By VALERIE BAUMAN
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New Yorkers who need to toss old TVs and computers could help avoid harming the environment with the heavy metals in the electronics if the state Senate takes up one of several bills sidetracked by political gridlock earlier this summer.
Environmentalists began the year optimistic their issues would get new traction in the Legislature. With a Democratic-led Senate for the first time in more than four decades, they saw passage of a bill requiring recycling water bottles — an elusive dream for decades.
Anything seemed possible, and bills that would tighten emissions standards, weatherize more homes and require manufacturers to recycle old electronics were on the verge of passage.
Then the Senate coup that gripped Albany for more than a month shoved those proposals aside. Now it's unclear whether they will be on the agenda when the Senate returns in September. The Assembly passed them before adjourning for the summer, but the Senate never got back to them after sorting out a vicious power struggle.
Waiting for bills to pass in New York's Legislature is pretty much the opposite of watching the swift runs of horses at the famous Saratoga Race Course. Except for that whole going around in a circle thing.
"It was absolutely gut wrenching to watch years of efforts to get these bills into the Senate kind of unravel because of the coup," said Jackson Morris, of Environmental Advocates of New York.
One proposal would require manufacturers of electronics to accept the old TVs, computers and hand-held devices that would otherwise wind up in landfills or incinerators. Environmentalists argue these materials should be separated from the wastestream because they contain heavy metals, like lead and mercury, that can be harmful to the environment and humans.
In some cases, old computers and electronics have been shipped to other countries where young workers take apart the materials without any protection from the hazardous materials.
Michael Moran, a spokesman for the New York Business Council, said the group supports this type of recycling, but requiring manufacturers to handle the cost of recycling the waste that would come from commercial, municipal and industrial sources is a burden that would affect consumers. A final version of the bill could involve some kind of tax credit or other incentive for companies, said Democratic Sen. Antoine Thompson, of Buffalo.
New York City passed a law last year requiring electronics manufacturers to accept electronic equipment from any person in the city for recycling or reuse.
A global warming proposal would make New York's emission regulations among the strictest in the nation, and on par with goals of the United Nations recommendations to reduce emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. Greenhouse gases are primarily generated by burning fossil fuels, such as gasoline and coal.
At least eight states have similar standards, but only California and Massachusetts have enacted the same stringent standards this bill would create for New York, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The bill seemed likely to pass. It had support in both parties, and had reached the floor, where only viable bills are presented. It was on the agenda for the Senate Democrats to consider on June 8 — the day two Democrats joined Republicans in an attempt to take power. More than a month later, the Legislative crisis was over, and the environmental proposals were among many that never came to a vote.
Industry officials who oppose the bill are concerned that if New York has tighter, more expensive, regulations, it would be more expensive to do business in the state and companies would go elsewhere. If it happened on a federal level, all states would be held to the same standard and New York would be less vulnerable, said Gavin Donohue, a spokesman for the Independent Power Producers of New York.
"It's purely an antibusiness, anti-ratepayer bill that isn't going to have a significant environmental impact," he said.
"I'm sensitive to that concern, but the fact of the matter is in places like Buffalo, the last week and a half there have been constant ozone warnings, and clean air is not something we should play with," Thompson said.
The third proposal passed the Assembly unanimously in June, and would create a program to save energy by investing in weatherization. At a cost of $112 million to start — and several billion over five years — it would allow homeowners, small businesses and nonprofits to obtain loans and grants to make improvements that would save energy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Supporters argue it would create 14,000 new "green" jobs to produce the products.
Ten Northeastern states, including New York, participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which requires energy producers to buy credits for carbon dioxide emissions. In New York that money hasn't been spent yet, and the question of where it should go has been debated and litigated with no resolution.
The bill to weatherize homes would be paid for with money from the greenhouse initiative. Industry officials oppose that idea, saying the money should be used to contain costs for consumers.
