Hi all...
See this one from the front page of yesterday's (Saturday's) Poughkeepsie Journal?...
"New York Deficits Expected To Grow" by Joseph Spector
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100821/NEWS/8210328/New-York-deficits-expected-to-grow
[it points out that next year's budget deficit is expected to be $13.5 billion-- and 2012 to be $15.6 billion]
But why is E.J. McMahon of "conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy" again quoted?...
...when once again there's no quote from Frank Mauro of FPI or Ron Deutsch of NYFF to balance him?...
[FPI = Fiscal Policy Institute: http://www.FiscalPolicy.org RD/NYFF: http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org ]
[recall-- Pok. Journal did this exact same thing on Aug. 6th in its "Doubt Arise That Long-Awaited Budget Will Remain Balanced" article-- conservative think tank pundit E.J. McMahon was quoted-- but again there was no quote to balance this from Frank Mauro of FPI or Ron Deutsch of NYFF-- why?...see
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100806/NEWS/8060329/Doubt-arise-that-long-awaited-budget-will-remain-balanced ]
[wake up, folks-- this is no coincidence-- and no accident-- and this is not fair reporting...enough!]
[....and yes-- this is one more reason to check out http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com weekly; fwd...]
Why is any of this important?......(email letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com after reading below)...
Because-- obviously the Poughkeepsie Journal is helping to lead the media drumbeat for even MORE budget cuts in next year's state budget-- instead of telling us the truth about NYS taxes since early 70's...
[with no regard to state funding for property tax reform, county services, schools, hospitals, parks, etc.!]
Fact: If NYS merely returned to the tax system we had back in the early 70's under Rockefeller, 95% of New Yorkers would pay less income taxes-- and there would be $8 billion extra annually in revenue.
[see: http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/taxhistory2.htm ]
Fact: Middle-class NYers pay 11% of our income in state & local taxes while millionaires pay only 8%.
[see: http://www.itepnet.org/wp2009/ny_whopays_factsheet.pdf ]
Fact: Millionaires paid a 15 1/2% NYS income tax rate in 70's under Rockefeller; now pay 8.97%. [see: http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/taxhistory2.htm ]
Fact: By 4-to-1 ratio New Yorkers support tiny tax on millionaires. [Hart Research Associates 6/10]
[see: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=state ]
Fact: By a 3-to-1 ratio New Yorkers support re-implementing stock transfer tax on Wall Street.
[see: http://www.petitiononline.com/stocktax -- Global Research Associates 2003]
Fact: Most NYers support tax on Wall Street banks and investment firms based on size of bonuses.
[see: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=state ]
Fact: Reuters reported Aug. 12th that "Wall Street bonuses likely will rise this year."
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/08/12/business/business-us-finance-compensation.html?_r=4&ref=business
Fact: Wall Street (firms on NY Stock Exchange) made $61 billion in profits in '09-- 3x previous record.
[see: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100328/FREE/303289966 ]
Fact: Massive coalition of groups across NYS in support of tiny tax on both millionaires and Wall Street.
[see: http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org -- includes Dutchess Outreach, Sierra Club, NYS AFL-CIO too]
Fact: "American voters say 64-30 percent that reducing unemployment is more important than reducing the federal budget deficit, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month. Even Republicans say 58-38 percent that reducing unemployment is more important." [July 22nd]
[see: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1284.xml?ReleaseID=1479&What=&strArea=;&strTime=0 ]
Fact: 60% of Americans support "additional government spending to create jobs and stimulate the economy." [Gallup June 2010]
[see: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4103 ]
What would happen if everyone who read this email sent in 250 words to the Pok. Journal on this?...
They'd be held accountable for the incredibly conservative bias in their reporting on tax/budget issues...
Ball's in your court, folks...
Send in a 250-word letter to the editor to 'em at letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com!...
[...unless you truly enjoy media bias and property tax hikes and budget cuts-- and layoffs...wake up...]
Pass it on...
[fact is that if enough of us in grass roots raise hell about this they WILL start quoting Frank M., Ron D.!]
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
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From http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/08/16/100816ta_talk_surowiecki ...
Recall this piece from recent New Yorker below-- and this last sentence from sixth paragraph (ZZZlink):
"A Quinnipiac poll found overwhelming support, even among Republicans, for a millionaire tax"(!).
THE FINANCIAL PAGE
SOAK THE VERY, VERY RICH
by James Surowiecki
AUGUST 16, 2010
Between 2002 and 2007 the bottom ninety-nine per cent of incomes grew 1.3 per cent a year in real terms-while the incomes of the top one per cent grew ten per cent a year. That one per cent accounted for two-thirds of all income growth in those years. People in the ninety-fifth to the ninety-ninth percentiles of income have represented a fairly constant share of the national income for twenty-five years now. But in that period the top one per cent has seen its share of national income double; in 2007, it captured twenty-three per cent of the nation's total income. Even within the top one per cent, income is getting more concentrated: the top 0.1 per cent of earners have seen their share of national income triple over the same period. All by themselves, they now earn as much as the bottom hundred and twenty million people. So at the same time that the rich have been pulling away from the middle class, the very rich have been pulling away from the pretty rich, and the very, very rich have been pulling away from the very rich.
The current debate over taxes takes none of this into account. At the moment, we have a system of tax brackets well suited to nineteenth-century New Zealand. Our system sets the top bracket at three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, with a tax rate of thirty-five per cent. (People in the second-highest bracket, starting at a hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars for individuals, pay thirty-three per cent.) This means that someone making two hundred thousand dollars a year and someone making two hundred million dollars a year pay at similar tax rates. LeBron James and LeBron James's dentist: same difference.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
re: PoJo coverage of DCRRA-- not even headline correct...
Hi all...
Interesting article on front page of yesterday's paper updating us re: county's Resource Recovery Agency:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100817/NEWS01/8170327/1006/news01/RRA-report-suggests-ways-to-cut-waste-facility-subsidy
Join us if you can tomorrow (Thurs.) 5 pm for the next DCRRA mtg. (96 Sand Dock Rd. in Poughkeepsie 12601-- just off Kandr Rd. next to IBM plant)-- we need as many of you as possible to come out for a press conference/rally at 4:30 pm right in front of the DCRRA HQ there before their monthly board meeting begins-- and then go in and participate-- during public comment portion of the DCRRA mtg.!...
[note-- please let us know if you can come join us for this; numbers count when it comes to media, folks; also-- re: zero-waste-- join 76 other Dutchess folks signed on: http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ; join 120+ also signed on recently to Facebook group: "Zero Waste Dutchess"-- pass it along to all!]
To yesterday's article's credit, at least it includes (at very end of it) the following two spot-on sentences:
"Agency board member Stephen Lynch, who spoke as a solid-waste planning consultant and not as a board member, said proposing new taxes to cover millions of dollars lost due to mismanagement and inefficiencies is a bad idea. 'Rather, we should focus on reducing the costs that the agency is incurring,' he said, 'costs which have been reported to be nearly double that which other counties incur in providing similar services.'"
[thx, Steve!]
However-- why can't the Poughkeepsie Journal even get the headlines right to its articles these days?...
Fact: The headline for the hard-copy version of article is "Agency Provides Tips To Cut Waste Subsidy."
Fact: The article is not about "tips" from the DCRRA-- but about tips from legislative Working Group(!).
[note as well-- it's pathetic that the Working Group completely ignores cost savings from recycling]
Note-- I'm not against Working Group's recommendation for a new Solid Waste Commissioner asap...
[here's the Working Group report: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/assets/pdf/BK162563816.PDF ;
four GOP appointed: Miccio, Borchert, Hutchings, Surman...(with only one Dem appointed as well!)]
And yes-- at least the Working Group gives lip service in its report to recognizing the work of the Green Ribbon Solid Waste Management Task Force I headed up last year-- but frankly, it's little more than lip service, given how the Working Group all but ignores how much Dutchess County could be saving for local taxpayers with a newly intensified recycling/composting approach to resource recovery-- as opposed to perpetuating more of the status quo (incinerating half the county's garbage-- and sending almost all of the other half to landfills hundreds of miles north of us)...
Moreover-- here are seven more reasons why the Working Group's report is seriously flawed:
1. First-- the Working Group refers to the incinerator as a "state-of-the-art facility" (p. 3)-- and that it was "advanced thinking" (p. 4) that led to construction of the incinerator(!).
2. Second-- the Working Group report refers to DCRRA status quo M.O. of incineration-über alles as an "environmentally friendly waste disposal method" (p. 5).
3. Third-- the Working Group report recommends that a "beneficial use" be found for the for 50,000 tons worth of toxic ash produced annually by the county incinerator in Poughkeepsie (p. 7).
4. Fourth-- the Working Group report recommends expanding the incinerator-- to "add another generator...an option embraced by the Working Group" (p. 6).
5. Fifth-- despite the fact that nonprofits have been punished beyond belief by state and county budget cuts over the last few years, incredibly, the Working Group describes as a "viable option" a recommendation for a "environmental disposal fee that would force non-taxpaying entitites to contribute to the cost of the RRA facility" (p. 6).
6. Sixth-- the Working Group reports they "are satisfied that the issues raised by the NYS Authority Budget Office report are being addressed (p. 8). [right.....of course......click here to see for yourself:
http://www.abo.state.ny.us/annualreports/PARISBudgetReports/FYE2010/Local/DutchessCountyResourceRecoveryAgency2010.pdf ; http://www.abo.state.ny.us/annualreports/PAreports.html ]
7. Finally, seventh-- and perhaps most importantly, the Working Group report devotes almost a paragraph ridiculously and gratuitously defending the "efficiency of the RRA"-- when the Poughkeepsie Journal's Mary Beth Pfeiffer last May 10th (in 2009) conclusively proved with extensive documentation in a front-page article that "the Dutchess County trash-burning plant needs millions from taxpayers to break even each year, costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them."
["DCRRA: Inefficient, Expensive, and In Debt: Obligations, Costs Exceed 13 Other NY, Conn. Plants"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090510&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=905100344&Ref=AR ]
Sadly, the Working Group's defense of DCRRA inefficiency reminds one of same pathetic defense on this issued by DCRRA and GOP officials all last year after Pfeiffer's expose-- we had extensive communications with Pfeiffer last year after ridiculous "apples and oranges" charges were made about her article; she more than convinced us that, in fact, her May 10th comparison WAS apples to apples...
But again-- perhaps worst of all-- the Working Group almost completely ignores these seven crucial facts:
Fact #1: Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse (Richard Anthony Associates).
[see: http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf MD like NYS!]
Fact #2: 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Richard Anthony.
[see: http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/recyclingmeansbusiness.html ]
Fact #3: The cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners in a statement he made in Co. Leg. chambers in 2010.
[see: http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century P. Connett]
Fact #4: Clearwater, NYPIRG, Sierra Club, Environmental Advocates of New York, Citizens Environmental Coalition (and many other organizations listed below) signed on earlier this year to an ambitious (but spot-on) New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010 statement.
[see: http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html (get YOUR group on board coalition now!)]
Fact #5: The city of Springfield, Mass. has saved $75,000 in just the first half of this year alone by expanding recycling to one-third of the city; it expects to save $450,000 a year through greatly expanded recycling.
["Springfield Municipal Recycling Initiative To Expand" WAMC's Paul Tuthill July 23rd]
http://www.facebook.com/l/5e086TnJIxHhsEjo9ZH7biGHeXA;www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1679516/news/Municipal.Recycling.Initative.To.Expand ]
Fact #6: The Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that emissions from our county incinerator of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide have all increased over the last decade-- along with the fact that, on an annual basis, our county incinerator also creates 50,000 tons of toxic ash-- and spews 29 pounds of heavy metals (mercury/arsenic/lead/cadmium), 37 tons of sulfur dioxide, 22 tons of hydrogen chloride/hydrogen fluoride, and 3700 tons of carbon dioxide.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070350/Burn-plants-seem-cleaner-but-facts-debated
Fact #7: The Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that "the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency recycles only 4 percent of Dutchess' 250,000 tons of garbage; little is done to encourage recycling in the county; when waste recycled by private haulers is included, the county recycling rate is only 11 percent, about half the state rate, agency figures show; an estimated 30,000 tons of paper alone go to the trash heap yearly."
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070352/Critics-rip-agency-as-recycling-falters
[also-- re: zero-waste-- join 76 other Dutchess folks signed on: http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ; join 120+ also signed on recently to Facebook group: "Zero Waste Dutchess"-- spread the word]
Email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us; send to letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com too; thx Sandy Goldberg, Barbara Jeter-Jackson, Jim Doxsey co-sponsoring my zero-waste resolution; need more!...
[pass it on]
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
###############################################
[recall post below from last week on this]
Remember this one from the front page of the Poughkeepsie Journal last Oct. 18th?...
