Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Endwell) and the state Assembly celebrated Earth Day 2005 by passing a package of bills to protect New York’s air, soil and water. Lupardo was one of the founding members of Earth Day Southern Tier.

"We all share the responsibility to preserve our environment, which Earth Day reminds us of each year," Lupardo said. "In the Southern Tier we are all too familiar with the affects of toxins in our environment. The Assembly’s legislation will help foster the preventive measures needed to protect New York families from the pollution and other health hazards that threaten our land, air and water."

Preserving open space

Land preservation is essential for a healthy environment. Lupardo’s prime-sponsored legislation in the Assembly’s Earth Day package would establish a procedure to determine whether state-owned lands proposed for sale should be protected by the state for their natural resources (A.7083).

"Rampant overdevelopment can be destructive for our communities," Lupardo said. "My legislation will protect open space and ensure that our limited natural resources are around for generations to come."

Cleaning the air

The Assembly’s Earth Day package contains several measures Lupardo sponsored to reduce air pollution by:

• prohibiting the open burning of solid waste (A.3073);
• reducing major electric generating facilities’ carbon dioxide emissions to prevent global warming (A.4459); and
• establishing a mercury emission reduction program to decrease current mercury emissions from power plants and incinerators (A.6484).

"One of our environment’s biggest problems is air pollution," Lupardo said. "With this legislation we can reduce the incidence of health problems like asthma and bronchitis by limiting the amount of airborne irritants."

Improving handling of solid and hazardous wastes

To further protect our air, water and soil from contamination by hazardous materials, the Assembly also passed bills Lupardo sponsored to:

• create an electronic recycling program to ensure the proper disposal of electronic waste (A.1454); and
• restrict the sale of products containing mercury, such as thermostats, when non-mercury substitutes are available (A.6850).

"We need to do more to stop metals from entering our households that can threaten public health," Lupardo said. "The legislation passed by the Assembly will help ensure proper disposal of these metals, and reduce their presence when possible."