We’re now more than half way through the budget hearings and
this past Monday’s hearing on environmental conservation was even more
contentious than the education hearing.
A League member was able to attend the hearing and report back to us on
the happenings. Fracking, of course, dominated the hearing and
there was a major turnout of anti-fracking activists – so large a turnout that
our volunteer nearly did not make it into the packed hearing room. The morning started with DEC Commissioner,
Joe Martins, in the hot seat, being grilled about the potential health and economic
impacts of hydrofracking. Martins’s
answers bunted a number of the health issues back to DOH and also confirmed
that there isn’t any funding in this year’s budget for DEC operations that
would oversee fracking. A number of
Martins’s answers drew boos and groans from the audience. The most cheers and applauds came during Assemblywoman
Barbara Lifton’s questions and comments.
Lifton criticized the DEC’s process in developing the environmental
impact report, calling the process “convoluted and not transparent.” She later highlighted a report from
Pennsylvania that 400 families in Washington County need to have water
delivered due to contamination of their water supply caused by fracking. The assemblywoman went on to say that the
public does not even have all the information about instances like this because
of industry nondisclosure agreements and a recent gag order placed on doctors
in Pennsylvania. She concluded with
asking Commissioner Martins “Does it make you uncomfortable to hear these things
coming out of Pennsylvania?” The
commissioner responded that he’s uncomfortable with any instance of corporate
irresponsibility, but that he thinks it unfair to paint the entire drilling
industry as irresponsible. As the
Commissioner’s testimony concluded, the large crowd started chanting “Not one
well.” The protest continued out into
the hall and then over to the Million Dollar Staircase where an anti-fracking
rally was held. The League supported the
issuing of the moratorium on hydrofracking.
Click here
for more on the League’s position.
Tuesday was a much quieter day, but an exciting one as it
was LWVNY’s lobby day! There was a great
turnout from leagues ranging from all the way from Rochester to NYC and many
more. Attendees got to meet over bagels
and coffee and listen to League issue specialists discuss League legislative
priorities on healthcare, early voting and absentee ballots, reproductive
choice, pay equity, hydrofracking, campaign finance reform, and financing
education. After the morning workshop,
attendees got to see just how crowded the Capitol Café gets during lunch, as
about 20 of us tried to squeeze in and grab some lunch before touring the
capitol and the Legislative Office Building.
Many league members visited with their legislators (or legislative staff)
to discuss the League’s policy agenda. It
was a great day and we hope even more will join us next year!
We’re still continuing to meet with new legislators to
introduce them to the League and discuss our policy agenda. Meetings are going well, and will start to
pick up post-budget as the legislature starts to turn its attention to things
like campaign finance reform and women’s equality.
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