It pulled no punches about how the DCRRA was pushing hard for a new property tax to support itself:
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency countered the Democrat-controlled county Legislature with its own report advocating a new property tax to support operations, an expanded burn plant, and most significantly, the adoption of a "flow control" law that would put the agency in charge of all 250,000 tons of waste produced in the county, in addition to the 150,000 tons processed at the burn plant...A task force appointed by the Democrat-controlled county Legislature concluded recently that the agency was mismanaged and said its multi-million-dollar annual subsidy-- and possibly the trash agency itself-- should be eliminated."
[from "No License? No Problem for Trash Haulers" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/10/clean-up-dutchess-limit-donations-from.html ; recall
other great Pfeiffer reports, too-- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/section/special&template=2col ]
Then-- recall this one from the Poughkeepsie Journal front page on March 7th this year?...
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency's track record - environmentally as well as financially - is a key factor as Dutchess considers whether to adopt changes in trash management, including a yearly charge on all homes, businesses and tax-exempt properties, what the agency report calls a "green fee" but Democratic legislators dub a tax, to finance the burn plant's deficit as well as future disposal options such as expanding the facility-- and a law mandating the flow of all waste generated in the county to the agency, guaranteeing a steady supply to burn even if haulers have cheaper alternatives."
[from "Critics Rip DCRRA As Recycling Falters" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070352/Critics-rip-agency-as-recycling-falters ]
My point?...
This-- that DCRRA proposing a new countywide property tax to subsidize its waste-- is nothing new...
Recall-- fact is that "the Dutchess County trash-burning plant needs millions from taxpayers to break even each year, costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them"-- as Pok. Journal pointed out on front page last May.
["DCRRA: Inefficient, Expensive, and In Debt: Obligations, Costs Exceed 13 Other NY, Conn. Plants"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090510&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=905100344&Ref=AR ]
But look at the front page of today's Poughkeepsie Journal...
Why is this article in today's paper hiding the fact that the DCRRA is not proposing anything new?...
[sad-- just like last two days' worth of PoJo articles; again, see http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com ]
Fact: Since last year DCRRA has been pushing for property tax to subsidize its waste-- and flow control.
See for yourself-- here's the article itself from the front page of today's PoJo...
[again-- as in yesterday's article-- no counterpoint at all quoted to prevailing mindset @ DCRRA: why?]
"RRA Proposes New Solid-Waste Plan"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100813/NEWS01/8130340/RRA-proposes-new-solid-waste-plan
"The fact Dutchess County doesn't require residents to bring their trash to the county-run facility is one problem facing the Resource Recovery Agency. A new solid-waste management plan would remedy that. On Thursday, the agency board discussed details of the proposed plan, which included recommendations on user fees and flow control.
The second revenue source would come in the form of a user fee. 'A household would pay less than a restaurant,' Michael Cahill of Germano and Cahill said. 'It would be based no longer (on) the property value but the character of property in terms of how much waste it generates.' The plan estimates user fees ranging from $45.30 per year for a single family home to $3,000 for a large-scale industrial operation."
Not outraged?...you're not payin' attention...
Fact: DCRRA's "new plan" (same thing they've proposed since last year) STILL means that a family that recycles 90% would pay just as much in the DCRRA's property tax as a family living right next door that doesn't recycle at all(!).
Send a 250-word letter to 'em-- at letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com!...
And-- send a letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us-- not to fall for this idiocy!...
Also-- MidHudsonNews.com reported July 31st on a press conference I held about how the vast majority of us in the Democratic caucus in our County Legislature instead support a cost-saving, green-jobs, clean-air, carbon-cutting approach to resource recovery in our county...
[see: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ]
What is the Poughkeepsie Journal's excuse for ignoring this?......they have none.....period].
You may recall that back on May 7th the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that, "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year"...
[today is Aug. 13th, folks-- don't be afraid to call NYSDEC Region 3 offices at 256-3000 and ask 'em!]
Recall-- recently DCRRA Ex. Dir. Bill Calogero confirmed with us that the DCRRA would be late submitting to the DEC its Solid Waste Management Plan-- he told me the DCRRA would be sharing a draft version of the plan by Aug. 13th with our County Legislature, also telling me that "if the Legislature wants to hold a public hearing on the plan they can do that"(!)...
Note- the DCRRA is not anywhere near doing due diligence to get public input on that plan-- DCRRA itself should be holding multiple public hearings on the plan-- not leaving it up to Co. Leg. to decide if there will be public hearings!...
[reminds me of July 15th DCRRA board mtg. I attended-- I sat quietly for literally hours listening, watching de-facto consensus of entire RRA board focused on nothing but filling gaping maw of wasteful incinerator...(and when mtg. was opened for public comment I was cut off after a sentence and a half)]
And again-- send letters now for zero-waste approach-- to countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us!...
[see: http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/03/zero-waste-update-facts-here-on.html
http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf
http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070350/Burn-plants-seem-cleaner-but-facts-debated
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/todays-times-two-letters-for-zero-waste.html
http://www.cool2012.com/community/collection/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/04/01/hamilton_wenham_blaze_green_trail_with_municipal_composting_program/
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/paul-connett-vassar-for-earth-day-dont.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-zero-hero-initiative-for-kids-of.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100512/NEWS01/5120330
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/04/28/news/doc4bd7bcd192621739013476.txt
http://www.StopTrashingtheClimate.org ]
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From http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ...
Some Dutchess lawmakers wants to move solid waste management plan forward
POUGHKEEPSIE - Four Dutchess County legislators Friday proposed that the county's new solid waste management plan concentrate more heavily on recycling.
Right now, only about 10 percent of the local waste stream is being recycled-- with about 50 percent going to the county incinerator operated by the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, and 40 percent sent to landfills upstate.
County Legislator Joel Tyner, a member of the Environmental Committee and a former chairman, said recycling would be better for air quality.
"If you look at the emissions of the county incinerator in Poughkeepsie over the last decade, particulate matter emissions have greatly increased, volatile organic compound emissions have greatly increased, nitrogen oxide emissions have greatly increased and the cost to Dutchess County taxpayers to subsidize that incinerator has greatly increased," he said. "We're burning and burying about $15 million in materials and resources that we could be selling."
A resolution urging more recycling is being proposed by Tyner and fellow legislators Sandra Goldberg, James Doxsey and Barbara Jeter-Jackson.
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From http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html ...
New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010
The N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has prepared a new State Solid Waste Plan that finally recognizes that materials in our waste stream are valuable and need to be preserved. We strongly endorse its preference for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting over disposal. The less waste we dispose of the more environmental, economic and social benefits that we will enjoy.
Unfortunately millions of tons of garbage are still being wasted by being sent for disposal in landfills or incinerators. The DEC estimates New York's recycling rate to be only 20%, far short of the 50% reduction and recycling goal to be met by 1997 under the State Solid Waste Management Act of 1988. A large portion of waste headed for disposal is recyclable (50%) or compostable (30%) material that could be processed by other means into new products.
To achieve the Plan goals we must stop trashing our resources through disposal!
* Incinerators emit toxic air emissions and produce toxic incinerator ash that needs landfilling. They also emit more CO2 than coal burning plants per MWh. Incinerators must have burnable materials and therefore compete with recycling.
* Recycling saves 4-5 times the energy an incinerator recovers.1 Incineration is not renewable energy.
To address climate change we must address waste in our society!
* For every trash bag we put at the curb, 70 bags of trash were generated by industry to make the products we buy. The production of products and packaging is associated with 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions.2
* Biodegradable materials in landfills emit methane, a gas that has 72 times the global warming potential of CO2, over 20 years.3 Landfill gas collection systems capture only about 20% of landfill gas.4
* The best strategy is to divert biodegradable organic material away from landfills and incinerators to composting. Compost provides nutrients for healthy soils and plants.
Burning and burying garbage wastes money, energy, and natural resources; it contributes to climate change and places an unfair pollution and health burden on nearby communities. Diversion saves energy and resources, and creates many more jobs in collection, processing, reuse of goods and remanufacturing of materials.
Maximizing waste reduction and diversion will dramatically decrease waste sent for disposal over time by 70%, 80%, 90% and more, enabling New York to achieve the significant benefits of a more sustainable system.
The ultimate goal should be Zero Waste being sent to Disposal or very close to it.
We call on the Governor, the NYS DEC and State Legislators to support a new sustainable direction for reducing waste, recovering resources and growing jobs as well as obtaining other benefits for New Yorkers by doing the following:
* Establish a moratorium on all new waste incinerators or combustors and expansions. This would include newer thermal technologies that are as yet unproven commercially in the US such as gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc.
* Ban waste haulers and municipalities from sending recyclable materials for disposal, and instead require recyclables to be source separated and transported to recycling processing facilities.
* Halt all increases in capacity at the state's largest landfills.
* Require all local solid waste planning units and haulers sending garbage for disposal to demonstrate the presence of adequate programs of waste reduction, recycling and composting in the service area.
* Rapidly implement organics collection programs and develop the needed composting and anaerobic digestion infrastructure. Ban yard trimmings from disposal now and enforce. Establish a statewide ban on the disposal of food scraps by 2013.
* Require all communities to adopt incentive/disincentive programs, such as Pay-As-You-Throw, which are proven to increase diversion rates.
* Adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation (also known as product stewardship) to engage manufacturers and importers in the design of products and packaging to reduce waste and toxicity and remove the burden from government and taxpayers. Producers of products and packaging must be part of the solution. 10-15% of the waste stream should be reduced through EPR measures.
* Regulate solid waste generated by all sectors - residential, commercial, institutional and industrial. Bring waste haulers and transporters under the jurisdiction of the DEC through licensing, requiring reporting of all waste and recyclable collections and disposal, and providing for oversight and compliance.
* Require local solid waste planning units to prepare plans that increase waste reduction and diversion and decrease disposal. State and local plans must decrease disposal by 50% by 2015, and 85% by 2020 for all waste streams . The implementation plans must be enforceable by DEC.
* Ensure accurate measurements of diversion and waste quantities in order to measure progress toward goals. Plan to reassess goals and progress and adjust programs under a revised 2020 statewide plan.
* Ensure that Zero Waste Programs and their greenhouse gas benefits become a substantial part of the new state Climate Action Plan and its implementation.
* Establish a secure funding stream to fund more sustainable solid waste programs over the long term and achieve job benefits and needed greenhouse gas emission reductions. Licensing fees, facility permit fees and surcharges on disposal should all be used to provide dedicated funding. A surcharge of at least $20 per ton of MSW generated could provide $5 per ton to the state for solid waste activities and $15 to local planning units to support needed recycling and composting facilities as well as educational programs.
To support this platform or for more information, contact: Barbara Warren, NY Zero Waste Alliance, project of Citizens Environmental Coalition, warrenba@msn.com or 845-754-7951/ 518-462-5527.
Organizational Supporters
Listed Below
New York Statewide Organizations
Atlantic States Legal Foundation
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Clean New York
Clearwater
Environmental Advocates of New York
New York Public Interest Research Group
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Local and Regional Organizations
Capital District Branch of the New York Apollo Alliance
Concerned Citizens of Seneca County, Inc.
Concerned Citizens of Cattauragus County
Finger Lakes Citizen's for the Environment
Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition, Inc.
Freshwater Future
Greenwich Citizens Committee, Inc.
Jamesville Positive Action Committee
NYC Apollo Alliance
People's Environmental Network of NY
Residents For the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung (RFPLC, Inc)
Save the Pine Bush
Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena Against Pollution (SCRAP)
Sure We Can
Sustainable South Bronx
The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Village Independent Democrats
National
American Environmental Health Studies Project
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
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1 EPA's WARM Model.
2 A recent EPA report found that non-food products are associated with 37 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Joshuah Stolaroff, PhD worked on the EPA report and subsequently extended the analysis to include products produced abroad and consumed in the US. This white paper states total GHG emissions of products and packaging is 44%. Both reports can be accessed at www.productpolicy.org
3 IPCC, 4th Assessment Report.
4 Ibid., Working Group III, Mitigation, 10.4.2.
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[again-- send letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny to get this passed in Sept.!]
