By JEFF MEYERS
Staff Writer
PLATTSBURGH — Farmers along Lake Champlain's southern shoreline will receive financial help to reduce any negative impact they have on its water quality.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has dedicated $500,000 toward a new grant program that aims to reduce the amount of phosphorus that enters Lake Champlain.
Phosphorus is a nutrient that promotes aquatic plant growth and has influenced increased algae levels in the lake.
"This important investment in New York's future will help sustain the Champlain Valley's agricultural economy while preserving one of the state's most majestic natural resources," Cuomo said Monday in a press release.
"By dedicating these funds, we will help support local farmers who are working to improve their operations while being responsible stewards of the environment."
SOUTH OF BRIDGE
Phosphorus enters the lake through several sources, including urban storm-water runoff and from wastewater treatment plants. But a major source has historically been agricultural runoff.
The grant will be used to aid farmers south of Crown Point and Chimney Point, the location of the former Champlain Bridge.
"We haven't really met to discuss the details of how it's going to work," said William Howland, executive director for the Lake Champlain Basin Program, which will be distributing the funds.
"During the course of the summer, a number of projects will be identified."
The southern arm of Lake Champlain has been targeted for the project because the lake is very narrow and is lined by many farms on both New York and Vermont shorelines.
"What's convenient about this agreement is that both sides of the lake are contributing to a serious problem," Howland said. "Good work should be done on both sides of the lake to reduce phosphorus loading."
SETTLEMENT
The funds come from a court-ordered settlement secured from American Electric Power for violations of the federal Clean Air Act.
Cuomo worked with Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell to identify a need for both New York and Vermont farmers in the southern lake to receive funding for phosphorus reduction.
"To improve the environment, Attorney General Cuomo decided the ideal approach was to have the states work together and share joint responsibility for both the lake's benefits and its problems," Howland said.
The Basin Program will soon send out requests for proposals for farmers and farming organizations along the southern lake to apply for the grant money, he added.
Projects to reduce phosphorus could include better control of storm-water runoff from plowed fields and other agricultural areas and buffers of vegetation that intercept and remove nutrients from runoff before they reach the lake.
SUPPORTIVE
Capt. Mickey Maynard of Lake Champlain Angler Charters and president of the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited praised the news.
"As a charter-boat captain and lifelong angler on Lake Champlain, I know first-hand that the watershed is the economic and recreational lifeblood of the region," Maynard said in the release. "I applaud Attorney General Cuomo for his commitment to a clean environment."
Dean Norton, president of the New York Farm Bureau, echoed that.
"We are grateful to Attorney General Cuomo for making funds available to our farmers to bolster the efforts they are already taking to protect the precious waters of Lake Champlain."
E-mail Jeff Meyers at: jmeyers@pressrepublican.com
