Judith Enck, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 Administrator, will make a public presentation “Climate Change: The Challenge of Our Time” which features details about recent federal actions to reduce greenhouse gas and C02 emissions and what they mean for New York and the northeastern U.S.

Enck’s presentation will start at 11:00 AM, July 6th, at Great Camp Sagamore as part of Protect the Adirondacks’ annual meeting. The presentation is open to the public.

“Climate Change: The Challenge of Our Time” will focus on the EPA’s recent release of new draft greenhouse gas emission reduction regulations for over 1,000 existing power plants. EPA estimates that 83% of greenhouse gas emissions are from carbon dioxide (C02) released into the atmosphere. As a group these coal-fired power plants are the single largest sources of C02 pollution in the U.S., producing nearly 25%. These new rules expect to produce a 20% reduction in C02 emissions by 2020 and 30% by 2030 (based on 2005 levels). The new program is partly modeled after the success of the 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) amendments, which successfully inaugurated the cap-and-trade program for reducing national emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the two substances that cause acid rain.

“The EPA’s recent actions to reduce C02 emission from coal-fired power plants marks the first national action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. history,” Chuck Clusen, Chair of Protect the Adirondacks, said in a statement to the press announcing the event. “EPA’s action targets to largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions for reductions. We’re very pleased that Judith Enck is making the trip to the Adirondacks to provide an overview of this major new initiative.”

In 2009, Judith Enck was appointed Regional Administrator of Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by President Barack Obama. Previously, Enck served as the Deputy Secretary for the Environment in the New York State Governor’s Office and served for eight years as a policy advisor to the New York State Attorney General.

As Region 2 Administrator, Enck’s responsibilities are wide-ranging. In cooperation with state and regional authorities in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight federally recognized Indian Nations, she administers federal programs governing air and water pollution, industrial discharges, toxic substances, pesticides, protection of streams, lakes and the ocean, solid and hazardous wastes, the cleanup of chemical spills and abandoned hazardous waste sites, and much more. She has a staff of 900 and an annual budget of $700 million.

Protect the Adirondacks is a privately funded not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park. PROTECT was formed through the merger of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks and the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks in 2009. PROTECT pursues its mission to protect the Adirondack Park and defend the public “forever wild” Forest Preserve through citizen advocacy, grassroots organizing, education, research, and legal action. PROTECT is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. PROTECT maintains an office in Lake George. For more information see www.protectadks.org.

Directions to Great Camp Sagamore and additional information is available at PROTECT’s website www.protectadks.org.