WHEREAS, Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse, according to Richard Anthony Associates, and 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and
WHEREAS, the cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 7th that "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year," and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 10th last year that the Dutchess County incinerator "costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them," and
WHEREAS, although the Dutchess County Incinerator produces power from burning trash, the income does not come close to covering costs, and neither do the tipping fees that are among the highest in the region; in recent years, Dutchess County taxpayers have seen the county's subsidy to the Resource Recovery Agency go from $2 million to $6.3 million, with more increases expected, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that emissions from our county incinerator of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide have all increased over the last decade-- along with the fact that, on an annual basis, our county incinerator also creates 50,000 tons of toxic ash-- and spews 29 pounds of heavy metals (mercury/arsenic/lead/cadmium), 37 tons of sulfur dioxide, 22 tons of hydrogen chloride/hydrogen fluoride, and 3700 tons of carbon dioxide
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that "the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency recycles only 4 percent of Dutchess' 250,000 tons of garbage; little is done to encourage recycling in the county; when waste recycled by private haulers is included, the county recycling rate is only 11 percent, about half the state rate, agency figures show; an estimated 30,000 tons of paper alone go to the trash heap yearly," and
WHEREAS, the Daily Freeman reported April 28th that "Ulster County residents recycled more than 64,000 tons of materials in 2009, nearly doubling the amount diverted from the waste stream in 2005; the increase in recycling, combined with a dropoff in the amount of nonrecyclable garbage produced in the past two years, has pushed the county closer to the state goal of recycling 42 percent of the waste stream," and
WHEREAS, communities across the country like Austin, Portland, Seattle, Oakland, and many more have proven that a zero-waste approach to resource recovery can save tax dollars, create more jobs, clean up air quality, with lower carbon emissions, compared to incineration or landfilling, and
WHEREAS, the United States has lost half the carbon in its soils and half of what is buried in landfills is organics (yard trimmings, food scraps and food soiled paper); landfills are the single largest source of human-created methane gas and contribute significantly to climate change; we need to get organics out of landfills and back to the soil, and
WHEREAS, Royal Carting is starting a food-waste curbside collection demonstration project with 177 homes in Beacon; the towns of Hamilton and Wenham in Massachusetts started curbside collection of food waste this year and are saving tax dollars; here in Dutchess County Vassar and Marist colleges compost their food waste, along with many restaurants in Tompkins County, and the communities of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Cambridge, Wegman's Supermarket and Wal-Mart in Onondaga County, NY, Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District, San Francisco, CA, Morgan Hill, CA, Dublin, CA, Alameda County, CA, Pleasanton, CA, Hutchinson, MN, Hennepin County, MN, San Leandro, CA, Union City, CA, Swift County, MN, King County, WA, Bowdoinham, ME, San Jose, CA, Newark, CA, Orange County, NC, Berkeley, CA, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, MN, Livermore, CA, Mackinaw Island, MI, and
WHEREAS, it has repeatedly been proven across the country in these communities that food-waste curbside collection is a win-win for homeowners, businesses, and waste haulers; all end up saving money as tipping fees at compost facilities are lower than tipping fees at incinerators or landfills, and if food waste is collected regularly, trash doesn't have to be collected so often, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to incorporate the following in its Solid Waste Management Plan for Dutchess County submitted to the NYSDEC: to set a recycling goal for Dutchess County of 70% by 2015 and 90% by 2020, and to work with the Dutchess County Association of Supervisors and Mayors, Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency to site an eco-industrial resource recovery park and food-waste composting facilities to process source-separated organic materials, and to ensure recycling containers are placed wherever there are trash containers, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that licensed waste haulers in Dutchess County collect food waste with lower rates for clean, source-separated materials, and reuse, recycle or compost at least 50% of all materials and bulky items collected by them in Dutchess County, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to phase out as quickly as possible incineration or landfilling of easily recyclable materials; no compostable organics should be burned at the Dutchess County Incinerator or sent to landfills, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to make sure that all Dutchess County all residents, businesses and institutions source-separate reusables, recyclables and compostables (including discarded food, and food contaminated paper), and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Director of Central Services to purchase only products with reusability, recyclability and compostability, and requests thatthe Dutchess County Department of Public Works specify in all of its contracts for major construction (e.g., roads, parks, public buildings) the use of reused, recycled and compost products; all packaging for products sold in stores in Dutchess County should be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2020, and be if further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive, Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner, Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, Dutchess County Director of Central Services, Dutchess County Department of Public Works, and all other county departments.
Interesting article on front page of yesterday's paper updating us re: county's Resource Recovery Agency:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100817/NEWS01/8170327/1006/news01/RRA-report-suggests-ways-to-cut-waste-facility-subsidy
Join us if you can tomorrow (Thurs.) 5 pm for the next DCRRA mtg. (96 Sand Dock Rd. in Poughkeepsie 12601-- just off Kandr Rd. next to IBM plant)-- we need as many of you as possible to come out for a press conference/rally at 4:30 pm right in front of the DCRRA HQ there before their monthly board meeting begins-- and then go in and participate-- during public comment portion of the DCRRA mtg.!...
[note-- please let us know if you can come join us for this; numbers count when it comes to media, folks; also-- re: zero-waste-- join 76 other Dutchess folks signed on: http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ; join 120+ also signed on recently to Facebook group: "Zero Waste Dutchess"-- pass it along to all!]
To yesterday's article's credit, at least it includes (at very end of it) the following two spot-on sentences:
"Agency board member Stephen Lynch, who spoke as a solid-waste planning consultant and not as a board member, said proposing new taxes to cover millions of dollars lost due to mismanagement and inefficiencies is a bad idea. 'Rather, we should focus on reducing the costs that the agency is incurring,' he said, 'costs which have been reported to be nearly double that which other counties incur in providing similar services.'"
[thx, Steve!]
However-- why can't the Poughkeepsie Journal even get the headlines right to its articles these days?...
Fact: The headline for the hard-copy version of article is "Agency Provides Tips To Cut Waste Subsidy."
Fact: The article is not about "tips" from the DCRRA-- but about tips from legislative Working Group(!).
[note as well-- it's pathetic that the Working Group completely ignores cost savings from recycling]
Note-- I'm not against Working Group's recommendation for a new Solid Waste Commissioner asap...
[here's the Working Group report: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/assets/pdf/BK162563816.PDF ;
four GOP appointed: Miccio, Borchert, Hutchings, Surman...(with only one Dem appointed as well!)]
And yes-- at least the Working Group gives lip service in its report to recognizing the work of the Green Ribbon Solid Waste Management Task Force I headed up last year-- but frankly, it's little more than lip service, given how the Working Group all but ignores how much Dutchess County could be saving for local taxpayers with a newly intensified recycling/composting approach to resource recovery-- as opposed to perpetuating more of the status quo (incinerating half the county's garbage-- and sending almost all of the other half to landfills hundreds of miles north of us)...
Moreover-- here are seven more reasons why the Working Group's report is seriously flawed:
1. First-- the Working Group refers to the incinerator as a "state-of-the-art facility" (p. 3)-- and that it was "advanced thinking" (p. 4) that led to construction of the incinerator(!).
2. Second-- the Working Group report refers to DCRRA status quo M.O. of incineration-über alles as an "environmentally friendly waste disposal method" (p. 5).
3. Third-- the Working Group report recommends that a "beneficial use" be found for the for 50,000 tons worth of toxic ash produced annually by the county incinerator in Poughkeepsie (p. 7).
4. Fourth-- the Working Group report recommends expanding the incinerator-- to "add another generator...an option embraced by the Working Group" (p. 6).
5. Fifth-- despite the fact that nonprofits have been punished beyond belief by state and county budget cuts over the last few years, incredibly, the Working Group describes as a "viable option" a recommendation for a "environmental disposal fee that would force non-taxpaying entitites to contribute to the cost of the RRA facility" (p. 6).
6. Sixth-- the Working Group reports they "are satisfied that the issues raised by the NYS Authority Budget Office report are being addressed (p. 8). [right.....of course......click here to see for yourself:
http://www.abo.state.ny.us/annualreports/PARISBudgetReports/FYE2010/Local/DutchessCountyResourceRecoveryAgency2010.pdf ; http://www.abo.state.ny.us/annualreports/PAreports.html ]
7. Finally, seventh-- and perhaps most importantly, the Working Group report devotes almost a paragraph ridiculously and gratuitously defending the "efficiency of the RRA"-- when the Poughkeepsie Journal's Mary Beth Pfeiffer last May 10th (in 2009) conclusively proved with extensive documentation in a front-page article that "the Dutchess County trash-burning plant needs millions from taxpayers to break even each year, costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them."
["DCRRA: Inefficient, Expensive, and In Debt: Obligations, Costs Exceed 13 Other NY, Conn. Plants"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090510&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=905100344&Ref=AR ]
Sadly, the Working Group's defense of DCRRA inefficiency reminds one of same pathetic defense on this issued by DCRRA and GOP officials all last year after Pfeiffer's expose-- we had extensive communications with Pfeiffer last year after ridiculous "apples and oranges" charges were made about her article; she more than convinced us that, in fact, her May 10th comparison WAS apples to apples...
But again-- perhaps worst of all-- the Working Group almost completely ignores these seven crucial facts:
Fact #1: Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse (Richard Anthony Associates).
[see: http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf MD like NYS!]
Fact #2: 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Richard Anthony.
[see: http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/recyclingmeansbusiness.html ]
Fact #3: The cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners in a statement he made in Co. Leg. chambers in 2010.
[see: http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century P. Connett]
Fact #4: Clearwater, NYPIRG, Sierra Club, Environmental Advocates of New York, Citizens Environmental Coalition (and many other organizations listed below) signed on earlier this year to an ambitious (but spot-on) New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010 statement.
[see: http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html (get YOUR group on board coalition now!)]
Fact #5: The city of Springfield, Mass. has saved $75,000 in just the first half of this year alone by expanding recycling to one-third of the city; it expects to save $450,000 a year through greatly expanded recycling.
["Springfield Municipal Recycling Initiative To Expand" WAMC's Paul Tuthill July 23rd]
http://www.facebook.com/l/5e086TnJIxHhsEjo9ZH7biGHeXA;www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1679516/news/Municipal.Recycling.Initative.To.Expand ]
Fact #6: The Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that emissions from our county incinerator of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide have all increased over the last decade-- along with the fact that, on an annual basis, our county incinerator also creates 50,000 tons of toxic ash-- and spews 29 pounds of heavy metals (mercury/arsenic/lead/cadmium), 37 tons of sulfur dioxide, 22 tons of hydrogen chloride/hydrogen fluoride, and 3700 tons of carbon dioxide.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070350/Burn-plants-seem-cleaner-but-facts-debated
Fact #7: The Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that "the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency recycles only 4 percent of Dutchess' 250,000 tons of garbage; little is done to encourage recycling in the county; when waste recycled by private haulers is included, the county recycling rate is only 11 percent, about half the state rate, agency figures show; an estimated 30,000 tons of paper alone go to the trash heap yearly."
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070352/Critics-rip-agency-as-recycling-falters
[also-- re: zero-waste-- join 76 other Dutchess folks signed on: http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ; join 120+ also signed on recently to Facebook group: "Zero Waste Dutchess"-- spread the word]
Email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us; send to letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com too; thx Sandy Goldberg, Barbara Jeter-Jackson, Jim Doxsey co-sponsoring my zero-waste resolution; need more!...
[pass it on]
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
###############################################
[recall post below from last week on this]
Remember this one from the front page of the Poughkeepsie Journal last Oct. 18th?...
It pulled no punches about how the DCRRA was pushing hard for a new property tax to support itself:
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency countered the Democrat-controlled county Legislature with its own report advocating a new property tax to support operations, an expanded burn plant, and most significantly, the adoption of a "flow control" law that would put the agency in charge of all 250,000 tons of waste produced in the county, in addition to the 150,000 tons processed at the burn plant...A task force appointed by the Democrat-controlled county Legislature concluded recently that the agency was mismanaged and said its multi-million-dollar annual subsidy-- and possibly the trash agency itself-- should be eliminated."
[from "No License? No Problem for Trash Haulers" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/10/clean-up-dutchess-limit-donations-from.html ; recall
other great Pfeiffer reports, too-- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/section/special&template=2col ]
Then-- recall this one from the Poughkeepsie Journal front page on March 7th this year?...
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency's track record - environmentally as well as financially - is a key factor as Dutchess considers whether to adopt changes in trash management, including a yearly charge on all homes, businesses and tax-exempt properties, what the agency report calls a "green fee" but Democratic legislators dub a tax, to finance the burn plant's deficit as well as future disposal options such as expanding the facility-- and a law mandating the flow of all waste generated in the county to the agency, guaranteeing a steady supply to burn even if haulers have cheaper alternatives."
[from "Critics Rip DCRRA As Recycling Falters" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070352/Critics-rip-agency-as-recycling-falters ]
My point?...
This-- that DCRRA proposing a new countywide property tax to subsidize its waste-- is nothing new...
Recall-- fact is that "the Dutchess County trash-burning plant needs millions from taxpayers to break even each year, costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them"-- as Pok. Journal pointed out on front page last May.
["DCRRA: Inefficient, Expensive, and In Debt: Obligations, Costs Exceed 13 Other NY, Conn. Plants"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090510&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=905100344&Ref=AR ]
But look at the front page of today's Poughkeepsie Journal...
Why is this article in today's paper hiding the fact that the DCRRA is not proposing anything new?...
[sad-- just like last two days' worth of PoJo articles; again, see http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com ]
Fact: Since last year DCRRA has been pushing for property tax to subsidize its waste-- and flow control.
See for yourself-- here's the article itself from the front page of today's PoJo...
[again-- as in yesterday's article-- no counterpoint at all quoted to prevailing mindset @ DCRRA: why?]
"RRA Proposes New Solid-Waste Plan"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100813/NEWS01/8130340/RRA-proposes-new-solid-waste-plan
"The fact Dutchess County doesn't require residents to bring their trash to the county-run facility is one problem facing the Resource Recovery Agency. A new solid-waste management plan would remedy that. On Thursday, the agency board discussed details of the proposed plan, which included recommendations on user fees and flow control.
