Latest news with #Harckham
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
There's too much salt in Westchester County reservoirs. The culprit? Rock salt from roads
So much rock salt has seeped into the water supply in the Lower Hudson Valley that a Westchester County reservoir that delivers drinking water to New York City might need to be shut down in 25 years. 'It will be too salty to drink,' Rohit T. Aggarwala, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection said during a press conference Friday in Croton Gorge Park, as water from the New Croton Dam cascaded down. Aggarwala came to discuss a new DEP study, which found rising levels of salinity in the Croton System reservoirs that provide water to New York City and Westchester County. Over a 30-year period, salt levels in the main New Croton Reservoir have tripled. At the current rate, the reservoir would reach the state's maximum allowable levels of chloride, salt's main component, by 2108. And the Amawalk Reservoir in Somers — one of the smallest of the Croton System's 12 reservoirs — might need to be shut down by 2050. Aggarwala likened the task ahead to government eradication efforts following studies linking pesticides and other contaminants to environmental harm. 'We now need to focus on road salt as something that is harming our environment and is going to undermine the infrastructure that our cities and our towns depend on every day,' Aggarwala said. The study said the reservoirs in Westchester County east of the Hudson River have abnormally high levels of salt, largely because of road salt runoff from the region's major thoroughfares — I-84, I-684 as well as the Taconic and Saw Mill parkways. Salt in drinking water can lead to hypertension and high blood pressure in humans and can do damage to watershed ecosystems, the study notes. Salt: Highway heads fear surge in rock salt costs if Gov. Hochul signs 'Buy American' bill To combat the rising levels, the DEP is encouraging the state and municipalities to reduce or eliminate the use of salt when de-icing roads and to consider alternatives like brine, calcium magnesium acetate and potassium acetate, the study said. State Sen. Pete Harckham and Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky, Democrats representing the Lower Hudson Valley, have introduced legislation to address concerns highlighted by the DEP study. 'We must take the corrective steps needed to protect this resource, and we must do it right away,' Shimsky said. 'If we don't, the damage to our residents, agriculture, and wildlife will be irreversible and the cost of replacing our water infrastructure far more expensive.' Harckham said wells in the northern Westchester County towns he represents have been shut down in recent years because of rising salt levels. 'You can look at that as the canary in the coal mine,' Harckham said. 'This is not about blame. This is about a teachable moment and a call to change behavior.' Tolls: Thruway toll evaders owe big bucks. How much? The legislation would evaluate the use of alternatives that would do less harm to the environment. The DEP study acknowledged the safety contributions of road salt. One study found that accident rates are eight times higher before salt spreading than they are after it's spread. And road salt use reduced traffic accident costs by 85%. Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network's New York State team. He's won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that's included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester, NYC reservoirs have high salt levels from road rock salt
USA Today
07-02-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Federal cutbacks could hurt NY hospitals, energy goals, much more, state legislators say
As Albany legislators begin their review of Gov. Kathy Hochul's $252 billion budget, they say they are accompanied by the largest mammal on land breathing down their necks. 'The elephant in the room is the federal government because of the degree of tax cuts they are looking to achieve,' said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-New Rochelle. 'Luckily we will have a window into that as we move forward. We'll get a clue.' Paulin, who appeared with seven other Westchester state legislators, all but one Democrats, at a Westchester County Association panel on Friday, Feb. 7, echoed statements by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Both were concerned that threatened cuts in federal funding could cripple the state's costly Medicaid program. Health care was among several high-profile issues addressed by the legislators, including clean energy, affordable housing, environmental regulations, and the region's transportation system. Federal cuts could 'decimate' Medicaid, hospitals in New York The federal administration's attack on government spending in the three weeks following Donald Trump's inauguration comes as the Republican-controlled Congress looks to pass the president's tax-cut initiatives. They could add as much as $7 trillion to the federal deficit if the tax breaks aren't offset by spending cuts. 'What's this going to mean?' asked Stewart-Cousins. 'The conversation is whether it's on Medicaid or whether it's on social services or public protection or whether it's on the arts. These are things we consider part of the fabric of our community.' More:Mamaroneck affordable housing deal uncertain as outgoing trustees, mayor at odds Among the elephants, Medicaid may be the biggest, Paulin said. The federal government currently provides 50% of funding on Medicaid health-care service. Paulin, who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, said that rate could be reduced to as little as 35%. She said that would leave New York hospitals short by $8 billion. 'All these cuts would decimate us,' Paulin said. New York's energy goals could be in trouble The fate of New York's 2030 climate plan also faces tough sledding in 2025. State Sen. Pete Harckham, D-Lewisboro, who chairs the Senate Environment Conservation Committee, said the dissolution of the Clean Path transmission line project in December will make the transition to clean energy even harder. That line down the Hudson River was to bring 5 gigawatts of electricity created by wind, solar and hydroelectric to the metropolitan region, ending up in Queens. Harckham suggested that the project's sponsor consider ending the transmission line along the Hudson in Buchanan, to tap into the lines remaining from the closed Indian Point nuclear power complex. 'We could save hundreds of millions of dollars at the Indian Point site,' Harckham said. Is the MTA overspending or in need of strengthening? The future of the region's mass transit system, clouded by Hochul's six-month delay of the MTA's congestion pricing plan, remains of great concern to the legislators. The delegation's lone Republican, Assemblyman Matt Slater, R-Yorktown, said the MTA needs to find ways to stop the loss of up to $700 million in the subway system from riders who jump the turnstiles before looking to enact new measures to finance its capital budget. More:New Yorkers fought health insurance denials 32K times in 2023. See if complaints work 'There's so much money left on the table,' said Slater. 'All the MTA knows how to do is spend money.' Harckham, however, warned that the mass transit system is essential to the economies of both New York City and Westchester. He said that many workers from New York City commute by train to the their jobs in Westchester. 'Our economy is reliant on a strong and vibrant MTA,' said Harckham. On affordable housing, Albany focused on 'carrots' for now The lack of affordable housing in Westchester remains a huge issue for local businesses in their bid to attract workers to the region, and for families looking to rent or purchase a home in the suburbs. Hochul's attempt to mandate more housing density around transit hubs in 2023 failed to gain support in Albany. That was followed by policies that provided funding to municipalities to help lower the cost of affordable projects. Westchester County Association CEO Michael Romita wondered if the state could fund its way out of the crisis or whether Albany needed to use both 'carrots' and 'sticks' to create more housing. For now, Hochul's program is focused on 'carrots,' with funding proposed for so-called 'pro-housing' communities that encourage construction through their land-use regulations. 'The good news is that the carrots are working,' said Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg, D-Ossining. 'We are seeing more communities apply to be pro-housing communities, but it's not really fast enough.' Levenberg said she is working on legislation that would put more pressure on municipalities to encourage affordable housing, while cognizant of New York's vaunted home rule powers on the local level that have slowed development of affordable units. 'I'm working on legislation to sort of twist arms of our municipalities a little bit, push them to develop master plans or comprehensive plans, to come up with housing needs assessments as well as putting forth housing action plans for the gradual needs of the people who live as well as work in their communities,' she said. 'We continue to listen to our municipal leaders and we know that we have to work together.' Sign up for Wilson's weekly newsletter for insights into his Tax Watch columns. David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@
