Robust cleanup funds make big difference

How does a big environmental mess get cleaned up in Dutchess County?

How does a key waterfront revitalization effort get a nudge in Beacon?

How does a precious piece of farmland in Red Hook get saved?

How does a dilapidated building on Main Street in the City of Poughkeepsie get restored?

The answers to all these questions partially involve state and federal officials using sound judgment and making smart commitments. They involve providing adequate money to important programs — including the federal Superfund and state brownfields and Environmental Protection Fund. But they also must entail intense oversight over these excellent initiatives to see the money goes to timely and appropriate uses.

Unquestionably, there have been abuses and neglect over the years, but there also have been many success stories.

The City of Poughkeepsie, for instance, has benefited greatly from the state’s Brownfields Cleanup Program that provides tax credits to those willing to clean up contaminated sites and redevelop these lands.

And, as Poughkeepie Journal reporter John Ferro just pointed out, this program could play an integral role in a developer’s plans to transform a blighted corner of Academy and Cannon streets into vibrant residential units. The ground below part of this area is contaminated with solvents, likely from operations at a former dry-cleaning business.

READ MORE:Project aims to revitalize what once were city's tallest buildings

It’s a common story across the Hudson Valley — and the nation. Old industry practices, often by companies no longer in business, have left hefty environmental damage and potential health hazards to people.

Ever so slowly, places like Poughkeepsie are making progress. Sound partnerships between private developers and government officials are undeniably needed to keep things moving.

Last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers approved a 10-year extension of the brownsfield program after making some modifications aimed at broadening the impact. This year, they wisely added more money to the Environmental Protection Fund that greatly aids localities with farmland protection and waterfront cleanups.

But, in stark contrast, such progress has not been forthcoming on the federal level, where the Superfund could use an infusion of resources to reduce the intolerable waits we have witnessed in Dutchess County and other places for contaminated sites to be remedied.

Decisions like these in Albany and Washington, D.C. are not abstractions. They have real consequences, as we have seen time and time again on the local level.