NEW SCOTLAND — Democrats in District 33, which includes areas in New Scotland and Bethlehem, will decide in the Sept. 10 primary who will represent them on the fall ticket for Albany County Legislature; incumbent Legislator Herbert W. Reilly Jr., of Voorheesville, received the nod from the Albany County Democratic Committee in May, but Bethlehem Town Councilman William Reinhardt forced the primary.

Reilly, 79, wants to continue his work on the Rail Trail — a project he said he spent 10 years promoting — and follow up on the safe municipal water well blasting bill he proposed with Albany County Legislator L. Michael Mackey, he told The Enterprise. He is an Albany-area native who continues to work at his family’s two funeral homes in Albany and Voorheesville.

Reilly took a break from campaigning on his bicycle door-to-door on a hot summer day to speak with The Enterprise.

Reinhardt, 65, wants to work for transparency in government by way of recorded meetings, and reduce operating costs and the county’s carbon footprint with sustainable initiatives, he said. He has lived in Albany County since 1984, and is retired from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Reinhardt is also a founder of Solarize Albany, a not-for-profit group that promotes solar energy use.

Reinhardt, too, answered questions while on the campaign trail, returning a call after meeting with a potential voter in his living room.

Both men said they want to continue to pass well-intentioned — but questionably unenforceable — laws at the county level, like the outlawing of toxic toys and the prohibiting of Styrofoam restaurant containers. They both also support the services provided by the county nursing home, and approve of Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy’s goal to restrict crude oil tanker movement through the county.

Both candidates urge caution for expanded pipeline and electric transmission lines, with the safety of local residents as a primary goal.

Energy corridor

Reinhardt, with his interest in energy sources and use, said that state policy calls for a reduction of carbon use by 80 percent by the year 2050.

In 2009, Governor David Paterson signed an executive order to create a goal, by 2050, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New York State by 80 percent below the levels emitted in 1990. 

Federal and international policies are not far behind, Reinhardt told The Enterprise.

He said that the planned reductions in fossil-industry use could affect the proposed pipeline expansion by Kinder Morgan for natural gas pipelines that run through New Scotland and parts of Bethlehem and the Hilltowns.

“It’s a question of whether we need more of them,” Reinhardt said.

An increased use of battery-sourced energy based on renewable and sustainable energy like solar or wind could affect pipeline and transmission line expansions, he said.

Proposals over the last two years to expand the right-of-way corridors for electrical transmission lines that march through New Scotland to provide power to downstate consumers have local residents concerned.

While reducing the county’s carbon footprint, he said, “You may have to accommodate extra electrical load” at the existing lines’ right-of-way corridors.

“Utility systems could look quite differently in 20 years than they do now,” he said. “We should be careful not to build outdated systems.”

Reinhardt and local solar not-for-profits, like Solarize Albany, have been working on community net metering for residents, organized similarly to co-operative groups. Those without means to have solar panels installed can participate with resident who do have panels installed on their properties, Reinhardt said.

Local energy generation could replace the traditional model of creating energy far from consumers and then transporting it, as the power lines across New Scotland do, he said.

Reilly also spoke about solar energy.

“That’s one issue Mike Mackey and I have been working hard on,” he said. Reilly, too, spoke about shared metering on both municipal buildings and on private homes.

“Everybody’s house can’t qualify,” he said, noting that slate roofs or roofs with an incorrect peak cannot accommodate solar panels.

“The Office of General Services is going to do a study and report to us,” Reilly said, referring to the legislature.

A bill for solar panels on county buildings was introduced to the legislature, and a committee meeting for the proposal was held last week, Reilly said. The legislature may vote on the plan by next month, he said.

The proposal could save $45 million over time on county electric bills, he said; the extension of the project to private homes could allow assistance for the public, he said.

“That’s something we’re very much interested in,” Reilly said.

“My issue is hoping that the water safety bill passes in September,” he said. Drafted similarly to a law proposed by Mackey to protect county residents if blasting affects private water wells, Mackey and Reilly worked on a bill that would protect entire municipal water supplies from companies, like Kinder Morgan, who proposed blasting.

“There’s a serious potential problem,” Reilly said. Kinder Morgan’s proposal to blast to expand its pipeline lies 230 feet above a reservoir in New Scotland, Reilly said, and within a quarter of a mile of a documented brownfield.

“Kinder Morgan is very aggressive,” he said, noting that the limestone in New Scotland makes blasting unpredictable.

“I’m not getting much support from Bethlehem town officials. They have a different agenda,” Reilly said. “It would be better to have [the blasting law] on the books and not need it, than to need it and not have it on the books.”

Reilly said he had no new information about the power transmission lines, but said, alluding to dynamite blasting for underground pipelines, “At least, there are no explosions or anything.”