The second revenue source would come in the form of a user fee. 'A household would pay less than a restaurant,' Michael Cahill of Germano and Cahill said. 'It would be based no longer (on) the property value but the character of property in terms of how much waste it generates.' The plan estimates user fees ranging from $45.30 per year for a single family home to $3,000 for a large-scale industrial operation."
Not outraged?...you're not payin' attention...
Fact: DCRRA's "new plan" (same thing they've proposed since last year) STILL means that a family that recycles 90% would pay just as much in the DCRRA's property tax as a family living right next door that doesn't recycle at all(!).
Send a 250-word letter to 'em-- at letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com!...
And-- send a letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us-- not to fall for this idiocy!...
Also-- MidHudsonNews.com reported July 31st on a press conference I held about how the vast majority of us in the Democratic caucus in our County Legislature instead support a cost-saving, green-jobs, clean-air, carbon-cutting approach to resource recovery in our county...
[see: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ]
What is the Poughkeepsie Journal's excuse for ignoring this?......they have none.....period].
You may recall that back on May 7th the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that, "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year"...
[today is Aug. 13th, folks-- don't be afraid to call NYSDEC Region 3 offices at 256-3000 and ask 'em!]
Recall-- recently DCRRA Ex. Dir. Bill Calogero confirmed with us that the DCRRA would be late submitting to the DEC its Solid Waste Management Plan-- he told me the DCRRA would be sharing a draft version of the plan by Aug. 13th with our County Legislature, also telling me that "if the Legislature wants to hold a public hearing on the plan they can do that"(!)...
Note- the DCRRA is not anywhere near doing due diligence to get public input on that plan-- DCRRA itself should be holding multiple public hearings on the plan-- not leaving it up to Co. Leg. to decide if there will be public hearings!...
[reminds me of July 15th DCRRA board mtg. I attended-- I sat quietly for literally hours listening, watching de-facto consensus of entire RRA board focused on nothing but filling gaping maw of wasteful incinerator...(and when mtg. was opened for public comment I was cut off after a sentence and a half)]
And again-- send letters now for zero-waste approach-- to countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us!...
[see: http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/03/zero-waste-update-facts-here-on.html
http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf
http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070350/Burn-plants-seem-cleaner-but-facts-debated
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/todays-times-two-letters-for-zero-waste.html
http://www.cool2012.com/community/collection/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/04/01/hamilton_wenham_blaze_green_trail_with_municipal_composting_program/
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/paul-connett-vassar-for-earth-day-dont.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-zero-hero-initiative-for-kids-of.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100512/NEWS01/5120330
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/04/28/news/doc4bd7bcd192621739013476.txt
http://www.StopTrashingtheClimate.org ]
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From http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ...
Some Dutchess lawmakers wants to move solid waste management plan forward
POUGHKEEPSIE - Four Dutchess County legislators Friday proposed that the county's new solid waste management plan concentrate more heavily on recycling.
Right now, only about 10 percent of the local waste stream is being recycled-- with about 50 percent going to the county incinerator operated by the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, and 40 percent sent to landfills upstate.
County Legislator Joel Tyner, a member of the Environmental Committee and a former chairman, said recycling would be better for air quality.
"If you look at the emissions of the county incinerator in Poughkeepsie over the last decade, particulate matter emissions have greatly increased, volatile organic compound emissions have greatly increased, nitrogen oxide emissions have greatly increased and the cost to Dutchess County taxpayers to subsidize that incinerator has greatly increased," he said. "We're burning and burying about $15 million in materials and resources that we could be selling."
A resolution urging more recycling is being proposed by Tyner and fellow legislators Sandra Goldberg, James Doxsey and Barbara Jeter-Jackson.
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From http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html ...
New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010
The N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has prepared a new State Solid Waste Plan that finally recognizes that materials in our waste stream are valuable and need to be preserved. We strongly endorse its preference for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting over disposal. The less waste we dispose of the more environmental, economic and social benefits that we will enjoy.
Unfortunately millions of tons of garbage are still being wasted by being sent for disposal in landfills or incinerators. The DEC estimates New York's recycling rate to be only 20%, far short of the 50% reduction and recycling goal to be met by 1997 under the State Solid Waste Management Act of 1988. A large portion of waste headed for disposal is recyclable (50%) or compostable (30%) material that could be processed by other means into new products.
To achieve the Plan goals we must stop trashing our resources through disposal!
* Incinerators emit toxic air emissions and produce toxic incinerator ash that needs landfilling. They also emit more CO2 than coal burning plants per MWh. Incinerators must have burnable materials and therefore compete with recycling.
* Recycling saves 4-5 times the energy an incinerator recovers.1 Incineration is not renewable energy.
To address climate change we must address waste in our society!
* For every trash bag we put at the curb, 70 bags of trash were generated by industry to make the products we buy. The production of products and packaging is associated with 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions.2
* Biodegradable materials in landfills emit methane, a gas that has 72 times the global warming potential of CO2, over 20 years.3 Landfill gas collection systems capture only about 20% of landfill gas.4
* The best strategy is to divert biodegradable organic material away from landfills and incinerators to composting. Compost provides nutrients for healthy soils and plants.
Burning and burying garbage wastes money, energy, and natural resources; it contributes to climate change and places an unfair pollution and health burden on nearby communities. Diversion saves energy and resources, and creates many more jobs in collection, processing, reuse of goods and remanufacturing of materials.
Maximizing waste reduction and diversion will dramatically decrease waste sent for disposal over time by 70%, 80%, 90% and more, enabling New York to achieve the significant benefits of a more sustainable system.
The ultimate goal should be Zero Waste being sent to Disposal or very close to it.
We call on the Governor, the NYS DEC and State Legislators to support a new sustainable direction for reducing waste, recovering resources and growing jobs as well as obtaining other benefits for New Yorkers by doing the following:
* Establish a moratorium on all new waste incinerators or combustors and expansions. This would include newer thermal technologies that are as yet unproven commercially in the US such as gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc.
* Ban waste haulers and municipalities from sending recyclable materials for disposal, and instead require recyclables to be source separated and transported to recycling processing facilities.
* Halt all increases in capacity at the state's largest landfills.
* Require all local solid waste planning units and haulers sending garbage for disposal to demonstrate the presence of adequate programs of waste reduction, recycling and composting in the service area.
* Rapidly implement organics collection programs and develop the needed composting and anaerobic digestion infrastructure. Ban yard trimmings from disposal now and enforce. Establish a statewide ban on the disposal of food scraps by 2013.
* Require all communities to adopt incentive/disincentive programs, such as Pay-As-You-Throw, which are proven to increase diversion rates.
* Adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation (also known as product stewardship) to engage manufacturers and importers in the design of products and packaging to reduce waste and toxicity and remove the burden from government and taxpayers. Producers of products and packaging must be part of the solution. 10-15% of the waste stream should be reduced through EPR measures.
* Regulate solid waste generated by all sectors - residential, commercial, institutional and industrial. Bring waste haulers and transporters under the jurisdiction of the DEC through licensing, requiring reporting of all waste and recyclable collections and disposal, and providing for oversight and compliance.
* Require local solid waste planning units to prepare plans that increase waste reduction and diversion and decrease disposal. State and local plans must decrease disposal by 50% by 2015, and 85% by 2020 for all waste streams . The implementation plans must be enforceable by DEC.
* Ensure accurate measurements of diversion and waste quantities in order to measure progress toward goals. Plan to reassess goals and progress and adjust programs under a revised 2020 statewide plan.
* Ensure that Zero Waste Programs and their greenhouse gas benefits become a substantial part of the new state Climate Action Plan and its implementation.
* Establish a secure funding stream to fund more sustainable solid waste programs over the long term and achieve job benefits and needed greenhouse gas emission reductions. Licensing fees, facility permit fees and surcharges on disposal should all be used to provide dedicated funding. A surcharge of at least $20 per ton of MSW generated could provide $5 per ton to the state for solid waste activities and $15 to local planning units to support needed recycling and composting facilities as well as educational programs.
To support this platform or for more information, contact: Barbara Warren, NY Zero Waste Alliance, project of Citizens Environmental Coalition, warrenba@msn.com or 845-754-7951/ 518-462-5527.
Organizational Supporters
Listed Below
New York Statewide Organizations
Atlantic States Legal Foundation
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Clean New York
Clearwater
Environmental Advocates of New York
New York Public Interest Research Group
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Local and Regional Organizations
Capital District Branch of the New York Apollo Alliance
Concerned Citizens of Seneca County, Inc.
Concerned Citizens of Cattauragus County
Finger Lakes Citizen's for the Environment
Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition, Inc.
Freshwater Future
Greenwich Citizens Committee, Inc.
Jamesville Positive Action Committee
NYC Apollo Alliance
People's Environmental Network of NY
Residents For the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung (RFPLC, Inc)
Save the Pine Bush
Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena Against Pollution (SCRAP)
Sure We Can
Sustainable South Bronx
The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Village Independent Democrats
National
American Environmental Health Studies Project
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
____________________________________________________________
1 EPA's WARM Model.
2 A recent EPA report found that non-food products are associated with 37 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Joshuah Stolaroff, PhD worked on the EPA report and subsequently extended the analysis to include products produced abroad and consumed in the US. This white paper states total GHG emissions of products and packaging is 44%. Both reports can be accessed at www.productpolicy.org
3 IPCC, 4th Assessment Report.
4 Ibid., Working Group III, Mitigation, 10.4.2.
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[again-- send letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny to get this passed in Sept.!]
WHEREAS, Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse, according to Richard Anthony Associates, and 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and
WHEREAS, the cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 7th that "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year," and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 10th last year that the Dutchess County incinerator "costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them," and
WHEREAS, although the Dutchess County Incinerator produces power from burning trash, the income does not come close to covering costs, and neither do the tipping fees that are among the highest in the region; in recent years, Dutchess County taxpayers have seen the county's subsidy to the Resource Recovery Agency go from $2 million to $6.3 million, with more increases expected, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that emissions from our county incinerator of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide have all increased over the last decade-- along with the fact that, on an annual basis, our county incinerator also creates 50,000 tons of toxic ash-- and spews 29 pounds of heavy metals (mercury/arsenic/lead/cadmium), 37 tons of sulfur dioxide, 22 tons of hydrogen chloride/hydrogen fluoride, and 3700 tons of carbon dioxide
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that "the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency recycles only 4 percent of Dutchess' 250,000 tons of garbage; little is done to encourage recycling in the county; when waste recycled by private haulers is included, the county recycling rate is only 11 percent, about half the state rate, agency figures show; an estimated 30,000 tons of paper alone go to the trash heap yearly," and
WHEREAS, the Daily Freeman reported April 28th that "Ulster County residents recycled more than 64,000 tons of materials in 2009, nearly doubling the amount diverted from the waste stream in 2005; the increase in recycling, combined with a dropoff in the amount of nonrecyclable garbage produced in the past two years, has pushed the county closer to the state goal of recycling 42 percent of the waste stream," and
WHEREAS, communities across the country like Austin, Portland, Seattle, Oakland, and many more have proven that a zero-waste approach to resource recovery can save tax dollars, create more jobs, clean up air quality, with lower carbon emissions, compared to incineration or landfilling, and
WHEREAS, the United States has lost half the carbon in its soils and half of what is buried in landfills is organics (yard trimmings, food scraps and food soiled paper); landfills are the single largest source of human-created methane gas and contribute significantly to climate change; we need to get organics out of landfills and back to the soil, and
WHEREAS, Royal Carting is starting a food-waste curbside collection demonstration project with 177 homes in Beacon; the towns of Hamilton and Wenham in Massachusetts started curbside collection of food waste this year and are saving tax dollars; here in Dutchess County Vassar and Marist colleges compost their food waste, along with many restaurants in Tompkins County, and the communities of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Cambridge, Wegman's Supermarket and Wal-Mart in Onondaga County, NY, Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District, San Francisco, CA, Morgan Hill, CA, Dublin, CA, Alameda County, CA, Pleasanton, CA, Hutchinson, MN, Hennepin County, MN, San Leandro, CA, Union City, CA, Swift County, MN, King County, WA, Bowdoinham, ME, San Jose, CA, Newark, CA, Orange County, NC, Berkeley, CA, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, MN, Livermore, CA, Mackinaw Island, MI, and
WHEREAS, it has repeatedly been proven across the country in these communities that food-waste curbside collection is a win-win for homeowners, businesses, and waste haulers; all end up saving money as tipping fees at compost facilities are lower than tipping fees at incinerators or landfills, and if food waste is collected regularly, trash doesn't have to be collected so often, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to incorporate the following in its Solid Waste Management Plan for Dutchess County submitted to the NYSDEC: to set a recycling goal for Dutchess County of 70% by 2015 and 90% by 2020, and to work with the Dutchess County Association of Supervisors and Mayors, Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency to site an eco-industrial resource recovery park and food-waste composting facilities to process source-separated organic materials, and to ensure recycling containers are placed wherever there are trash containers, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that licensed waste haulers in Dutchess County collect food waste with lower rates for clean, source-separated materials, and reuse, recycle or compost at least 50% of all materials and bulky items collected by them in Dutchess County, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to phase out as quickly as possible incineration or landfilling of easily recyclable materials; no compostable organics should be burned at the Dutchess County Incinerator or sent to landfills, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to make sure that all Dutchess County all residents, businesses and institutions source-separate reusables, recyclables and compostables (including discarded food, and food contaminated paper), and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Director of Central Services to purchase only products with reusability, recyclability and compostability, and requests thatthe Dutchess County Department of Public Works specify in all of its contracts for major construction (e.g., roads, parks, public buildings) the use of reused, recycled and compost products; all packaging for products sold in stores in Dutchess County should be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2020, and be if further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive, Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner, Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, Dutchess County Director of Central Services, Dutchess County Department of Public Works, and all other county departments.
