July 15, 2004
Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment
Citizens’ Environmental Coalition
Environmental Advocates of New York
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter

The State Legislature Gets an “F” for Environmental Protection This Session, Say Environmentalists

Albany – Environmental organizations released an environmental report card today, giving the State Legislature an “F” for environmental protection this legislative session. The groups say that the Legislature left Albany in June without acting on five of the most critical environmental issues: reauthorizing the power plant siting law, expanding the bottle bill, banning backyard burning of garbage, capping carbon dioxide emissions, and protecting wetlands.

“The State Legislature failed New York’s environment this legislative session,” said John Stouffer from the Sierra Club. “Their inaction means wetlands will be destroyed, there will be more litter on our streets, and more toxins in our air.”

Each house also received separate grades – the Assembly received a “B+” for passing four of the five priority bills and the Senate received an “F” for failing to pass any of the five bills. These bills, Ban Burn Barrels, (A.5884/S.3340), the Bigger Better Bottle Bill (A.3922-b/S.1696-b), Cap Carbon Pollution (A.10049), Power Plant Siting Reform (A.6248-b/S.4074) and The Clean Water Protection/Flood Prevention Act to protect wetlands (A.7905-a/S.4480-a), were on the Earth Day Lobby Day agenda this year as the environmental community’s priority bills for the session.

“Their assignment is clear – pass the bills that will reduce litter, clean our air, and protect our state’s wetlands,” said Robert Moore, Executive Director of Environmental Advocates of New York. “Both houses did some extra credit work by passing the Mercury Labeling and Reduction Law and the Net Metering Law, but to make the grade, the high priority assignments must be completed.”

The groups noted that the Senate has a lot more make-up work to do than the Assembly, which has passed four of the five priority bills. But together, the houses have failed to enact any one of these bills.

"Four out of the five bills that citizens lobbied on this year at Earth Day Lobby Day have been passed by the Assembly," said Kathy Curtis of the Citizens' Environmental Coalition. "We urge the Senate to take action on these bills when they return to session next week. All of these bills have strong grassroots support, which is not reflected in the Legislature’s performance."

"Wetlands are irreplaceable," said Bill Cooke from Citizen's Campaign for the Environment. "Every acre of wetlands lost is lost forever. You can’t build them and you can't replace them. Wetlands are critical to groundwater protection, flood mitigation and drinking water. We need to protect our wetlands for future generations."

“This is an unfinished legislative session, with an unfinished environmental agenda,” said Laura Haight from NYPIRG. “There is still an opportunity for the Legislature to get a passing grade if they address these critical environmental issues this summer.”

Click here to view the report card.