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GREEN SHEET NEW YORK
Vol. 11 - No. 8
October-November 2006
Inside this Issue:
New Study Shows Mercury Pollution in
New York More Widespread Than
Previously Reported
Director's Chair
Intern News
New York's Water Pollution
Permits Go Unchecked for Years
Board News
The 2006 Advocate Awards
About GSNY
NEW STUDY SHOWS
MERCURY POLLUTION IN NEW yORK MORE WIDESPREAD THAN
PREVIOUSLY REPORTED
According to a new report released by the National Wildlife
Federation (NWF) in September, mercury pollution has made its way into
nearly every wildlife habitat in the U.S., exposing countless species to
potentially harmful levels of mercury.
The report, Poisoning Wildlife: The Reality of Mercury Pollution,
paints a compelling picture of mercury contamination in New York and
across the country. From New York’s yellow perch to largemouth bass,
loons, songbirds and river otters, mercury is accumulating in almost
every corner of the food web.
NWF’s report is a compilation of more than 65 published studies, and
finds elevated levels of mercury in fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, and
amphibians living in freshwater, marine, and forest habitats.
New York impacts raised significant concern during the state’s
comment period for a draft power plant mercury emissions rule.
Documented Contamination in NY
The accumulation of mercury in fish is well-documented, leading New
York and other states to advise people to limit or avoid eating certain
fish. However, scientists have recently discovered that mercury
accumulates in forest soils, indicating that wildlife living and feeding
outside aquatic habitats are also at risk of exposure.
The scientific community’s understanding of the extent of mercury
contamination has expanded significantly in recent years. Researchers
have found mercury in far more species and at higher levels. These
concentrations pose a real threat to the health of many wildlife
populations, some of which are highly endangered.
For example, fish with high mercury levels have difficulty schooling
and spawning, birds lay fewer eggs and have trouble caring for their
chicks, and mammals have impaired motor skills affecting their ability
to find food.
What NY Can Do to Limit Mercury
In September, the New York Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) proposed a draft regulation requiring coal-fired
power plants decrease mercury pollution in two phases. The first
reduction is in 2010, with approximately 90 percent reductions in
mercury pollution by 2015.
Environmental Advocates of New York has learned that the DEC’s draft
regulation allows power plants to belch out hundreds of pounds of
mercury pollution for several years longer than many
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Pollution
By the numbers:
130+
New York lakes, rivers and streams are home to fish with contaminant levels
higher than federal standards*
30
New York counties do not meet
EPA air quality standards
1,115
facilities received a New
York water pollution permit without substantive review for more than 10 years
40%
of carbon dioxide and mercury pollution emitted by power plants in the U.S.
*Chemicals
in Sportfish and Game, New York State Department of Health 2006-2007 Health
Advisories
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of our neighboring states.
States already taking action to reduce mercury pollution from sources
such as waste incinerators, chlorine manufacturers, power plants, and
consumer products, have seen promising results. In states such as
Florida, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, where emissions
have already been
cut, mercury levels in wildlife have been reduced in years, not
decades, as scientists previously thought likely.
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states already
require at least 90 percent mercury pollution reductions at each of
their coal power
plants within the next few years. We strongly believe that New York
should do the same and require a 90 percent mercury pollution reduction
by 2010.
To read NWF’s complete report, visit www.nwf.org/news.
[Back to Top]
Director's Chair
States are stepping up and providing
leadership on global warming.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an
effort by New York and six additional northeastern states, will
create a cap and trade system for reducing emissions of
climate-altering pollution from power plants. Last spring,
Maryland passed legislation that will lead to its participation
in this regional effort. And in September, California
established its own ambitious program for controlling the
release of pollutants.
These actions follow on the heels of steps
taken last year by California, New York, and other states to
regulate releases of carbon dioxide from automobile tailpipes,
something the federal government has stubbornly resisted.
Clearly, the federal government has decided
to cede leadership on climate change to the states. In fact, the
President and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have
decided to actively resist efforts to address global warming.
This fall, the United States Supreme Court
will hear arguments on the Bush Administration’s resistance to
regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.