Friday, August 13, 2010
fact: DCRRA property tax does not incentivize recycling-- and is not new (more PoJo bias)...
Hi all...
Remember this one from the front page of the Poughkeepsie Journal last Oct. 18th?...
It pulled no punches about how the DCRRA was pushing hard for a new property tax to support itself:
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency countered the Democrat-controlled county Legislature with its own report advocating a new property tax to support operations, an expanded burn plant, and most significantly, the adoption of a "flow control" law that would put the agency in charge of all 250,000 tons of waste produced in the county, in addition to the 150,000 tons processed at the burn plant...A task force appointed by the Democrat-controlled county Legislature concluded recently that the agency was mismanaged and said its multi-million-dollar annual subsidy-- and possibly the trash agency itself-- should be eliminated."
[from "No License? No Problem for Trash Haulers" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/10/clean-up-dutchess-limit-donations-from.html ; recall
other great Pfeiffer reports, too-- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/section/special&template=2col ]
Then-- recall this one from the Poughkeepsie Journal front page on March 7th this year?...
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency's track record - environmentally as well as financially - is a key factor as Dutchess considers whether to adopt changes in trash management, including a yearly charge on all homes, businesses and tax-exempt properties, what the agency report calls a "green fee" but Democratic legislators dub a tax, to finance the burn plant's deficit as well as future disposal options such as expanding the facility-- and a law mandating the flow of all waste generated in the county to the agency, guaranteeing a steady supply to burn even if haulers have cheaper alternatives."
[from "Critics Rip DCRRA As Recycling Falters" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070352/Critics-rip-agency-as-recycling-falters ]
My point?...
This-- that DCRRA proposing a new countywide property tax to subsidize its waste-- is nothing new...
Recall-- fact is that "the Dutchess County trash-burning plant needs millions from taxpayers to break even each year, costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them"-- as Pok. Journal pointed out on front page last May.
["DCRRA: Inefficient, Expensive, and In Debt: Obligations, Costs Exceed 13 Other NY, Conn. Plants"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090510&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=905100344&Ref=AR ]
But look at the front page of today's Poughkeepsie Journal...
Why is this article in today's paper hiding the fact that the DCRRA is not proposing anything new?...
[sad-- just like last two days' worth of PoJo articles; again, see http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com ]
Fact: Since last year DCRRA has been pushing for property tax to subsidize its waste-- and flow control.
See for yourself-- here's the article itself from the front page of today's PoJo...
[again-- as in yesterday's article-- no counterpoint at all quoted to prevailing mindset @ DCRRA: why?]
"RRA Proposes New Solid-Waste Plan"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100813/NEWS01/8130340/RRA-proposes-new-solid-waste-plan
"The fact Dutchess County doesn't require residents to bring their trash to the county-run facility is one problem facing the Resource Recovery Agency. A new solid-waste management plan would remedy that. On Thursday, the agency board discussed details of the proposed plan, which included recommendations on user fees and flow control.
The second revenue source would come in the form of a user fee. 'A household would pay less than a restaurant,' Michael Cahill of Germano and Cahill said. 'It would be based no longer (on) the property value but the character of property in terms of how much waste it generates.' The plan estimates user fees ranging from $45.30 per year for a single family home to $3,000 for a large-scale industrial operation."
Not outraged?...you're not payin' attention...
Fact: DCRRA's "new plan" (same thing they've proposed since last year) STILL means that a family that recycles 90% would pay just as much in the DCRRA's property tax as a family living right next door that doesn't recycle at all(!).
Send a 250-word letter to 'em-- at letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com!...
And-- send a letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us-- not to fall for this idiocy!...
Also-- MidHudsonNews.com reported last Friday on a press conference I held about how the vast majority of us in the Democratic caucus in our County Legislature instead support a cost-saving, green-jobs, clean-air, carbon-cutting approach to resource recovery in our county...
[see: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ]
What is the Poughkeepsie Journal's excuse for ignoring this?......they have none.....period].
You may recall that back on May 7th the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that, "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year"...
[today is Aug. 13th, folks-- don't be afraid to call NYSDEC Region 3 offices at 256-3000 and ask 'em!]
Recall-- recently DCRRA Ex. Dir. Bill Calogero confirmed with us that the DCRRA would be late submitting to the DEC its Solid Waste Management Plan-- he told me the DCRRA would be sharing a draft version of the plan by Aug. 13th with our County Legislature, also telling me that "if the Legislature wants to hold a public hearing on the plan they can do that"(!)...
Note- the DCRRA is not anywhere near doing due diligence to get public input on that plan-- DCRRA itself should be holding multiple public hearings on the plan-- not leaving it up to Co. Leg. to decide if there will be public hearings!...
[reminds me of July 15th DCRRA board mtg. I attended-- I sat quietly for literally hours listening, watching de-facto consensus of entire RRA board focused on nothing but filling gaping maw of wasteful incinerator...(and when mtg. was opened for public comment I was cut off after a sentence and a half)]
So again-- mark this one on your calendars-- next Thurs. Aug. 19th 5 pm is the next DCRRA mtg. (96 Sand Dock Rd. in Poughkeepsie 12601-- just off Kandr Rd. next to IBM plant)-- we need dozens of you to come out for a press conference/rally at 4:30 pm right in front of the DCRRA HQ there before their monthly board meeting begins-- and then go in and participate-- during public comment portion of the DCRRA mtg.!...
And again-- send letters now for zero-waste approach-- to countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us!...
[pass it on]
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com
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Five Reasons for Dutchess County to Go Zero-Waste:
[also-- re: zero-waste-- join 76 other Dutchess folks signed on: http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ; join 120+ also signed on recently to Facebook group: "Zero Waste Dutchess"-- spread the word]
[email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us; send to letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com too; thx Sandy Goldberg, Barbara Jeter-Jackson, Jim Doxsey co-sponsoring my zero-waste resol.; need more!]
Fact #1: Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse (Richard Anthony Associates).
[see: http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf MD like NYS!]
Fact #2: 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Richard Anthony.
[see: http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/recyclingmeansbusiness.html ]
Fact #3: The cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners in a statement he made in Co. Leg. chambers in 2010.
[see: http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century -- Dr. Paul Connett's magnificent essay on all this from earlier this year]
Fact #4: Clearwater, NYPIRG, Sierra Club, Environmental Advocates of New York, Citizens Environmental Coalition (and many other organizations listed below) signed on earlier this year to an ambitious (but spot-on) New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010 statement.
[see: http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html (get YOUR group on board this coalition!)]
Fact #5: The city of Springfield, Mass. has saved $75,000 in just the first half of this year alone by expanding recycling to one-third of the city; it expects to save $450,000 a year through greatly expanded recycling.
["Springfield Municipal Recycling Initiative To Expand" WAMC's Paul Tuthill July 23rd]
http://www.facebook.com/l/5e086TnJIxHhsEjo9ZH7biGHeXA;www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1679516/news/Municipal.Recycling.Initative.To.Expand ]
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For much, much more on all of this, see:
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/03/zero-waste-update-facts-here-on.html
http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf
http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070350/Burn-plants-seem-cleaner-but-facts-debated
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/todays-times-two-letters-for-zero-waste.html
http://www.cool2012.com/community/collection/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/04/01/hamilton_wenham_blaze_green_trail_with_municipal_composting_program/
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/paul-connett-vassar-for-earth-day-dont.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-zero-hero-initiative-for-kids-of.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100512/NEWS01/5120330
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/04/28/news/doc4bd7bcd192621739013476.txt
http://www.StopTrashingtheClimate.org ]
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From http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ...
Some Dutchess lawmakers wants to move solid waste management plan forward
POUGHKEEPSIE - Four Dutchess County legislators Friday proposed that the county's new solid waste management plan concentrate more heavily on recycling.
Right now, only about 10 percent of the local waste stream is being recycled-- with about 50 percent going to the county incinerator operated by the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, and 40 percent sent to landfills upstate.
County Legislator Joel Tyner, a member of the Environmental Committee and a former chairman, said recycling would be better for air quality.
"If you look at the emissions of the county incinerator in Poughkeepsie over the last decade, particulate matter emissions have greatly increased, volatile organic compound emissions have greatly increased, nitrogen oxide emissions have greatly increased and the cost to Dutchess County taxpayers to subsidize that incinerator has greatly increased," he said. "We're burning and burying about $15 million in materials and resources that we could be selling."
A resolution urging more recycling is being proposed by Tyner and fellow legislators Sandra Goldberg, James Doxsey and Barbara Jeter-Jackson.
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From http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html ...
New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010
The N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has prepared a new State Solid Waste Plan that finally recognizes that materials in our waste stream are valuable and need to be preserved. We strongly endorse its preference for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting over disposal. The less waste we dispose of the more environmental, economic and social benefits that we will enjoy.
Unfortunately millions of tons of garbage are still being wasted by being sent for disposal in landfills or incinerators. The DEC estimates New York's recycling rate to be only 20%, far short of the 50% reduction and recycling goal to be met by 1997 under the State Solid Waste Management Act of 1988. A large portion of waste headed for disposal is recyclable (50%) or compostable (30%) material that could be processed by other means into new products.
To achieve the Plan goals we must stop trashing our resources through disposal!
* Incinerators emit toxic air emissions and produce toxic incinerator ash that needs landfilling. They also emit more CO2 than coal burning plants per MWh. Incinerators must have burnable materials and therefore compete with recycling.
* Recycling saves 4-5 times the energy an incinerator recovers.1 Incineration is not renewable energy.
To address climate change we must address waste in our society!
* For every trash bag we put at the curb, 70 bags of trash were generated by industry to make the products we buy. The production of products and packaging is associated with 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions.2
* Biodegradable materials in landfills emit methane, a gas that has 72 times the global warming potential of CO2, over 20 years.3 Landfill gas collection systems capture only about 20% of landfill gas.4
* The best strategy is to divert biodegradable organic material away from landfills and incinerators to composting. Compost provides nutrients for healthy soils and plants.
Burning and burying garbage wastes money, energy, and natural resources; it contributes to climate change and places an unfair pollution and health burden on nearby communities. Diversion saves energy and resources, and creates many more jobs in collection, processing, reuse of goods and remanufacturing of materials.
Maximizing waste reduction and diversion will dramatically decrease waste sent for disposal over time by 70%, 80%, 90% and more, enabling New York to achieve the significant benefits of a more sustainable system.
The ultimate goal should be Zero Waste being sent to Disposal or very close to it.
We call on the Governor, the NYS DEC and State Legislators to support a new sustainable direction for reducing waste, recovering resources and growing jobs as well as obtaining other benefits for New Yorkers by doing the following:
* Establish a moratorium on all new waste incinerators or combustors and expansions. This would include newer thermal technologies that are as yet unproven commercially in the US such as gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc.
* Ban waste haulers and municipalities from sending recyclable materials for disposal, and instead require recyclables to be source separated and transported to recycling processing facilities.
* Halt all increases in capacity at the state's largest landfills.
* Require all local solid waste planning units and haulers sending garbage for disposal to demonstrate the presence of adequate programs of waste reduction, recycling and composting in the service area.
* Rapidly implement organics collection programs and develop the needed composting and anaerobic digestion infrastructure. Ban yard trimmings from disposal now and enforce. Establish a statewide ban on the disposal of food scraps by 2013.
* Require all communities to adopt incentive/disincentive programs, such as Pay-As-You-Throw, which are proven to increase diversion rates.
* Adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation (also known as product stewardship) to engage manufacturers and importers in the design of products and packaging to reduce waste and toxicity and remove the burden from government and taxpayers. Producers of products and packaging must be part of the solution. 10-15% of the waste stream should be reduced through EPR measures.
* Regulate solid waste generated by all sectors - residential, commercial, institutional and industrial. Bring waste haulers and transporters under the jurisdiction of the DEC through licensing, requiring reporting of all waste and recyclable collections and disposal, and providing for oversight and compliance.
