To The Reader’s Forum:

The decision of Chautauqua Institution to bring a lawsuit against the Department of Environmental Conservation prohibiting the use of herbicides anywhere in Chautauqua Lake is outrageous! This issue should be resolved at the local level; there are plenty of organizations concerned with our lake that can or should be involved in the resolution of this controversy.

The Chautauqua Lake Partnership seems to have achieved considerable success in its efforts to apply herbicides, and democratically-elected officials in the towns of Ellery, North Harmony, Busti and Ellicott, as well as the village of Celoron, have been granted permits for this application. There are many other citizen-led organizations interested in improving the weed condition in the lake. There is an alliance that includes most of these organizations and is responsible for coordinating their efforts and resolving differences among them.

Why should Chautauqua Institution attempt to supersede all these efforts? Moreover, why shold a not-for-profit organization be spending considerable sums of money on environmental lawyers from Buffalo to advocate for its interests? In my judgement, if their radical environmental effort is successful, our grandchildren will be living next to Chautauqua Swamp.

Stan Lundine

Bemus Point