What flora and fauna make the Catskills unique? What impact are people and businesses having on them? What can we do to protect the region as a whole, or just our own little corners of it? Environmentalists, enthusiasts, and everyday people will be discussing these questions and more in the environment forum. Won't you join us?

Having seen the coverage in the River Reporter about your group, I was intrigued in lots of ways, but specifically because I believe if we the people don't take charge, we can kiss our beautiful area goodby. I am personally watching what I consider crime in action in my town. I live in Mountaindale, a "hamlet" of the town of Fallsburg. Out town supervisor has recently decided to alter the zoning plan presented to the town board by residents who worked as volunteers for 18 months developing a comprehensive plan. In an interest to appease the orthodox developers, Mr. Levine has decided to allow them a lot of leeway to develop what looks to a lot of us like the beginning of a new Kiryas Joel. If you haven't had the good fortune yet, please drive by Alpine Estates at the foot of the Kiamesha Hill (Fallsburg side) and on Brophy Road where it meets the Town of Hurleyville. Despite an uproar by the citizens, the Board is actively courting the seasonal residents for their block vote. If anyone has any ideas of how to help, please let us know. Our (terrible) roads and limited water and sewer will be overwhelmed by this growth

Catskill Mountainkeeper launches with a mission:
Build active network of citizens speaking out for the Catskills way of life

Group seeks to unite residents from all parts of the Catskills to protect
open space and promote smart growth in the region’s villages, mountains and valleys

    Monticello (May 10, 2007) – Catskill Mountainkeeper, a grassroots group intended to unite the entire region’s residents in the battle to preserve the quality of life here, announced it is open for business today at a news conference in front of the Sullivan County Government Center.
    “Residents of the Catskills are as diverse as in any place on earth, but one thing everyone can unite on is that this is a special region that needs its people speaking up so that its tremendous cultural and natural resources stay intact,” said Joe Martens, the group’s chairman. “Catskill Mountainkeeper will build an active network of citizens to make that happen.”
    Martens also is the president of the Open Space Institute, one of several groups sponsoring Catskill Mountainkeeper.
    The group’s key priority is to push for a comprehensive, regional vision that takes into account new thinking about smart growth and wise use of the area’s natural resources, Martens said. Working with other established groups, Catskill Mountainkeeper then will organize citizens across the region’s counties to contribute their ideas for the region’s future as part of that process.
    At the news conference, members held poster-board cutouts of the region’s six counties (Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster, plus a portion of Albany County, which is geographically in the Catskills), bringing them together in a symbolic illustration of the regional unity that the group plans to foster.
    The group offers free membership in keeping with its goal of having a broad spectrum of citizen involvement.
    “With a combination of the web and plain old shoe-leather organizing, our goal is to bring together people who have never talked with each other and have them join in the fight to preserve the Catskill way of life,” said Ramsay Adams, the executive director of the new group.
    On its website, www.catskillmountainkeeper.org, the group will post updates on regional development news, operate on-line discussion boards and provide campaign-organizing advice and tools. 
    “We all know there’s a great deal of development pressure on the Catskills, but we also know there are good and bad options under review this very moment,” said Tom Alworth, another Catskill Mountainkeeper board member and the executive director of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, another sponsoring organization. 
    “When it’s out-of-scale, non-sustainable proposals like the massive casinos proposed for Sullivan County, Catskill Mountainkeeper can help get the word out – and make sure that those who want clear air, open space and a great quality of life win the day for our region,” Alworth added.
    “I live here, I work here, and I love living and working here, and I want the Catskills always to be a place I am proud to live in,” said Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountainkeeper’s program director and also the co-owner of the Wild Roots Farm in Sullivan County.
    “The last thing my neighbors and I want to do is fight traffic, see the countryside taken over by haphazard development or breathe polluted air – so that’s why I decided to take on this job,” said Gillingham, “Our vision of the Catskills is for economic success by focusing on the industries that we do best, like the resurgence of farming, tourism based on the enjoyment of our natural beauty and vibrant downtowns.”
    Another Catskills farmer, Amy Kenyon, said she is looking to Catskill Mountainkeeper to provide farmers and other local residents with the tools to get their voice heard.    
    Kenyon also is president of Farm Catskills, a Delaware County-based group intended to strengthen farming in the region. “If our rural character is to survive, we need a good regional vision that protects our region’s wonderful vistas, open spaces and farmland – the things that make us different,” said Kenyon.   
     Patrick H. Dollard, the chief executive officer of The Center for Discovery – Sullivan County’s largest employer – also endorsed Catskill Mountainkeeper.   
    The group will open an office in Youngsville, Sullivan County, this June. Other major sponsoring organizations are the Natural Resources Defense Council and Audubon New York.

