February 23, 2009

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 tidbits and observations carefully gleaned from the halls of the Capitol.

WINE INSTEAD OF CLEAN WATER    

Why is New York State adding staff to review liquor permits but not water pollution permits or hazardous waste siting permits?    

Environmental Advocates of New York did a little state agency sleuthing and we were surprised by what we found.

As you may already know, Governor Paterson put an agency-wide hiring freeze in place to address the state budget shortfall. Currently, New York State is only allowing staff increases at agencies that address health and safety concerns, generate revenue, or support an agency's “core mission.”  However, we found at least one instance where those criteria don’t seem to apply. The Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control under the State Liquor Authority is hiring 50 new staffers to, at least in part, address a backlog of state liquor permits and facilitate the sale of wine in grocery stores. Our cursory review of budget tables on the New York State Division of Budget’s website turned up the hiring numbers. 

We're asking the Governor why liquor permits are more important than addressing the Department of Environmental Conservation’s overwhelming backlog of water pollution permits. The agency is also having trouble keeping up with permits for facilities that produce hazardous waste. Preventing new Superfund sites is surely a health and safety issue, as well as prudent fiscal policy. Under the hiring freeze, the agency isn’t just capping current staff levels, it will lose 241 scientists and engineers and other critical staff. 

That being said, the Governor's budget proposal also includes an increase in water pollution permit fees that could raise more than $5 million. This is a good idea. However, this money should go hire the very people who look at these water pollution permits and make sure our drinking water is safe. But that’s not part of the Gov’s proposal.  

Click here to read our letter to Governor Paterson asking him why liquor permits are more important than water pollution permits.

Please give Governor Paterson’s office a call to let him know that protecting the quality of our drinking water matters more to you than liquor. You can reach the Governor’s Office by calling (518) 474-8390.

Click here to read more in the Syracuse Post-Standard.  

MANUFACTURERS KEEP MUM ABOUT TOXICS IN HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS  

Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and other manufacturing giants are refusing to follow a New York State law requiring them to disclose the toxic chemicals—and related health risks—in their products.

In a fight for transparency, health and environmental advocates are taking cleaning product manufacturers Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser to court. What happens next could set a national precedent.

Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of a coalition that includes Women’s Voices for the Earth, NYPIRG, Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, American Lung Association New York and Environmental Advocates of New York.

Although studies of the chemicals in many cleaning products have found negative health effects ranging from asthma to hormone disruption, ingredient disclosure requirements are virtually non-existent in the United States. But back in the 1970s, New York passed a law requiring household and commercial cleanser companies selling their products in the state to report the chemicals in their products and to describe their own research on the chemicals’ health and environmental effects.

However, in the three decades since the 1976 law was passed, most companies have failed to file a single report. So this past fall, these environmental and health groups asked more than a dozen companies to comply with the law. The companies targeted in the lawsuit either ignored or refused the request.

Several companies, including the California-based Sunshine Makers, Inc. (manufacturers of Simple Green products) did comply, and filed reports with the state for the first time.

Studies have linked chemicals in common household cleaners and respiratory irritation, asthma, and allergies. Occupational exposures to some ethylene glycol ethers, often used as solvents in cleaning products, are associated with red blood cell damage, reproductive system damage, and birth defects. Some solvents in cleaning products are also toxic to the nervous system.

Environmental Advocates has fought long and hard to protect New Yorkers from the dangerous effects of toxic chemicals. Twenty years ago we led the charge to ban nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) in household products. New Yorkers deserve to know what's in the cleansers they use every day. New York has a law on the books to force companies to report on what chemicals go into their products. Now it's time to enforce it.   

Independent research has also documented the hormone-disrupting qualities of alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs)—commonly found in detergents, disinfectants, stain removers and floor cleaners. Cleaning chemicals can also have severe impacts on respiratory health. Ethanolamines, chemicals used in many cleaning products, have been shown to trigger asthma. And mixing common chemicals ammonia and chlorine creates toxic gases called chloramines causing shortness of breath, chest pain, wheezing, nausea, watery eyes, irritation and pneumonia and fluid in the lungs.  

Because many cleaning chemicals survive the sewage system and are released into streams, there is also concern that such chemicals pose a threat to fish and other aquatic wildlife, causing, among other things, the “feminization” of male fish. Click here for more information about the health impacts.

Manufacturers have so far been successful in maintaining the status quo; no state or federal law requires companies to identify chemical ingredients on cleaning product labels. Although New York’s reporting law has largely been forgotten, its existence means the state leads the nation in household cleaner right-to-know laws. We’ll let you know what happens next.

Click here to hear an interview on Public News Service Radio.

Click here to read more in the Los Angeles Times.

Click here to read the Scientific American and here to read the Times Union.

Click here to read more in The Daily Green.

BILLS ON THE MOVE

Every week during the Legislative Session, Environmental Advocates of New York looks at the measures that will impact the environment for good or ill. Here are this week's Bills on the Move.

One tree for Utility Distributed Generation. This bill would require utilities to submit annual reports to the state regarding distributed generation/energy metering. Such reports would be a valuable tool to inform state energy planning and allow consumers to better understand the performance of their utilities. The information would also help community groups better understand air pollution sources in their neighborhoods.

One tree for Small Business Energy Loans. This bill would establish a small business energy loan program under which small businesses in economically distressed areas could receive either zero percent or reduced-interest rate loans of up to $100,000 to finance improvements which would reduce energy use. To be eligible, businesses would undergo an energy audit. Reducing energy consumption will decrease electricity demand, place less of a strain on New York’s aging transmission system—which caused outages for more than 120,000 Queens residents in 2006—and protect New York residents from the harmful effects of air pollution created by fossil fuel-fired power plants.

One tree for Energy Conservation Protection. The measure would prohibit the state’s Public Service Commission from authorizing rate increases by utility companies to offset revenue lost due to consumer conservation. As New Yorkers become more energy efficient, the state’s energy gains will be stifled if utilities raise rates in order to compensate for reduced demand. This bill would prohibit the Public Service Commission from authorizing utilities from taking such action, thereby protect­ing consumers in New York from being penalized for becoming more energy efficient at home and at work.

 Click here to learn more about these measures and what each will do to help or hurt New York’s natural resources.  

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