A CLEAN START - Environmental Advocates of New York

Dear Advocates,

Former President Obama once said, “Elections have consequences.” That statement might be doubly true for the election we just had in New York.

New Yorkers have elected a new majority to the State Senate. In doing so, over a quarter of the Senate chairs will be filled by new members. With these changes comes great opportunity for popular, common-sense environmental legislation to finally see the light of day in the Senate.

You know from your involvement with us that there has been environmental stagnation in Albany. Critical pieces of legislation have been blocked by leaders who refused to step up and protect our environment, strengthen our communities, or improve our health. Bills with broad backing like the Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA) and the Environmental Bill of Rights easily passed the Assembly this year with bi-partisan support, only to be buried in the Senate. The CCPA actually had a majority of Senators listed as official co-sponsors.

Where the previous Senate Majority had failed to recognize the importance of having a right to clean air and water or the potential of good jobs in the clean energy economy, we trust the new Senate Majority will take a different path. We expect the new Senate will join the Assembly in being champions of the environment by prioritizing policies that benefit our health, our communities, and our economy. The Climate and Community Protection Act and the Environmental Bill of Rights would both be a good place to start. The incoming Majority Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins has championed the climate bill.

Similarly, the change of leadership in the US House of Representatives holds promise for positive action on the environment. It starts with a fundamental flip of ideals—science is important again, climate change is real, and actual oversight of agencies like the EPA is necessary. While there may be scant hope for the House to be joined in their ideals by a federal government that remains hostile to the environment, they should provide a counterbalance to the dirty policies of the Trump administration.

This election does not mean our job is done. We still need to make our case—loudly—but now to more receptive ears. The opportunity to make real environmental progress is much greater today than it was a week ago. Let’s get to work.

Sincerely,

Peter M. Iwanowicz
Executive Director
Environmental Advocates of New York

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Environmental Advocates of New York strongly supports these bills:

Climate and Community Protection Act 

A.8270-B (Englebright, et al.)    S.7971-A (Hoylman, et al.)

The impacts of climate change are affecting New York’s economic security, safety, and public health. Poor air quality, which is worsened by climate change, is making our children sick and shortening the lives of seniors. Extreme weather events place people in danger, cost billions in lost production and revenue, and damage or destroy communities.

Read more here...

Environmental Bill of Rights 

A.6279 (Englebright, et al.)     S.5287 (Carlucci, et al.)

This bill establishes in the New York State Constitution a right to clean water, clean air and a healthful environment. It addresses a gap in our legal foundations, and provides an expression of values that other states have already seen fit to establish and to pronounce.

Read more here...

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UPDATE (11.14.2018):

The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) strongly supports the Environmental Bill of Rights legislation

This proposal would amend the State Constitution's Bill of Rights to include a right to clean air and water and a healthful environment. This proposal establishes for New Yorkers the constitutional right to clean air, clean water and a healthy environmental equivalent to other basic rights guaranteed in New York State’s Constitution Article 1 Bill of Rights, such as, the right of freedom of worship and religious liberty, freedom of speech and the press, compensation for taking private property, equal protection of law, and security against unreasonable searches and seizures, among others. The basic human right to clean air and water and a healthful environment has been starkly absent from this list of constitutional protections, but recent threats to our water and air have reminded us that we cannot take for granted that these life sustaining elements will be protected. It is critical that we recognize the basic human rights to clean air and water and a healthful environment and detail these in the Article 1 Bill of Rights. 
Read more here... 


To Download the PDF document at the ADK website, Click Here

For this and other ADK Policy Positions, visit the ADK Website Here
 

Act on Environmental Bills before NYS Legislators Leave Albany

EANY.org

New York’s legislators – the people you pay to represent your interests – are preparing to leave Albany for the rest of the year in just two weeks. And there are still a lot of environmental issues on the agenda that we need your help getting over the finish line. Environmental Advocates and our partners have helped secure enough support for the passage of three priority bills which would:

• protect New Yorker’s from other states’ fracking waste;
• ban tiny plastic microbeads that clog our waterways;
• keep chemical companies from using toxics like arsenic and lead in children’s products.

It takes 32 votes to pass a bill in the Senate, and each of these bills has 32 or more cosponsors. That’s huge! But it’s all for nothing if industry gets its way and blocks them from becoming law.

Visit our Action Page (www.EANYAction.org) and TAKE ACTION on one or all of these bills!

It's EASY and it lets your public officials know their actions are being watched and they are being held accountable. Our Action Page is set up so you can contact your elected officials in whatever way you are most comfortable.

FRACKING NEWS

Despite Fracking Ban, New Yorkers Saddled with 

Radioactive Fracking Waste

New report lifts the veil on how NYS has enabled Pennsylvania to dump more than 460,000 tons of fracking waste inside our borders.

