A bill proposed in New York would put the onus on corporations to reduce the amount of plastic and paper packaging they use, and relieve the burden placed on local governments. The goal is to reduce the tons of garbage that ends up at landfills.
Harckham introduces bill to reduce packaging and increase recycling
Highlights and Happenings: January 2023
Image by planet_fox from Pixabay
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Highlights
Pushing for our Environmental Priorities in the NYS Budget
We were in Albany for Governor Hochul’s 2023 State of the State address and were thrilled to see some of our top priorities for the year highlighted and included in the Governor’s budget proposal. We’ll be in Albany for the next few months urging our Assembly and Senate members to include some of our key priorities in the final budget, including:
Waste Reduction and Recycling: Ensures that manufacturers, not taxpayers, pay for the cost of recycling product packaging. This will help to cut plastic pollution, increase recycling, and save local governments money.
PFAS Cleanup: Provides $60 million to local governments to clean up toxic “forever chemicals” and protect drinking water.
Environmental Protection Fund (EPF): We are pushing for at least $400 million in the EPF, including robust funding to support protection of our ocean, Great Lakes, and estuaries.
Clean Water Funding: We are pushing for a billion dollar investment in much-needed clean water infrastructure improvements, including upgrading sewer systems, treating drinking water for emerging contaminants, replacing lead pipes, and more.
Happenings
Transitioning to Offshore Wind
New York is poised to be a national leader in offshore wind, with five wind farms already selected and a mandate of 9,000MW of offshore wind by 2035. This will not only bring environmental and health benefits to our communities but will also create thousands of jobs and make NY a hub of offshore wind development. January saw some more big milestones for offshore wind:
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Sunrise Wind. This project, located approximately 30 miles off Montauk, will generate 924 MW of energy and power nearly 600,000 Long Island homes via a cable connection to the Holbrook substation. We attended a series of public hearings in January; thanks to all who joined and spoke up for wind!
BOEM hosted three public meetings on the DEIS for the Empire Wind project, which will power over a million homes throughout NYC and Nassau County. Thanks to all who joined and spoke up in favor of wind, and everyone who submitted written comments in January.
NYS hosted public meetings last month on the Beacon Wind project as part of their Article VII permitting process. The Beacon Wind project will be located approximately 60 miles off the coast of Montauk and will generate 1,230MW of energy, enough to power over 600,000 homes in NYC. If you missed it, you can submit written comments until February 17th.
Move School Away from the Brookhaven Landfill
Last month we stood with Javien Coleman’s mother as she announced a lawsuit against South Country Central School District and the Town of Brookhaven. Her son sadly passed away at age 13 from cancer after being exposed to toxics, such as TCE and benzene. Javien went to Frank P. Long Intermediate School, which is adjacent to the landfill and has a history of air quality and health issues in the community. We are strongly urging the school board to move the school in order to protect students and teachers. The school has been featured in the documentary “Sick School” on Netflix.
Protecting Pollinators from Toxic Pesticides
We are working to protect our pollinators from toxic neonicotinoid (neonics) pesticides throughout New York. Neonics decimate pollinator populations, contaminate water resources, and harm human health. In January, we joined our partners for a statewide virtual lobby day in support of the Birds and Bees Protection Act. We met with New York elected officials to discuss the importance of banning certain uses of neonics which pose the highest risks to pollinators. This is one of our top priorities for 2023 and we’ll be in Albany in the following months fighting to get this crucial bill passed this year.
Patchogue Gets a Living Shoreline
We had a great time with our partners at the Protecting the Environment in Patchogue (PEP) committee, Suffolk County Executive Bellone, and Secretary of State Rodriguez celebrating the groundbreaking of the largest “living shoreline” on the south shore of Long Island. This $5 million project will help to protect the coast from flooding as it acts as a buffer and reef for different species. We hope to see more projects like this on Long Island and across the state!
