Three acid rain-monitoring programs in the Adirondacks and Catskills received a federal boost Thursday, according to Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, after there was some worry among environmental advocacy groups that two of the programs were in jeopardy of having their funding cut entirely.

While the restored funding in the Omnibus Appropriations legislation passed the House of Representatives Thursday, it still must go through the Senate and the president.

The Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET), Temporary Integrated Monitoring of Ecosystems (TIME) and Long-Term Monitoring (LTM) programs, as currently funded in the appropriations before the Senate, will continue to receive their historic levels of funding of $3.9 million for CASTNET and $800,000 combined for TIME/LTM. The Committee on Appropriations allotted $3,951,000 in funding for CASTNET and $720,000 combined for TIME/LTM in the Fiscal Year 2009 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill.Additionally, unlike last year, the bill specifically appropriates funds for these programs.

"This was an important victory in the continued fight against acid rain, which has historically had a severe and detrimental impact on large parts of the United States, particularly in New York," McHugh said in a press release."We need to continue to take action to understand and fight this problem, which these three acid rain programs do."