* Require local solid waste planning units to prepare plans that increase waste reduction and diversion and decrease disposal. State and local plans must decrease disposal by 50% by 2015, and 85% by 2020 for all waste streams . The implementation plans must be enforceable by DEC.
* Ensure accurate measurements of diversion and waste quantities in order to measure progress toward goals. Plan to reassess goals and progress and adjust programs under a revised 2020 statewide plan.
* Ensure that Zero Waste Programs and their greenhouse gas benefits become a substantial part of the new state Climate Action Plan and its implementation.
* Establish a secure funding stream to fund more sustainable solid waste programs over the long term and achieve job benefits and needed greenhouse gas emission reductions. Licensing fees, facility permit fees and surcharges on disposal should all be used to provide dedicated funding. A surcharge of at least $20 per ton of MSW generated could provide $5 per ton to the state for solid waste activities and $15 to local planning units to support needed recycling and composting facilities as well as educational programs.
To support this platform or for more information, contact: Barbara Warren, NY Zero Waste Alliance, project of Citizens Environmental Coalition, warrenba@msn.com or 845-754-7951/ 518-462-5527.
Organizational Supporters
Listed Below
New York Statewide Organizations
Atlantic States Legal Foundation
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Clean New York
Clearwater
Environmental Advocates of New York
New York Public Interest Research Group
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Local and Regional Organizations
Capital District Branch of the New York Apollo Alliance
Concerned Citizens of Seneca County, Inc.
Concerned Citizens of Cattauragus County
Finger Lakes Citizen's for the Environment
Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition, Inc.
Freshwater Future
Greenwich Citizens Committee, Inc.
Jamesville Positive Action Committee
NYC Apollo Alliance
People's Environmental Network of NY
Residents For the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung (RFPLC, Inc)
Save the Pine Bush
Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena Against Pollution (SCRAP)
Sure We Can
Sustainable South Bronx
The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Village Independent Democrats
National
American Environmental Health Studies Project
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
____________________________________________________________
1 EPA's WARM Model.
2 A recent EPA report found that non-food products are associated with 37 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Joshuah Stolaroff, PhD worked on the EPA report and subsequently extended the analysis to include products produced abroad and consumed in the US. This white paper states total GHG emissions of products and packaging is 44%. Both reports can be accessed at www.productpolicy.org
3 IPCC, 4th Assessment Report.
4 Ibid., Working Group III, Mitigation, 10.4.2.
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[again-- send letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny to get this passed in Sept.!]
WHEREAS, Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse, according to Richard Anthony Associates, and 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and
WHEREAS, the cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 7th that "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year," and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 10th last year that the Dutchess County incinerator "costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them," and
WHEREAS, although the Dutchess County Incinerator produces power from burning trash, the income does not come close to covering costs, and neither do the tipping fees that are among the highest in the region; in recent years, Dutchess County taxpayers have seen the county's subsidy to the Resource Recovery Agency go from $2 million to $6.3 million, with more increases expected, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that emissions from our county incinerator of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide have all increased over the last decade-- along with the fact that, on an annual basis, our county incinerator also creates 50,000 tons of toxic ash-- and spews 29 pounds of heavy metals (mercury/arsenic/lead/cadmium), 37 tons of sulfur dioxide, 22 tons of hydrogen chloride/hydrogen fluoride, and 3700 tons of carbon dioxide
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that "the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency recycles only 4 percent of Dutchess' 250,000 tons of garbage; little is done to encourage recycling in the county; when waste recycled by private haulers is included, the county recycling rate is only 11 percent, about half the state rate, agency figures show; an estimated 30,000 tons of paper alone go to the trash heap yearly," and
WHEREAS, the Daily Freeman reported April 28th that "Ulster County residents recycled more than 64,000 tons of materials in 2009, nearly doubling the amount diverted from the waste stream in 2005; the increase in recycling, combined with a dropoff in the amount of nonrecyclable garbage produced in the past two years, has pushed the county closer to the state goal of recycling 42 percent of the waste stream," and
WHEREAS, communities across the country like Austin, Portland, Seattle, Oakland, and many more have proven that a zero-waste approach to resource recovery can save tax dollars, create more jobs, clean up air quality, with lower carbon emissions, compared to incineration or landfilling, and
WHEREAS, the United States has lost half the carbon in its soils and half of what is buried in landfills is organics (yard trimmings, food scraps and food soiled paper); landfills are the single largest source of human-created methane gas and contribute significantly to climate change; we need to get organics out of landfills and back to the soil, and
WHEREAS, Royal Carting is starting a food-waste curbside collection demonstration project with 177 homes in Beacon; the towns of Hamilton and Wenham in Massachusetts started curbside collection of food waste this year and are saving tax dollars; here in Dutchess County Vassar and Marist colleges compost their food waste, along with many restaurants in Tompkins County, and the communities of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Cambridge, Wegman's Supermarket and Wal-Mart in Onondaga County, NY, Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District, San Francisco, CA, Morgan Hill, CA, Dublin, CA, Alameda County, CA, Pleasanton, CA, Hutchinson, MN, Hennepin County, MN, San Leandro, CA, Union City, CA, Swift County, MN, King County, WA, Bowdoinham, ME, San Jose, CA, Newark, CA, Orange County, NC, Berkeley, CA, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, MN, Livermore, CA, Mackinaw Island, MI, and
WHEREAS, it has repeatedly been proven across the country in these communities that food-waste curbside collection is a win-win for homeowners, businesses, and waste haulers; all end up saving money as tipping fees at compost facilities are lower than tipping fees at incinerators or landfills, and if food waste is collected regularly, trash doesn't have to be collected so often, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to incorporate the following in its Solid Waste Management Plan for Dutchess County submitted to the NYSDEC: to set a recycling goal for Dutchess County of 70% by 2015 and 90% by 2020, and to work with the Dutchess County Association of Supervisors and Mayors, Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency to site an eco-industrial resource recovery park and food-waste composting facilities to process source-separated organic materials, and to ensure recycling containers are placed wherever there are trash containers, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that licensed waste haulers in Dutchess County collect food waste with lower rates for clean, source-separated materials, and reuse, recycle or compost at least 50% of all materials and bulky items collected by them in Dutchess County, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to phase out as quickly as possible incineration or landfilling of easily recyclable materials; no compostable organics should be burned at the Dutchess County Incinerator or sent to landfills, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to make sure that all Dutchess County all residents, businesses and institutions source-separate reusables, recyclables and compostables (including discarded food, and food contaminated paper), and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Director of Central Services to purchase only products with reusability, recyclability and compostability, and requests thatthe Dutchess County Department of Public Works specify in all of its contracts for major construction (e.g., roads, parks, public buildings) the use of reused, recycled and compost products; all packaging for products sold in stores in Dutchess County should be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2020, and be if further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive, Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner, Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, Dutchess County Director of Central Services, Dutchess County Department of Public Works, and all other county departments.
Remember this one from the front page of the Poughkeepsie Journal last Oct. 18th?...
It pulled no punches about how the DCRRA was pushing hard for a new property tax to support itself:
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency countered the Democrat-controlled county Legislature with its own report advocating a new property tax to support operations, an expanded burn plant, and most significantly, the adoption of a "flow control" law that would put the agency in charge of all 250,000 tons of waste produced in the county, in addition to the 150,000 tons processed at the burn plant...A task force appointed by the Democrat-controlled county Legislature concluded recently that the agency was mismanaged and said its multi-million-dollar annual subsidy-- and possibly the trash agency itself-- should be eliminated."
[from "No License? No Problem for Trash Haulers" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/10/clean-up-dutchess-limit-donations-from.html ; recall
other great Pfeiffer reports, too-- http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/section/special&template=2col ]
Then-- recall this one from the Poughkeepsie Journal front page on March 7th this year?...
"The Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency's track record - environmentally as well as financially - is a key factor as Dutchess considers whether to adopt changes in trash management, including a yearly charge on all homes, businesses and tax-exempt properties, what the agency report calls a "green fee" but Democratic legislators dub a tax, to finance the burn plant's deficit as well as future disposal options such as expanding the facility-- and a law mandating the flow of all waste generated in the county to the agency, guaranteeing a steady supply to burn even if haulers have cheaper alternatives."
[from "Critics Rip DCRRA As Recycling Falters" by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070352/Critics-rip-agency-as-recycling-falters ]
My point?...
This-- that DCRRA proposing a new countywide property tax to subsidize its waste-- is nothing new...
Recall-- fact is that "the Dutchess County trash-burning plant needs millions from taxpayers to break even each year, costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them"-- as Pok. Journal pointed out on front page last May.
["DCRRA: Inefficient, Expensive, and In Debt: Obligations, Costs Exceed 13 Other NY, Conn. Plants"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?Dato=20090510&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=905100344&Ref=AR ]
But look at the front page of today's Poughkeepsie Journal...
Why is this article in today's paper hiding the fact that the DCRRA is not proposing anything new?...
[sad-- just like last two days' worth of PoJo articles; again, see http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com ]
Fact: Since last year DCRRA has been pushing for property tax to subsidize its waste-- and flow control.
See for yourself-- here's the article itself from the front page of today's PoJo...
[again-- as in yesterday's article-- no counterpoint at all quoted to prevailing mindset @ DCRRA: why?]
"RRA Proposes New Solid-Waste Plan"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100813/NEWS01/8130340/RRA-proposes-new-solid-waste-plan
"The fact Dutchess County doesn't require residents to bring their trash to the county-run facility is one problem facing the Resource Recovery Agency. A new solid-waste management plan would remedy that. On Thursday, the agency board discussed details of the proposed plan, which included recommendations on user fees and flow control.
The second revenue source would come in the form of a user fee. 'A household would pay less than a restaurant,' Michael Cahill of Germano and Cahill said. 'It would be based no longer (on) the property value but the character of property in terms of how much waste it generates.' The plan estimates user fees ranging from $45.30 per year for a single family home to $3,000 for a large-scale industrial operation."
Not outraged?...you're not payin' attention...
Fact: DCRRA's "new plan" (same thing they've proposed since last year) STILL means that a family that recycles 90% would pay just as much in the DCRRA's property tax as a family living right next door that doesn't recycle at all(!).
Send a 250-word letter to 'em-- at letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com!...
And-- send a letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us-- not to fall for this idiocy!...
Also-- MidHudsonNews.com reported last Friday on a press conference I held about how the vast majority of us in the Democratic caucus in our County Legislature instead support a cost-saving, green-jobs, clean-air, carbon-cutting approach to resource recovery in our county...
[see: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ]
What is the Poughkeepsie Journal's excuse for ignoring this?......they have none.....period].
You may recall that back on May 7th the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that, "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year"...
[today is Aug. 13th, folks-- don't be afraid to call NYSDEC Region 3 offices at 256-3000 and ask 'em!]
Recall-- recently DCRRA Ex. Dir. Bill Calogero confirmed with us that the DCRRA would be late submitting to the DEC its Solid Waste Management Plan-- he told me the DCRRA would be sharing a draft version of the plan by Aug. 13th with our County Legislature, also telling me that "if the Legislature wants to hold a public hearing on the plan they can do that"(!)...
Note- the DCRRA is not anywhere near doing due diligence to get public input on that plan-- DCRRA itself should be holding multiple public hearings on the plan-- not leaving it up to Co. Leg. to decide if there will be public hearings!...
[reminds me of July 15th DCRRA board mtg. I attended-- I sat quietly for literally hours listening, watching de-facto consensus of entire RRA board focused on nothing but filling gaping maw of wasteful incinerator...(and when mtg. was opened for public comment I was cut off after a sentence and a half)]
So again-- mark this one on your calendars-- next Thurs. Aug. 19th 5 pm is the next DCRRA mtg. (96 Sand Dock Rd. in Poughkeepsie 12601-- just off Kandr Rd. next to IBM plant)-- we need dozens of you to come out for a press conference/rally at 4:30 pm right in front of the DCRRA HQ there before their monthly board meeting begins-- and then go in and participate-- during public comment portion of the DCRRA mtg.!...
And again-- send letters now for zero-waste approach-- to countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us!...
[pass it on]
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com
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Five Reasons for Dutchess County to Go Zero-Waste:
[also-- re: zero-waste-- join 76 other Dutchess folks signed on: http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ; join 120+ also signed on recently to Facebook group: "Zero Waste Dutchess"-- spread the word]
[email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us; send to letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com too; thx Sandy Goldberg, Barbara Jeter-Jackson, Jim Doxsey co-sponsoring my zero-waste resol.; need more!]
Fact #1: Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse (Richard Anthony Associates).
[see: http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf MD like NYS!]
Fact #2: 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Richard Anthony.
[see: http://www.ilsr.org/recycling/recyclingmeansbusiness.html ]
Fact #3: The cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners in a statement he made in Co. Leg. chambers in 2010.
[see: http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century -- Dr. Paul Connett's magnificent essay on all this from earlier this year]
Fact #4: Clearwater, NYPIRG, Sierra Club, Environmental Advocates of New York, Citizens Environmental Coalition (and many other organizations listed below) signed on earlier this year to an ambitious (but spot-on) New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010 statement.
