March 19, 2007

Welcome to Environmental Advocates of New York’s online newsletter from the State Capital, your source for environmental news. We’ll update you every other week with tidbits and observations carefully gleaned from the halls of the Capitol.

NYS Senate Finally Makes Time to Hear from Pete Grannis

The State Senate has finally scheduled a hearing (tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20) for Assemblyman Pete Grannis to question him regarding his fitness to head the state’s environmental agency, the DEC. This hearing will be well attended given all the noise around Grannis’ nomination from gun advocates and some sportsmen’s groups.

We suspect that a few Majority Party senators are holding up his confirmation because of concerns from some quarters, including gun advocates who claim the Assemblyman is anti-gun.  But in conversations we’ve had with members of the Senate Majority, most don’t have a problem with Pete Grannis and recognize that gun control is an irrelevant issue—begging the question of why it took so long to get around to scheduling the hearing.

If you haven’t already, please tell your State Senator that you support Pete Grannis to lead the DEC.

Make Polluters Pay

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) closed its public comment period last week on a “pre-proposal” for draft regulations to formalize New York's role in the country’s first-ever regional climate pact, formally known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI.

At the urging of Environmental Advocates of New York and many others, the DEC proposed making polluters pay for the privilege of emitting carbon dioxide, by auctioning 100 percent of the emissions allowances under the program. Power producers complained that they should be given the allowances free of charge (after all, the air isn’t a public resource, or is it?).

And while the DEC won’t release its final decision for months, Environmental Advocates is optimistic that the regional climate pact will include the 100 percent auction provision. By auctioning off the allowances, the state could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for energy efficiency, clean energy and other programs to cut global warming pollution.

Show Me the Money: Behold the Budget Battle

Budget season is moving full steam ahead in Albany. The Assembly passed its version of the state budget early last week and the Senate followed suit shortly thereafter. The way things stand today, it’s a toss-up as to how much will get earmarked for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund this year, and where those resources might come from.  

Environmental Advocates knows what we’d like. We want the budget to include the Bigger Better Bottle deposit law, just as Governor Spitzer proposed back in February, providing additional revenue for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. We also want the budget to support 109 new staffers at the state’s environmental agency, the DEC, and get that agency back on track with its mission to protect our air, land and water.

And while the Assembly has included both measures, the Senate chose not to include the expanded bottle deposit law and cut about half of the staff we know is desperately needed at the DEC. Suffice it to say, neither the Assembly’s support nor the Senate’s lack thereof come as any surprise to us.

The New York Senate has never taken up the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, despite dozens of senators from both sides of the aisles signing up as willing co-sponsors. However, a select few have never supported expanding our bottle deposit law and have consistently confused a deposit on plastic water and iced tea bottles with a tax on same. On the other hand, the Assembly has passed the Bigger Better Bottle Bill the last two years in a row.    

Regarding Spitzer’s proposed staff additions at the DEC, some members of the Senate Majority are claiming that they don’t have enough information about where the new positions would be added. This is odd, since Spitzer distributed detailed descriptions of which offices would get staffers. It’s also noteworthy that the Senate’s version of the budget has cut the state’s new Office of Climate Change at the DEC.   

If this year is anything like last year, most of the budget will clear by March 30, and some key issues will remain unresolved for months. We’ll be sure to share all the juicy details with you, regardless.

Scene (& Heard) About Town

Last week, the Assembly named new committee chairs. Environmental Advocates was waiting on two in particular, Environmental Conservation (EnCon), naturally, and Energy.

The Assembly tapped Assemblyman Bob Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) to chair the EnCon Committee. Sweeney has been an active member of the EnCon Committee for years and is an obvious choice. He’ll be holding the year’s first Assembly EnCon meeting this week, and will likely begin the process of reintroducing some of former Assemblyman DiNapoli’s old bills, including the environmental priority Super Bills. 

On the energy side of things, Assemblyman Paul Tonko will remain committee chair for the time being, despite rumors that he’s been tapped to head the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority. The Authority oversees the state’s funding of clean and renewable energy development, as well as energy efficiency programs statewide.

Bills in Play

Small Business Energy Loans
One tree for a bill to establish a small business energy loan program. Eligible small businesses could receive either zero percent or reduced interest rate loans of up to $100,000 to finance the cost of improvements to reduce energy use. The bill would also require participating businesses to have an energy audit to identify energy conservation strategies.

Environmental Access to Justice
Three trees for a bill to restore New Yorkers' power to challenge decisions under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). The bill would restore the original intent and test for standing under SEQRA--a showing that the plaintiff has suffered an injury within the zone of interests covered by the original law crafted to protect our air, land and water.

SPECIAL FEATURE: Q & A with Judith Enck, Deputy Secretary for the Environment, Office of the Governor 

Prior to becoming the Gov’s point person on all matters “green,” Judith Enck ran EPL/Environmental Advocates and was a Senior Environmental Associate at NYPIRG before joining then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as his environmental policy advisor. 

Family: Married to Mark Dunlea for 25 years. One child Reed Dunlea is currently a sophomore at Vassar College.  

Where do you call home? Poestenkill, Rensselaer County

What do you drive? Toyota Prius

Why do you do the work that you do? To improve environmental quality and public health and make New York a national leader on environmental protection.

What is New York’s most pressing environmental concern? Global warming.

Any predictions for 2007? Passage of the Bigger Better Bottle Bill.

Who is your favorite Beatle? I was more of a Monkees gal.