Adirondack Voters Join Environmental Bond Act Approval Landslide

Residents of the Adirondack Park’s 130 rural communities voted overwhelmingly to approve the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act on Election Day.

The measure won approval by more than a two-to-one margin statewide.

In all, voters in 10 of 12 Adirondack counties approved the bond measure, with only the park’s two least populous counties – Hamilton and Lewis – voting against it, according to results on the NYS Board of Elections website. It was approved by double-digit margins in each of those counties. Voters in Warren County provided the largest margin of victory, with 69% voting “yes,” and only 28% voting “no.” All Warren County 42 precincts had reported.

The bond act will provide capital project funding for several major Adirondack priorities, including clean drinking water and wastewater treatment systems in municipalities; clean air monitoring and emissions clean-up; new jobs in the clean energy and wilderness management fields; climate resiliency, focused largely on preventing flood damage; open space preservation and better visitor-use management for the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

“Wow! That was a great outcome,” said  said. “We are thrilled to see that it passed so easily statewide, but we didn’t take for granted that it would pass in the Adirondacks too. We did a lot of voter education work prior to Election Day, so we are very pleased with all the support.”

“We have identified more than $200 million in mandatory clean drinking water and municipal wastewater treatment system projects that Adirondack communities need to pay for one way or another over the next decade or so,” Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway said. “Without the bond act, those projects would have to be paid for mostly by local property taxpayers. With the bond act, the state will foot 50 or 75 percent of that bill. That is huge relief.”

Janeway said the bond act will help public health around the park by removing a significant source of air pollution near schools. By replacing gas- and diesel-powered school buses with electric models, children won’t be exposed to elevated levels of soot and fumes as they go back and forth to school each day, he said.

“The bond also gives New York officials the ability to play a meaningful role in the protection of the 33,000-acre Whitney Estate in Long Lake,” Janeway said. “It is an important tract that should be protected. We expect that it will take both public and private parties working together to produce a plan that protects the tract’s forests, while also respecting some of the historic structures and recreational opportunities that aren’t compatible with wilderness protection. Right now, there is a subdivision plan on the property. We’d like to prevent that and protect as much of it intact as possible. Yesterday, New York could not really participate. Yesterday, New York could not really participate. Now it can, if a fair market price can be agreed to.”

The 9,300-square-mile Adirondack Park is the largest park in the contiguous United States. Almost half is public forest protected forever from logging and exploitation under the state’s constitution. Its 130 hamlets and villages are home to 130,000 year-round residents. The park hosts more than 12.4 million visitors per year.

Photo of Adirondack Mountains from the top of Whiteface Mountain courtesy Wikimedia user R khot; “Growth of the Adirondack Park” illustration from The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park (2022).