Monticello – A new grassroots group designed to preserve the quality of life in the Catskills has been formed.

Catskill Mountainkeeper was launched in front of the Sullivan County Government Center in Monticello on Thursday.

“Residents of the Catskills are as diverse as in any place on earth, but one thing everyone can unite on is that this is a special region that needs its people speaking up so that its tremendous cultural and natural resources stay intact,” said Joe Martens, the group’s chairman. “Catskill Mountainkeeper will build an active network of citizens to make that happen.”

Martens is also the president of the Open Space Institute, one of the several groups sponsoring Catskill Mountainkeeper.

The group’s key priority is to push for a comprehensive, regional vision that takes into account new thinking about smart group and wise use of the area’s natural resources, he said.

“We all know there’s a great deal of development pressure on the Catskills, but we also know there are good and bad options under review this very moment,” said Tom Alworth, another Catskill Mountainkeeper board member and the executive director of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development. “When it’s out-of-scale, non-sustainable proposals like the massive casinos proposed for Sullivan County, Catskill Mountainkeeper can help get the word out – and make sure that those who want clean air, open space and a great quality of life win the day for our region.”

“I live here, I work here, and I love living and working here, and I want the Catskills always to be a place I am proud to live in,” said Wes Gillingham, Catskills Mountainkeeper’s program director and also the co-owner of the Wild Roots Farm in Sullivan County.

“The last thing my neighbors and I want to do is fight traffic, see the countryside taken over by haphazard development or breathe polluted air.”

---

THE GOV'S GAMBLING GOOF

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02212007/postopinion/editorials/the_govs_gambling_goof_editorials_.htm

February 21, 2007 -- Gov. Spitzer is getting into bed with the St. Regis Mohawks, giving the green light to a partnership between the upstate Indian tribe and a private firm to build a $600 million casino at the former Monticello Raceway in the economically troubled Catskills.

Bad move.

We're no fans of legalized gambling; it's socially corrosive on several levels.

But that horse is out of the barn. Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and upstate New York already have casinos galore, and it's clear that the N.Y.C. area will, too - even if it means subverting the state Constitution's ban on casinos via compacts with Indian tribes.

However, doing a deal with this particular tribe - with its extended history of often-violent criminality - is a travesty.

Over the past eight years, the feds have cited the St. Regis Mohawks in connection with a $687 million smuggling operation involving illegal liquor, cigarettes and guns.

They've also done a brisk business smuggling people - transporting more than 3,600 illegal aliens from China into America through the St. Regis reservation, which transverses the U.S.-Canadian border along the St. Lawrence River.

They've also occasionally engaged in shoot-outs with the New York State Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian army.

Not exactly good neighbors, we'd say.

Yet the last two governors have worked overtime to expand the Mohawks' control over casino gambling in New York.

Yes, the Catskills need economic help.

And there's no denying the potential revenue lure of this casino, which would be closer to the metropolitan area than either Atlantic City or Foxwoods.

But it would be fully 400 miles from the St. Regis reservation; in no credible sense is it part of tribal lands - logically, a prerequisite for the establishment of an Indian-owned casino.

And while the 1988 federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows for some latitude in this regard, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne - who must sign off on any deal - has said lawmakers didn't intend to OK casinos so far from tribal land.

All of which suggests that the court battles are far from over. Competing casino interests, opponents of legalized gambling and local residents fearful of the casino's impact on traffic and other conditions all have vowed a fight.

We hope they wage it with vigor.

Happily, there's no sign that Kempthorne will rush to any decision in the matter. In fact, the matter will likely stay up in the air for years.

Which means there's time enough for the state to do this right.

If casino gambling is as inevitable as it appears, then it's time to amend the state Constitution to open gambling to everyone - not just dubious partners like the St. Regis Mohawks.

This would be an extended process: Two successively elected Legislatures would have to agree, and then there would be a statewide referendum.

There would be no guarantees, to be sure.

But it's the way to go.

Meanwhile, Spitzer needs to read the relevant State Police files on the St. Regis Mohawk tribe.