[see: http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html (get YOUR group on board this coalition!)]
Fact #5: The city of Springfield, Mass. has saved $75,000 in just the first half of this year alone by expanding recycling to one-third of the city; it expects to save $450,000 a year through greatly expanded recycling.
["Springfield Municipal Recycling Initiative To Expand" WAMC's Paul Tuthill July 23rd]
http://www.facebook.com/l/5e086TnJIxHhsEjo9ZH7biGHeXA;www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1679516/news/Municipal.Recycling.Initative.To.Expand ]
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For much, much more on all of this, see:
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/03/zero-waste-update-facts-here-on.html
http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/pubworks/sw-future/docs/resource-assessment.pdf
http://www.no-burn.org/why-incineration-is-a-very-bad-idea-in-the-twenty-first-century
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-million-wasted-annually-in-dutchess.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100307/NEWS01/3070350/Burn-plants-seem-cleaner-but-facts-debated
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/todays-times-two-letters-for-zero-waste.html
http://www.cool2012.com/community/collection/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/04/01/hamilton_wenham_blaze_green_trail_with_municipal_composting_program/
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/paul-connett-vassar-for-earth-day-dont.html
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-zero-hero-initiative-for-kids-of.html
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100512/NEWS01/5120330
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/04/28/news/doc4bd7bcd192621739013476.txt
http://www.StopTrashingtheClimate.org ]
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From http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/31/DC_SW_mgmt-31Jul10.html ...
Some Dutchess lawmakers wants to move solid waste management plan forward
POUGHKEEPSIE - Four Dutchess County legislators Friday proposed that the county's new solid waste management plan concentrate more heavily on recycling.
Right now, only about 10 percent of the local waste stream is being recycled-- with about 50 percent going to the county incinerator operated by the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, and 40 percent sent to landfills upstate.
County Legislator Joel Tyner, a member of the Environmental Committee and a former chairman, said recycling would be better for air quality.
"If you look at the emissions of the county incinerator in Poughkeepsie over the last decade, particulate matter emissions have greatly increased, volatile organic compound emissions have greatly increased, nitrogen oxide emissions have greatly increased and the cost to Dutchess County taxpayers to subsidize that incinerator has greatly increased," he said. "We're burning and burying about $15 million in materials and resources that we could be selling."
A resolution urging more recycling is being proposed by Tyner and fellow legislators Sandra Goldberg, James Doxsey and Barbara Jeter-Jackson.
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From http://www.cectoxic.org/ZeroWastePlatform2010.html ...
New Yorkers for Zero Waste Platform 2010
The N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has prepared a new State Solid Waste Plan that finally recognizes that materials in our waste stream are valuable and need to be preserved. We strongly endorse its preference for waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting over disposal. The less waste we dispose of the more environmental, economic and social benefits that we will enjoy.
Unfortunately millions of tons of garbage are still being wasted by being sent for disposal in landfills or incinerators. The DEC estimates New York's recycling rate to be only 20%, far short of the 50% reduction and recycling goal to be met by 1997 under the State Solid Waste Management Act of 1988. A large portion of waste headed for disposal is recyclable (50%) or compostable (30%) material that could be processed by other means into new products.
To achieve the Plan goals we must stop trashing our resources through disposal!
* Incinerators emit toxic air emissions and produce toxic incinerator ash that needs landfilling. They also emit more CO2 than coal burning plants per MWh. Incinerators must have burnable materials and therefore compete with recycling.
* Recycling saves 4-5 times the energy an incinerator recovers.1 Incineration is not renewable energy.
To address climate change we must address waste in our society!
* For every trash bag we put at the curb, 70 bags of trash were generated by industry to make the products we buy. The production of products and packaging is associated with 44% of all greenhouse gas emissions.2
* Biodegradable materials in landfills emit methane, a gas that has 72 times the global warming potential of CO2, over 20 years.3 Landfill gas collection systems capture only about 20% of landfill gas.4
* The best strategy is to divert biodegradable organic material away from landfills and incinerators to composting. Compost provides nutrients for healthy soils and plants.
Burning and burying garbage wastes money, energy, and natural resources; it contributes to climate change and places an unfair pollution and health burden on nearby communities. Diversion saves energy and resources, and creates many more jobs in collection, processing, reuse of goods and remanufacturing of materials.
Maximizing waste reduction and diversion will dramatically decrease waste sent for disposal over time by 70%, 80%, 90% and more, enabling New York to achieve the significant benefits of a more sustainable system.
The ultimate goal should be Zero Waste being sent to Disposal or very close to it.
We call on the Governor, the NYS DEC and State Legislators to support a new sustainable direction for reducing waste, recovering resources and growing jobs as well as obtaining other benefits for New Yorkers by doing the following:
* Establish a moratorium on all new waste incinerators or combustors and expansions. This would include newer thermal technologies that are as yet unproven commercially in the US such as gasification, pyrolysis and plasma arc.
* Ban waste haulers and municipalities from sending recyclable materials for disposal, and instead require recyclables to be source separated and transported to recycling processing facilities.
* Halt all increases in capacity at the state's largest landfills.
* Require all local solid waste planning units and haulers sending garbage for disposal to demonstrate the presence of adequate programs of waste reduction, recycling and composting in the service area.
* Rapidly implement organics collection programs and develop the needed composting and anaerobic digestion infrastructure. Ban yard trimmings from disposal now and enforce. Establish a statewide ban on the disposal of food scraps by 2013.
* Require all communities to adopt incentive/disincentive programs, such as Pay-As-You-Throw, which are proven to increase diversion rates.
* Adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation (also known as product stewardship) to engage manufacturers and importers in the design of products and packaging to reduce waste and toxicity and remove the burden from government and taxpayers. Producers of products and packaging must be part of the solution. 10-15% of the waste stream should be reduced through EPR measures.
* Regulate solid waste generated by all sectors - residential, commercial, institutional and industrial. Bring waste haulers and transporters under the jurisdiction of the DEC through licensing, requiring reporting of all waste and recyclable collections and disposal, and providing for oversight and compliance.
* Require local solid waste planning units to prepare plans that increase waste reduction and diversion and decrease disposal. State and local plans must decrease disposal by 50% by 2015, and 85% by 2020 for all waste streams . The implementation plans must be enforceable by DEC.
* Ensure accurate measurements of diversion and waste quantities in order to measure progress toward goals. Plan to reassess goals and progress and adjust programs under a revised 2020 statewide plan.
* Ensure that Zero Waste Programs and their greenhouse gas benefits become a substantial part of the new state Climate Action Plan and its implementation.
* Establish a secure funding stream to fund more sustainable solid waste programs over the long term and achieve job benefits and needed greenhouse gas emission reductions. Licensing fees, facility permit fees and surcharges on disposal should all be used to provide dedicated funding. A surcharge of at least $20 per ton of MSW generated could provide $5 per ton to the state for solid waste activities and $15 to local planning units to support needed recycling and composting facilities as well as educational programs.
To support this platform or for more information, contact: Barbara Warren, NY Zero Waste Alliance, project of Citizens Environmental Coalition, warrenba@msn.com or 845-754-7951/ 518-462-5527.
Organizational Supporters
Listed Below
New York Statewide Organizations
Atlantic States Legal Foundation
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Clean New York
Clearwater
Environmental Advocates of New York
New York Public Interest Research Group
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Local and Regional Organizations
Capital District Branch of the New York Apollo Alliance
Concerned Citizens of Seneca County, Inc.
Concerned Citizens of Cattauragus County
Finger Lakes Citizen's for the Environment
Finger Lakes Zero Waste Coalition, Inc.
Freshwater Future
Greenwich Citizens Committee, Inc.
Jamesville Positive Action Committee
NYC Apollo Alliance
People's Environmental Network of NY
Residents For the Preservation of Lowman and Chemung (RFPLC, Inc)
Save the Pine Bush
Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena Against Pollution (SCRAP)
Sure We Can
Sustainable South Bronx
The Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
Village Independent Democrats
National
American Environmental Health Studies Project
Center for Health, Environment & Justice
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
____________________________________________________________
1 EPA's WARM Model.
2 A recent EPA report found that non-food products are associated with 37 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Joshuah Stolaroff, PhD worked on the EPA report and subsequently extended the analysis to include products produced abroad and consumed in the US. This white paper states total GHG emissions of products and packaging is 44%. Both reports can be accessed at www.productpolicy.org
3 IPCC, 4th Assessment Report.
4 Ibid., Working Group III, Mitigation, 10.4.2.
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[again-- send letter to all 25 of us at countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny to get this passed in Sept.!]
WHEREAS, Dutchess County now incinerates or sends to landfills $15 million worth of materials and resources that could be recycled, including plant debris, food waste, paper, wood, ceramics, soils, metals, glass, polymers, textiles, chemicals, and various items for reuse, according to Richard Anthony Associates, and 500 new jobs could be created right here in Dutchess County if those materials were recycled instead of burned or buried, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and
WHEREAS, the cost of disposing of the Dutchess County Incinerator's 50,000 tons of toxic ash annually has doubled in recent years to three million dollars a year, according to Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency Board Chair William Conners, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 7th that "if Dutchess County does not submit a new solid waste management plan to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by Aug. 1, the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency might lose its operating permit next year," and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported May 10th last year that the Dutchess County incinerator "costs 46 percent more to operate than 13 other plants in New York and Connecticut and has debts stretching years beyond all of them," and
WHEREAS, although the Dutchess County Incinerator produces power from burning trash, the income does not come close to covering costs, and neither do the tipping fees that are among the highest in the region; in recent years, Dutchess County taxpayers have seen the county's subsidy to the Resource Recovery Agency go from $2 million to $6.3 million, with more increases expected, and
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that emissions from our county incinerator of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxide have all increased over the last decade-- along with the fact that, on an annual basis, our county incinerator also creates 50,000 tons of toxic ash-- and spews 29 pounds of heavy metals (mercury/arsenic/lead/cadmium), 37 tons of sulfur dioxide, 22 tons of hydrogen chloride/hydrogen fluoride, and 3700 tons of carbon dioxide
WHEREAS, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported March 7th that "the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency recycles only 4 percent of Dutchess' 250,000 tons of garbage; little is done to encourage recycling in the county; when waste recycled by private haulers is included, the county recycling rate is only 11 percent, about half the state rate, agency figures show; an estimated 30,000 tons of paper alone go to the trash heap yearly," and
WHEREAS, the Daily Freeman reported April 28th that "Ulster County residents recycled more than 64,000 tons of materials in 2009, nearly doubling the amount diverted from the waste stream in 2005; the increase in recycling, combined with a dropoff in the amount of nonrecyclable garbage produced in the past two years, has pushed the county closer to the state goal of recycling 42 percent of the waste stream," and
WHEREAS, communities across the country like Austin, Portland, Seattle, Oakland, and many more have proven that a zero-waste approach to resource recovery can save tax dollars, create more jobs, clean up air quality, with lower carbon emissions, compared to incineration or landfilling, and
WHEREAS, the United States has lost half the carbon in its soils and half of what is buried in landfills is organics (yard trimmings, food scraps and food soiled paper); landfills are the single largest source of human-created methane gas and contribute significantly to climate change; we need to get organics out of landfills and back to the soil, and
WHEREAS, Royal Carting is starting a food-waste curbside collection demonstration project with 177 homes in Beacon; the towns of Hamilton and Wenham in Massachusetts started curbside collection of food waste this year and are saving tax dollars; here in Dutchess County Vassar and Marist colleges compost their food waste, along with many restaurants in Tompkins County, and the communities of Portland, Seattle, Boulder, Cambridge, Wegman's Supermarket and Wal-Mart in Onondaga County, NY, Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District, San Francisco, CA, Morgan Hill, CA, Dublin, CA, Alameda County, CA, Pleasanton, CA, Hutchinson, MN, Hennepin County, MN, San Leandro, CA, Union City, CA, Swift County, MN, King County, WA, Bowdoinham, ME, San Jose, CA, Newark, CA, Orange County, NC, Berkeley, CA, Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, MN, Livermore, CA, Mackinaw Island, MI, and
WHEREAS, it has repeatedly been proven across the country in these communities that food-waste curbside collection is a win-win for homeowners, businesses, and waste haulers; all end up saving money as tipping fees at compost facilities are lower than tipping fees at incinerators or landfills, and if food waste is collected regularly, trash doesn't have to be collected so often, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to incorporate the following in its Solid Waste Management Plan for Dutchess County submitted to the NYSDEC: to set a recycling goal for Dutchess County of 70% by 2015 and 90% by 2020, and to work with the Dutchess County Association of Supervisors and Mayors, Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, and Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency to site an eco-industrial resource recovery park and food-waste composting facilities to process source-separated organic materials, and to ensure recycling containers are placed wherever there are trash containers, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that licensed waste haulers in Dutchess County collect food waste with lower rates for clean, source-separated materials, and reuse, recycle or compost at least 50% of all materials and bulky items collected by them in Dutchess County, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to phase out as quickly as possible incineration or landfilling of easily recyclable materials; no compostable organics should be burned at the Dutchess County Incinerator or sent to landfills, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner and the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency to work together to make sure that all Dutchess County all residents, businesses and institutions source-separate reusables, recyclables and compostables (including discarded food, and food contaminated paper), and be it further
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature urges the Dutchess County Director of Central Services to purchase only products with reusability, recyclability and compostability, and requests thatthe Dutchess County Department of Public Works specify in all of its contracts for major construction (e.g., roads, parks, public buildings) the use of reused, recycled and compost products; all packaging for products sold in stores in Dutchess County should be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2020, and be if further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive, Dutchess County Solid Waste Commissioner, Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency, Dutchess County Director of Central Services, Dutchess County Department of Public Works, and all other county departments.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
help hold the Poughkeepsie Journal accountable and responsible!...
