500,780 in the winter of 2009-2010. The report noted that even though less salt was used last winter, there was more snow than in the previous year.

The hi-tech spreader system has another advantage as well. “The data we collect from these trucks will give us a very good idea of the amount of salt that we’re using and will give us a better way to manage it,” said East Fishkill Supervisor John Hickman, a former highway superintendent.

The report also says salt trucks should be carefully loaded, with only the amount actually needed placed in the hopper. Studies show that drivers tend to use whatever is loaded and that such loads typically are 20 percent larger than conditions warrant.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The site for the new Camphill Ghent facility, as seen on the Camphill website."][/caption]Bob Green of the Register Star reports this morning that construction is now underway at Camphill Ghent, an innovative continuous care facility for senior citizens to be located on Route 66 in Columbia County. The developers are associated with Camphill Village in Copake, one of many related communities worldwide where persons with disabilities are housed in small group settings along with their caregivers, some of them volunteers.

The $20 million project faced a funding gap last year when a hoped-for congressional appropriation did not come through. Meanwhile a previously-awarded $9.6 million grant, from a state health care initiative, imposed a two year deadline. That meant construction had to start in 2010 or the funds would be lost.

Enter the Columbia County Capital Resource Corporation, which is empowered to issue tax-free bonds on behalf of qualified non-profits. With CRC’s help, Camphill Ghent closed last week on a loan of more than $5 million from lender First Niagara. Due to the tax free nature of the deal, Camphill Ghent will pay a reduced interest rate on the loan. No taxpayer money is involved or at risk, while CRC collects a .75 percent fee for its role.

The other big piece of the puzzle came from within Camphill’s own organization, in the form of a “grant from (Camphill) Copake for the land” according to John Baring, head of Camphill Ghent and also a board member and long-time volunteer at Camphill Copake.

“It’s a big weight off our shoulders to have funding in place to complete construction” of the project’s first phase, he said. “It’s exciting knowing funding is in place … We are very grateful to First Niagara.”

Now both dirt and snow are flying at the site, and Baring says construction is “going nicely” with plumbing and framing underway for “co-housing” where seniors and their specially-trained service providers will live in a group setting, the model that has proved so successful elsewhere in the Camphill system. Pads will soon be poured for the “townhouses”, where seniors who wish to live independently can still enjoy the benefits and services of a community dedicated to their needs.

“It’s amazing to see them working in the cold weather,” Baring said of trades people who dealt with the effects of last week’s blizzard. But when Camphill officials visited the site to say thanks, the message in return was the same. “Thank you for the work,” they said, according to Baring.

Studies suggest significant pent-up demand for senior housing of all types in our region, and many facilities have waiting lists. Baring said that, subject to approval by the state Department of Health, information on what it will cost to live at the facility should be available “in the first quarter of 2011.”

One open issue concerns the main entrance at Route 66. The state Department of Transportation has expressed concerns about sight lines and has furnished its recommended alternative, but that plan is not favored by the Department of Environmental Conservation, which says that DOT’s plan will disturb wetlands. The Ghent Planning Board agrees with the DEC’s position.

For his part, Baring is hoping for “compromise” between agencies on the matter. “Everybody is trying to do their duty,” Baring said of state officials. For now, the matter is in a holding pattern. “Let’s wait until the new governor is in place,” Baring told the Register-Star.

Planning Board Chair Jonathan Walters echoed Baring’s comments. He thinks the developers and planners should be able to “figure out something that will satisfy DOT’s legitimate concerns about sight distance,” without the cost and environmental impact of DOT’s alternative.

Walters said an earlier letter from DOT raised the possibility of a deceleration lane, and he thinks that idea merits a closer look. “We want to work this out too,” Walters said of the Planning Board. The current site plan also completely accommodates the proposed Harlem Valley Rail Trail, and DOT’s plan might complicate that too.

Kenneth J. Flood, commissioner of Columbia County Planning/Economic Development, said the project, in addition to being approved as creditworthy on its own merits by First Niagara, also passed the county’s test for tax-free status. “We look at the jobs created,” and other economic impacts, he said. So when the CRC board asked last year, “is this something we want to help,” the answer came up in the affirmative.

More information on Camphill Ghent is available at http://www.camphillvillage.org/ghent.html.

[caption id="attachment_6806" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="Found along the Hudson River in Malden January 1."][/caption]On New Year’s Day, a woman took her dogs out for a walk. Close to home, she let them off their leash and one bolted for the banks of the Hudson River, where something seemed to agitate him. The woman followed. The next morning she contacted the press about what she found.


“This is hunting?,” was the label of the e-mail. “This morning on my walk along River Rd in Malden I came upon over 35 duck, pheasant and quail, along with 2 deer carcasses dumped at the river bank. Some of the birds were still intact. Who would do such a thing? It is bad enough they shoot these beautiful creatures, but then to dump them in a heap along the bank is too much.”


The image on this page was attached to the e-mail.


By Monday we were in direct contact with the woman, who wished to remain unnamed because of her fears that what she unveiled to the public would force repercussions.


“It was appalling. I knocked on my neighbor's door whose house overlooks this empty lot and he came over to investigate this with his friend, who happens to be a hunter. Even the hunter said that something like this gives hunters a bad name,” she said on January 3. “Some of the birds were tagged. All I could think was these hunters have been shooting at these animals since the end of October and I tried to imagine how many have been murdered if just one hunter shot this many birds. And to dump them along the shore like this was disgusting. Some of them had not even been used for their meat, so what was the point? I watched these guys these past few months out on the river behind a blind with decoys around them, making their duck calls, luring their prey. They were fanatical. The hunter who spoke to me said he knew some guys who stayed out there over night and would go out for days. Who monitors what these hunters do (or don't do)?”