Kicking off the LI Sound High School Summit
We were busy in January providing presentations to participating students for this year’s Long Island Sound High School Summit. We have 8 Long Island schools participating and are currently developing projects that they will present at the Summit in May. Students’ projects aim to advance protection and restoration of Long Island Sound and this year include researching how light pollution impacts crabs, conducting water quality monitoring in local embayments, studying the impacts of plastic pollution on local beaches, and more. We are excited to see all the great projects! Thank you to the Long Island Sound Study and the Long Island Sound Futures Funding for their generous support of this program.
Step by step, ridding East Meadow’s water of chemicals
There are 13 ongoing water remediation projects for the Town of Hempstead’s Water Department including three related to water in East Meadow.
The East Meadow project includes wells 1 and 3 on Prospect Avenue West, wells 5 and 11 on Prospect Avenue East, and East Meadow Site II with wells 6 and 8.
The town’s water department pumps 18 million gallons of water each day to over 120,000 customers. The East Meadow Water District, within the town’s water department, serves 40,000 customers, including several schools, Nassau University Medical Center, and Eisenhower Park.
Mother files lawsuit against Brookhaven, nearby school following death of 13-year-old son due to cancer
Court papers blame teenager's fatal cancer on Brookhaven Landfill fumes
Nacole Hutley, mother of Javien Coleman, stands beside photos of her late son on Jan. 23, 2023.
A pending lawsuit blames both the South Country Central School District and the Town of Brookhaven for the death of Javien Coleman, a teenager who is believed to have developed cancer due to toxins emitted from the Brookhaven Landfill while at school.
Cleaning East Meadow’s water
The funding is extremely timely, because the cost of the advanced oxidation technology is expensive.”
ADRIENNE ESPOSITO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CITIZENS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
The Town of Hempstead has received $5 million from Washington to continue improving East Meadow’s drinking water. The funding is part of the $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last month.
Patchogue mom will sue over claim her son died from Bellport school's toxic air
NY pulls objection to dredging deposits at site by Fishers Island
Mother to sue Long Island town, school district after son dies of non-Hodgkins lymphoma
BROOKHAVEN, Long Island (WABC) -- A mother is planning to sue a school district and town on Long Island, claiming they are responsible for her son's death.
Grieving mother, Nacole Hutley, repeated the words of her dying son.
"'I would never have went to school there,' he said he would have never went if he would have known," Hutley said.
Manorville homes a step closer to clean water with $2M grant
Representative Rice secures school funding
The allocation of $3 million in support of mental wellness services is exceptional and will go a long way”
SHARI CAMHI SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT
THE COMMUNITY PROJECT FUNDING’S IMPACT
Of the larger funding initiatives —$9 million for the upgrades to Bunky Reid Park at the Yes We Can Community Center in North Hempstead, $5 million for Part B of the East Meadow Dioxane Mitigation Project in the Town of Hempstead, $3 million for social and emotional learning programs at the Baldwin Union Free School District, $2 million to expand homeless safety net programming for The Inn, or Interfaith Nutrition Network, Inc, and $1.1 million for workforce development activities at the Urban League of Long Island, Inc, in Plainview.
Steve Englebright reflects on three decades of environmental advocacy
How you can recycle Christmas trees on Long Island
Spending Bill Includes Millions To Improve East Meadow's Water
The omnibus spending bill will provide $5 million to help remove 1,4 Dioxane from East Meadow's water supply.
EAST MEADOW, NY — Part of the massive, $1.7 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last week includes millions of dollars to help improve the water quality in East Meadow.
Hochul Pushes Changes to Carpet Bill, Igniting Bitter Debate Over ‘Chemical Recycling’
Some environmentalists say the amendments would allow unacceptable pollution. Others argue they’re missing the point.
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL is seeking to rewrite sections of a carpet recycling bill in a way that critics say could open the way to controversial “chemical recycling,” leaving backers of the legislation in tense disagreement over how to respond.
Rep. Rice Secures $15,117,028 For Local Projects in Final Government Funding Package
Top Stories 2022: Fight for clean water in Calverton and Manorville continues
Riverhead slated to receive another $2 million from feds for clean water projects
Highlights and Happenings: December 2022
Image by katerinavulcova from Pixabay
Help CCE build on our success, and support our campaigns to protect public health and the environment in NY and CT.
