Politics on the Hudson

State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens today disputed an argument used by scientists who said in a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week that municipal drinking water filtration systems aren’t equipped to handle hydrofracking chemicals and contaminants. Hydrofracking, which is on hold in New York as Martens’ agency conducts an environmental review, involves pumping water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to unlock gas in shale formations.

Robert Howarth, an ecology and environmental biology professor at Cornell University, said in a statement that filtration systems “simply do not provide protection for the sort of toxic contaminants that shale gas produces. If the risk from shale gas is too high for the watersheds of New York City, then it is too high for any of the watersheds in the state.”

Martens said that’s not the reason the state has proposed exempting the New York City and Syracuse watersheds from hydrofracking. Just the prospect of hydrofracking taking place in those watersheds would be enough to trigger a review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of its “filtration avoidance determinations” for the two watersheds. That could lead to a requirement that those two systems filter their water. In the case of New York City, that would cost $9 billion, the commissioner said.

The state is protective of all of its drinking water supplies, Martens said, and the “rigorous regulations” being proposed for hydrofracking will protect them. ”It’s not our concern about spills, it’s our concern about construction activities, if we allowed construction activities, that would happen if we were to allow drilling in those two watersheds,” he said.

Fifty-nine scientists who are part of the umbrella group Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, signed the letter sent to Cuomo last week. They are from around the country and several from outside the United States. “The presumption appears to be municipal water filtration plants provide protection from potential contaminants,” the letter said. “The best available scientific information does not support this presumption.”

According to Stanley R. Scobie, a retired Binghamton University professor and administrator, the Department of Energy’s Natural Gas Subcommittee and the EPA have indicated there is not enough data and information available on safety. ”It would be reckless and irresponsible for New York to proceed in the nearly complete absence of such data and appropriate analysis,” he said in a statement.

The scientists noted that the governor has said the ultimate decision on hydrofracking “will be based on concerns over science and public health.”

This is the letter:

Sign on Letter Final

   Last year was the safest on New York’s highways since the state began keeping records in the early 1920s, Gov. David Paterson announced this afternoon. There were 1,317 traffic fatalities in 2007, compared with 1,433 in 2006, according to Department of Motor Vehicles records.

   Other notable findings in the statistics for 2007:

  —Motorcycle crash fatalities decreased by nearly 11 percent.

  —Large truck crashes went down almost 20 percent.

  —Pedestrian crash fatalities were 14 percent lower than in 2006.

   State Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt said the state’s level of commitment to traffic enforcement by troopers and other law-enforcement agencies around New York has never been higher. Troopers issued more than one million tickets in 2007, the first time they wrote so many, he said in a statement.

MOUNT VERNON — A lawsuit filed by supporters of former Mayor Ernest Davis seeking to overturn the November election has been dismissed by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Charles L. Brieant rejected the lawsuit’s allegations that a federal probe of city business intimidated voters in the mayoral election.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of more than a dozen plaintiffs, including Davis, against the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the state and county boards of election, Mayor Clinton Young and Janet Snyder, the Republican candidate in the general election. It sought $600 million in damages.

Via reporter Desiree Grand. Read more here.

Yesterday, Politics on the Hudson posted an item about a study of corporate campaign contributions done by NYPIRG and other watchdog groups. The item stated that the report found 13 instances where Andy Spano received donations over the $5,000 limit.

However, Bill Mahoney, NYPIRG’s research coordinator e-mailed to say that we at Politics on the Hudson misunderstood NYPIRG’s spreadsheet. The corporations that were listed as giving to Andy Spano did, in fact give over the limit, but Spano’s campaign received only a precentage of those donations.

“He did not receive more than $5,000 from any one corporate source,” Mahoney said in his email.

