Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Hudson Mohawk Group Executive Committee is thrilled to confirm that longtime environmental champion and ally Joe Martens has agreed to be our featured speaker at our annual fundraising dinner on Thursday, September 13, beginning at 6:00 at the Five Rivers Environmental Center in Delmar (new indoor Visitors’ Center.) For those interested in some pre-dinner exercise, please arrive at 5:15 and take a hike with Virginia!

Joe is currently the Director of the New York Offshore Wind Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and environmental organizations committed to promoting the development of offshore wind energy off New York’s coast.  Prior to that he was a Senior Fellow at the Open Space Institute, a regional land conservation organization that has protected thousands of acres of land from Maine to Georgia.  He served as Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation from March 2011 to July 2015. Mr. Martens led the agency in implementing its core statutory mission to protect public health and the environment. He guided the Administration’s efforts to protect and expand access to the state’s open spaces, boost environmental funding programs, and launch numerous initiatives to protect drinking water, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gasses.  From 1998 through 2010, Commissioner Martens served as President of the Open Space Institute, directing and overseeing land acquisition. He served as OSI’s Executive Vice President from 1995 through 1998.  Mr. Martens served Governor Mario Cuomo as Deputy Secretary for Energy and the Environment from 1992-94 and as Assistant Secretary from 1990-92. He was Chair of the Board of the Olympic Regional Development Authority, Chair of the Environmental Facilities Corporation and sat on the board of the Energy Research and Development Authority. Mr. Martens studied resource economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and received an M.S. in Resource Management from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University.

Register now by enclosing your check for $40 (our suggested donation) made payable to the Sierra Club H-M Group  and send it to: Sierra Club H-M Group, P.O. Box 8447, Albany, NY 12208 OR go on-line to www.sierraclubhudsonmohawk.org and follow the instructions. We ask that everyone register by Friday, September 7th. If you have any questions, please call 518-210-5294.