Katherine Kennedy, New York State Special Deputy Attorney General for Environmental Protection, spoke at RIT last Wednesday to raise awareness of the environmental challenges that face New York State, and to work with the public to bring light to problems and explore new solutions.

The evening opened with a short speech by Kennedy highlighting key areas and court cases that the Attorney General’s office had been investigating over the last year. Topics ranged from air pollution to water pollution to toxic pollution, all taking place in the state of New York. After the speech was finished, there commenced a question and answer session. “It’s been an exciting year. We’ve been able to get a lot of work done across the state, yet we know that New York faces tremendous challenges moving forward, whether it’s global warming [or] toxic pollution,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said that one of the major accomplishments of the Attorney General’s office for the year was the enforcement of the Clean Air Act against coal burning power plants and other companies. The Clean Air Act is a law that works to reduce the amount of smog and air pollution. “Many [plants] have expanded their operations, increased their emissions, and yet still not put those modern controls on, and that’s a violation of the Clean Air Act,” Kennedy said.

Litigation has included reaching a settlement about two months ago to shut down a power plant in Greece, which released roughly 20,000 tons of air pollution each year. “[We] were able to negotiate, very promptly, a settlement with the company which we feel is really in the best interest[s] of everyone,” Kennedy said. “In addition, the settlement required the company to pay a $200,000 civil penalty to the State of New York, and also to provide $500,000 to fund pollution reduction projects in the area. At the last check, the company has already closed down three of its units. The last unit is slated to be closed down in May.” The old plant will be replaced by a modern natural gas facility that will deliver cleaner energy to the community.

One question was raised related to the nation’s energy crisis and topics dealing with gas taxes and whether removing said taxes was a wise move. “It’s not clear that higher gasoline taxes or gasoline prices have good environmental impact. I think the way that we want to move is to have alternative fuels and better vehicles... consumers want change and are willing to look at cars that are cleaner and to buy cars that are cleaner,” Kennedy responded. “I think that there are many ways of getting at reducing the air pollution from the transportation sector without getting the taxes.”

One audience member questioned the progress being made in the state’s hydroelectric power projects. Kennedy replied that the state was making efforts to expand the systems currently in place and was also working to get new systems in place. “The state has adopted... a requirement... that calls on the state to get 25% of its energy from renewable sources by 2013,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy was appointed to her current position in February 2007 by NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The position was created as part of Cuomo’s emphasis on protecting New York’s natural resources.