The woman added that she had contacted a Department of Environmental Conservation officer in Saugerties, who said he’d get back to her within the week. She said that she’d later heard from neighbors that the DEC had apparently come out on Sunday and looked around.

According to the DEC’s hunting websites, waterfowl season for ducks and the other birds seen the riverside cache was October 9 through 17, then November 6 through December 26. Moreover, there were daily kill and dead bird possession limits listed, of 6 ducks maximum for our region’s “take,” and a dozen for “possession” limits.

“The daily bag limit is the maximum number of birds of each species that any person may take or possess in the field during any one day,” reads the exact terminology. “The possession limit is twice the daily bag limit for all waterfowl species except snow geese. The possession limit is the maximum number of birds that any person may possess in total in the field, at home, in transit or in storage.

On this past Tuesday, I made my own way to the corner of First and Water Streets in Malden to see what was up. The scene was truly grisly… with an accompanying detail not mentioned before. There was a bag on hand, either for cement or feed of some sort, stuffed to ripping with bird carcasses. And the deer were ravaged, disemboweled…

To make matters particularly eerie, the Hudson was flowing North when I was there… a sign of the exceptional tides of the moment. Ice flows bounced off each other as flurries of seagulls darted at open water, cackling loudly. A lone duck flew low over the same scene I was witnessing, then circled back and flew over it again.

“There is probably no way for them to find out who did this,” the woman who originally contacted me wrote in an e-mail after I let her know what I, too, had seen in Malden. “The hunter who spoke to me said the duck hunters are a like a clan. He told me the word would get out and they would find out who did it. I can only hope so.”

Later, the woman talked about how there had seemed to be no break in the duck hunting all fall, daybreak to sunset from the blinds out on the river. She also noted how her neighbor had pointed out how some of the breasts had been cut out of ducks, but most were just dead, un-messed with. Stashed, as it were.

Wendy Rosenbach, spokesperson for DEC Region 3, called in just before press time and said that the officer who had been contacted, Mules Schillinger, was still investigating what had happened. She described the scene as having 30 to 40 dead ducks and pheasants and one dismembered deer carcass. Beyond that, there wasn’t much she could say.

“If they do find something,” Rosenbach said, “the charges will be for illegal disposal of solid waste.”

She suggested that anyone with further information call 845-256-3013.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="State Senators Jeff Klein, left, Diane Savino, David Carlucci and David Valesky announce their formation of a breakaway Independent Democratic Conference outside Klein's office at the Capitol yesterday in a photo by the Times Union's Rick Karlin."][/caption]Is infighting the new minority mantra? As Gov. Andrew Cuomo was being praised by Senate Republican Jim Seward for the "upbeat high school pep rally" tones of his first State of the State speech yesterday, Senate Democrats were watching their 32-30 minority dwindle to 32-26 as four Democratic senators broke away from their party's conference to form an independent caucus, announcing that leaders of the Democrat conference -- specifically John Sampson, D-Brooklyn -- have failed and the group couldn't support them "in good conscience." In a piece in today's Times Union, veteran reporter Jimmy Vielkind reports that Sen. Jeff Klein, one of the four who represents Westchester County and the Bronx, said. ""This isn't a power play. This isn't about the right price, it's about the right thing." Joining him in the Independent Democratic Conference were Sens. Diane Savino of Staten Island, David Valesky of Syracuse and the just-elected David Carlucci of Rockland County. All indicated disgust with Sampson's leadership, with the inability "to move forward a legislative agenda responsive to the people's needs" and, Valesky noted, the "unacceptable" revelation that it exceeded its budget by at least $7 million.


Over the past two years when Democrats had a rare majority in the Upstate-dominated Senate, they were also plagued with caucus problems at several points when their members decided to caucus separately, or with the GOP minority, turning the tables on their own majority status several times.

"We're a national laughingstock. Everybody recognizes that," Savino said. "We are going to turn Albany upside down."

The move does not immediately tip the balance of power in the chamber. Republicans took a 32-30 majority in November. The four said they would vote for neither Sampson nor Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, of Long Island, in a leadership vote that Skelos is expected to win.

Klein resigned last week as deputy majority leader. He served as the number two leader under Sampson and Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, as well as the floor leader. His ambition to be elected conference leader is an accepted fact in Albany politics, but electoral losses among some of his allies in the ad hoc "Klavino" sub-conference -- Craig Johnson of Long Island, Darrel Aubertine of the North Country and Bill Stachowski of Buffalo -- left his hand weakened.

In making this move, Klein is positioning himself apart from a group beset with trouble: in addition to the overspending, the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee -- which he chaired, but was also heavily influenced by Sampson and his loyal aides -- is at least $3 million in debt. Sampson and Smith were both named in a negative report by former Inspector General Joseph Fisch regarding their conduct during the awarding of a contract to develop video slot machines at the Aqueduct Race Track. Smith is also being looked at in criminal probes.

Klein said he contacted Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was "supportive." He also spoke with Skelos, who said he "recognized" the conference. The four promised to work with both sides to advance an agenda of capping property taxes, forming an independent panel to draw district lines and protect women's reproductive rights.

While Republicans were happy, Democrats reacted coolly.

"I think they made a bad decision and I hope they come back. I hope it's just smoothing over bad things," said Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem. "We can't have the divisiveness that we had two years ago with the four amigos, and there's a lesson to be learned from two years ago, the fact that we're in the minority now."

He was referring to the formation of the "amigos" -- Hiram Monserrate, Pedro Espada, Ruben Diaz and Carl Kruger -- and the way they withheld support for then-leader Malcolm Smith until they were given political plums. In June 2009, Espada and Monserrate defected to the GOP, causing a month of chaos.