Albany – A new report from Environmental Advocates of New York sheds light on the practice of potentially radioactive out-of-state fracking waste getting dumped in New York despite Governor Cuomo’s ongoing implementation of a ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

“Fracking wastes are notoriously toxic and radioactive,” said Liz Moran, water and natural resources associate, and report author. “Despite knowing the public health concerns, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) enables New York landfills to accept Pennsylvania’s fracking waste with little oversight. If fracking isn’t safe for New Yorkers, then waste from other states’ fracking operations isn’t safe for New Yorkers either.”

Key Concerns

To date, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reports that at least 460,000 tons of solid fracking waste and 23,000 barrels of liquid waste have been dumped in seven New York landfills. Comparatively, the DEC says the state does not accept this type of waste.

Additionally:

• In 2013, radiation detectors in Pennsylvania were triggered more than 1000 times by the same kind of fracking waste accepted by New York, signaling dangerous levels of radiation – while not a single radioactive detector was set off by New York landfills.
• Leachate (toxins from solid waste that leach into collection pools) from landfills ends up in New York’s wastewater treatment plants, none of which are capable of ridding water of radiation or other dangerous chemicals.
• The DEC has failed to implement standardized oversight, regulation or testing, and has fallen far short of the strong public health safeguards that guided the state Department of Health’s fracking review.

Read more at Environmental Advocates of New York

See also an earlier report, Fracking Waste: A Radioactive Legacy for New York? 

New - and Worrisome - Contaminants Emerge from 

Oil and Gas Wells

Researchers find alarming levels of ammonium and iodide in fracking wastewater released into Pennsylvania and West Virginia streams.

Two hazardous chemicals never before known as oil and gas industry pollutants – ammonium and iodide – are being released into Pennsylvania and West Virginia waterways from the booming energy operations of the Marcellus shale, a new study shows.

Treatment plants were never designed to handle these contaminants.

The toxic substances, which can have a devastating impact on fish, ecosystems, and potentially, human health, are extracted from geological formations along with natural gas and oil during both hydraulic fracturing and conventional drilling operations, said Duke University scientists in a study published today in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The chemicals then are making their way into streams and rivers, both accidentally and through deliberate release from treatment plants that were never designed to handle these contaminants, the researchers said.

Read more at DailyClimate.org

New Report: Oil and Gas Industry using Flawed Research to Promote Fracking

BUFFALO, NY – The oil and gas industry is using flawed research to give the impression of a scientific consensus that fracking is safe and beneficial, according to a new report released today by the Public Accountability Initiative (PAI).

The report, titled “Frackademia in Depth,” assesses over 130 studies that the industry has put forward to help make the scientific case for fracking, analyzing them for the strength of their industry ties and their relative academic quality (whether they were peer-reviewed).

PAI found that only 14% of the studies had been subject to peer review, while nearly 76% had some degree of connection to the oil and gas industry through funders, authors, and issuers.

PAI also found that the list included reports that had been discredited and retracted by the institutions that published them, including a 2012 report from the University of Texas that an independent panel convened by the school decried as “falling short of contemporary standards of scientific work” after PAI revealed undisclosed conflicts of interest and shoddy scholarship.

The extensive list of studies analyzed in the report was originally compiled by Energy in Depth, a nationwide industry outreach effort, and used to convince legislators in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to lease mineral rights under a county park for fracking. The list opens a telling window onto the body of fracking research that the oil and gas industry deems fit for public consumption.

“Though the industry says that the science is settled in favor fracking, their own best evidence does not support that claim,” said Robert Galbraith, a research analyst at PAI and co-author of the report.

Read the report at PublicAccountability.org

ExxonMobil slammed with $2.3 Million Fine for 

Fracking-related Water Pollution

The EPA found a roundabout way of holding natural gas drillers accountable for Clean Water Act violations.

The EPA just hit XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil and the nation’s largest natural gas company, with a cool $2.3 million fine for Clean Water Act violations related to its fracking activities in West Virginia.

This is big: you rarely hear about frackers being held federally accountable for polluting water supplies, thanks to Bush-era legislation commonly known as the “Halliburton Loophole.” Basically, it ensures that fracking is exempted from the portions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act that would typically make it accountable to federal oversight; as such, the EPA is mostly prevented from regulating both the process and the chemicals it injects into the ground.

The EPA’s approach is a clever workaround of those restrictions. As CleanTechnica’s Tina Casey explains, the pollution targeted by the EPA wasn’t caused by fracking itself, but instead by other, ordinary violations committed by XTO: the company, it charges, dumped sand, dirt, rocks and other dirty fill materials into streams and wetlands without a permit, in violation of the Clean Water Act.

In total, the company damaged 5,300 linear feet of streams and 3.38 acres of wetland — making the $2.3 million fine comparatively large, particularly when you consider the extra $3 million it agreed to pay in restoration costs.

This isn’t the first time the EPA has pursued this roundabout policy of holding frackers accountable. Last year, it nailed fracking giant Chesapeake Energy for the same violation, resulting in a record $6.5 million settlement.

