September 21, 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.

GREEN JOBS FOR A GREENER NEW YORK  
When the New York State Senate returned to Albany on September 10^th, lawmakers overwhelmingly voted the right way on legislation that will save New Yorkers money by increasing the energy efficiency of an estimated one million homes and businesses and create new green jobs.

Green Jobs-Green New York, which passed by a vote of 52 to 8, takes our state one step further on the path to a cleaner, more sustainable economy, creating thousands of green jobs while making our homes and small businesses more energy efficient. That means smaller utility bills, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and new jobs when our economy needs them the most.

The legislation will establish a statewide building efficiency retrofit program by financing energy efficiency audits and installations in residential, multi-family, not-for-profit and small business structures. It also creates a workforce training program to ramp up the state’s labor supply to fill the jobs created by the Act. The State Assembly passed the legislation unanimously in June.  

It’s important to note that a number of Republicans went against party leadership to support this bill, which could be a sign of greener things to come. Here’s the breakdown of ayes and nays:

The nays include senators DeFrancisco, Owen Johnson, Libous, Little, Nozzolio, Skelos, Winner and Young.

The overwhelming ayes: Adams, Addabbo, Alesi, Aubertine, Breslin, Diaz, Sr., Dilan, Duane, Espada, Farley, Flanagan, Fuschillo, Jr., Golden, Griffo, Hannon, Hassell-Thompson, Huntley, Craig Johnson, Klein, Krueger, Kruger, Lanza, Larkin, Jr., LaValle, Leibell, III, Marcellino, Maziarz, McDonald, Monserrate, Montgomery, Morahan, Onorato, Oppenheimer, Padavan, Parker, Perkins, Ranzenhofer, Robach, Saland, Sampson, Savino, Schneiderman, Serrano, Seward, Smith, Squadron, Stachowski, Stavisky, Stewart-Cousins, Thompson, Valesky, Volker.

Senators Bonacic and Foley were excused.

Click here to read more about Green Jobs-Green New York, and here. 

SOMETHING IN THE WATER
Over the last few weeks, The New York Times has run three stories by reporter Charles Duhigg (all part of the “Toxic Waters” series) calling attention to the sorry state of water pollution regulation in the U.S.

The most recent story, “Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells,” reveals how manure and slaughterhouse waste are poisoning drinking water supplies in Wisconsin, Maryland, Oklahoma, and other states. Although the EPA reports that agricultural runoff is the nation’s single largest source of water pollution, for a variety of reasons most farm runoff is unregulated. As a result, tens of millions of Americans become ill as a result of exposure to human and animal waste.

“Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering”  brings new attention to a national problem that Environmental Advocates of New York has documented extensively in two New York State-focused reports: Muddying the Waters and Permission to Pollute. 

The federal Clean Water Act is poorly enforced, in New York this is likely due to a lack of staff capacity at the Department of Environmental Conservation. According to the story:

“In the last five years alone, chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other
workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The
violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations
regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.”

In New York, the problem is so egregious that most water pollution permits are not reviewed in a timely manner and most polluters merely “self report” what they dump into our waterways, with no review, testing or safety measures.

While the EPA acknowledges flaws in the federal and state-level water pollution prevention, and the new EPA administrator Lisa Jackson says that strengthening water protections is among her top priorities, many of the states that have been delegated the authority to enforce the Clean Water Act do not have the resources to do so. And given the global economic recession, it’s unlikely the states will have more money any time soon. 

What’s the answer? Simply put, New York needs to ensure that the Department of Environmental Conservation has the staff to operate its program per the requirements of the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act must be enforced and polluters must face the consequences for violating the law.

Keep an eye out for the next installment of “Toxic Waters.”

Click here to find the Clean Water Act violations near you.

NEW REPORT: POWER FROM FAUX CLEAN COAL PLANT IS BAD DEAL FOR NEW YORK
Last week, more than 20 environmental and energy groups released a report that reveals the likely exorbitant cost of electricity from Jamestown, New York’s proposed new $400 to $500 million 50 megawatt (MW) faux “clean” coal power plant. The groups are all part of the Clean Energy for Jamestown Campaign.

The report, “Cost of Power for Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Electricity Supply Options: Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant Is Most Expensive Option Even with Federal Subsidies,” reveals that electricity produced by the proposed plant could be as costly as $0.27/kilowatt hour with carbon capture and storage (CCS).  

Even if all costs associated with experimental CCS technology were covered by federal and state subsidies, the power from the coal plant would be nearly 10 times more costly than New York Power Authority hydropower (Jamestown’s primary source of electricity), five times more expensive than meeting electric needs with energy efficiency, and two to three times more costly than wind power.  

Coal plant critics, who believe energy efficiency and wind energy can easily and more cheaply meet Jamestown’s electric needs, have pressed the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities (JBPU) to publicly release its own cost of power figures for the proposed coal plant. The JBPU has refused to do so, claiming that it’s too early to know. Clean Energy for Jamestown commissioned its own study and was provided by Lake Effect Energy, a Buffalo-based environmental consulting firm.   

The study uses information provided by JBPU (obtained this year through a Freedom of Information Act request) as the basis for the range of costs projected for electricity from the proposed coal plant.  

The study confirms what Environmental Advocates of New York and other groups have known for years: this faux clean coal plant is bad for the environment and prohibitively expensive, too. Energy efficiency and clean energy are both cheaper and cleaner than this big ticket boondoggle.  

The Jamestown coal plant project has been under fire for years. Initially, the JBPU planned to build a conventional coal plant. The project evolved into a carbon capture and storage demonstration project in 2007, and got Governor Paterson’s support in 2008.

The project suffered a series of setbacks. In June, environmentalists stopped progress on project-enabling state legislation in the Capitol. In August, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Energy rejected the project’s grant application for $200 to 300 million in “clean coal” stimulus money, which cased the corporate backer, Praxair, Inc., to pull its support.  

Click here to read all about it in the Buffalo News.

Click here for the complete report.

NATIONAL CAFÉ STANDARDS
On Tuesday, September 15, 2009, the Obama administration rolled out new tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks that will go into effect in 2012. The proposals are joint effort of the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation. The new standards will push average fuel economy, “CAFÉ” standards to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.  

Click here to read more.

And here.

SAVE THE DATE   
Join us on Tuesday, November 10^th at our annual Advocate Awards gala to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Our 2009 honorees are climate change pioneer Carter Bales, sustainable cities hero Andrew Darrell and Lieutenant Governor and mass transit advocate Richard Ravitch. Please contact Peggy Fandrich at mfandrich@eany.org or (518) 462-5526 ext. 236 if you’d like more information.

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES OF NEW YORK IS A MEMBER OF EARTH SHARE OF NEW YORK  

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