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GREEN SHEET NEW YORK
Vol. 11 - No. 6
July 2006
Inside this Issue:
NYS Lawmakers Increase Environmental
Funds, Larger Issues Unaddressed in the Senate
Director's Chair
Office News
Good News
Great Lakes Compact
New "Environmental" Legislation
About GSNY
nys Lawmakers
increase environmental funds
larger issues
unaddressed in the senate
In terms of environmental
initiatives, New York lawmakers came up short in 2006. While our state
leaders came to agreement on raising the Environmental Protection Fund
(EPF) 50 percent to $225 million this year, common-sense environmental
policies with bipartisan support were waylaid by Senate leadership for
the second year in a row.
The Senate’s inaction means that our communities still lack tools to
fight sprawl, New York State is more vulnerable to flooding and water
pollution, our bottle deposit law is not updated to match current
consumer needs, and we are losing acre after acre of our natural
heritage every day.
The Clean Water Protection / Flood Prevention Act is even more
important
to New York in light of recent flooding throughout the state.
The environmental community’s priority Super Bills include the
‘opt-in’ Community Preservation Act, the Clean Water Protection / Flood
Prevention Act, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill, and the Environmental
Protection Fund Enhancement Act. These bills passed the Assembly by wide
margins earlier in the legislative session.
2006 NYS
Legislative Session
By the numbers:
$225 Million
Dedicated to the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF)
50%
Increase to the EPF in 2006
4
Super Bills passed by the Assembly
0
Super Bills passed by the Senate
46
Beneficial environmental bills
passed by the Assembly
15
Beneficial environmental bills
passed by the Senate
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While dysfunction in Albany may have played a role in stifling the
Super Bills, there is good news to report. State leaders approved a
significant increase in the Environmental Protection Fund—which is
earmarked to support open space preservation, waterfront redevelopment,
as well as recycling programs and landfill redevelopment, among other
projects across the state.
Good news also came in the form of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River
Basin Water Resources Compact, which passed the Assembly on the final
day of the session. The Assembly is the first legislative body among the
Great Lakes States to take action on the Compact. The Compact is
designed to protect the irreplaceable Great Lakes from water diversions.
In addition, legislators saw fit to pass a new dam safety bill that
will ensure municipal leaders get the information they need about area
dams to protect local residents. And the new State Diesel Vehicles Bill
will require state vehicles be retrofit to reduce emissions (see
Good News).
Our work continues
Environmental Advocates will continue to work hard to protect and
preserve our natural heritage. And in preparation for next year’s
legislative session, we will continue to grow the list of Super Bill
sponsors, as well as provide effective ways to communicate the
environmental concerns of New Yorkers to state lawmakers in the Capitol.
Keep an eye out for EPL/Environmental Advocates’ annual Voters'
Guide, for a comprehensive look at the environmental voting records
of all of New York’s state lawmakers. For more detailed information on
this year’s legislative session, visit
www.eany.org/capitolwatch.
[Back to Top]
Director's Chair
On June 23, the legislature closed the 2006
session in the State Capitol. The Super Bills, which the
environmental community has rallied around for the past two
years, were all passed by wide margins in the Assembly and
enjoyed almost unparalleled support in the Senate. However,
despite the support of the majority of members in the Senate,
not one of the Super Bills was allowed a vote on the floor.
It is unfortunate that Senate leadership can
bottle up bills that enjoy widespread support and are so
important to New Yorkers. But this is nothing new to those of us
following the workings of the State Capitol.
Although the Super Bills were denied a vote,
there is progress to report. The Environmental Protection Fund
was increased a whopping $75 million this year, bringing it to
$225 million. This is a tremendous victory for the environmental
community and one that Environmental Advocates of New York is
proud to be part of.
Progress was also made on the Super Bills:
Seventeen communities passed resolutions in
support of the Community Preservation Act, which would give
towns new options for funding the protection of natural and
historic heritage. We grew the number of senators willing to
sponsor the bill to 33, one more sponsor than is necessary to
pass the measure. Not content to wait for lawmakers, the Town of
Red Hook lobbied successfully for its own stand-alone
authorization. All of this lays a foundation for a stronger
effort next year.
Legislation to close the gaping loophole in
New York’s wetlands laws also failed to receive a vote in the
Senate. After passing the Assembly in February, Senate
leadership bottled up this bill at the urging of development
interests. An attempt was made at the very end of session to
reach a compromise on the bill, but leadership quashed the idea
of allowing a fair vote on the Senate floor.