Politics on the Hudson regrets the misunderstanding.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Inspector General Kristine Hamann announced the indictment today of a public official in New York City who was allegedly bribing vendors, including a public relations firm associated with Marc Jacobs fashion, to hold shows at a New York City Armory.
Here’s from the release:
“Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and State Inspector General Kristine Hamann today announced a multi-count indictment against James Jackson, the former Superintendent of the 69th Regiment Armory, a national historic landmark, on extortion and bribery charges.

Jackson, 30-year New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs
(DMNA) employee who ran the Armory for more than 8 years, is charged with felonies for demanding over $30,000 from vendors in exchange for allowing use of the Armory for Marc Jacobs fashion shows and Ramsay Art Fairs, among others. Jackson faces more than 20 years in prison.”

Jackson pleaded not guilty, officials said.

They also announced other public-integrity sentencing:

“Cuomo today also announced the sentencing of Victor Molina, a former New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF) employee, for misusing his position to access confidential computerized tax information of a company to benefit his outside law practice in the Bronx. Molina, who is an attorney, worked for NYSDTF as a Tax Compliance Agent since 1998. Molina pled guilty to Official Misconduct, a class A misdemeanor and was sentenced to 3 years’ probation and the maximum $1000 fine. As a condition of his plea, Molina was required to resign from state service and banned from seeking future New York State employment.”

The late-night TV talk shows return in full force tonight, and two presidential candidates will be featured.

Jay Leno’s got Republican Mike Huckabee. Now comes word that Hillary Clinton will be on David Letterman’s show. Unlike Huckabee, she doesn’t have to worry about pesky picket lines—Letterman recently struck his own deal with members of the writers’ guild.

Sen. Chuck Schumer’s bill to extend “do not call” registry protections has passed the U.S. Senate.

The original legislation, which allows people to opt out from most telemarketing calls, includes a provision that the protections expire after five years. That means a host of consumers could find their numbers back in the public domain in 2008. Schumer’s bill would prevent the protections from expiring.

Nationwide, over 55 million telephone numbers have been registered with the Do Not Call Registry, according to Schumer; that includes 614,598 phone numbers in the 845 area code and 598,998 phone numbers in the 914 area code.

Just in time for the holiday travel rush, a federal judge today is hearing the Air Transport Association’s appeal of a new state law “requiring airlines to give passengers food, water, clean toilets and fresh air when they’re delayed on planes for more than three hours,” the AP reports:

“The law was enacted after a series of delays last winter at John F. Kennedy International Airport left some passengers stranded for more than 10 hours with no food or water, overflowing toilets and no ventilation.

“The Air Transport Association wants to stop the law from taking effect on Jan. 1, arguing that states aren’t allowed to regulate airlines, which are overseen by the federal government.

“U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Kahn in Albany is hearing the arguments from the airline industry group and the state attorney general’s office this morning.”

The Westchester County Board of Legislators adjourned today without voting on a proposed package of raises for board leaders, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon reports.

Board Chairman William Ryan, D-White Plains, and Majority Leader Martin Rogowsky, D-Harrison, said the issue would be taken up by the newly-constituted board after the first of the year. They also mentioned the possibility of establishing a task force to look at the issue of compensation more closely.

Ryan said the board’s Rules Committee, which includes Minority Leader George Oros, R-Cortlandt, had approved the measure unanimously before forwarding it to the full board for a vote.

But he noted that Oros has since said he opposed the changes.

Ryan said he still believed the board’s leadership needed to be better compensated.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law today a measure that abolishes the death penalty, making New Jersey the first state in more than four decades to reject capital punishment.

The bill, approved last week by the state’s Assembly and Senate, replaces the death sentence with life in prison without parole.

“This is a day of progress for us and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder,� Corzine said.

The measure spares eight men on the state’s death row. On Sunday, Corzine signed orders commuting the sentences of those eight to life in prison without parole….

The state’s move is being hailed across the world as a historic victory against capital punishment. Rome plans to shine golden light on the Colosseum in support. Once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, the Colosseum is now a symbol of the fight against the death penalty.