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Highlights
Victory! NY Votes Yes for Clean Water and Air!
This fall, New Yorkers had the historic opportunity to establish the right to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment in the Bill of Rights of the New York State Constitution. We joined the Vote YES for Clean Air and Water coalition to establish the highest legal protection available under law to protect public health and the environment. This initiative creates legal safeguards for New Yorkers to secure clean air and water for generations to come. Thank you to everyone who went out to the polls and votes YES for clean air and water.
Victory: Full Protections Restored to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument!
We applaud President Biden for restoring protections to the Atlantic’s only Marine National Monument. This area off the coast of New England will be protected from commercial fishing and offshore drilling, while ensuring safe, pristine ocean habitat that will benefit whales, dolphins and other marine life for generations to come. The monument serves as a living laboratory for scientific exploration and discovery, with two new species of coral discovered on just one recent expedition!
Happenings
Combatting PFAS Contamination in Connecticut
In October, we hosted a virtual forum on PFAS, the “forever chemical” found in waters across the state and the nation. The forum was designed to educate our CT members on the most up-to-date science and efforts currently underway at the state level to protect public health from these toxic chemicals. The program featured expert guest speakers from Clean Water Action and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), as well as an overview of the new PFAS law by State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport). Watch the full virtual forum here.
Developing a Shared Vision for Clean Water in New York
For the fifth year, we convened a broad, diverse group of stakeholders from around the state for our annual Clean Water Roundtable. This group of environmental leaders, water suppliers, wastewater treatment operators, environmental justice organizations, construction contractors, and other clean water stakeholders work together to develop a list of shared priorities for clean water in New York State. Roundtable participants heard from NYS Deptartment of Environmental Conservation Commissioner, Basil Seggos, as well as from experts who gave presentations on drinking and wastewater infrastructure needs, emerging contaminants, source water protection, and lead drinking water pipes. Based on the presentation and subsequent discussion, we will be creating a collaborative action plan our diverse group can work together to achieve in 2022, so stay tuned!
Fighting for Clean Air in NY and CT
The transportation sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and accounts for about 29% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) is a regional approach—among Northeast states—to addressing the pollution and climate change emissions from the transportation sector. The TCI would require oil companies to pay for the pollution their products cause, which will allow for needed investments in a clean transportation and public health improvements, such as expanded public transportation, more zero emission vehicles, making communities bike-friendly, and more. We are working to advance TCI in NY and CT. Find out how you can help here.
Celebrating Long Island’s Largest Sewer Expansion in nearly 50 Years
We are thrilled to announce that ground was broken in October on the Carlls River sewer project! We were proud to stand with Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone, Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre, Suffolk Legislators, and our environmental and labor partners to celebrate the Long Island's largest sewer expansion project in decades. This project is critical to achieve our goals of reducing nitrogen pollution, restoring water quality, and improving coastal resiliency.
Cutting Climate Pollution in Downstate NY
One major obstacle to meeting NY’s ambitious Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s mandates is that there is a “tale of two grids” In NYS. Upstate uses 88% zero-emission resources but only represents 1/3rd of the energy load, while downstate is 2/3rds of the load and uses 69% fossil fuels. NYC presents a unique challenge to achieving CLCPA goals and is very reliant on fossil fuels, with outdated local peaker plants polluting disadvantaged communities. In October, the state selected two projects - a 1300MW transmission line to bring wind and solar from upstate to the NY metro area and a transmission line to bring existing Canadian hydropower to the NYC grid – to help ensure that we meet our renewable energy goals. Last month, we co-hosted a public virtual forum on the Clean Path project and had a meeting with Hydro-Quebec to discuss these two critical projects. Learn more and view our virtual forums on both projects here.
How Was Long Island’s Water Quality for Summer 2021?
Want to know more about the health of Long Island's waters this year? We joined Dr. Chris Gobler, The Nature Conservancy in New York, and Suffolk Deputy County Executive Pete Scully to discuss what impairments we saw in our bays, estuaries, lakes and rivers at the release of the 2021 Long Island Water Quality Impairments map. Nitrogen pollution has once again caused harmful algal blooms, fish kills, depleted oxygen, and other problems in nearly every waterbody on the island. Efforts to reduce nitrogen from sewage has led to improved water quality in some areas, while many of our waterways saw worsening toxic tides due to excessive nitrogen pollution.