August 10, 2009

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

FRIDAY: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES      

Just one day after taking the visionary step of setting a goal for New York State to reduce its contribution to global climate change, Governor David Paterson is turning his back on the environmental community, not to mention a host of other public interest groups, by releasing Executive Order #25.

As far as we’re concerned, the order is written to appease the interests of business over those of ordinary New Yorkers. Because weakening the rules and regulations that protect the quality of our air and drinking water and reduce climate-altering greenhouse gases is bad for New York State and New York families.

The Governor released Executive Order No. 25 late Friday afternoon, establishing a new regulatory review and reform program that will likely put an additional and wasteful burden on already over-stretched state agencies, many of which will be forced to re-open regulations that have already gone through multiple rounds of public review as required by law.

A draft version of the Executive Order was brought to light last year. At the time, business and industry groups cited state climate change programs as their top regulatory target for re-opening should such an order be signed. Today such an order was signed.

Click here to read more, and here, and here, and here. 

THURSDAY: NEW YORK OPEN FOR GREEN BUSINESS

Last Thursday, Governor David Paterson introduced an Executive Order (#24) that sets a goal to reduce New York’s contributions to global warming 80 percent by the year 2050.  

This is a big deal. Environmental Advocates of New York and dozens of other groups have been arguing for some time that setting a goal to cut climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions from all sources—cars, trucks, buildings, homes, you name it—will send the green kind of signals to the rest of the country.  

Click here to read our statement on the new mandate.

New York now joins Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico and Oregon in setting a goal to make big cuts in global warming pollution by 2050.

Although the Governor’s order doesn’t get into the specifics as to how the state will meet these targets, it is more comprehensive than New York’s role in the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which only calls for cuts in power plant pollution.  

The Executive Order doesn’t mean that our advocacy for state-level legislation is at an end. Environmental Advocates will continue promoting the Global Warming Pollution Control Act, which has been passed by the Assembly two years running and has strong support in the State Senate (waylaid in that house only because of the recent Senate coup and not a lack of support from either side of the aisle).

The legislation would give responsibility to the Department of Environmental Conservation for determining exactly how New York State would reduce its emissions. The state bill also sets interim targets, unlike the Executive Order.

And if it’s preempted by federal legislation, so be it. The Executive Order gives New York a head start in attracting new businesses and jobs to the state. 

Read more here. And here. Listen here.  

FOR THE LOVE OF THE LAKES  

Last year New York signed on to the Great Lakes Compact, an eight-state agreement to manage Great Lakes water.

A group called the Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council was charged with recommending ways to make the Compact work in New York. The Council recently issued a draft report, but it didn’t tackle the important issues such as establishing permits for water withdrawals. We need your help to get the Council to improve their report. Click here to ask the Great Lakes Advisory Council to get back to work and protect the lakes. 

MORE CA$H FOR CLUNKERS   

Last week the U.S. Senate voted to invest additional resources, to the tune of $2 billion, in the Cash for Clunkers program. The federal program offers rebates of up to $4,500 to car buyers if they trade in their old gas guzzler for a more fuel-efficient model.

The program has been a runaway success and went through its first $1 billion much faster than anticipated. And not only does the program reduce climate-altering air pollution by replacing gas hogs with cleaner cars, it gives a nice boost to the ailing auto industry, too.

Not bad for a week’s work.

Read more here.

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