Almanack Contributor Christopher Amato

Christopher Amato served as DEC's Assistant Commissioner for Natural Resources from 2007-2011. He is now a staff attorney with the Northeast office of Earthjustice, a not-for-profit environmental law firm and the vice chair of Adirondack Wild.


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

A Judicial Retreat From Protecting The Adirondacks

Lady JusticeThe recent decision by the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court upholding the approval by the Adirondack Park Agency of the proposed Adirondack Club and Resort (ACR) project in Tupper Lake has generated intense controversy. Groups on both sides have weighed in with their views on the wisdom or folly of the APA’s approval of the massive project and the court’s affirmance of that approval.

Putting aside the merits of the controversy, what is striking about the court’s decision is the startling absence of any discussion of the uniqueness of the Adirondack Park, the history or purpose of the APA Act, or the special place the Park occupies in the hearts and minds of the people of New York. These omissions are all the more disturbing because of the court’s recognition that ACR is “the largest project ever proposed for New York’s 6,000,000-acre Adirondack Park.” Which leads one to wonder: have the courts fallen out of love with the Adirondack Park? » Continue Reading.


Friday, December 6, 2013

NYCO Mining Amendment: Fact And Fiction

800px-2013_Adirondack_Land_Exchange_MapLast month, voters in New York State approved Proposition 5, which amends Article 14 of the New York Constitution to potentially allow exploratory drilling and mining by a private mining company, NYCO, on two hundred acres of Forest Preserve lands (Lot 8) in the Jay Mountain Wilderness Area.  The amendment authorizes a potential land swap from NYCO that, in theory, will compensate the people of the state for the loss of two hundred wilderness acres, and further requires that Lot 8 ultimately be “remediated” and returned to state ownership.

In the months leading up to the vote and in the weeks since its passage, Prop 5 has stirred intense and at times acrimonious debate.  Unfortunately, the debate has tended to obscure rather than shed light on what Prop 5 really authorizes and what this novel amendment might mean for the future of “forever wild.” Here is some fact and fiction about Prop 5: » Continue Reading.



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