August 24, 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.

BOTTLE BILL BOUNCES BACK     
After being waylaid by a federal court challenge, New York’s “Bottle Bill” is back on track. On Thursday, August 13th, a federal district court judge issued a decision upholding most of the provisions of the law passed by the New York State Legislature back in April. The expansion was delayed due to a lawsuit filed by a few bottled water companies.

One of the environmental community’s priority Super Bills, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill expands New York’s original bottle deposit law to include bottled waters, removing millions of containers from our landfills, natural areas, waterways and parks. Beverage companies will now be required to return 80 percent of the unclaimed nickels to the State; an increase in handling fees (from 2 to 3.5 cents) for retailers and container redemption centers will go into effect immediately. Provisions that required the New York State-specific UPC code, which many businesses objected to, have been invalidated. The expansion to bottled water will take place by October 22, 2009, unless bottlers prove it to be impossible.

The bottlers on the losing side of the suit claimed to want to improve New York’s recycling policies overall, and financed a high-profile campaign to prove it. Environmental and other groups found these big ticket efforts interesting for lack of a better word, because when the bottlers’ lobbyists are up in Albany, they sing a different tune.

Click here to read more. And here. And here.

MERCURY: IT'S EVERYWHERE
A new study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey found mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from almost 300 freshwater streams. And most of the fish tested (two-thirds) had mercury levels higher than EPA levels of “concern.”

The research documents how widespread mercury pollution has become, even in the most remote corners of the country, thanks to mining and other industrial activities.

 Click here to read more. And here, and also here.

DIRTY COAL DELAYED  
Connecticut-based industrial gas company Praxair, Inc. has changed its tune and is no longer planning to site a “clean coal” demonstration project in Jamestown, N.Y.

Thank you, Praxair. Environmental Advocates, and a host of other groups, has been fighting Jamestown’s faux clean coal plan for years because it’s expensive, unnecessary, and last but not least, dirty. While this might not mean that the project is dead per se, it is at least stunned for the time being.  

You may remember that during the New York State Senate coup back in June, Governor Paterson was criticized for trying to slip a controversial bill that would fast track the faux clean coal project among those for consideration by the New York State Senate during “Extraordinary Session.” The Assembly refused to even allow a vote on the boondoggle of a bill.

The Governor first announced support for, and plans to increase state investment in, the coal project last year. At the time, groups (Alliance for Clean Energy – New York, American Lung Association in New York, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Earthjustice, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Interfaith Power & Light, NYPIRG, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club – Atlantic Chapter, and the Western New York Climate Action Coalition) criticized the Governor for increasing state investment in unproven technology during a fiscal crisis and endorsing the Jamestown plant prior to the completion of required studies.

The faux clean coal plant would be the first new coal-fired power plan built in New York in more than 25 years. Opponents are concerned that state funding would require significant additional public expenditures in future. These could include subsidies to cover the extra power production costs associated with this plant, given that as much as 30 percent of its output will be required to operate the oxy-fire carbon capture and storage technology. This substantial “parasitic load” will increase the already high cost of electricity produced by this plant by as much as 40 percent. Additional public subsidies will be required if the state indemnifies the project and agrees to cover liability issues associated with permanent carbon capture and storage.  These subsidies could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars over the 50-year operating lifespan of the plant.

Analyses have concluded that power from the plant is projected to cost between 15 and 20 cents per kilowatt hour, about a dime more than the current cost per kilowatt hour off the grid (3 cents), and as much as twice the cost of wind energy per kilowatt hour.

Environmental organizations opposed to the coal plant have pointed out that more than 80 percent of Jamestown’s electric needs are currently met by low-cost hydropower from the New York Power Authority. Thus, the City’s self-generation needs, now met by an older coal plant which needs to be shut down, represent only a small factor of its overall load. Environmentalists maintain that this small load can be met more cleanly and less expensively by a combination of energy efficiency and renewable energy development.

The groups also oppose the coal plant because it’s dirty. If operated as a CCS demonstration project, the coal plant would only be required to capture and sequester 55 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions. Assuming it’s successful, that adds up to an additional 190,000 tons of climate-altering carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year—equal to the pollution released by about 35,000 cars and trucks.

The Jamestown plant must complete a State Environmental Quality Review Act analysis, including a new final environmental impact statement plus new permit applications to the Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Without such analyses, the Governor cannot be sure that the project is consistent with state environmental laws and is thus legally justified.

Click here to read more.

SAVE THE DATE   
Join us on Tuesday, November 10^th at our annual Advocate Awards gala to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Our 2009 honorees are climate change pioneer Carter Bales, sustainable cities hero Andrew Darrell and Lieutenant Governor and mass transit advocate Richard Ravitch. Please contact Peggy Fandrich at mfandrich@eany.org or (518) 462-5526 ext. 236 if you’d like more information.

TELL THE GOV TO STOP REGULATORY ROLLBACK

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