Letter from Chip Northrup Cape Cod Water: a Cautionary Tale Most septic systems are designed to remove solids and bacteria, not nitrogen and phosphorus. The harmful algae blooms, or HABs, in Otsego Lake are driven by two key nutrients: nitrogen and phosphorus. Septic systems in the Otsego Lake watershed—including ones that are adjacent to the lake—may be leaking nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil, which may subsequently enter the lake, feeding a toxic bloom. Old-fashioned septic tanks are the culprits…
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Letter from Chip Northrup Kudos to ‘A-Team’ for Lake Protection Glimmerglass Lake (aka Otsego) faces its biggest ecological challenge since the last Ice Age in the form of harmful algae blooms, “HABs,” which can make lake water not only unpotable, but un-swimmable, un-skiable, un-rowable and unpopular. Fortunately, we have the A-Team on the job: The new incoming president of the North American Lake Management Society, none other than our own Dr. Kiyoko Yokota of SUNY Oneonta, and Mr. Doug Willies,…
Letter from Chip Northrup Communities Urged To Safeguard Lake Proposition 1 passed last week. It authorizes state bond funds for environmental infrastructure—including $650 million for clean water projects. The Otsego Lake community should make a proposal to address harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the lake. The funding proposal should come from the Village, the townships and the county. The proposal should be crafted by the lake stakeholders and experts—led by the Biological Field Station. HABs can be reduced by better…
Invention by Cooperstown Resident Getting Interest from Military By Caspar Ewig Ghosts, especially at this time of the year, are meant to scare one to death. But ghosts can also be used to save a soldier’s life. And it is upon that idea that Cooperstown’s James (or “Chip,” as he likes to be called) Northrup filed a patent seven years ago that underlies the function of a training system designed to enhance a soldier’s ability to zero in on a…
Letter from Chip Northrup Carefree Gardens + Origins = Paradise As the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder, we begin to think of heading back to Texas. But we never leave before the closing event of the season: the plant auction at Carefree Gardens on October 10, Columbus Day. One of our great pleasures at Cooperstown is our time spent at Carefree and at Origins Café, where, if I’m lucky, I get to shoot the breeze with my…
Letter from Chip Northrup Keep the Glimmer, Lose the Slime Dr Willard Harman of the Biological Field Station understands the biodynamics of toxic slime (“blue green algae”) and he knows what can be done to mitigate their blooms — which may become chronic if left unaddressed — in which case lake water would become non-potable, fish would die, and people would get sick. The Biological Field Station is going to come up with plans to attempt to address the problem…
Letter from Chip Northrup Unnecessary Nuisance The Cooperstown firehouse siren is noise pollution at its worst — far above the Village’s own decibel limit, and totally unnecessary, unlike say a heavy metal concert. Pagers and cell phones can and have replaced these ridiculous noisemakers. If the firemen get a page or a text, they get the address of the fire — they can go straight there — they don’t have to go to the fire station first. When the Queensbury,…
Letter from Chip Northrup Hapless Mussels The hapless mussels didn’t want to come here. They were as happy as clams in Siberia — before they were Shanghai’d to the Great Lakes. They have no political advocates in Albany — so they get the blame for everything. Count the votes Chip NorthrupCooperstown…
‘Justice involved’ The proposed New York State licensing program for cannabis dispensaries (a.k.a. dope shops) gives priority to applicants that have a record of being “justice involved” – that is, persons convicted of drug charges, or the relatives of such persons, before the state dope sale law went into effect. What a great euphemism for a criminal! Fortunately, I qualify – having exported hashish from England to America in the 1970s. So where do I apply for a license to become the Dope…
Letter: Meanwhile in Texas Texas’s new voter suppression law is a great example of how to keep lots of people from voting. The new statute requires a voter to present either a driver’s license or their Social Security number in order to get an absentee ballot. Since Texas only requires one of these IDs to register to vote, if a county registrar receives an absentee ballot request with a type of ID they don’t have on file, they can’t match…