Make a contribution today.
Highlights
Victories! Governor Hochul Signs Key Environmental Legislation into Law in NY
We had a very productive 2022, with several critical bills to protect New York’s environment and public health being signed into law. Thank you to Governor Hochul for signing these important bills into law in December:
30 by 30: Sets a state goal of conserving 30% of NY’s land and water by 2030
Carpet Recycling: Mandates that manufacturers, not taxpayers, fund recycling programs for carpets and bans dangerous PFAS chemicals in carpets
Making Polluters Pay: Requires companies that have contaminated drinking water with 1,4-dixoane, PFAS, and other toxic chemicals to pay the full cost of cleanup and installation of water treatment technologies.
Cumulative Impacts: Prevents the approval of environmental facilities, such as waste
management facilities, that would pollute in already overburdened disadvantaged communities.
Ban on PFAS chemicals in clothing: New York joins California in being the first two states to ban PFAS “forever chemicals” in clothing
Green Cemeteries: Allows natural organic reduction facilities that decompose bodies into soil as an eco-friendly alternative to burial or cremation
Unfortunately, a bill that would increase protection for small streams was not signed this year, but we will keep pushing forward with streams protection and other priority legislation, including banning neonic pesticides and reducing waste & improving recycling in 2023!
Tackling PFAS Contamination
We were hard at work advocating for NYS to adopt more stringent drinking water standards for PFAS— highly toxic chemicals that persist in our environment and are found in waterways throughout the nation. Last month, we launched a new interactive map that shows widespread PFAS contamination on Long Island in drinking water.
This data was compiled using 2021 annual drinking water quality reports. Our interactive map has become a meaningful educational tool for the public with over 800,000 views! If you haven’t yet, check out the map to see if there is PFAS in your drinking water district and get involved in our campaign to require stricter state drinking water standards for these toxic “forever chemicals.”
Final Federal Budget a Victory for the Great Lakes!
Late in December, Congress passed the final FY2023 federal budget, which contained victories for programs critical to the health of the Great Lakes. Highlights include $368 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, $3 million to continue a study on how to make Great Lakes coastal communities more resilient to flooding and extreme weather, and $2.76 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure programs.
Happenings
Transitioning to Offshore Wind
New York has become a national leader in offshore wind, with five wind farms already selected and a mandate of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035. This will bring environmental and health benefits to our communities and will also create thousands of jobs and make NY a hub of offshore wind development. December saw some more big milestones for offshore wind:
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Sunrise Wind. This offshore wind project, located approximately 30 miles off Montauk, will generate 924 MW of energy and power nearly 600,000 Long Island homes via a cable connection to the Holbrook substation. There are a series of public hearings in January, we hope you can join and voice your support for wind.
BOEM hosted three public meetings on the DEIS for the Empire Wind project, which will power over a million homes throughout NYC and Nassau County. Thanks to all who joined and spoke up in favor of wind, and if you missed the opportunity to comment at the hearings, BOEM is still accepting comments through January 17th.
CCE and Equinor, the developer of the Empire Wind projects, co-hosted two well attended community meetings. The first one in Island Park in November, followed by Long Beach in December.
NYS announced plans to host public meetings on January 19th and 24th on the Beacon Wind project as part of their Article VII permitting process. The Beacon Wind project will be located approximately 60 miles off the coast of Montauk and will generate 1,230MW of energy, enough to power over 600,000 homes in NYC.
Protecting the South Shore Estuary Reserve
In December, we hosted the first South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) Legislative Breakfast in preparation for the 2023- 2024 NYS legislative session. The event brought together environmental experts and policy makers for presentations and discussions highlighting SSER program successes and to advance next steps needed to restore water quality in our bays, harbors, and estuary. This year, we will be in Albany fighting to increase funding for this crucial estuary, which spans from the Western Bays to Southampton along the south shore of Long Island.
