Albany Times Union Agrees with Sen. Krueger on ATV Bill

The editorial board of the Albany Times Union agreed with Sen. Krueger and recommended that legislation to increase the allowable size of recreational ATVs to 1,500 pounds be put on hold. The editorial was reprinted in at least two other upstate papers, the Times Herald-Record (Hudson Valley) and the Recorder (Montgomery County).

From the Times Union:

The Senate debate can be roughly seen as pitting what Sen. Tom Libous, R-Binghamton, called the "way of life upstate" against environmental concerns. Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, said, "seemingly every environmental group I know" is against the measure. Yet the Senate passed it Monday, and it's now before the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Lacking in the legislative debate — and, indeed, the whole conversation on this bill so far — is the big-picture question: What is the appropriate use of our state's trails, especially those in the Adirondack forest deemed "forever wild" by the state constitution?