May 14, 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.

Climate Change Solutions Act Intro’d in the Senate 

Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman, Sen. Carl Marcellino, has picked up the Climate Change Solutions Act and Climate Change Solutions Fund – two pieces of legislation that would support the greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program that New York and nine other states will put into effect in less than two years.

If passed, these bills would ensure the proceeds from the sale of carbon dioxide allocations are invested in energy efficiency and clean energy programs. It’s estimated that the sale of New York’s carbon dioxide allocations would potentially generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for these kinds of programs, depending on the auction price for the allocations. 

Both of these bills have passed the State Assembly, so stay tuned!

Community Preservation Action

The last couple of weeks have been chock full of action on the Community Preservation Act. The Town of Red Hook, in Dutchess County, became the seventh town in the state to create their own Community Preservation Fund. See www.preserveredhook.org for more information about the campaign and links to news articles highlighting its success.

Of course, pro-sprawl special interests were mustering opposition by claiming that creating a Community Preservation Fund was a tax on town residents. Hey developers and realtors, here’s an idea, READ THE LEGISLATION! People currently living in Red Hook are unlikely to pay anything, since the fund would be supported by a modest fee that largely hits the biggest sprawl inducing properties -- new sales of high end homes and housing developments. 

And here in Albany the Assembly passed the statewide Community Preservation Act after Earth Day and three variations of the bill have been introduced in the Senate, but none have received a committee vote yet. These include statewide bills sponsored by Sen. Carl Marcellino and by Sen. Neil Breslin and a regional Hudson Valley bill introduced by Sen. Vinnie Leibell. 

If you’re interested in helping get the word out on the Community Preservation Act, contact Katherine Nadeau (info@eany.org or 518-462-5526) here at Environmental Advocates.  She’s setting up a lobby day in the Capitol for May 15. If you can’t make it to Albany you can still help out by clicking here, and sending a message to your legislators. 

Scene (& Heard) About Town: Greening the Governor’s Mansion

On the popular show This Old House, they’re wrapping up their first ‘green’ building, and now New York is going to begin its own version. On May 1, New York State’s First Lady, Silda Wall Spitzer, announced an initiative to make the 150 year old Governor’s mansion a model for energy efficiency and sustainability. 

The initial plans that were announced include:

• Installing on-site clean energy generation in the form of solar panels and a fuel cell for emergency backup power;
• Retrofitting older energy wasting appliances with new, high-efficiency models that will not only reduce energy usage, but also reduce operating costs;
• Using non-polluting equipment for the care and maintenance of the grounds, including hybrid vehicles, electric mowers, and lawn care equipment;
• Maintaining the grounds using a range of non-toxic cleaning products and pest controls, organic or naturally-derived lawn and garden care products and techniques, and increasing the use of recycled materials; and
• Purchasing foods that are served in the mansion from New York growers, preferably those practicing organic agriculture.

The First Lady is showing New York how one of its most prominent buildings can set the standard by which others are measured. For more information, click here.

Bills in Play

For more information on this bill and to view our memo, click here. Note: Each week's memos are posted at noon on Mondays. 

 Three Tree Bills:
Bottle Bill Expander (A8044)
Natural Resource Damage (A8090)

Two Tree Bill:
Ballast Water (A1355)

 One Tree Bills:
Landlord Disclosure (A2742/S1586)
Environmental Justice and Permits (A6023/S3852)
Forest Tax Exemption (A1252/S1056a)
Wetland Neighbor Notification (A2799/S3035)
Injunctive Relief & Civil Penalties for Envir. Violations (A6903)
Solar Energy System Tax Credits (A7451/S4482) 

   One Smokestack Bill:
Petroleum Business Tax Exemption (S5011) 

  Two Smokestack Bill:
Vested Right for Land Development (A6023/S3852)

Act Now

Click here to ask the Senate to pass the Community Preservation Act. For more information, visit www.savenys.org.

When Will the Senate Take Up the Bigger Better Bottle Bill?

During the negotiations of the state budget, the State Senate and Assembly agreed to discuss updating the bottle bill. They even put it in writing, including the commitment in the report of the budget subcommittee that deals with environment and conservation. 

So that was in late March. Since then Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation (EnCon) committee, has introduced a bill he worked out with the Governor, which passed his committee just this past Tuesday and goes to the Codes Committee tomorrow. And Senate EnCon Chair, Carl Marcellino, has introduced a counter proposal. But we don't know if serious discussions have begun yet between the two houses.

Other Bills Your Legislators are Considering (We Can't Tell You Why They're Being Considered, They Just Are)

Cell phone squealers:  Ever been driving your car, seen somebody talking on their cell phone, and wish you could report them? Well you may get your chance. Legislation has been introduced that would set up a toll free hotline you could call to report these menaces of our highways. Of course, you're probably in your car when you pick up your cell phone to dial the hotline, so...um...there's some details to work out in this bill obviously.

New York’s a Grape State:  Concord Grapes could be named as the state grape and Concord Grape juice as state fruit juice. Apparently Concord Grapes don’t have the ‘juice’ to knock off the apple as the state fruit, so they’re going for a sub-genre designation of “state grape”. C’mon, grapes are fruit!  Who are you trying to kid!  There's some interesting history on the Concord grape here. Big NY connection it turns out.

Monkey Business: New legislation in both houses would allow people doctors to provide veterinary care to “gibbons, siamangos, orangutans, chimps, gorillas, and other great apes.” 

Pickup trucks bad, big SUVs apparently not a problem: A strange bill introduced in the Assembly would ban “open pickup trucks on the Bronx River Parkway.” The reason open pickup trucks (and what if they have a cap on the bed) would be banned from the Bronx River Parkway is because “its narrow lanes and sharp curves are now dangerous because of,” ...(wait for it)... “open pickup trucks.”  That’s right we must ban pickup trucks so roads will be safer for the parade of Ford Expeditions, Hummers, and Chevy Suburbans that would continue to crowd those same narrow lanes.