Breslin still supports Sampson, as did Sen. Daniel Squadron, who during a brief organizational session offered a resolution re-installing Sampson as the chamber's leader, saying he "maintained the good will of colleagues on both sides of the aisle." (The resolution, of course, failed.)

Sampson said Wednesday, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his first State of the State speech, "should not be about politics. Our common goal should be progress - working with Governor Cuomo to move our state forward."

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Senate-Democrats-in-revolt-938613.php#ixzz1AFnH3u8k

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Catskill ski conditions, as captured in a recent image from the state's Belleayre Mountain website."][/caption]In what may very well be a harbinger of business battles to come as Americans start to fight over shrinking pies, a new ski area business promotion involving state-owned Belleayre Mountain ski area has caused a rift within the ranks of the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, which represents scores of businesses and organizations in the region. The Kingston Daily Freeman's Jay Braman Jr. reports this morning that the CCCC has received a letter of ultimatum from one of its Executive Committee members demanding it immediately drop a Belleayre Mountain Ski Center promotion or she will resign her post and leave the chamber.

The chamber this month began a promotion called the “Belleayre BOGO Campaign,” a buy-one-get-one-free offer to any customer of a chamber business that spends more than $50. One-thousand vouchers good for a day of skiing at the state-owned Belleayre facility have been distributed to chamber members, who use them as a way to get people to come into their respective businesses. And more vouchers are being produced. But Danielle Vajtay, who owns and operates Plattekill Mountain Ski Center, says the promotion is hurting the business she operates with her husband, Lazlo.

Similar complaints have come, in recent months, from Greene County's two main privately-owned ski areas at Hunter and Windham, who have notified the state of their displeasure at the heavy promotional discounts Belleayre has been offering. But there has meanwhile been no bad blood between the two ski areas as a result of Hunter Mountain's new ski deal for gasoline fill-ups via Getty/Lukoil stations throughout the tri-state region, with Windham Mountain promoting itself this year based on its 50th anniversary of skiing in the region.

A few years back, the Greene County legislature went so far as to back a move in the state legislature to set up a Blue Ribbon panel to look into unfair competition from the state in New York's ski industry, which in turn prompted similar responses from the Ulster County legislature regarding Belleayre. The state-owned ski industry has been the subject of numerous support rallies and opinion of late, as seen HERE, as it fights state budget cuts and calls for shifts in its public management.


“It is very disturbing that the chamber has seen nothing wrong with having all the local chamber businesses handing out free ski tickets to one ski facility in our chamber region when there are two ski centers in the chamber region,” Vajtay wrote in a letter to Chamber Executive Director Carol O’Beirne. “This does not exactly make for good feelings on the part of the ‘other’ ski center who happens to be a chamber member and board member too. It also does not bear well when we have local community businesses asking us how we feel about the fact that they have been given Belleayre BOGOs to pass out to their customers (including businesses that are also Plattekill lodging partners who are put in a hard position of what to offer guests). Was any thought given to the impact this promotion might negatively have on Plattekill since our skiers go to the same local area businesses as Belleayre skiers?”

The Plattekill facility is in Roxbury, is southeastern Delaware County. Belleayre is in Highmount, near the Ulster County-Delaware County line.

O’Beirne, in a Jan. 3 letter to all chamber members, said the Belleayre promotion is geared toward increasing sales for the chamber’s member businesses.

All well and good, Vajtay says, but not at Plattekill’s expense.

“We cannot compete with free,” she said.

“It is clearly obvious to us that the chamber is one-sided in their thinking when it comes to the two local ski areas in its membership district, and therefore, unless this promotion is immediately discontinued, it is clearly obvious that my services as a board member are no longer needed or valued by the chamber,” Vajtay wrote in her letter. “This promotion is just such a slap in face to Plattekill.”

Vajtay said she is awaiting a reply from O’Beirne and is prepared to resign immediately if the promotion is not dropped.

O’Beirne said she will speak with Vajtay about some type of promotion for Plattekill.

Vajtay, in her letter, asked chamber members to consider the following:

“You are a skier (coming) to the area and go shopping at Freshtown and are handed a Belleayre BOGO at the cash register. Where would you go skiing? You are a skier planning to ski Plattekill for the weekend and stop to eat at a local restaurant on arrival and are given a BOGO ticket to a place called Belleayre with your dinner tab. Where would you go skiing? You stay overnight at one of hundreds of lodging places and are given a BOGO ticket to Belleayre at checkout. Where do you go skiing?”

One of the sticking points in local politics of late has been the state's withholding of promised funds owed Greene County, held back by Gov. David Paterson’s administration due to a disagreement over the county treasurer appointment made last summer after Willis Vermilyea retired before the end of his term. But yesterday, January 5, just hours before his first State of the State Address, Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed the release of $2.5 million in social services funds less than 24 hours after a letter of inquiry was sent to the governor’s office Tuesday afternoon. The money being held back, reports Colin DeVries of the Daily Mail this morning, was for food stamps, Medicaid and heating assistance benefits, among other social services.

After County Treasurer Willis Vermilyea retired in July, the Greene County Legislature appointed Republican Thomas Tracey, the treasurer’s office director of administrative services, as interim treasurer. Gov. Paterson’s counsel argued the appointment had to be made by the governor and a home-rule power struggle began, then developed for months as the governor’s office considered Tracey’s signature on reimbursement documents invalid, forcing the state to withhold funds.

The conflict wasn’t even settled after November’s election determined Peter Markou, Catskill town supervisor, was chosen as county treasurer. Even though both the governor’s office and the county legislature agreed to appoint the winner of the election, the argument continued after county lawmakers preempted the governor’s formal appointment.

