Today is the last scheduled day of New York's 2017 legislative session, and if the Senate doesn't act now they'll leave Albany without addressing climate change, enabling towns to protect themselves from gas pipelines, or protecting the Hudson River.  Make two calls right now--call Senator Flanagan and Klein and tell them to bring these bills to the floor today.  You can reach both through the Senate operator: call 518.455.2800 and ask for their offices.  

These critical bills have the support of the majority of Senators, and need and deserve a full vote: 

• the Climate and Community Protection Act (S.6617-A);
• the Hudson River Anchorages (S.5197-B) bill; and
• and a bill to enable towns to protect themselves from oil pipelines (S5139).  

Make two calls right now--call Senator Flanagan and Klein and tell them to bring these bills to the floor today.  You can reach both through the Senate operator: call 518.455.2800 and ask for their offices.

I cannot stress this enough: the Assembly has passed all three of these bills.  It's on the Senate now to do the same--if they don't they will have failed all New Yorkers.  

On climate change, we need the Climate and Community Protection Act to not only address New York's roll in climate pollution, but also to provide environmental justice to those communities that have borne the brunt of New York's pollution and to ensure that the energy revolution comes with good jobs and strong labor standards.  Call Senators Flanagan and Klein now at 518.455.2800 and tell them to bring the bill (S.6617-A) to the floor for a vote TODAY.

The oil industry wants to turn the Hudson River into a parking lot for crude oil barges.  The whole point of this proposal is to allow shippers to store oil on the river, ready to go to market once prices are high enough for these companies to maximize their profits.  This will come at the cost of the communities that have invested in waterfront revitalization and puts all Hudson River cleanup efforts at risk--if (more likely when) one of these barges spills, the heavy crude will sink to the bottom, making it nearly impossible to clean up.  The bill allows the state to factor environmental sensitivity into the decision when permitting or prohibiting anchorages.  Call Senators Flanagan and Klein now at 518.455.2800 and tell them to bring the bill (S.5197-B) to the floor for a vote TODAY.  

Cities and villages have the authority under state law to allow or prohibit oil pipelines in their communities.  State law is outdated and needs this simple bill to include towns in this same authorization.  Call Senators Flanagan and Klein now at 518.455.2800 and tell them to bring the bill (S.5139) to the floor for a vote TODAY.

Please act now--these two calls will take less than five minutes.  And they'll be the two most important calls you make today.

Sincerely,


Katherine Nadeau
Deputy Director