When he does, he'll come to his senses quickly enough - and ice this project.

Community, conservation groups challenge Monticello casino approval

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/Casino_lawsuit-13Feb07.htm

Albany – A group of community and conservation organizations went to court today challenging a recent federal approval for a Native American casino development proposed for Monticello Raceway until federal officials complete a comprehensive assessment of the congestion, sprawl, pollution and other community impacts that would result.

“Sullivan County citizens deserve a complete examination of how this massive casino development will affect their daily lives,” said Richard Schrader, New York legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Some folks down in Washington may want to cut the corners, but the Catskills communities deserve better. They are entitled to protection and fairness by law.”

The Sullivan County Farm Bureau, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Orange Environment, Inc., say the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs dodged its legal responsibility to protect Catskill residents by failing to require a full environmental impact evaluation of the proposed Las Vegas-style gaming development.

They are asking a judge to stop development plans from moving forward until full measure can be taken of the impact on nearby communities and their environment.

Plans for the half-billion-dollar facility, to be built by Empire Resorts, Inc. and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, include 766,000 square feet of floor area – equivalent to roughly 13 football fields -- 4,200 casino gambling positions, a 600-seat theater, and a parking lot for 4,800 cars and buses. Nearly six million visitors a year are projected – 40 percent more than visit Grand Canyon National Park each year.

“In order to protect the agricultural industry, which is so important to the character and identity of the Catskills, we need an environmental review that addresses very basic concerns about air pollution, traffic jams, and quality of life issues that will affect the community” said Wes Gillingham of the Sullivan County Farm Bureau. “It is not asking too much; it is simply asking that government obey the law.”

The National Environmental Policy Act requires a full environmental impact statement for all developments of the size and scope of the proposed Monticello Raceway casino. But instead the BIA accepted a far less comprehensive review called an environmental assessment.

The groups say BIA is shirking not only the law, but also precedent. The BIA previously required full environmental impact statements for similar Catskill casino schemes, including an earlier proposal by the St. Regis Tribe itself to build at the nearby Kutsher’s Sports Camp.

Hinchey To Unveil Federal Legislation To Stop NYRI Power Line Proposal

Monday, February 5, 2007
12:00 noon

Sullivan County Government Center
(Legislative Chamber -- Second Floor)
100 North Street
Monticello, New York

Monticello, NY -- Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
and local officials will hold a press conference on Monday, February 5, 2007 at 12:00 noon in the legislative chamber (second floor) of the Sullivan County Government Center located at 100 North Street in Monticello, New York to unveil new federal legislation he will be introducing that day in Congress to stop the New York Regional Interconnection, Inc. (NYRI) power line proposal from moving forward.

Hinchey strongly opposes the NYRI proposal to construct a high voltage direct current (HVDC) electric transmission line from Oneida County to Orange County, New York. The congressman believes the proposed project threatens the federally-protected Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River and would have serious adverse impacts on local communities along the proposed routes.

Among those joining Hinchey at the press conference will be: Christopher Cunningham, Sullivan County Legislative Chairman/Communities Against Regional Interconnect (CARI); Troy Bystrom, Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition (UDPC); Nina Guenste, SayNo2NYRI; and William Douglass, Upper Delaware Council (UDC).

###

Chris White
District Representative
Office of Congressman Maurice Hinchey
City Hall, Third Floor
16 James Street
Middletown, NY 10940
(845) 344-3211
(845) 342-2070 (fax)

Want to know how to use the law to combat polluters and overdevelopment? Confused about the legalities of protesting? Then this is the forum for you. Here's where we share legal resources and tactics for protecting the Catskills. Won't you join us?

November 07, 2006

If "study time is over," the St. Regis Mohawk casino proposal at Monticello Raceway receives a failing grade. Adults recognize that their responsibilities continue after electing others to do their bidding.

Proper deliberation isn't selective. When those holding a public position deliberate improperly, or fail to require accountability on community matters, they've let the community down. So when county officials and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are presented with documentation to this effect and continue this same pattern of behavior, that's "fast-tracking" and precisely what is occurring with this casino proposal.

A concern doesn't become irrelevant because it's inconvenient to consider, and mistaking prior reports and discussion, with proper context and analysis for today, is just that, a mistake.

The farmer Wes Jackson reminds us, "Out of context, the best minds do the worst damage." But this is generality. Let's talk specifics — it's not just about the harm this casino brings.

