Stricter pollution limits, highly engineered landfills, mandatory recycling: New York's environmental laws have come a long way in the last 25 years.

And as an attorney with the Department of Environmental Conservation's Region 8 office, Paul D'Amato has not only watched those laws evolve, but he's also enforced and interpreted them. Now, he's in a new role. The Henrietta resident was appointed last month as regional director of the office he's worked at since 1983. He replaced Sean Hanna, who stepped down earlier this year.

The DEC oversees everything from hunting and fishing to mining and hazardous-waste disposal. It enforces state laws - it has its own police officers, who monitor sportsmen and industry alike - and issues permits for such things as chemical disposal, logging, and mining.

As regional director, D'Amato will have an important role in high-profile - and in some cases controversial - issues in the Rochester area. His office is reviewing the proposal to expand the High Acres Landfill in Perinton and the Monroe County Water Authority's plan for a new treatment plant in Webster. The agency must sign off on permits for either project to continue.

The regional DEC office is also overseeing a groundwater cleanup project in Victor. And it has a hand in the negotiations between the City of Rochester and the state regarding Hemlock and Canadice Lakes. The city has said it's interested in selling some or all of the land or lakes to the state, as long as the state permanently preserves them.

Other issues are being pursued at the state level. Among them: a new bottle bill that would cover a wider variety of containers. There has also been a push by some, environmentalists and conservationists especially, to further protect landfills. Wetlands larger than 12.4 acres are currently protected under state law, but activists want protection extended to wetlands as small as one acre.

Region 8 is one of the state DEC's largest jurisdictions, geographically. It covers 11 counties - including Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, and Livingston - an area that contains farmland, forests, shorelines, wetlands, and industry. It's also home to half of the Finger Lakes. The region touches on a little bit of everything the agency regulates, says D'Amato.

In recent interviews, D'Amato shared his thoughts about running the regional DEC office and offered his take on some local high-profile environmental issues. Following is an edited transcript of those conversations.

City: What are the biggest environmental challenges facing the region right now?

D'Amato: I think the region faces the same environmental challenges the rest of the state faces - trying to protect the natural resources that we have, to use what we need to consume wisely.

The Great Lakes are very high profile for us in terms of the controversy over lake levels and impacts to shorelines. That's not just an issue in Region 8, obviously.

Invasive species are a real concern and a tough challenge for us; and energy policy, in terms of carbon footprint and global warming.

Region 8 is sort of a microcosm of the rest of the state and maybe the rest of the country in terms of the broader environmental issues. And with the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes, water-related issues are part of the challenge that we'll be looking to take on.

For the 11 counties in Region 8, what are some of the most important issues?

Reusing contaminated sites and investigating clean-up of contaminated sites. Situations like we've seen in Victor and other places have gotten a lot of press and public attention recently. Those are obviously priorities on the clean-up side of the shop.

In terms of natural resources, we're extremely interested in continuing to work with the city on the Canadice and Hemlock watershed issues to protect that incredible resource. They're the only part of the Finger Lakes that look like they did 100 years ago - probably better than they did 100 years ago.

That's a very high-profile thing for us and one of our highest priorities.

Is it likely that the state will take over the lakes or the land surrounding them?

Nothing's over until it's over, in the words of the famous Yogi Berra, I guess.

The communities have lined up in support. The Monroe County Water Authority passed a resolution seeking preservation. We're very hopeful that we can get this thing done. I think everyone sees it as important and valuable and really a unique resource in this part of the state. To have the opportunity to preserve it in the condition it's in is really unique.

Where does the MonroeCounty Water Authority's proposed Webster water project stand? How long until a decision is made on the permits?

That's still in the review stage. We're pegging it at probably60 to 90 days.

What does the DEC look at? Is demand considered?

It is. There's actually a statutory provision that tells us what factors we need to look at in any water-supply application. It's not unique to this project.

Service area, demand, and conflict with other municipalities that are providing service: there's a list of them.

One of the criticisms of that project is that it might encourage sprawl. Is that considered in the review?

To the extent that becomes an issue, people may raise that. People may point out that's a factor that should be considered. When you look at something from a SEQR (environmental review) or a total environmental standpoint, something like that could be looked at. I don't think it's on the checklist of items that is in the law for that type of application. Whether it was discussed in the overall environmental review, I'd have to be closer to the project itself to be able to answer.

So is it too late to raise the issue with the DEC?