In 2003, a coalition of 13 states and 13
environmental groups, including Environmental Advocates of New
York, petitioned the EPA to regulate tailpipe emissions. The
petition was denied and the EPA’s decision was challenged in
federal court, and appealed all the way to the nation’s highest
court by this coalition of environmental organizations and
states.
There is much at stake in this case. The EPA
maintains that it does not have the legal authority under the
Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
Thirteen states’ attorneys general disagree, citing numerous
provisions of the Clean Air Act that give the EPA the authority
to act. Later this fall, the Supreme Court will decide who is
right.
No matter what the Court decides, one thing is abundantly
clear—it will be decisions made in Albany and in state capitals
around the country that determine our nation’s course on global
warming, and not the actions of the current administration.
Robert Moore
[Back to Top]
INTERN News
Environmental Advocates of New York welcomes
two new interns this fall.
Jackson Morris, a graduate student at
Bard College's Center for Environmental Policy, is analyzing New
York State sprawl subsidies and open space preservation efforts.
During his full-time internship, Jackson will
be reviewing the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Clean
Water State Revolving Fund administered by the Environmental
Facilities Corporation to determine what extent these loan
programs are being used to subsidize sprawl.
Chris Schudde, a Public Communications
major at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, will be working
with the Communications Department at Environmental Advocates.
He will assist with media and member outreach
for the rest of the year.
Chris will also update the Regional Environmental Events
Calendar on our website. If you know of any environmental events
in your area, please email the information to info@eany.org.
[Back to Top]
New York's
water pollution permits go unchecked for years
As highlighted in Environmental Advocates of
New York’s Endangered Agency II report, the state’s water
pollution permit (SPDES) program is suffering a severe staff
shortage. In response to the staffing issue, and a severe
backlog of permits in need of review, New York’s Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) implemented a system for
prioritizing permit reviews, the Environmental Benefit Permit
System (EBPS), in 1992.
Environmental Advocates is currently
conducting an investigation of both the SPDES program and the
DEC’s EBPS.
While we knew there were many New York
facilities whose water pollution permits desperately needed
review, we discovered the problem is worse than we imagined.
In response to our Freedom of Information Law
request for the SPDES permits for facilities that have not had a
substantive review for 10 or more years, we learned that 1,150
facilities met that criteria, and that an estimated 80 percent
of the 6,800 permits listed as "Non-Significant Minor" have also
not been reviewed for more than 10 years.
Approximately 90 percent of the SPDES permits
in New York are renewed every five years with no substantive
review. The remaining 10 percent are acted upon by the DEC based
on their EBPS "rank," according to the priority review system.
While we don’t yet know what the specific
environmental impacts of the EBPS have been, we do know that the
1,150 permitted facilities have not been adequately reviewed and
are discharging billions of gallons of polluted water into the
state’s lakes, rivers and streams every day. Clearly, this is
not in keeping with the federal Clean Water Act, not in the best
interest of public health or the environment, and cannot be
allowed to continue.
Watch for our report on the DEC’s EBPS program
later this year .
[Back to Top]
Board News
Environmental Advocates of New York
Board Member Carolyn Cunningham
is being honored by Federated Conservationists of Westchester
County (FCWC) at the organization’s fall benefit on October 22
in Rye, New York. Carolyn is a former Rye City Council member
and a longtime board member of FCWC.
We extend hearty congratulations to her and
co-honoree Peter Lehner, chief of the Environmental Protection
Bureau, NYS Attorney General’s Office.
The Board and staff at Environmental
Advocates are pleased to welcome Leslie Jacobson as the
newest member of our Board of Directors.
Leslie is the current President of the Board
of the Putnam County New York Historical Society, and is also on
the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Board of
Visitors.
A graduate of Cornell University Law School, Leslie has
worked at Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, Home Box Office,
and TriStar Pictures.
[Back to Top]
The 2006
advocate awards
Join us at
the Yale Club in New York City on Monday, November 13th to honor
three of New York’s environmental champions.
Marcia T. Fowle
William C. Janeway
Samuel F. Pryor III
For more information, please call Patti Kelly at
518-462-5526, ext. 224, or visit www.eany.org.
[Back to Top]
GREEN SHEET NEW YORK
is produced monthly by
Environmental Advocates of New York
and is distributed to individual
and organizational members.
Free subscriptions are available
via email.
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: webeditor@eany.org
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