Greene County Legislature Chairman Wayne Speenburgh said he was “relieved” and “encouraged” by the decision.

“I’m surprised the governor’s office responded this quickly,” he said, noting it may be a sign of something better. “We may have a very good working relationship (with the new governor).”

The decision to release the funds was faxed to the county offices at 9 a.m. this morning, only four days after Gov. Cuomo’s new administration took over.

Counsel to the Governor Mylan Denerstein approved the order. She replaced Peter Kiernan, Gov. Paterson’s counsel, at the beginning of the year.

The governor’s office could not be reached for comment on why they decided to release the funds.

Speenburgh said the funds will begin coming in as soon as today.

The Register-Star is reporting this morning that the attorney representing Holcim cement company in its current tax grievance regarding a waterfront property it owns in Hudson has said the heavily-publicized letter he sent to City Attorney Jack Connor claiming that no income is generated from the parcel was sent in error, and documentation reflecting the correct income and expenses associated with the dock is currently being pursued. Holcim, according to reporter Lindsay Suchow, is grieving a $4.5 million assessment it received on its deep water port dock for 2010/2011, which the company is claiming is actually worth $1.5 million. Pursuant to a court order issued by Justice Patrick J. McGrath, Holcim provided the city with an income and expense statement on Nov. 30, 2010 as part of the grievance process, which Connor then publicly claimed was "bogus." Holcim, the company that took over the former St. Lawrence Cement several years ago, has also been in the news of late for having furloughed a majority of its Catskill plant workforce for the recent holidays and beyond. The company was also named one of the state's top air polluters by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. For the full story, click here.

Tune in today
TUNE IN WGXC will air the following live shows on WGXC Online Radio Thursday:
•WGXC Morning Show/Tell It Like It Is 9/10 a.m.
•Crossroads, Alan Skerrett's jazz show noon-2 p.m.
•Cheryl K. jazz show 7-9:30 p.m.
•The Magic Stranger "'69" 9:30-midnight
Click here to listen.

Town meetings tonight
SLOOP ELEANOR Informational meeting for possibly restoring historic boat Sloop Eleanor return to Hudson. Meet at 5 p.m. at Wunderbar in Hudson to discuss restoring 1903 sail boat. More information: 828-7884.
RAVENA HEALTH Presentation and Q&A about Ravena health concerns surrounding the Lafarge cement plant. Dr. Michael Bank, principal investigator for the Harvard School of Public Health's study of heavy metals in people within a ten-mile radius of the Ravena Lafarge Cement Plant, presents group results of his study at 8 p.m. at Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School auditorium, 2025 Route 9W, Ravena. Individual results will be released at a later date. Bank's research was sparked by a request from CASE (Community Advocates for Safe Emissions) co-founders Elyse Griffins and Elyse Kunz. Harvard tested blood and hair of 185 volunteer individuals on May 15 and 16, 2010 at Pieter B. Coeymans Elementary School in Ravena. Bank_HSPH_Press_Release_FINAL-1

Weather
CLOUDY Around freezing.

Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 4:18 p.m./Low, 11 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 7:24 a.m./4:37 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET 8:37 a.m./7:15 p.m.

Birthdays
JANUARY 6: Alan Watts, Syd Barrett, and Van McCoy.

[caption id="attachment_6749" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives \"State of the State\" speech Tuesday in Albany. Photo from Governor\'s office."][/caption]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his first "State of the State" speech in Albany, and live on WGXC Online Radio. WGXC made this recording of the Governor's webstream:
http://www.wgxc.org/media/uploaded_files/2011/01/The_State_of_the_State_speech_Jan._5_2010_in_Albany_20110105_1405.mp3

Republican New York State Senator James Seward was quick with praise for the Democrat's speech. “The governor’s state of the state message was a slam dunk," he said in a press release. "Styled more like an upbeat high school pep rally than a monotonous political speech, he hit on all the right themes and seemed to energize legislators and all New Yorkers on hand." Seward also sent this audio statement:
Click on this sentence to hear State of State Response from James Seward.

Newly elected State Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin was not as enthusiastic:
“The residents of the 108th district have been subjected to a circus in Albany for the last four years,” said McLaughlin in a prepared statement. “While I support the governor in instituting a 2 percent property tax cap on all New York property owners, his plan needs additional concrete proposals for how the legislative bodies of the state will cut state spending and reenergize the private sector."

[caption id="attachment_6739" align="alignright" width="186" caption="Eugene Keeler provided this photo."][/caption]Eugene Keeler, former District Attorney, Public Defender and county Conflict Defender, announced today he's running again for Columbia County District Attorney. Keeler ran against current DA Beth Cozzolino in 2007 and lost by 1555 votes. “The District Attorney’s office is not open, not accessible and not accountable to the taxpayers of the County," Keeler said in a press release. "The social, economic and political discrimination occurring in the Court House has to end. Sixteen years of two classes of citizens in the criminal justice system is enough." In February, the county Board of Supervisors left the county conflict defender role vacant, essentially putting Keeler out of a job. Keeler had been in the news then asking for the removal of two county judges for allegedly blocking his appointments in cases. “This is retribution for speaking out on the lack of justice in county court,” Keeler told the Register-Star at the time. “It appears the leadership of the Board of Supervisors is being misled.” Keep reading to see Keeler's ten promises if elected DA.

Keeler makes ten promises to the voters of Columbia County:

1. I will lock up hard core criminals;
2. I will care about equal treatment under the law for all citizens;
3. I will care about helping victims;
4. I will end the “Get out of Jail Free” program for the “well-connected”;
5. I will make sure that all evidence makes it to court;
6. I will make sure the D.A.’s Office is open and accessible to all;
7. I will fully cooperate with the Police and Community agencies;
8. I will work full time and save taxpayers money;
9. I will handle cases quickly;
10. I will care about justice and not statistics.

