Rochester Sierra Club Blog

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SIXTH ANNUAL SIERRA CLUB ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM
"Protecting and Policing New York's Environment"

Peter Lehner, JD,
Chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau of the NY Attorney General's Office

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

First Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd. South

This program was co-sponsored by the Choices & Environment Task Force of the First Unitarian Universalist Church.

Here is a slide show of the Sixth Annual Forum: "Photos by Ray Nelson"

Our host of the Sixth Annual Forum.

TV time with Hugh Mitchell and Peter Lehner.

The Smart Growth Coalition's table www.ggw.org/sgc

The speakers get ready.

Environmental networking.

Peter Lehner

Displays at the Forum

Excellent displays at the Forum

Networking at the Forum

Some of the tables at our Forum

Our Chairperson Hugh Mitchell introducing our guests

Presenting D&R reporter Cory Ireland with Sierra Club Communications award for excellence in Enviornmental Reporting.

First Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd. South

Important to our Forum's schedule is to connect the issues of our fourm with Rochesterians by introducing our guests to the media.

Every year we have over 30 Rochester enviornmentalists introduce themselves. They have tables with excellent displays and members describe their groups activities.

Having the public and our guest enviornmental guests network with each other on our area's environment is unique and one of the most important aspects of our yearly forums.

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Our host of the Sixth Annual Forum.

First Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd. South

The Rochester Sierra Club Group recruited Peter Lehner, JD, to be our keynote speaker. Mr. Lehner is a major environmental attorney with a national reputation as head of the NYS Attorney General's Environmental Protection Bureau. Formerly he was senior attorney for the Natural Resource Defense Council and director of the New York Clean Water Project.

The Environmental Protection Bureau enforces state and federal environmental laws, defends state agencies when sued on environmental matters, and recovers the costs incurred in state hazardous waste cleanups.  Recent initiatives include lawsuits against coal-fired power plants, to protect community gardens, to clean up the Bronx River, Hudson River and New York City watershed, and to improve energy efficiency.

As many environmentalists know, the Attorney General's office has been fighting to enforce state and national environmental laws which the Bush administration has consistently and continually sought to subvert and undermine. Some of the recent initiatives of the AG's office have included lawsuits against coal-fired power plants like RG&E's Russell Station, efforts to protect community gardens in NYC, and lawsuits aimed at cleaning up the Bronx and Hudson Rivers. Mr. Lehner discussed the current high level of non-compliance with environmental laws and discussed the need for more active enforcement.

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