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Ask New York Senators to Move These Bills, Protect Our Environment
Please contact New York State Senators and tell them to do something to protect our environment this year before it’s too late.
Ask lawmaker to move the Community Preservation Act, Clean Water Protection / Flood Prevention Act, and the Environmental Access to Justice Act to the Senate floor before the end of the 2006 Legislative Session. Tell your senator to stop playing politics with
New York’s environment and our quality of life. Senators, Move these Bills is an effort by Environmental Advocates of New York. Visit www.eany.org to learn more.
Sincerely,
Rob Moore
Executive Director
Environmental Advocates of New York
Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your State Senator (if you live in NY)
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Please Move the CPA, Wetlands and Environmental Access to Justice Act to the Senate Floor
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I am writing today as a member of Environmental Advocates of New York to ask you to move three common-sense environmental bills to the Senate floor for a fair up or down vote before the end of the New York State Legislative Session. It's time to act and protect our environment and quality of life.
These bills are not just about protecting New York's waters, lands, and our families' health. They're about protecting our communities, our history and heritage, and our rights.
Please stop playing politics and start protecting the environment. I am writing today to ask you to move these bills to the Senate for a vote:
*The Community Preservation Act (S.3153, Marcellino) gives communities the chance to 'opt-in' to support local preservation efforts without navigating the halls of the Capitol.
*The Clean Water Protection / Flood Prevention Act (S.2081, Marcellino, et al) fills a gaping hole in our wetlands laws. Wetlands play a vital role in protecting our drinking water and preventing flooding statewide.
*The Environmental Access to Justice Act (S. 2380, Morahan) is a no-brainer and will give aggrieved New Yorkers access to the court and the right for their cases to be heard on the merits.
Each of these bills has broad support in the Senate and the majority conference. Please act in the best interest of New York's citizens and pass these bills before the end of the legislative session.
Sincerely,
_______________
cc:
Senator Joseph Bruno
Environmental Advocates of New York is counting down to the end of the 2006
New York Legislative Session. We need your help to move three bills to the Senate floor for a fair up or down vote.
It’s time to call on our Senators to move these bills.Right now, two environmental “Super Bills” are in play. These common-sense bills passed the Assembly, but neither has made it to the Senate floor. The bills include the ‘opt-in’ Community Preservation Act and the Clean Water Protection / Flood Prevention Act, AKA the wetlands bill. Both are now in the Senate Rules Committee. The third bill, the Environmental Access to Justice Act, also enjoys widespread support and is currently in the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee.
Ask your Senator to move these bills to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
These bills are not just about protecting
New York’s waters, lands, and our families’ health. They’re about protecting our communities and our quality of life, our history and heritage. The environment affects our health and the health of our families. It provides us with jobs and revenue. It is the water we drink and the places we choose to call home.
Lawmakers in
Albany can’t point to a lack of support for these bills. These three pieces of common-sense legislation have widespread support among legislators and New Yorkers from Niagara Falls to Montauk Point, from the Adirondacks to the mouth of the
Hudson.
So what’s the hold up? Politics as usual. Ask your Senator to move these bills to the floor for a fair vote.
The Community Preservation Act is an ‘opt-in’ bill that would simply allow municipalities to put preservation funding to a local vote, without asking permission from the legislature. No more, no less. This bill would give
New York’s towns the option to create a small real estate transfer fee of up to two percent to support efforts to protect their heritage. The bill enjoys support from municipal governments, the farming community, historic preservationists, and conservationists, but has been bottled up by some senators and pro-development interests.
The Clean Water Protection / Flood Prevention Act would close a loophole in wetlands protections statewide. The bill would ensure that wetlands less than 12.4 acres in size are protected. Wetlands filter pollutants and runoff from our drinking water and buffer us from flooding. The majority of senators support protecting our drinking water and preventing flooding, but a powerful minority fail to see the importance of doing so.
The Environmental Access to Justice Act is a no-brainer. This bill is about equal treatment under the law and would allow New Yorkers to challenge State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) decisions if they can demonstrate that they will suffer injury from the environmental impact of a proposed project, without having to show that the harm they will suffer is different from that suffered by the public at large.
New York lawmakers have about two weeks to take action and stop playing politics with our heritage and our families’ health. It’s time to see some action in
Albany.
Tell
New York Senators to move these environmental bills to the Senate floor before it’s too late.
For more information about the Super Bills and Environmental Advocates’ legislative priorities, visit www.eany.org.
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