DLE MEETUP EXPLORES ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE WORKPLACE
June 12, 2024
DLE HUB CONTRIBUTOR GINGER KUENZEL PUBLISHES NEW BOOK
June 12, 2024DLE MENTOR GINGER KUENZEL’S PROMINENT FIGHT TO PROTECT LAKE GEORGE
By Allison Rinehart, Communications Intern, Senior at Clark University
Author and longtime DLE HUB columnist Ginger Kuenzel has been involved in crucial environmental advocacy work for the preservation of Lake George. For the last six years, she has been a board member of the Lake George Association, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the water. Lake George is the only lake in New York State to be regulated by its own state agency, the Lake George Park Commission.
But now the Park Commission wants to put an herbicide, ProcellaCOR, into the water to eradicate Eurasian milfoil, an invasive plant. This weed has been in Lake George for more than 40 years, during which time it has been managed by hand harvesting. Now the Park Commission wants to try to get rid of the weed using this herbicide.
ProcellaCOR was recently revealed to contain PFAS, a known carcinogen and “forever chemical”–meaning that once it’s put in the lake, it will basically be there forever. Despite this risk, the Park Commission wants to proceed with the operation. Ginger describes the situation as “an overreach of state government into local government rights and property rights.”
The governments of all four towns near the two proposed treatment sites have gone on record opposing it as have adjacent property owners. In addition, more than 5,000 people who live on or recreate on Lake George have signed a petition opposing the use of ProcellaCOR in Lake George. Many residents rely on the lake’s pristine quality for their drinking water and to irrigate their gardens.
“ProcellaCOR is still relatively new to the market, and its effects on people, animals and the lake’s fragile ecosystem are still unknown. It was particularly concerning to learn recently that there is a risk that ProcellaCOR contains PFAS,” Ginger says. “It’s simply a risk we do not have to take.”
You can sign the petition by clicking here. Ginger also recently wrote an op-ed for the Adirondack Explorer on the matter. Click here to read her piece.