PRESS RELEASE

July 30, 2008

ENVIRONMENTAL WATCHDOG CALLS ON NYS GOV & LEGISLATURE TO PROTECT PUBLIC SAFETY BY HOLDING STAFF LEVELS STEADY AT DEC

New York's Environmental Agency Doing 'Worse with Less' for Too Long

(ALBANY, NY)—In response to Governor David Paterson’s announcement today that state agencies must reduce budgets by seven percent due to the state budget crisis, Environmental Advocates of New York is calling on the Governor and the State Legislature to maintain staff levels at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in order to protect public safety and drinking water. State agency budgets were cut by 3.35 percent earlier this year. The Governor has called for a special legislative session and proposes to address New York State’s growing revenue deficiency by cutting state agency budgets across the board, addressing the size of the state workforce, and installing new public-private partnerships for state assets.

“For more than a decade, the Department of Environmental Conservation has done ‘worse with less.’ New York needs to reverse that trend and protect public safety and our drinking water,” said Alison Jenkins, Fiscal Policy Program Director, Environmental Advocates of New York. “Staff cuts at the state’s already eviscerated environmental agency will result in fewer inspectors to monitor water and air pollution. With increasing pressure to drill for natural gas in the Southern Tier, it’s critical that New York State has staff to monitor water quality and protect the public.”    

Staff cuts at the DEC will directly result in less protection for the state’s natural resources as the agency is responsible for approving water pollution permits, air quality monitoring in accordance with the Clean Air Act, brownfield remediation, and the transportation, disposal, and treatment of hazardous and toxic wastes, among other duties, Environmental Advocates is particularly concerned about new threats to the state’s water quality associated with natural gas drilling, particularly in the Marcellus Shale formation.

The practice of "hydrofracking," a drilling process whereby millions of gallons of slurry, including known toxins, are pumped into a well at high pressure to release the gas for easier extraction, is of special concern. New York State needs to ensure that any water used is obtained sustainably and that all wastewater is treated and disposed of responsibly, and that drinking water sources are not polluted, as has occurred in other states. 

In order to protect New York’s water quality, the DEC must maintain staff levels, as well as update the state’s now 20-year-old drilling regulations.  New York’s water quality is already in danger. Earlier this year, Environmental Advocates of New York’s report on the state’s failed water pollution permit program, Permission to Pollute, documented that the state is rubber-stamping 90 percent of permits, resulting in millions of gallons of unmonitored pollutants released into the state’s waterways.  This lack of oversight is mainly due to lack of staff at the DEC.

In his remarks today, Governor Paterson called on state agencies and advocacy groups to look for creative ways to reduce state spending. New York State has already taken steps to fix the three wasteful programs identified in Environmental Advocates’ Wa$ted Green report—perverse tax credits under the Brownfield Cleanup and Empire Zone programs, and questionable loans from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund—and is looking for more avenues to protect the DEC from further budget cuts and maintain fiscal responsibility.

Environmental Advocates looks forward to sharing our research findings with the Governor and state lawmakers before the end of the year.

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Environmental Advocates of New York is the state’s government watchdog, holding lawmakers and agencies accountable for implementing policy that protects natural resources and safeguards public health. Environmental Advocates works alone and in coalitions, and has more than 7,000 individual and 130 organizational members. The 501(c)(3) is also the New York affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. For more information call 518.462.5526 or visit www.eany.org.