Once again, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill was
the focus of a tough campaign and industry lobbyists put forth
an all-out effort to kill it in the Assembly. They managed to
delay passage until May where the Assembly passed the bill after
a four-hour floor debate. In the Senate, the bill was not even
considered by the Environmental Conservation Committee.
While the Senate didn’t bring these bills to
a vote, they did find the time to designate a new state insect,
state reptile, state marine fish and state bush (see
"Environmental" Legislation). Hopefully, with these designations of flora and fauna
decided, the Senate can turn its attentions to bigger
challenges, and the day-to-day concerns of New Yorkers, in 2007.
Rob Moore
[Back to Top]
office News
Mike Angstadt first approached
Environmental Advocates of New York to work on alternative
energy promotion in the Capitol. As a political science major at
Hartwick College with a minor in environmental science, Mike has
studied the benefits of clean energy and the safe solution these
sources provide to address our energy needs.
Since June, Mike has proven his dedication to
environmental protection and taken an interest in several of our
program areas. This summer his work for Environmental Advocates
will include reviewing water pollution permits issued by the
state and researching alternative energy. Mike will also support
our sister organization EPL/ Environmental Advocates by helping
to calculate legislator scores for the annual Voters’ Guide.
Jessica Sterling is also joining us
this summer as an intern.
Jessica will track voting records in depth,
and update our database to include information for every year
since our organization's inception.
We will use this valuable tool to track
changing environmental trends in New York State in order to
better focus our advocacy work in the Capitol.
[Back to Top]
good news
State Diesel Vehicles:
A major
accomplishment in 2006 is the new state diesel vehicles law
requiring all diesel vehicles owned or operated by the state to
decrease air pollution by using low-sulfur fuels and
retrofitting vehicles with modern air emission controls. Because
the state consumes more than 48 million gallons of diesel fuel
each year, and owns or operates thousands of diesel-powered
vehicles, this law will dramatically lessen the pollution caused
by diesel in New York.
Dam Safety:
Since releasing our Endangered Agency II report last
fall, several bills were introduced in the legislature to
address the problems we documented in the Department of
Environmental Conservation’s Dam Safety Program. One bill that
passed both houses will see to it that municipalities with high
or intermediate hazard dams receive dam safety reports. The
reports must also be available to surrounding municipalities and
counties, giving local governments the tools to inform and
prepare residents for potentially dangerous situations.
New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem
Conservation Act:
This legislation,
sponsored by Assemblyman DiNapoli and Senator Johnson, will
establish a council of State Agencies to coordinate the
management of the state’s coastal resources, and enhance the
protection of these ecosystems through the use of
ecosystem-based management. The Council is also required to
issue a report to the legislature and executive on what changes
to state law are necessary to improve management of our coastal
resources.
[Back to Top]
Great lakes
compact
protecting an
irreplaceable treasure
On the final day of the New York State
Legislative Session, Assembly members unanimously approved the
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact,
which is designed to protect the Great Lakes from extensive
water diversions and pollution. The Assembly is the first
legislative body in the U.S. to pass the Compact. However, the
Senate failed to approve the Compact and never brought the bill
to the floor for a vote.
The Great Lakes Compact is the result of a
five-year process of negotiations among the eight Great Lakes
States and two Canadian Provinces. The Compact was created to
protect the health of the Great Lakes, the source of more than
95 percent of the nation’s fresh surface water, and to keep the
use of this resource under regional control. New York has the
second highest amount of coastline in the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence drainage basin, and relies on the Lakes for drinking
water, energy, jobs, recreation and many other uses. As the
state at the bottom of the watershed, we are especially
vulnerable to water management decisions made upstream.
In order to take effect, the Compact must be
adopted by all eight Great Lakes States, and ratified by the
U.S. Congress.
[Back to Top]
new
"Environmental" Legislation
While the environmental community’s
common-sense Super Bills will not become law and protect New
Yorkers and our natural heritage this year thanks to inaction in
the Senate, lawmakers did come to agreement to designate some
official flora and fauna for the state.
-
New York's official saltwater fish is now
the striped bass.
-
Our insect is now the pink spotted
ladybug; prior to this designation New York's official
insect was the nine-spotted ladybug which has been extinct
in New York for years.
- Our designated reptile is now the snapping turtle.
[Back to Top]
GREEN SHEET NEW YORK
is produced monthly by
Environmental Advocates of New York
and is distributed to individual
and organizational members.
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Send address changes, inquiries, comments or contributions to:
EDITOR, GSNY
c/o Environmental Advocates of New York
353 Hamilton Street
Albany, NY 12210
Phone: 518.462.5526
Fax: 518.427.0381
Email: gsheet@eany.org
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