May 28, 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.

Happy Memorial Day!  Now Stop Breathing.

Hope you’ve been enjoying the big 3-day Memorial Day weekend, a time when families head outside to enjoy the sunshine, clean air...<cough> <cough>...strike that last one. 

 Thanks to high levels of pollution and high temperatures, most of the state was blanketed with an ozone action alert for most of the weekend.  Ground level ozone formation and air quality advisories are something we expect to see in New York City and urbanized areas.  But this weekend’s ozone alert even extended to the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, the Hamptons, and the Great Lakes. 

 Ground level ozone formation occurs when you mix the oxides of nitrogen compounds (which come predominantly from the burning of fossil fuels, like coal-fired power plants and automobile tailpipe emissions) with volatile organic compounds or VOCs, which come from industrial emissions, paint fumes, and many other sources.  For more information on ozone formation, check out the United States Environmental Protection Agency's ozone website.

Four Weeks Left In Albany--What are Our Predictions?

Nobody in their right mind would actually try to predict what deals may get cut in Albany in the last four weeks of session. It becomes pretty hectic in the State Capitol as the close of session approaches, with bills popping into existence, lobbyists scrambling every which way, everybody on the prowl for the latest gossip and rumor.

But there’s hope for several big pieces of environmental legislation as we approach June 21, the scheduled end of the 2007 legislative calendar. And this is all thanks to you, since legislators have received thousands of emails, faxes and letters from you on these issues.

 And if you review the list of bills that Environmental Advocates has supported in the past few weeks, you'll have a pretty good idea which bills we are cautiously optimistic about.  A couple of the Super Bills are in the mix. The Community Preservation Act (both the statewide bill and Sen. Leibell’s regional bill for the Hudson Valley) is getting the Senate’s attention. As is the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, a long-ignored piece of legislation in the State Senate, which now has three different versions in that house, while the Assembly is deliberating the Governor’s own program bill. 

Rumor Mill – Regulations may be pending on reducing power plant carbon dioxide emissions.

Word on the street is that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is in the process of finalizing regulations for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the 10-state pact for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants throughout the northeast.

 So get ready...you’ll be getting a lot of information from us when that breaks out into public view.  And we’ll need your help weighing in with the Governor, DEC, and the legislature as well...because you’ll hear power plant owners pitch a fit about how limiting carbon dioxide emissions will cut into their record profits. 

 Awwww...don’t feel too bad for them, they did have a nice long run of pumping the climate up without any impact to their bottom line.    

For more info on how New York could be affected by climate change, and Environmental Advocates’ recommendations for taking this issue on, click here.

Bills in Play

For more information on this bill and to view our memo, click here.  

 Three Tree Bills:
Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act (A7849/S5125)
EPF Enhancement (A8339/S5304)
Wetlands Protection Act  (S3835) * SUPER BILL
The Community Preservation Act (S3836) * SUPER BILL
Great Lakes Compact (S4324)

  Two Tree Bills:
Alternative Fuels on the Thruway (A1695)
Green Building Construction Act (S5442)
E-Waste Recycling Act of 2007 (S5243)
Climate Change Task Force (S5427)

 One Tree Bills:
Ocean Dumping (A3320/S5583)
Off-Shore Easements (A7816/S5528)
Watershed Rules (A8131)
Home Heating System & Clean Fuel Tax Credits (A7909/S5451)
Off the Grid Penalty Protection (A8304)
Wood-Fired Boilers (A1982)
Brominated Flame Retardant Prohibition (A7977)
Littering Fines (A206)
Great Lakes Invasives (S959)

   One Smokestack Bill:
Adirondack Highways (A7082/S4113)

Is That a Roll of Nickels in Your Pocket...

For $5,000 a pop (which admittedly didn’t have to be in nickels) beverage makers and supermarket lobbyists opposed to the bottle bill could attend a fundraiser for Senate majority members. It’s no big secret that the bottle bill has not been a favorite of Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno. So for the cost of redeeming 100,000 bottles, anti-bottle bill lobbyists could hob-knob with members of the Senate majority.

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

So Corny:  Legislators are debating the merits of designating sweet corn as the state vegetable. This continues a long distinguished line of bills over the past two years to get official state recognition.  Last year, the legislature proudly proclaimed the following designations:

 * Striped Bass: state marine fish (joining the brook trout as state freshwater fish)

 *Snapping Turtle: state reptile

 *Lilac: state bush (it’s worth noting that the lilac is not even native to New York)

 And don’t forget that a couple of weeks ago the Concord grape began its bid to be the state grape. Hey Concord grape!  Why settle for state grape, why don’t you buckle on your chinstrap and go for the top job, and knock off the apple as the state fruit. 

Because 256 just aren’t enough:  New York currently has 256 different license plates you can slap on your automobile.  That’s right 256. Click here to see all of them.

 But your lawmakers believe we still need more choices. So as of last week your legislators were considering putting another 29 on the list. 

 We’ve got plates for every NASCAR driver (yes, EVERY one of them), Indiana and Notre Dame Universities (which, last I checked were not in New York), plates for podiatrists, all the NBA teams (but only the New York State professional baseball, hockey, and football teams) and many many more. 

Thank goodness we won’t have to feel so restricted in our choices in the future. Your elected officials may raise the total to 285!

 Faxes: There’s a bill this week that would make it a crime to send faxes that provide "no purpose of legitimate communication." But junk faxes are sooooo pre-millennium. Let's get with the times and talk about junk emails, SMS, and AIM messages.

*It should be noted that users of eAdvocacy fax services to state legislators would not be restricted under the bill, yet.