Welcome to Environmental Advocates of New York’s online newsletter from the State Capital, your source for environmental news. We update you every other week with insider news and observations carefully gleaned from the halls of the Capitol.
4th Special Session is the Charm?
For the last few weeks, members of the New York State Assembly and Senate have traveled to the State Capitol to negotiate and renegotiate plans to reduce the current budget deficit, which according to Governor Paterson stands in excess of $3 billion.
We like some budget-cutting ideas better than others. Fortunately, state lawmakers have not come to agreement on the Governor’s Deficit Reduction Plan, which we don’t like. The Gov’s plan includes swiping $90 million in the state’s energy efficiency funds and a $10 million across-the-top cut to the Environmental Protection Fund.
If you have a spare couple of hours, click here for all the details on deficit reduction.
As lawmakers put a budget deal together, a few additional measures have wound their way through the Legislature. Last week, for instance, lawmakers passed one environmentally beneficial bill this month, read all about it in “On the Bright Side.”
BUDGET CUTS HURT NEW YORK'S ENVIRONMENT, NEW YORKERS' HEALTH
In a series of reports on the state of New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Environmental Advocates of New York has uncovered steep declines in resources dedicated to environmental programs. When adjusted for inflation, the DEC's operations budget grew by just over 1 percent during a five-year period while federal funding for environmental programs declined by 25 percent. And despite decreasing support, the federal government establishes about 40 new rules for states to adopt and implement every year.
Our analysis also shows that the DEC is relying more on general tax dollars to support its activities while regulated polluters pay a smaller share. The agency’s overall funding is likely to worsen during the economic recession, as budget cuts, retirement incentives and a hiring freeze are implemented. And although federal stimulus dollars bolstered the DEC’s Division of Forest & Land Resources, these resources were a one-shot deal.
We have some ideas about how to get some new revenue for environmental programs, however, and have identified potential sources of green revenue to support the New York’s primary environmental agency, including increasing polluter fees and closing tax loopholes.
Something in the air.
We’ve discovered that the DEC no longer has sufficient resources to successfully implement the federal Clean Air Act. Funds to support the Act have been cut by nearly 16 percent over the last five years. For almost 30 years, New York has had trouble meeting federal minimum air quality standards for two of the six pollutants identified by the Clean Air Act—ozone and soot. However, the DEC does not have the staff or resources to support this work and hasn’t completed 17 of 30 federally mandated plans to improve New York’s air quality.
So although two statewide plans to control soot have been completed, the major plan to reduce this pollution in the New York City metro area is more than one year overdue. And in order to finalize plans to reduce smog in New York City and Poughkeepsie, the agency must issue seven new state air pollution rules, a process that can take years to complete.
The updated plans are needed. For instance, New York is home to approximately 10,000 backup electric generators. Operated by banks, businesses and hospitals, among others, these backup generators are among the worst polluters, spewing dangerous emissions into the air during periods of peak power demand. Without staff to complete regulations, backup power generators operate with relatively little regulation or oversight. Cleaning up these polluters would go a long way to address air quality problems, especially in New York City.
Even during cooler months, air quality forecasts for New York City have included health advisories for ozone and fine particle pollution. On November 9th, the DEC issued an advisory that the city’s air was unhealthy for sensitive groups.
More hazardous waste + less oversight = public health danger.
In more disturbing news, we’ve also uncovered that the DEC no longer has sufficient resources to adequately inspect large and small hazardous waste generators, despite the fact that half of 2008-09 inspections revealed non-compliance. The agency currently has 620 staff working on hazardous waste issues, the lowest level in five years. At the end of the current fiscal year, the DEC will have only 19 staff to inspect hazardous waste facilities.
Under authority granted by the EPA, the DEC issues permits, conducts site inspections, engages in enforcement activities, and reviews required reports and data from generators and transporters. The EPA records the enforcement and compliance history of all hazardous waste sites and in the past five years has found 37 with "alleged current significant" violations that may pose public health hazards. These include sites in Westbury, Farmingdale, Woodside, Bay Shore, Brooklyn and Yonkers.
Although the number of facilities changes annually, New York State is home to thousands of large and small hazardous waste generators that include manufacturers, hospitals, universities and laboratories.
The result of DEC staff shortages is that although half of all inspections result in violations, only a fraction of hazardous waste handlers are inspected, including: treatment, storage and disposal facilities; large quantity generators (those that generate more than 1,000 kg of waste per month); and small quantity generators (those that generate between 100 and 1,000 kg of waste per month). Of the total number of inspections for 2008-09, the most recent year for which data is available, 525 resulted in violations, meaning that half of inspections revealed non-compliance. If, per DEC records, five percent of all inspections result in a major violation each year, it means that more than 40 facilities across New York State are home to serious deficiencies and are putting the public at risk.
New York has a long history of hazardous waste becoming a public health problem. Outside Syracuse, pesticide manufacturer FMC Middleport was found to have contaminated the local soil, sediment, surface and groundwater with arsenic and inorganic metals at the facility, as well as at a public school and nearby residential areas. Eventually the DEC remediated these areas by removing and replacing the soil. On the shores of Lake Erie in Lackawanna, Bethlehem Steel Corporation contaminated approximately 500 acres across 40 locations with cyanide and other chemicals. This pollution resulted in acid tar pits, blue soil and groundwater contamination. Steps have been taken to contain the pollution since its discovery.
Click here to listen.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: ENERGY LOANS
While busy debating the merits of this or that plan to reduce New York State’s deficit, lawmakers in the Assembly and the Senate passed a bill that gives municipalities the power to establish loan programs to finance the purchase and installation of renewable energy systems and energy efficiency measures for property owners.
This bill makes money available to property owners to finance the installation of energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy systems and spread out the payback period, allowing homeowners to offset loan payments through savings on their utility bills.
And home-based clean energy systems and investment in energy efficiency will reduce stress on our aging power grid, allow consumers to hedge against volatile energy costs, and provide environmental, public health and economic benefits. By reducing the demand for power generated by burning fossil fuels, the expansion of residential renewable energy systems and increased investment in energy efficiency technologies will help protect New Yorkers from the harmful effects of air pollution.
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