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New York

1 Natural History
- 1.1 Flora
2 Recycling
3 Hazardous Waste
4 Energy and Climate Change
- 4.1 Renewable Energy
- 4.2 Greenhouse gas emissions

Natural HistoryEdit

FloraEdit

"The New York Flora Atlas is a source of information for the distribution of plants within the state, as well as information on plant habitats, associated ecological communities, and taxonomy." [1]

Recycling Edit

The primary mandate of the Solid Waste Management Act is to reduce the amount of waste destined for landfills and incinerators in New York State. Source separation and recycling programs are fundamental components to the diminishing of the ultimate volume of solid waste requiring disposal. Source separation and recycling play primary roles in meeting this goal. In New York State, municipalities are required to enact local recycling laws under General Municipal Law section 120-aa.^[1]

The existing bottle deposit system has resulted in millions of tons of litter being returned for recycling. The system covers beer, soda, and some other bottles, but was written before water bottles, sports drinks and other newer beverages became common. Consequently it does not cover these bottles. An expanded bottle deposit system, referred to as the Bigger Better Bottle Bill aims to fix this but has not been passed.

Hazardous Waste Edit

Hazardous waste is overseen by two subdivisions of the NYDEC under Val Washington:

Division of Environmental Remediation - deals with cleaning up superfunds, certifying brownfields waste.
Division of Solid and Hazardous Materials - under Ed Desati- deals with permitting the haz materials facilities

Only 3 companies in the country do thermal desorption - treats hazardous waste to make it less hazardous. 75% of waste at the largest landfill come from out of state. Hazardous waste landfill costs dropping, and the volume of waste sent to landfills is decreasing. Volume of remedial (treated) waste relative to primary waste is increasing. Amount of waste from NY superfund sites is decreasing, because most of the major projects are completed. There are 42 yrs national capacity - the EPA says NY? doesn't have to look at capacity for 15 yrs. No tax on out-of-state generated toxic waste, but there is on in state generated toxic waste. Is this true?

Note: the following are opinions intended for the draft Hazardous Waste Siting plan comment period.

NY Hazardous waste siting rules as proposed in the draft siting plan www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/9054.html currently do not prioritize recycling and treatment over dumping. The rules should minimize additional capacity to make treatment economically preferable. Following the EPA hierarchy of hazardous waste end points to their logical conclusion the overall goal as put forth in should be to end hazardous waste landfilling. By adding landfill capacity they are creating demand for landfilling, rather than discouraging hazardous waste creation and dumping.

The plan states that the treated waste dumped in hazardous waste landfills poses no significant risk to human health. However, this waste is treated to render it less harmful, not harmless. It is still harmful enough to be placed in a hazardous waste dump. Even if there are protective measured in place determined to provide statistical protection for a certain period of time, that doesn't render the waste harmless.