Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D-Cicero) helped pass multiple measures to help clean up the environment and further protect public health in the Assembly today. The legislative package emphasizes the need to celebrate our planet not just one day a year, but each and every day.

“We need to make sure that we do all we can to protect the only home we have, Earth,” Assemblyman Stirpe said. “With that being said, the measures we have taken today will ensure that New York leads the way in protecting the environment and making sure efficiency and sustainability are a priority.”

Specifically, the Assembly’s legislative package included measures that would:

• establish limits on greenhouse-gas emissions and create a greenhouse-gas reporting system (A.6327-A);
• ensure that state funds and permits for projects such as water and sewage treatment plants include consideration of the effects that climate change and extreme weather – including rising sea levels – could have on these facilities (A.6558-A);
• require the state to make purchasing decisions that would minimize adverse impacts on public health and the environment (A.6046);
• discourage the use of disposable, difficult-to-recycle polystyrene foam containers and study the feasibility of an outright ban on Styrofoam in New York state (A.4973-A); and
• include the “Microbead-free Waters Act,” which would prohibit the sale of personal cosmetics products that contain microbeads (A.8744-A).

“We’ve seen the effects our actions have had on this planet all too often in recent years, especially with Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene,” Assemblyman Stirpe said. “We need to take responsibility and live in a way that protects the Earth as much as possible so that future generations can appreciate and make use of its beauty and resources.”

Also passed this year were several pieces of legislation that deal with the environment that would:

• require the DEC to publish a list of “high local environmental impact zones” (A.3729);
• establish a Permanent Environmental Justice Advisory Group within the DEC and an Environmental Justice Interagency Coordinating Council and would require state agencies to adopt and abide by environmental justice policies (A.3569);
• prohibit the use of chemical flame retardants in residential upholstered furniture (A.6557);
• prevent exposure to dangerous chemicals and ensure the use of safer chemical alternatives in children’s products (A.6328);
• and create stricter standards for mercury-added lamps (A.2048-A).

“Without conscious efforts to be greener, we will continue to do damage to the environment,” Assemblyman Stirpe said. “There are things everyone can do to help, like recycling, which is why I’m hosting an e-recycling event next week to give people a chance to safely get rid of their unwanted electronics and keep harmful chemicals out of our landfills.”