Read more at BuffaloNews.com

Don't let lessons of Hurricane Sandy pass us by!

From Ross Gould ~
Air & Energy Program Director,
Environmental Advocates of New York.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, our state is beginning to transition from recovery to rebuilding. And we all have to question: what did Sandy teach us?

Governor Cuomo has called climate change our new reality. Join Environmental Advocates of New York to pressure the Governor and his state agencies to turn their rhetoric into sound environmental policies that will keep New Yorkers safe amidst an increasingly unpredictable climate.

Governor Cuomo holds all the cards. And while many of his agencies will play a role in the months and years ahead, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is the primary advocate for green energy and infrastructure development.

Join us to urge Governor Cuomo and NYSERDA to take action. Climate change deniers will do everything they can to prevent progress, so the administration needs to know there are thousands of New Yorkers that want them to take bold action. We need you to add your voice to ours and call for the state to take bold steps forward.
Act now! There are two easy ways to do it—you can use Facebook, or you can pick up the phone.

1. Log into Facebook.
     
2. Go to Governor Cuomo’s Facebook post.
     
3. Post the following comment, or a personalized comment to show your concern:
     
   Governor Cuomo, will you act now to fight climate change and prepare New York for future storms by investing in green energy and modernizing our infrastructure?
     
4. Go to NYSERDA’s Facebook wall.
     
5. Post the following comment, or a personalized comment to show your concern:
     
   Will we act now to fight climate change and prepare New York for future storms by investing in green energy and modernizing our infrastructure?

If you’re not on Facebook, you can call Governor Cuomo’s office at (518) 474-8390 and NYSERDA at 1-866-NYSERDA.
We cannot let the lessons of Hurricane Sandy pass us by!
Thank you for all that you do!

Who's looking out for NY State's Environment?

Environmental Commissioner Fired

NY Gov. Paterson's administration fired Pete Grannis, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (D.E.C.), after a dispute over cuts to the department’s budget.

Earlier, Mr. Grannis sent a memo to the administration spelling out the negative effects that more layoffs would have on the agency, and the memo was leaked by an unknown source to The Times Union of Albany. The secretary to the governor, Lawrence Schwartz, asked Grannis to resign, but he refused.

In an interview, Mr. Grannis said, “We were asked to provide an analysis of how these layoffs would effect our agency’s operations, which we did, and somehow that got out.”

“We’ve taken a terrible hit over time,” Grannis said. “We’ve lost 600 people in the last 18 months, and this would be 200 more.” The agency’s workforce, now under 3,000, is at its lowest level in two decades, Grannis said.

"These staff cuts couldn't come at a worse time for the fight for clean water," stated Paul Gallay, Executive Director and Hudson Riverkeeper. "This also confirms that the agency will not be equipped to provide the necessary regulatory oversight to prevent the type of industrial pollution that has already ravaged much of the Marcellus Shale region due to gas drilling operations. Now more than ever, it is crucial for the DEC to work synergistically with Riverkeeper and other watchdog groups to make sure our environmental laws are enforced."

“The future of hydrofracking in New York State is really the most important environmental issue that we face, and we need a strong D.E.C. to protect New York State drinking water,” said James Gennaro, a New York City councilman. Mr. Gennaro was among the campaigners who successfully lobbied the D.E.C. to impose strict restrictions on drilling in the upstate watersheds that supply water to New York City.

The leaked memo was ominous in tone, warning of “potential serious risks to human health and safety and environmental quality” from the proposed staff cuts.

Environmentalists and public health experts from 16 organizations called upon Mr. Paterson to reinstate Grannis. Some said Mr. Paterson’s successor should reappoint Mr. Grannis and make fixing the agency a priority.

Laura Haight, senior environmental associate for the New York Public Interest Research Group, said: “When someone like Pete Grannis, who worked at the D.E.C. in the early 1970s and championed environmental laws in the State Legislature for 30 years before serving as commissioner, says that the agency is at its weakest point in history and that critical environmental programs are ‘hanging on a thread,’ people ought to listen. Instead, Governor Paterson fired him.”

So a movement is under way to have Mr. Grannis reinstated. There’s no chance of that in Governor Paterson’s remaining days before the November election, administration officials said.

But advocates like Rob Moore, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, is hopeful. “We’ll be urging the next governor to replace Pete Grannis with Pete Grannis,” he said.

For additional information, see the following articles:

• Paterson Fires Top Conservation Official

• Cuts in State Agency Are Troubling, Environmentalists and Gas Drillers Agree

• Groups Rally Behind Grannis

• Governor Fires NY's Top Environmental Cop for Release of Internal Memo Revealing How Budget Cuts Will Impact Air, Water & Land Protection

• Green Groups Call out Governor Paterson for Decimating NY's Environmental Agency

Sen. Antoine Thompson named NY Environmental Legislator of the Year

[Click image to enlarge]
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