Mr. Keeler is a licensed masters level social worker and serves as Director of Advocacy and Legal Services for COARC. Mr. Keeler received his Juris Doctor from the University of Memphis and his Masters degree from the University of Tennessee. He attended undergraduate school at St. Lawrence University. He is married to Donna Morgan and has three children. They live in the Town of
Greenport.

Mr. Keeler ran against Ms. Cozzolino in 2007 and lost by 1555 votes.

For Information call Gene Keeler at 965-3563 or email him at EugeneKeeler@yahoo.com.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Knolls Atomic Power Labs in Niskayuna, along the Mohawk, as seen in a Times Union photograph by Philip Kamrass published today."][/caption]Remember the nuclear waste leaks up in Niskayuna, on the Mohawk River just north and west of Albany, that occurred in October? Brian Nearing of the Times Union has a follow up story today about how the federal government has hit the private company in charge of the cleanup of the radiation-tainted buildings at Knolls Atomic Power Labs with a $1.8 million penalty because of its poor performance that caused radiation leaks into the air and the Mohawk River. The U.S. Department of Energy took that action last month against URS, which has been running the cleanup for about two years as part of a $69 million contract to demolish two Cold War-era research buildings. And all this coming just as a new Congress takes up business today that newly-elected Rep. Chris Gibson has saidwould be looking into the building of nuclear plants nationwide, including two in the Albany area, presumably including Greene County, as recorded by local reporters iin recent weeks.

DOE spokesman Bill Taylor said Tuesday the penalty would come out of the potential $7.6 million maximum bonus that the company could earn under that contract, which is a "cost plus" contract. Cost plus means that DOE pays URS for all its expenses to run the cleanup, and then provides an additional payment as an incentive for good work.

Withholding part of such bonuses is "one tool DOE uses to hold its contractors accountable for poor performance," he said. Taylor said DOE has held back $1.5 million so far from URS, and will hold back the rest from future payments.

The DOE action was first reported in the Dec. 27 edition of Weapons Complex Monitor, a weekly trade publication that covers the agency.

Meanwhile, demolition work remains halted at the Knolls site while DOE considers a "corrective action plan" filed last month by URS, said Taylor.

"We are of course disappointed, but we continue to implement our corrective action plan, which we are confident will prevent future performance issues and allow us to safely complete work by the end of 2011," URS spokesman Jamie Tully said.

It appears URS is now telling DOE that it might not be possible to finish the project as planned by September of this year. In a Dec. 9 letter, URS Project Manager Peggy Hamilton, who has since been replaced, wrote to DOE that is might be necessary to extend the project until December to "provide the most cost effective and lower risk approach." She wrote that DOE will have to "define" how much money it has available to finish the cleanup.

Work at the site has been halted since Nov. 19 as DOE considers changes to the 2-year-old project to remove the contaminated buildings which were used in U.S. atomic weapons research. The buildings have been closed since 1953.

The partially demolished H2 building, where researchers developed a process known as PUREX to extract weapons-grade plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear reactor fuel, is now covered with tarps to prevent further contamination from escaping.

Last week, a DOE investigation found that workers for a private contractor on the cleanup felt pressed by bosses to ignore safety issues and get work done faster in order to meet a September 2011 deadline linked to federal stimulus funding.

DOE and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which investigated a related Oct. 25 spill of radioactive water that drained from the cleanup site into the Mohawk River, have both insisted that contamination poses no threat to public health.

The DOE report into the demolition concluded Washington Group International, a subsidiary of URS performing the work, made missteps that led to an "uncontrolled spread of radioactive contamination" from H2.

The company was pushing to finish work three months earlier than first planned -- by September 2011 rather than December 2011 -- as part of an extra $32 million in federal stimulus funding awarded for the cleanup in April 2009. The federal report said workers faced an "atmosphere of fear" to remain silent over concerns work was not being done safely.

On Sept. 29, workers were using heavy equipment to pull down H2. Workers breaking for lunch activated a radiation alarm when leaving the area, and WGI staff found that four workers had unsafe levels of radiation on their boots, the report said.

Rain was expected the next day, so workers sprayed a chemical fixative meant to keep materials from washing away. The next day, Sept. 30 and into Oct. 1, more than 7 inches of rain fell on the Knolls site.

Air samples taken Sept. 29 and Oct. 3 showed elevated radiation levels, and WGI "recognized that they had an uncontrolled spread of radioactive material," the report said.

On Oct. 5 and 6, tests of the H2 building's slab found beta/gamma radiation was 1,700 times the project-imposed safety limit, and alpha radiation was 550 times such limits.

The report said the Office of Naval Reactors Laboratory's field office found contamination had spread to a 2.3-acre area, where levels were at least 20 times standard limits for beta/gamma radiation.

DOE appointed an investigation board on Oct. 22 to look into the situation. The board arrived at Knolls on Oct. 28 and finished its investigation on Nov. 11.

On Oct. 25, after additional heavy rains at Knolls, about 630 gallons of radiation-tainted water from about the cleanup site escaped a malfunctioning drainage system and spilled into the Mohawk River.