Law enforcement is a first line of defense for ensuring community safety and quality of life.

At the Sept. 25 Sullivan County Charter Committee meeting, County District Attorney Steve Lungen shared his view of the losing financial and social proposition that even a single casino in the county represents. He reminded us that county officials denied county law enforcement a seat at the planning table.

Barry Lewis is right when he says in his column that BIA has seen and heard enough about gambling in the Catskills. But its desire to proceed shouldn't become a community liability.

Most reasonable people would agree — the DA's office provides an irreplaceable perspective, regardless of how well-informed local boards, county legislators, the BIA or consultants believe themselves to be.

Should study time really be over?

Lewis' implication that we're really dealing with a single casino also strains credibility. Granting of the tribe's request to take land into federal-trust status would establish separate commercial and governmental jurisdictions — regardless of provisions in a state compact. To my knowledge, this hasn't occurred before in New York state. The BIA has approached this request as an isolated event, even with other applications pending. I'm not aware of any closed-door policy once precedence is established. Creating a mosaic of sovereignty in New York could have important effects on communities and commerce. I need help locating where this is discussed in BIA's Environmental Assessment for this project. I can't find it.

Is this proper context?

Two hard copies of this assessment were made available for the entire county in restricted access facilities — conflicting with work schedules for many residents. The norm for other federal agencies within BIA's own U.S. Department of Interior (and also within the U.S. Department of Agriculture) is to provide access through multiple media, via the Internet and proactively soliciting requests for access on CD and in some cases hard copy.

In the environmental assessment for this project, the BIA supports its case for Sullivan County's need for this casino using socioeconomic data only through 2000, knowing well that the county has changed substantially since 2001, and that recent information is readily available.

It rules out feasibility for a retail facility alternative at the raceway because of traffic concerns, while disregarding traffic concerns when it's convenient to do so — concerns submitted by credentialed engineers stating the unresolved impacts that just this single casino will bring.

These same concerns over public access and inappropriate use of old information were documented to the same BIA and the same county legislature on behalf of the same tribe's proposal at Kutsher's in 2004.

The BIA's Responsiveness Summary, accepted by the Town Board for that project on Sept. 30, 2004, refused to acknowledge legitimate concerns raised over increased accident rates associated with millions of additional vehicle trips; it refused to address concerns raised with a cap on the waiver of sovereign immunity. Years of prior discussion won't change this.

This is not behavior deserving of public confidence.

The list goes on, allotted word count does not.

Dave Colavito of Rock Hill is a member of Casino-Free Sullivan County.

October 17, 2006

In his recent column ("Fast-tracking on casinos? Oh, get a grip," Sept. 27), Barry Lewis mistakenly refers to the Natural Resources Defense Council as an "anti-casino" group.

NRDC does not have a position for or against casinos or gambling. But we are concerned that the proposed 766,000-square-foot, 4,200-gambling-position casino proposed for Monticello Raceway would worsen air quality, jam up traffic along the region's already congested roadways and fundamentally alter the quality of life in the Catskills.

The casino's promoters themselves predict its 4,800-space parking lot will fill up with 6.1 million visitors annually — 40 percent more visitors every year than Grand Canyon National Park.

What do we believe is that any proposed development of this size — whether it is a gambling casino or any other project — should follow basic principles of federal and state environmental review laws, which are intended to protect communities from just the sort of problems that could accompany this sprawling development.

In this instance, there is little question that the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 requires a full environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Raceway casino because the federal government is seeking to approve a project that will "significantly" affect the environment.

In fact, the federal Department of Interior itself previously recognized this legal responsiblity when it called for completion of a full EIS for two other casino proposals in Sullivan County.

Why wouldn't anyone want a full exploration of the impact of this Las Vegas-style development? Even casino supporters would want to know whether there are ways to mitigate the effects that millions of new trips on Orange County's air — which is already in violation of federal air quality requirements — or how the region's overall environment would be affected if other casinos follow this one, especially given the rapid growth that has made Orange and Sullivan among the fastest-growing counties in the state in recent years.

Finally, we note that although we have an office in Washington, D.C., NRDC was founded right here in New York, and this is where our headquarters have been for more than 35 years. In that time, we have worked extensively with local and state groups to protect this region, including efforts to expand the Catskill Forest Preserve and safeguard Catskill-Delaware watersheds.

Richard Schrader is New York state legislative director for NRDC, which has headquarters in New York City.