The comment period has closed. I would never say to anybody "You can't contact the DEC." We would certainly respond to it.

Do you consider sprawl to be an environmental issue?

I think smart growth, sprawl, preservation of rural and agricultural lands is a concern. We can encourage the reuse of brownfields, or properties that already exist but may need some cleanup. Anything you can do along those lines saves perhaps a virgin site somewhere from being developed. Yeah, it's an issue. It's more of a broader policy and perspective type of issue, to try to find smart ways to encourage use of existing infrastructures. And it all goes with the idea of conservation. But we don't have a direct regulatory control.

As regulators we receive projects that come before us. We don't really regulate land use directly

When and how can the DEC take sprawl into account?

It really falls a lot to the municipalities in terms of zoning, master planning, and open space preservation. They're [the state DEC] beginning to work on that. We can consider whether alternatives might exist that would address that issue.

Is the regional DEC office involved in the water-sharing agreement talks between the City of Rochester and the MonroeCounty Water Authority?

We're not directly involved in their contractual negotiations, but we do have an interest in what they're doing, both from the standpoint of the water supply in general - they do have permits from us - and to the extent that there's a possibility of it affecting what goes on at Canadice and Hemlock. We have a very active interest, and we try to stay in the informational loop, but it's not like we're part of their negotiation.

Environmentalists have pushed for the state to reduce the size a wetland must be for it to be protected. Where do you stand on that issue?

That's one of the issues that's been discussed with wetlands. Putting an emphasis on getting the mapping more current and updated is a related issue. That's being looked at.

Regionally, what wetland protection issues does the office oversee?

Wetlands are regulated both by the federal government and New York State. There's a permit requirement from us before anybody could either develop or fill the wetland. And the wetland boundary itself is protected. There's a 100-foot adjacent area, what's typically referred to as a buffer zone, that's regulated.

It's a pretty tough threshold to meet to get the permits, because once wetland's filled and gone, it's filled and gone. It doesn't come back. So you do need to be conservative about it.

Does the DEC play any role in creating or rehabbing wetlands?

Unless it was a state project, it was a construction project that the state was doing and wetlands needed to be created, we would not normally be going out and building wetlands. The way that happens on occasion, though, is an applicant might qualify for a permit under the condition that they build some mitigation. And that could take the form of building some additional wetland or enhancing the quality of an existing wetland - enlarging it, that type of thing. Wetland construction and enhancement does go on many times associated with projects. RIT - that Wilmorite development project actually has a mitigation plan associated with that. There's a conservation easement out there on some other lands as well.

And then of course wetlands revert naturally. Old farm fields very often, if they're no longer farmed, will revert to wetland vegetation because 80 years ago, when they were first farmed, they were drained.

There's been a push for wind power across the region, and there's been some controversy. Where does the DEC fit in, and where does it stand on the issue?

That's new enough that I don't think I can paint that one with a broad stroke. Energy policy and alternative energy sources - whether it's fuels, whether it's wind -is one of the newer frontiers. The commissioner's office has actually named a policy office and has named a couple of people to focus primarily on energy as a specific responsibility.

Over the past 25 years, what have been the most significant issues for this region of the DEC?

The growth and now the downsizing of Kodak, because of all of the permits we write over there - and, at times, some controversial things: hazardous waste incineration, some of the old Rand Street issues and groundwater issues.Certainly that's a facility that has garnered a lot of attention and is such a player in Rochester. It's hard to talk about DEC over the last 25 years without talking about them.

Another issue has been getting the solid-waste management facilities under better regulatory control. If you go back 25 years, we were still closing old town dumps and trying to get modern, state-of-the-art, regional solid-waste management facilities in a better place environmentally. The development of the Mill Seat Landfill for Monroe County was part of the movement away from the small-town dumps to really sound, environmentally managed solid waste facilities.

The Bottle Bill probably should be highlighted: the tremendous amount of materials that are not in the landfills anymore. So should recycling beyond just the Bottle Bill. What we all put in the blue boxes used to go on the top of the garbage heap.

And there's development of some of the laws themselves. The late 70's and 80's were really when so much of what we take for granted now became law: the Superfund, the Clean Water Act, the revised Clean Air Act in 1990. So much of how we manage our waste, how hazardous waste has been dealt with: all of that really doesn't go as far back as people think it does. It really was the 70's and 80's when the federal statutes were passed and the states followed suit.