Hudson-based mediation group Common Ground got a shout-out in a story run by Mid Hudson News Network today noting how the group has mediated over 200 cases in 2010, ranging from spousal issues to housing and lemon law controversies. Executive Director Dawn Wallant added that the holidays were busier than the rest of the year, "Because we notice that a lot of families have difficult trying to establish changes in parenting time or holiday parenting time... I don’t know if the economy necessarily has anything to do with it.” Wallant added that the organization has seen a steady and increased number of parents participating in Common Ground’s parent education and awareness program. The entity was founded in the early 1980s as a program of Columbia Opportunities and went independent in 1987.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Map of Rensselaer Plateau, from Rensselaer Preserve Alliance website."][/caption]A geologically unique section of the East of Hudson part of our listening area, in eastern Rensselaer County, is now part of a federal program designed to protect forest lands from conversion to non-forest use. The Times Union reports today that the 196,000-acre Rensselaer Plateau, an upland area about 20 miles long and nine miles wide that stretches over several Rensselaer County towns, has been designated a U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Area. The area includes all or parts of the towns of Berlin, Brunswick, Grafton, Hoosick, Nassau, Petersburgh, Pittstown, Poestenkill, Sand Lake and Stephentown, and touches on Columbia County. An escarpment steeply rising from the surrounding lower elevations marks the plateau's boundary. The program, overseen by state Department of Environmental Conservation, would allow the state to seek federal funds to help pay private landowners on the plateau who are willing to sell either development rights or land as a way to preserve the forest, all on a completely voluntary basis. The region hosts the area's only permanent moose population.

''It is an unfragmented forest, and that is what we primarily want to protect,'' said Jim Bonesteel, president of the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance. ''It provides unparalleled wildlife habitats, clean drinking water and offers many recreational uses.''

The plateau is the state's fifth-largest contiguous forest and is similar in many ways to the Adirondacks because of elevations as high as 1,800 feet. The area is home to the Capital Region's closest moose population.

The plateau also includes several unique wetlands and fens. It also includes a collection of mammals not typical of the greater Capital Region, including black bear, fisher, otter, bobcat and moose, according to the DEC.

The area also contains the Tomhannock Reservoir watershed, which provides drinking water to more than 100,000 people.

Just over 100 years ago, the forest was nearly gone.

''In the mid-1800s, the area was 80 percent deforested,'' Bonesteel said.

The plateau was not good for farming, and thus attracted the timber, glass and pottery industries that relied on softwoods and hardwoods.

Much of the timber, though, was used in charcoal-making, a fuel that was made in kilns and then transported to Troy to fire the iron industries along the Hudson River.

Meanwhile, the Rensselaer Land Trust, a not-for-profit dedicated to preserving the county's natural spaces, has taken a donation of land on the plateau in Stephentown for public access.

A land owner who does not live in the area donated 30 acres along the Black Brook, a pristine native trout-spawning stream popular with area fly fishers, to the land trust.

The site is at the intersection of Horse Heaven and Garfield roads and will be named the Robert Ingalls Preserve in memory of RLT's vice president and longtime board of directors member, who died in November.

''This is appropriate because he was very active with our group,'' said Land Trust Executive Director Christine Young. "He is really missed.''

Here's another side to the state budget cuts, care of the Mid Hudson News Network: New York has completely eliminated its kosher food inspectors from the budget in a move officials say will save almost $1 million. In their place, the 85 food safety inspectors around New York will be trained in kosher registry information provided by the rabbi in charge of the now defunct program. And Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, who represents Sullivan County, home to a growing number of Hasid and Lubavitcher communities, doesn’t like the move.

“I don’t know how long the training will take and I think it’s important to have part of that community involved and who are in the know in regarding kosher food and how to touch it and how to handle in those positions,” she said.

Rabbi Luzer Weiss, who will be retained to educate the safety inspectors, said given the state’s fiscal condition, “it is incumbent upon us to make our programs operate more efficiently and effectively.” He said he is confident that the inspectors will be able to maintain “the same or better level of protection with this expanded force of inspectors.”

Meanwhile, Howard Katzenstein of the Orthodox Union, which oversees kosher food preparation and labeling worldwide, said you don’t have to be Jewish to eat kosher food... and that could spell greater problems.

“Bear in mind that the kosher consumers are not only Jewish consumers, but also vegetarians, Seventh Day Adventists, Moslems, individuals with food allergies,” he said. “Mislabelings occur sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally and the state was quicker to respond than would a lawsuit which drags its way through the slow wheels of the justice system."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Snow melts in Hudson, NY"][/caption]The season's first blizzard, and how it hit Hudson and its city infrastructure, are the topic of a story in this morning's Register Star that notes how the city’s code enforcement department has exercised some forgiveness in the wake of the massive snowstorm which hit the Northeast over the holiday weekend, issuing no code violations for residences and businesses who failed to shovel their sidewalks within the prescribed amount of time outlined in the city’s snow emergency policy. Meanwhile, however the Hudson Police Department, issued more than 100 tickets for snow emergency violations and more than 10 vehicles were towed as a result of the storm, according to Hudson Police Lt. Richard Paolino.

Snow removal did not start until Tuesday night, and continued into Wednesday and Thursday. City employees were off on Friday, Dec. 31, for the New Year’s holiday, and by the time workers returned on Monday, all sidewalks were clear, due largely in part to the warming of the weather melting most of the snow on the sidewalks.

A city snow emergency dictates that any businesses or residences on Warren Street must have the sidewalks in front of their establishments shoveled within 12 hours of the end of the storm, while the rest of the city’s streets have until 24 hours after the snow ends to clear their pathways.

But Wurster said his department “gave everyone more patience this time,” due to the large amount of snow and the fact that the storm hit on a holiday week (the snow began to fall Sunday, Dec. 26, and persisted until late Monday afternoon).

“It was a severe amount of snow — that was a tough one to move,” said Wurster. “I think everyone was inundated with a lot of snow and it didn’t serve us any good, or the courts any good, to start going out and getting very particular with this type of a snowstorm.”

