New York Rural Water Association

(The following commentary is the thought of Bob Messinger solely, and not approved policy of the New York Rural Water Association)I recently attended a seminar on "Flow Control" legislation sponsored by the New York Association for Solid Waste Management. This meeting, held in Utica, began with presentations by attorneys who had argued this legislation (local laws that allow a municipality to manage their solid waste) before both the US Supreme Court and the Second Circuit, US Court of Appeals. They won a favorable ruling for municipalities from the Second Circuit and explained the logic to their arguments. The second panel featured Bond Counsel attorneys who discussed the relevance of the ruling to future solid waste financing. After lunch, a group of rating agency professionals gave us their views. Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings all seemed to agree that the ruling would have little effect on bond ratings. But the gentleman from Moody’s made, what I thought was, a surprising statement. He said (in so many words) that projects would be highly rated only if they could offer competitive pricing in a free market (not surprising). He went on to state that Moody’s feels that environmental concerns are of little interest to investors since most all environmental problems have been solved. I don’t know if this is Moody’s official position or if it was simply his thoughts. My first reaction was to make a sarcastic comment like, "I’m sure all the new asthma patients (at an all time high rate in the country) will take comfort in knowing that Moody’s has declared an end to air pollution problems." But the more I thought about it, it seems that Moody’s reflect the attitude of the general public.The huge concern we had for the environment just a few years ago appears to have waned. In our state, less than one half of the recycling coordinators working in the early 90’s are left. The New York Times even published articles against recycling. The NYSDEC admitted in their last report that recycling rates are either barely holding even or slipping. During the last budget year, monies that have historically been allotted like clockwork to the Environmental Protection Fund (a fund that helps localities with recycling projects and hazardous waste collection among other things), have been held up. We read about a huge tire fire in the Albany area, while attempts to resolve the waste tire issue have been sidetracked. Yet, apparently there’s little concern on the part of the general public.The federal administration’s recent announcement of how they propose to control air emissions is little more than a voluntary program. Companies are asked to "do the right thing". Unfortunately, the right thing for most corporations is profit – if they are forced to make a choice between immediate profit and the environment, guess what their answer will be. And yet, has our media really explained this new policy? Do any of us care anymore?A recent attempt to force car manufactures to raise gas mileage never got off the ground in Congress. It was argued that the "soccer moms" would be too upset if their SUV’s at 8 miles per gallon were taken away from them. Of course those arguments were made by the car manufacturers and both US and foreign oil companies. I seem to recall that similar arguments were made a few years ago and that’s when the Japanese and German carmakers (with their ugly small cars) made huge inroads into the American market. Any reaction? Nah.It was reported that tons and tons of old electronic equipment was shipped to China for disposal. Once there, this hazardous waste was handled in such as unsafe manner as to cause injury and illness to their workers and contamination to the area. But hey, that’s not our problem – that’s China.New York’s governor recently issued directives in support of "Green Power". And yet there are huge obstacles to producing electricity from landfill gas, farm digesters, wind and solar sources. One of the largest of these is that current regulations of the Power Service Commission tip the scales in favor of the established power companies. Does the public know? Does the public care?Believe me, I’m not a "tree hugger". I don’t believe that the sky is falling. I get as frustrated as the next guy when I read about some of the off the wall suggestions of far out environmental groups. I do believe though, that we can economically protect our environment. While I would agree that much has been accomplished, I can’t agree with Moody’s that all our environmental problems are solved.

If you think about it, it’s too easy to blame corporations, or government, or individual politicians for the path we seem to be on. Because, after all, they only reflect what we want. It is our responsibility to understand environmental issues, help our friends and neighbors understand them, and make our thoughts known. This nation has come a long way toward protecting our water, air, and land. Let’s not go backwards.