State needs to step in, stop Route 28 project

Dear Editor:

Why, when our world is burning, is the state Department of Environmental Conservation — which tells us that “state lands belong to all of us,” and to “leave no trace of damage to our shared lands and waterways” at “one of the most popular gateways to the Catskill Forest Preserve” — so willing to leave it to the town of Kingston Planning Board to determine the fate of the irreplaceable 3,000-acre Bluestone Wild Forest and its precious Pickerel Pond and Onteora Lake?

Without the DEC tackling this issue on behalf of all of us, the town’s volunteer Planning Board is increasingly stuck between a rock and a hard place while, for two years, we opponents have made a strong case against the proposed polluting and damaging 850 Route 28 industrial project.

Predictably, the well-financed developer and his slick attorneys can maneuver the red tape of local laws, which do not take into account our need to adapt to the existential climate change ahead of us.

What about what we’re leaving for young people and future generations? Doesn’t anyone have grandchildren?

In this context of accelerating global warming, why does the DEC not proactively weigh in with its professional muscle and take the moral stand to “leave no trace of damage” to this whole region, way beyond the town of Kingston? Why is the state leaving it to just the volunteers of the Planning Board to bear the weight of this crucial decision?

Jude Ashpar

Woodstock