New York affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation
May 12, 2008
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.
A Holiday from Common Sense
In the last couple of weeks, two of the candidates vying to become the next leader of the free world Hillary Clinton and John McCain to be more precise, have put forth versions of a knuckleheaded proposal-the gas tax holiday.
Environmental Advocates of New York believes this really bad idea is simply an attempt to win points with voters. And wouldn't you know it, the State Senate passed its own gas tax summer-long holiday last week.We can smell November from here.
Of course unless the Assembly has a change of heart, which is unlikely in light of Speaker Sheldon Silver's recent comments. and Governor David Paterson reverses himself, there will no state-level gas tax holiday for New York State. But a one-house bill has never stopped our lawmakers before.
A few reasons why a gas tax holiday is a bad idea:
Pollution form New York's cars and trucks is one of the state's biggest contributors to climate change. And reducing gas prices by suspending taxes both encourages consumers to drive more and strips away the incentive for New Yorkers to switch to mass transit or less polluting transportation. Neither of these end results is good for our air quality and for efforts to fight climate change.
A gas tax holiday may also have the perverse impact of raising gas costs. Lowering the cost of fuel during peak travel season may actually increase demand when refineries are operating at maximum capacity--thereby raising gas prices.
While it's not all clear that consumers will see any savings as a result of waiving fuel taxes, a gas holiday is guaranteed to result in lost state revenue for critical infrastructure improvements (our roads and bridges and all that good stuff)--more than $500 million this summer.
This quick fix will only hurt the health of our air, land and water, and cost us more in the end. If you want to see real consumer savings, let's ramp up our investments in energy conservation or beef up mass transit systems.
Permission to Pollute
Late last month , environmental Advocates of New York released our newest report on the state's failed water pollution permit program, Permission to Pollute.
Permission to Pollute uncovered serious flaws in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) oversight of hundreds of water pollution sources across the state. We learned that the DEC is rubber-stamping water pollution permits without substantive review and we cannot say at what cost to our waterways.
Click here to download a copy of the report.
We also uncovered the fact that the DEC is denying New Yorkers' legal rights to scrutinize permits that authorize the discharge of billions of gallons of sewage and industrial pollution into our waters each and every day. Scary stuff, right?
The lack of staff at the agency is the main driver behind the DEC's inadequate permit review practice; there simply aren't enough engineers at the agency to scrutinize New York's polluters and the permits that authorize water pollution discharges.
This comes as no surprise to Environmental Advocates. We've documented the dangerous environmental impacts of DEC staff shortages for several years.
The DEC lost a few staffers in this year's budget. And now Governor Paterson is asking all of New York's state agencies to look for new ways to trim their ranks. Agency plans to cut budgets are due on May 16, the end of this week.
We need your help to tell Governor Paterson not to force staff cuts on an already eviscerated state agency, the DEC.
We'll let you know how the agency fares in this latest round of cost cutting.
Bills on the Move
Every week during the Legislative Session, Environmental Advocates of New York looks at the measures the will impact the environment for good or ill. Here are this week's Bills on the Move:
Three Trees for Net Metering. This bill would update New York's limited net metering law by making wind and fuel cells eligible for net metering and expanding the size of all eligible net metered systems from current limits to no more than 2,000 kilowatts. The bill would allow any customer to be eligible for net metering--not just specified in current law.
Three Smokestacks for the Gas Tax Holiday. This would amend New York State Tax Law to suspend certain taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel from May 23, to September 13, 2008.
Two Trees for Power Procurement. This bill would add a new section to the state's Public Service Law with respect to how utility companies mange procurement of energy and mix of sources and fuels available to meet demand. Utilities would be required to supply customers' energy needs while taking appropriate measures to minimize volatility of energy prices.
One Tree for Green E-Z Pass. This bill amends New York State public authorities law in relation to providing electronic toll discounts for certain fuel-efficient vehicles/ The measure would provide a 10 percent reduction in tolls due on New York State toll roads for those vehicles with a highway mileage rating of 35 miles per gallon or greater.
One Tree for Transmission Line Intervenor Funds. This bill would require any party filing an application to build a major electric transmission line to pay certain fees based on the size of the project. The monies generated would be deposited into an account that could be accessed by municipalities, nonprofits, or relevant community groups to defray costs of participating in the siting proceeding.
Once More, With Feeling
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has quietly reissued rules to guide the state's role in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI for short).
Public hearings are scheduled for June 9th in Albany, as well as on Long Island. Stay tuned for further updates on the status of the rule-making. Generally speaking, major changes were made to the rules governing the allowance auctions.
Given that the RGGI begins in January 2009, we're hopeful that the DEC and the New York State Energy & Research Development Authority's (NYSERDA) review of this latest round of comments goes quickly.