Environmental Protection Fund projects are losing out this year, as the cash-strapped state government robs Peter to pay Paul by diverting money supposedly dedicated to Soil and Water Conservation Districts to pay for other budgeted items.

Because of cuts to the Environmental Protection Fund, communities are losing the battle against invasive water chestnuts."When the state is broke, they sweep into the dedicated funds and use those to pay bills," Steve Lorraine, director of the Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District, told the Syracuse Post-Standard. "We had planned a grazing project and doing some nutrient management work with farmers that now won't be done."

Other Central New York Counties also are feeling the pinch.  Oswego lost the state funding it had planned using for removal of water chestnuts, which are choking parts of the Oswego River from Minetto to Phoenix and the Ox Creek area south of Fulton

John DeHollander, director of Oswego County Soil and Water, said he planned other projects with the money, including underwriting a geological survey for the Tug Hill Aquifer and working on a dam restoration in Hannibal.

Ron Podolek, executive director of Cayuga County Soil and Water District, hopes to conduct several agricultural projects this fiscal year with state funds, including silo leachate control. "The bottom line for us is we're waiting for the dollars," he said.