“Once the city clears their sidewalks and crosswalks, then we hit it — crosswalks weren’t really clear until almost Thursday,” said Wurster. “Friday we were off, then we had the weekend, and I was ready to hit them on Monday — but with the weather being what it was, the snow was gone.”

Wurster said the department got only one call complaining of lack of shoveling.

From Dec. 28 to 29, Paolino said, Hudson Police issued roughly 114 snow emergency tickets. A snow emergency violation carries a $25 penalty, he said, totaling about $2,850 in fines.

“It’s just one of those types of situations where, whenever it snows, people have got to pay special attention to the media as far as snow emergency rules in effect, or even snow removal,” said Paolino. “(Public Works) may close a whole street down to get the snow out — that’s in addition to any parking regulations ... especially if there’s a large amount of snow.”

In addition to the 114 snow emergency tickets issued, Paolino said a number of cars were towed both during the storm and during snow removal. Some cars were parked or stuck in snow banks, or were sticking out into the streets.

During snow removal, 11 cars were towed, Paolino said, and during the snowstorm itself, “a couple” of vehicles were towed as well. This is below the typical amount of cars towed as a result of a snowstorm, Paolino noted.

“I remember in years past, up to 20 vehicles have been towed (during a snowstorm),” said Paolino.

The town of Greenville held its reorganization meeting Monday, January 3, with the most visible change being its two new councilmen, according to a piece in today's Daily Mail by reporter Doron Tyler Antrim that tries to outline the convoluted politics of the Greene County town. Political newcomers John Bensen and Greg Davis were sworn in just before the meeting and are scheduled to serve until the end of the year. Prior to last November’s election, former Councilwoman Diane Fallon announced she was leaving the board, citing medical reasons. She was appointed last January to fill the seat originally won by Supervisor Paul Macko, who left the board to run for his current position. That seat, which was filled by Bensen, will be up for re-election this November. Bensen, a registered Republican, defeated former board member Wayne Nelsen in the election. Nelsen, also a registered Republican, was tapped by the town Democratic Party to challenge Bensen. Former Councilman Louis Kraker, who served on the board since 1996, recently announced he was leaving, too. His successor, Greg Davis, was officially appointed by the board Monday. Davis, a registered Conservative who works as a farrier, has said Town Clerk Ronnie Campbell encouraged him to accept the position.

Bensen is the owner of Greenville Saw, a farm and yard equipment business.

Like Bensen, Davis will only serve until the end of this year. Neither has yet said they intend to run for their own full term in November.

During the reorganizational meeting, the new members were given two committee assignments. Bensen will join Councilman Ken Stern on the Highway Committee and also serve on the Solid Waste Committee with Councilman Richard Bear.

Davis will join Bear on the Park, Recreation and Public Relations Committee and serve with Macko on the newly formed Cablevision Committee.

That committee has been negotiating with Mid-Hudson Cable and advocacy group Concerned Citizens for Better Broadband in the Valley Towns over a new franchise agreement.

Bensen and Davis will be paid $5,387 for their service.

Each town board member will be required to attend at least two planning board meetings this year.

Change at the ZBA

There will also be a shakeup at the town Zoning Board of Appeals with the announcement that Chairman Tom Connolly will be vacating his seat, which carries a five-year term.

The ZBA will need to nominate a new chairman, who would need town board approval. A successor to Connolly’s five-year term must also be chosen. The ZBA includes members Joan Smith, Tom Briggs, Elena Ryan, Art Marini and alternates Tom Vance and Jim Hauck.

Bensen, the town’s new councilman, served as a ZBA alternate until his election. Hauck was chosen as his replacement.

New dog licensing law

Another change for 2011 is Greenville’s new dog licensing law, which will raise fees for owners.

Under the law, all dogs four months or older must be licensed. Owners will have the option to sign up for a one or two-year license renewal. The license fee for a spayed or neutered dog will be $10 — an increase of $1.50 from 2010. The fee for an unspayed or neutered dog will be $20 — also an increase of $1.50.

Owners over the age of 64 who must license a dog will be given discounts. Seniors will pay $7 for a spayed or neutered dog, while the fee for an unspayed or neutered dog will be $17.

Service and police dogs will be exempt from the fees.

The town will conduct an ongoing dog census. Any dog found unlicensed will come with an additional fee of $5. The enumerator will receive $2 for each unlicensed dog counted and $1 for each licensed dog counted, including mileage.

The town board will continue to hold its regular meetings on third Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Pioneer Hall. It’s next meeting is set for Jan. 13.

2011 budget

The $2.67 million budget is $123,000 less than last year’s spending plan. Despite the cut in spending, the 2011 budget will raise property taxes to $6.27 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value — an 85 cent increase from 2010.

Additional fees for some building permits and dog licenses are projected to bring in $9,000 in new revenue this year, although total general fund revenue is expected to be down $20,000 from 2010, to $154,000.

Total general fund appropriations are projected significantly lower for 2011, to $876,000 from more than $929,000 last year.

The nine-day summer youth program — a more than $16,000 expense last year — will receive no town funding in 2011. The fate of the program, however, is yet to be determined. It may fold as a result of the loss of funding or could choose to levy a fee for the service.

The senior trip program will also suffer cuts in this year’s budget. The town usually pays the transportation costs for the several senior trips during the year, but has chosen to forego the $2,500 expense in 2011. Funding for the seniors’ Christmas party will remain.

Paying for employee benefits this year, excluding those for highway department workers, will also be lower than last year — down from almost $209,000 to $199,000. Benefits for highway department employees will also cost less this year, down from $111,000 to over $95,000.

Total appropriations for the highway department are expected to be $908,000 in 2011 — more than $43,000 less than 2010.