Reilly, a marathon runner, said that he has run in the transmission line corridor.

“I heard crackling overhead. There’s real energy there. I’m not so sure that’s good for a human being, either,” he said. “It’s not natural. I’m not opposed to energy — they can trench instead of blasting.”

Reilly said that trenching for a pipeline is slower and safer than blasting.

Historic preservation

After town officials tried to save the Hilton-LeVie barn from demolition this year, McCoy became involved in relocating the historic edifice to the nearby rail trail.

“I think it’s extremely important,” Reilly said about local historic preservation. “It is a historical barn — it’s huge.”

Reinhardt credited former New Scotland Councilman Daniel Mackay with the barn’s relocation.

“I think that idea is a fantastic idea. I loved that idea,” Reinhardt said. “The county has taken a leadership role…a positive partnership between the county and the villages. That’s a wonderful thing.”

Crude oil trains

“I am very supportive of Daniel McCoy’s aggressive position on the oil trains,” Reinhardt said. “These trains are very, very dangerous.”

He said that he once counted a train with 96 cars going through Voorheesville.

Reinhardt said that the likelihood of more accidents, like those that have caused large fires and contamination in other parts of the country, is high.

“There are a lot of things the feds can do” to make the trains safer, he said. The county, he said, has done a good job in trying to protect the public, but the state and the federal governments have not done enough.

“These are extremely dangerous,” he said. “The state should enact stronger measures, and even say there are places they shouldn’t go.”

Reilly said that he attended a conference McCoy organized at The College of Saint Rose about the crude-oil trains, where he saw videos of recent accidents.

“It was powerful. It was just devastating,” Reilly said. “CSX was the big player.”

“Their solution is to let it burn out,” he said of railway authorities. “They can’t even put the fires out.”

Reilly said that the county should “strengthen the resolution to have railroads notify a municipality within 20 minutes of an oil spill…not next week, instantly.”

In Voorheesville, Reilly said, the railroad runs near the aquifer used by the village. A spill, “if it didn’t ruin the aquifer, would kill a bunch of people,” he said.

Reilly said that trains with crude oil should be made to slow down, and to improve their reporting system.

Feel-good laws

The county legislature recently banned stores from carrying toys with materials considered toxic, and banned chain restaurants from using Styrofoam containers, but critics of the laws claimed that the county, with limited personnel, has little ability to enforce the new laws.

“Sometimes, the importance of the law is to raise awareness — a symbolic act,” Reinhardt said.

About the toxic toy law, he said, “There are health risks there, and we need to consider them.”

The Styrofoam law is not as difficult to enforce as some other laws, he said. Costs for landfills for managing solid waste that cannot be easily recycled or reused is also an important consideration, and an example of how the county should be aware of unintended consequences when it weighs taking action, Reinhardt said.

“There are implications there — it does have economic and environmental implications,” he said.

“If we actually codified the laws at the county level, that would be a good thing,” he said, adding that there is no single place where residents can have access to county laws — “which is kind of an embarrassment to the county.”

Reilly, who served on the legislature when both the toxic toys and the Styrofoam laws were passed, said, “I think they should continue to pass them.”

“Styrene plastic is used in Styrofoam cups. Before every ballot, we have people from industry speak. A clear cup takes seven times more styrene to make it,” Reilly said. “I think we should have made [the law] even more strict.”

Reilly also favored the passage of the calorie-count law that requires restaurants to label their food items.

“People are counting calories — they need to ride the bike further,” Reilly joked about food choices.

“Obesity is a horrible problem. It’s hard on the people. So hard,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with those kinds of laws.”

Final thoughts

“So many people are anxious to use the rail trail,” Reilly said about his pet project. He said that families want to get out on the trail now, and through the winter with snowshoes and skis.

He began working to get the rail trail approved 10 years ago, he said.

The legislature got involved with the rail trail when the county bought the trail in December 2009.

Before that, Scenic Hudson, a Poughkeepsie-based not-for-profit land conservation organization, promoted the trail. Scenic Hudson donated $350,000 to help the county buy the trail from Canadian Pacific Railway.

“It will make the whole county more attractive,” he said of the rail trail. “It ties Albany, Bethlehem, and New Scotland together. That’s the big issue.”

Reinhardt wants to see “better transparency” at the county government level, he said.

“A great aspect of good government is open government,” he said. “No private meetings when the people’s business is being discussed.”

Reinhardt wants public meetings to be videotaped, and the county legislature’s website to be accessible, he said.

He said that the county’s Charter Review Commission’s suggestions for change, including a call to downsize the legislature, which resulted in redistricting lawsuits, offered good government actions.
“They should be put before the voters so voters have a choice,” Reinhardt said. “The incumbents have been undermining this process. I want to bring it back to the table if I’m elected to the county legislature.”