Source: Albany Times Union
Publication Date: Aug. 24, 2007
Regarding the Aug. 3 editorial, "Protect the lakes": Gov. Eliot Spitzer faced a difficult decision when a bill to prohibit new hazardous waste facilities with "the potential to discharge to the Great Lakes system" reached his desk. The Great Lakes are a priceless resource and their protection should be a top environmental priority for all New Yorkers.

In vetoing the legislation, the governor made the right decision. New York has another environmental priority: the clean up of contaminated soil. After years of neglect, scores of polluted sites are finally poised for clean up. That means an end to eyesores from Buffalo to Babylon, and opportunities for much-needed housing, jobs and local tax revenue.

By prohibiting new landfills, the bill would have significantly raised the costs to dispose of contaminated soil and other hazardous wastes. That, in turn, would have resulted in fewer toxic sites being cleaned up, and a prolonging of the environmental damage that brownfields inflict.

MARCIA BYSTRYN

Executive Director

NY League of Conservation Voters

New York City