Fred LeBrun calls the shots as he sees them, and we are all the better informed because of it. His column, "Historic land buy full of irony," Aug. 12, touches on the legacy Gov. Andrew Cuomo will leave on the environment.
While it may be premature to discuss his legacy, when the final chapter is written the state's recent Adirondack purchase will certainly be one of the highlights.
There are many decisions Gov. Cuomo faces that run the risk of tarnishing his environmental legacy, most prominently the pending decision on hydrofracking.
But one upcoming decision is a no-brainer. He should sign the bill the Legislature passed in June that would restore funding for the state Environmental Protection Fund by using a portion of the revenue the state now collects from unclaimed bottle and can deposits. The fund provides money for land acquisition, local parks, recycling, watershed protection and other important environmental programs across the state. But it has been critically underfunded in recent years.
Three separate polls have shown that more than 80 percent of New Yorkers support using the bottle bill revenue to fund environmental protection. With numbers as high as these, there is absolutely no political downside to signing this bill into law.
LAURA HAIGHT
Senior Environmental Associate
New York Public Interest Research Group
Albany