A huge savings is also expected as a result of a lower budget for Greenville Fire District No. 1. Appropriations for the Freehold Fire District, however, will increase $10,000 in 2011.

Salaries for town employees will remain at 2010 levels.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The closing of Ichabod Crane's Martin Van Buren Elementary School, along with district consolidation with southern Rensselaer County school districts, is being discussed as a means of solving systemic budget problems in Kinderhook's education this month."][/caption]The Ichabod Crane Central School District in Kinderhook is in the midst of some major growth and budgeting pains, according to a pair of stories in today's Register Star. John Mason reports first tha the district is joining in a grant application with four Rensselaer County districts aimed at consolidating their central business offices. The stated goals are reduced costs and improved operational efficiency. For that purpose, ICC and the other four districts, the Lansingburgh Central School District, the Rensselaer City School District, the Schodack Central School District and the Troy City School District, have together formed the Rensselaer-Columbia CBO Cooperative. At Tuesday’s ICC Board of Education meeting, Mason reports, board members authorized the Lansingburgh district, as the lead applicant, to apply for two grants under the New York state Department of State Local Government Efficiency Grant Program. The first, a planning grant, would study, according to the board’s resolution, “the feasibility of shared general ledger accounting, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, purchasing and other business functions,” and would “develop intermunicipal agreements leading to the implementation of such cost saving opportunities.” The amount applied for would be $45,000, with the school districts each pitching in $1,000 for a total project cost of $50,000. A second grant would be in the amount of $1 million, the projected total project cost of creating a central business office for all five districts. Of this, 10 percent, or $100,000, would be provided by the five districts, divided proportionally according to their enrollments. Troy has 4,259 students, Lansingburgh has 2,509, with Ichabod close behind at 2,056. Schodack has 1,203 and Rensselaer has 1,082. Mason also reports on two upcoming forums at ICC on whether to close Martin Van Buren and Martin H. Glynn elementary schools, the first of six community forums on the future of Ichabod Crane Central School District. The first such meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11. Subsequent forums will be Jan. 25, Feb. 8, Feb. 15, March 15 and March 29.

For consolidation story click HERE...

For the school closings story click HERE...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Olana, historic home of Hudson River School painter Frederick Church, moved forward with its Scenic Hudson-aided plan to protect its viewshed this week."][/caption]A conservation easement will protect another 73 acres of land within view of the Olana State Historic Site in Columbia County, according a story in today's Daily Freeman about a recent announcement from the environmental group Scenic Hudson, who have noted that landowners Allan and Julie Shope donated a conservation easement on their recently purchased land in the town of Livingston, which will preserve views from Olana, in nearby Greenport, according to a press. The easement was granted to the Scenic Hudson Land Trust and represents a victory in the organization’s Saving the Land That Matters Most campaign, a majorly-funded new initiative for the historic home of Hudson River School painter Frederick Church overlooking the Hudson. In addition to preventing poorly sited development that could spoil the views from Olana, the easement guarantees that much of the wooded hilltop land and 1,500 feet of Hudson River shoreline will continue to provide wildlife habitat, a Scenic Hudson press release said. It also said the easement safeguards shorelines along Foxes Creek, which flows through the property. Under the terms of the easement, the Shopes will build a single-family home and barn on their property, as well as retain the right to use 23 acres of forested land for agriculture, the release said. The property will remain privately owned and on the tax rolls. Under its Save the Land That Matters Most campaign, Scenic Hudson has conserved 3,666 acres and its land trust partners an additional 1,821 acres, the release said. The release also said Allan Shope is board president of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Town of Catskill official seal"][/caption]Bowing to its current two-two partisan split, the Town of Catskill opted at its annual reorganization meeting last night not to fill its empty fifth seat, vacated when former town supervisor Peter Markou won the county treasurer's position in November and started his job last month, and will continue as a four-man body until the November elections this year. Jim Planck of the Daily Mail reports today that the subject of a replacement came up at Catskill’s Tuesday night meeting when a town resident asked of the status of the fifth seat, and whether the board intended to appoint someone or have an election. Acting Supervisor Patrick Walsh said the board will stay at four members, and also clarified that he would remain as “acting” supervisor, noting that the determination was made because of the harmony of the board, as well as to avoid any possibility for the intrusion of partisan issues. Walsh and Councilman Robert Antonelli are Republicans, while Councilmen Michael Smith and Kevin Lennon are Democrats.

“We decided not to appoint me as Supervisor,” Walsh said, “so I’m still Acting Supervisor.”

“Rather than get into a political problem,” Walsh said, “we decided we get along well.”

“If all four of us could agree upon one person, we could possibly appoint that person,” he said, but indicated that was neither being explored nor anticipated.

Town resident Christopher Sutherland asked whether the town had been approached by any individuals interested in the seat, and Walsh said it had.

“There have been a few inquiries,” he said.

Antonelli clarified that because there is only one year left on the unexpired term of Markou’s seat, there is no requirement to fill it now.

“If this vacancy was going to be vacated for two years,” said Antonelli, “you would have to have a special election.”

Antonelli explained, however, that because not only Markou’s seat will be on the November 2011 election ballot, but also the two Council seats currently held by Walsh and Smith, it made more sense just to do it at that time, all at once.

“Then anybody who wants to can throw their hat in,” he said.

Smith agreed, also noting the board’s record of working well together.

“After we were elected, we were not partisan,” Smith said.

“We took our job,” he said, “with the task of fulfilling the problems of the town.”

“Over the last four years,” Smith said, “(that resulted in) success for the town council.”

“We opted to continue that,” he said, “because we have operated on the basis of agendas, rather than politics.”

“And,” he added, “we believe that will continue until the next election.”

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