Awareness of environmental issues and going green has caught on in recent years, and the Schenectady County Environmental Advisory Council has documented how current environmental laws have come about and what work still needs to be done.
The 2011 Annual Update Schenectady County Environmental Advisory Council was presented to the county legislature on Monday, Aug. 1, and it included a look at the council’s 40 years of history. In 1970, the state passed a bill allowing for county and regional environmental councils, and on April 13, 1971, the Schenectady County Board of Representatives established the council. Some of the activities SCEAC has been involved in include the establishment of land preserves, protection of county residents’ drinking water from the Great Flats Aquifer, implementation of waste management programs and, most recently, the development of an energy reduction and climate change strategy.
“What everybody was asked to do was to look at actions that had taken place at the federal, state and local level that had an impact on our environmental resources,” said Chairwoman of SCEAC Mary Werner. “Seeing that there was an interest in having local involvement that early on in the process was an interesting finding.”
Even though the annual update is around 120 pages, which includes various charts, graphs and data sets for reference, the report is the precursor to the final 2011 report, which will be released the following year. The current report had 10 SCEAC council members, four SCEAC committee members and the County Historian Don Rittner. Writing the report is around a four-month process.
“It is kind of the grassroots advice from citizens,” said Werner. “It is important to have local involvement in decision making that has to do with the environment that particularly occurs at the municipal and county level.”
The Schenectady County Legislature supported SCEAC measures and initiatives throughout years, said Werner. This support also includes providing financial assistance, such as having county employee Jeff Edwards work with the council one-day a week.
Over the years, the areas SCEAC focus on has changed and retuned to previous concerns. Since volunteers run the council, Werner said the direction of the council can be affected by the members.
There are term limits, though, so she said “new blood and new ideas” can enter into the council’s priorities and provide different insights. General committee members can serve two three-year terms and officers, such as Werner, can only serve two two-year terms.
The current report focuses on air and energy, water, environmental restoration, toxins in the environment, solid waste management and recycling, open space and land use. Also, for the first time SCEAC looks at invasive species in the county.
Invasive species include plants, insects and aquatic life. Some of the invasive species found in the county include common carp, goldfish, curly pondweed, morrow honeysuckle, Japanese stiltgrass, garlic mustard and even the divine-sounding tree of heaven.
County Legislature Majority Leader Gary Hughes during the Monday, Aug. 1, meeting applauded the work done by SCEAC over the past 40 years and the information in the current report.
“It is an impressive report and an impressive body of work over 40 years. As you look around the county, it is very clear that SCEAC plays an important role in terms of setting environmental priorities for this body,” said Hughes.
In the coming weeks, The Spotlight will be reporting on a few areas of the report to highlight how the county has dealt with environmental management.
In next week’s paper the focus will be on impaired water bodies in the county. Impaired water bodies is a Department of Environmental Conservation classification for bodies of water that frequently don’t support appropriate functions. Also focused on will be stressed water bodies, which do support appropriate uses but other water quality impacts are apparent. There are a total of eight water bodies in the county with falling into stressed or impaired classifications.
