2006 Budget Priorities for the Environment

Environmental Advocates of New York supports addressing the issues below in the 2006 State Budget. Each of these is important to New York’s efforts to protect our lakes and streams, the quality of our air, and the integrity of our public lands. According to Governing magazine, New York ranked dead last among the 50 states for per capita spending on environmental programs. While the state has achieved much for conservation and environmental protection, Environmental Advocates urges the state to invest adequate resources in clean water, clean air, and the health of our families. Environmental Advocates supports taking the following actions in the 2006 Budget.

EANY supports — $300 MILLION FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FUND

Important first steps have been taken to address New York’s environmental funding shortfall. In order to meet the growing demands placed on the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) we support raising it to $300 million per year. This level of funding can easily be supported by recent and expected increases in revenue from the existing Real Estate Transfer Fee. Revenues from the Real Estate Transfer Tax were $730 million in FY 2005, with only $112 million earmarked for the EPF.

EANY supports — 2% OF STATE’S TOTAL BUDGET INVESTED IN THE ENVIRONMENT

New York should dedicate two cents out of every tax dollar to the environment. Currently New York’s investment in environmental protection has stagnated, with environmental programs receiving a smaller and smaller share of the overall state budget each year. Less than 1.1 cent out of every tax dollar goes to environmental programs, down from 1.6 cents just five years ago. This has resulted in the loss of experienced staff at the Department of Environmental Conservation, a lack of funding for managing the 6 million acres of land under state management, and a shortfall for programs that help keep our water and air clean, and protect the health of our families. Currently New York’s total spending on environmental programs trails states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois and our per capita spending on the environment is about one-third that of states like Alabama, Mississippi, and Kansas.

EANY supports — $15 MILLION FOR BROWNFIELD CLEANUP

Last year the legislature and the Governor reached agreement on how to spend funds for supporting the state’s efforts to clean up brownfields and to distribute grants to support community-based plans for the redevelopment of these areas. We support the inclusion of an additional $15 million in this year’s budget for the Brownfields Cleanup Program and Brownfields Opportunities Area grants and the rapid distribution of these funds to the people it was intended to benefit.

EANY supports — LANDOWNER TAX CREDITS FOR CONSERVATION EASEMENTS

Tax credits should be available for property owners that are working to preserve the character of their community. One of the most important conservation tools available are voluntary easements, which landowners sell or donate for the purposes of protecting wildlife habitat, farmland, or special places within a community. We support the creation of state tax credits for New York property owners that adopt easements on their property.

EANY supports — RESTORATION OF DEPLETED STAFF AT THE DEC

It has been widely publicized that the Department of Environmental Conservation has lost more than 800 employees in the past 11 years. In order to begin rebuilding DEC, at least 150 DEC employees should be added statewide. This number represents the agency’s immediate need for engineers, scientists, attorneys and other enforcement personnel. Of particular concern are the offices within DEC responsible for activities like regulating water and air pollution, inspecting dams, and the tracking of wildlife diseases that could be transmittable to people. We make the following common-sense recommendations for raising the revenue needed to hire the additional staff and protect the state’s environment:

• Institute a polluter pays model. The development of a “polluter pays” approach to establishing permit fees. Under the polluter pays model, a permit fee is a fee for the privilege of exploiting the state’s natural resources and is sufficient to cover the cost to the state for the administration of environmental programs.
• Fees for air permits should be raised. Increase the Title V air pollution permit fee from $45.00 to $68.00 per ton of the criteria air pollutants, and establish a minimum fee of $1,250 per facility and removing the 6,000 ton cap on emissions used to calculate the fee. Through these measures New York could generate an additional $10-$12 million in revenue dedicated to cleaning up New York’s air quality.
• Fees for water permits should be raised. An across the board increase in the fees for SPDES water pollution permits. An increase of 20 percent would yield the state approximately $2 million.
• Establish a new wetlands program. The associated permit fees would bring in at least $1 million under the proposal forwarded by Governor Pataki in last year’s budget.
• The Legislature should establish new fees for five existing water permit programs. Additional fees should be established for activities undertaken in and around New York’s waters – actions that have heretofore required permits for which no fee is paid. Sierra Club report suggests an estimated $10 million in additional revenue could be raised if permit fees were established for the Wild Scenic and Recreational River Permits, Tidal Wetlands Permits, Freshwater Wetlands Permits, Water Supply Permits and Protection of Waters Permits. As it currently stands, the DEC is devoting staff time to review these permits and is not charging anything for that service – amounting to a subsidy for activities negatively impacting the state’s waters.

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