Hi all...
See this on the front page of today's Poughkeepsie Journal?...
[sorry, PoJo-- but this is straw on camel's back for me-- and reason why I've launched this brand-new blog today!]
"Dutchess Legislators OK Charges for Elections"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100812/NEWS01/8120339/Dutchess-legislators-OK-charges-for-elections
Not only does the article's headline falsely lead readers to believe that all of us in our County Legislature voted this past Monday night at our monthly full board meeting to punish our county's towns and cities by unfairly charging back to municipalities the cost of elections...
[when fact is six of us in Dem caucus voted no along with Jim Doxsey and GOP Co. Leg.'s Marge Horton and Donna Bolner!]
So-- not only is headline deceptive...but read the entire article-- all 470 words of it (I counted)...
Believe it or not, nowhere is it mentioned in the actual article itself that nine county legislators voted no Monday to this-- Sandy Goldberg, Dan Kuffner, Barbara Jeter-Jackson, Alison MacAvery, Steve White, Jim Doxsey, Marge Horton, Donna Bolner, and myself...(and of course none of us are quoted either)...
[while 5 paragraphs are devoted to letting us all know exactly how GOP's Mike Kelsey feels about this;
note-- hopefully this is fault of editor/publisher; reporter for article is someone I know; old VKR friend]
Let's compare today's Poughkeepsie Journal article on this with Daily Freeman and MidHudsonNews...
Fact: Tuesday's Daily Freeman article on this even pointed out that in my town-- "Clinton would receive less in additional sales tax than it would be charged for election costs"-- and also reported that here in northern Dutchess County, Dan Kuffner and I voted against this unfair plan as "unfunded mandate."
[see: "Dutchess Lawmakers OK Plan To Pay for Elections" by Patricia Doxsey
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/08/10/news/doc4c60b2eb106d8559267311.txt
[What's the Poughkeepsie Journal's excuse for not showing Dems same respect as Freeman?.....none.]
Recall MidHudsonNews.coms' recent coverage of this very same issue-- again-- much fairer...
[see: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/August/10/DCL_elec_chgbk-10Aug10.html ]
Click on link just above-- Hank Gross actually quoted Co. Leg. Minority Leader Sandy Goldberg on this-- saying she (understandably) "objected to passing on any costs...We all the time complain about the state pushing costs onto us...so-called unfunded mandates...and we scream and we cry about that all the time. This is doing just the same thing to our towns and cities"...
And-- click on this link to watch mtg. itself-- http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CLStreamingVideoLink.htm ;
it wasn't just Sandy Goldberg; other Co. Leg.'s like Alison MacAvery and myself pointed out publicly in our comments on the floor of the Legislative Chambers how unfair this is to our county's municipalities; I pointed out how Rhinebeck Town Supervisor Tom Traudt had brought this issue up to me openly during a number of Town Board meetings over the last year-- and how I had always pledged to vote against chargebacks to towns (whether it be for DCBOE or county sheriff services); Alison M. had statements against the GOP chargebacks from GOP Town Supervisors John Hickman (of East Fishkill) and Joan Pagones (of Fishkill) and from Dem Stanford Town Supervisor Virginia Stern (and T/Pok.'s Pat Myers); how hard was it to just include a quote or two from Dem county legislator on this?...(I guess too hard)...
So-- got a sec?...Send 250 words on this to letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com today; fwd on!...
And-- see http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com -- help us hold the Poughkeepsie Jounal accountable!...
[email us your submissions-- your analyses of unfair Pok. Journal coverage as it happens daily, folks]
http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com -- daily go-to source of info on unfairly skewed coverage in PoJo!
The folks at 85 Civic Center Plaza aren't playing any games, folks-- we need to call 'em out for this...
[think things could get any worse?...you betcha...if we allow them such bias they WILL get worse, folks!]
Many more examples here below of Poughkeepsie Journal bias over last few years-- pass it on...
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
p.s. Email us the letters you've submitted to the Poughkeepsie Journal that they've refused to run too!...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thirty more reasons why we're launching http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com -- help us, people!...
[submit your analysis of an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal today, tomorrow, next week, next month]
1. Pok. Journal article just yesterday burying facts on how early retirement incentive will SAVE millions:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100811/NEWS01/8110340/1001/NEWS/Steinhaus-criticizes-adoption-of-state-s-early-retirement-incentives [recall my email yesterday setting record straight; click on these three links for newspaper articles from all over NYS that were more fair than PoJo re: ERI:
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/07/08/news/doc4c3533e6b4510088730533.txt ;
http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/541139.html?nav=5007 ;
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/nassau-unions-approve-early-retirement-deal-1.1884619
http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=478243 ]
2. Pok. Journal article last fall on how, miraculously, "Water Quality OK"(!)...(when it's not; info here)
[ http://www.RealMajorityProject.blogspot.com ; http://www.petitiononline.com/cleanh20 ]
3. Pok. Journal article-- incredibly biased-- from last Oct. on my visits to Rhinebeck High School classes
[ http://www.PetitionOnline.com/JoelTalk ]
4. The Poughkeepsie Journal also (for the second year in a row)-- has ignored the annual spring "State of the Air" report from the American Lung Association of NYS-- pertinent to us here in our county, as for the second year in a row now Dutchess County air quality has been rated an "F"-- and over 39,000 Dutchess Co. residents with asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema (see http://www.ALANY.org )...
The Poughkeepsie Journal also ignored GOP Co. Leg. killing these two Dem initiatives of mine in Feb.:
5. Dutchess' municipalities could be saving millions of dollars yearly with health insurance consortium.
[ http://www.rhinebecknyvillage.org/minutes/boardoftrustees/2010/03-09-10BTminutes.pdf ;
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100720/NEWS01/7200371/Tompkins-health-insurance-consortium-back-on-track ]
6. Dutchess' homeowners could be saving $250 each winter with a home heating oil cooperative plan.
[ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/nyregion/westchester/28oilwe.ready.html ;
http://www.townofcortlandt.com/Cit-e-Access/news/index.cfm?NID=17424&TID=20&jump2=0 ]
7. In May, the Poughkeepsie Journal ignored press release I sent out to media on how I got five GOP Co. Leg.'s (Horton, Traudt, Sadowski, Surman, and Thomes) to join Dem caucus and Jim Doxsey in signing on to letter I circulated for chronic Lyme disease to be fully treated here in NYS as in RI...
[join 366 signed to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/StopLyme ; http://www.ILADS.org ; also see http://www.UnderOurSkin.com : 80+ attended screening of this film I organized at Rhinebeck Town Hall]
8. The Poughkeepsie Journal completely and totally ignored it last October when 150 came out to join Pete Seeger, Ned Sullivan of Scenic Hudson, William Schlesinger of the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Eban Goodstein of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, and Allison Morrill Chartrychan of Cornell Cooperative Extension's Environmental Program, and many more for our Second Annual 350.org Rally for a Green New Deal as part of the International Day of Action on Climate Change...
9. Of course, also importantly, day in and day out the Poughkeepsie Journal ignores how the vast majority of us across NYS still strongly support a more progressive tax system on millionaires and Wall Street to solve our state's budget problems, stop the budget cuts, layoffs, and property tax hikes and sales tax hikes-- and the Journal ignores how we in middle class pay more than millionaires...
[ http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org ; http://www.itepnet.org/wp2009/ny_whopays_factsheet.pdf ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/taxhistory2.htm ; http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/01/08/plutonomics ;
http://www.petitiononline.com/stocktax ; http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/facts/capitalism-love-story ;
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=STATE ;
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100328/FREE/303289966 ;
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/oct/16/barack-obama/most-small-businesses-wont-be-subject-to-obamas-ta/ ]
Note-- to be more specific-- I hope I'm not the only person who notices that over and over and over again that Poughkeepsie Journal articles about the state budget seem to constantly quote conservative think tank pundits like E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy-- while refusing to quote progressive NYS budget experts like Frank Mauro of Fiscal Policy Institute or Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness-- for instance, this article from last Fri.'s Pok. Journal is prime example:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/print/article/20100806/NEWS/8060329/Doubt-arise-that-long-awaited-budget-will-remain-balanced (we can no longer allow this practice to go unchallenged, folks!)...
10. I also, frankly, hope you might agree with me that if a four-term GOP county legislator still in office here in Dutchess walked 140 miles in 12 days from the NY Stock Exchange in NYC to Albany for tax fairness for the middle class instead of millionaires and the middle class-- I hope you would agree that the Poughkeepsie Journal wouldn't completely ignore it-- but they did when I did this last month-- in spite of huge articles across state in Gannett's Journal News, front page of Register Star, front page of Daily Freeman, article in Sunday Daily News the day after I started my walk, etc.; click here for more:
http://capitaltonight.com/2010/07/joel-tyner-on-his-walk-for-governor/ ;
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/07/10/news/doc4c37fcdb44d51661744817.txt ;
http://registerstar.com/articles/2010/07/06/news/doc4c32a75cc1855188661389.txt ;
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100630/NEWS05/6300324/-1/newsfront/Cuomo-challenger-Joel-Tyner-hikes-to-Albany--urging-millionaires-tax ;
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/07/end-game-07072010.html ;
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/29214/making-a-point-is-hard-and-blister-inducing/ ;
http://www.freemanonline.com/articles/2010/07/03/news/doc4c2ece83c332b629092426.txt ;
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/07/Tyner_walk_complete-07Jul10.htm ;
http://assets.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/27/2010-06-27_team_cuomo_rallies_on_familiar_refrain_change.html ;
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/27980/tyner-walking-for-his-candidacy/ ;
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=939163&category=state .]
11. The Poughkeepsie Journal has also completely ignored how Dutchess County taxpayers alone have spent literally over $1.7 billion on war in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last nine years.
[see http://www.NationalPriorities.org ; recall CBS and ABC polls this summer; most against Afghan war]
12. That's not all folks, though-- perhaps most importantly...
How would you feel if you ran and lost five times for various county and state legislature offices since 1996-- only to finally be elected to our County Legislature in 2003-- and finally be part of the first Democratic majority in our County Legislature in three decades-- and get literally dozens of your progressive initiatives/resolutions actually passed in our County Legislature-- only to find the biggest newspaper in county ignore 20 resolutions passed-- letting Steinhaus off hook for not implementing?...
[forget about me; Pok. Journal has let us ALL down by failing to report on County Exec's blocking these]
1. For Independent Dutchess Energy Alliance: $1 billion in savings on electric bills over ten years.
[based on successful green jobs/retrofits example of Cambridge, MA-- see
[ http://www.CambridgeEnergyAlliance.org ; also Town of Babylon's http://www.LIGreenHomes.com ;
also-- http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/03/our-bright-idea-growin-brighter-and.html ]
2. For Dutchess to save literally hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on power costs w/Municipal Electricity Gas Alliance (like Putnam, Ulster, Sullivan, and twenty other counties).
[ http://www.MEGAEnergy.org ]
3. For saving 30% on lighting bills in county bldg.'s switching fixtures from T-12's to T-8's/metal halides.
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Replace-T8-Or-T12-Lights-With-New-Energy-Efficient-T5-Lighting&id=2117699
4. For Dutchess to keep using lever voting machines and state/federal gov.'t to make sure we can too.
[ http://www.ETCNYS.org ; http://nylevers.wordpress.com/ -- Times covered this...not PoJo tho...why?!?]
5. For zero-waste approach to resource recovery in our county: save money, create clean green jobs.
[join over 25 other Dutchess residents on board this-- at http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ]
6. For cost-saving green roofs, rain gardens, wind turbines, composting toilets to be on county property.
[ http://www.GreenRoofs.com ; http://www.RainGardens.org ; http://bianys.com/node/418 ; http://www.petitiononline.com/goldpoop ; http://www.CompostingToilets.org ]
7. For solar panels on County Office Building/22 Market St./Poughkeepsie (then all county buildings).
[ http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/mar08/030608.htm ; http://www.HVCE.com ]
8. For new SuperLOOPer discount card at local stores and restaurants for frequent users of LOOP bus.
[ http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Tom+Malone/01Ur0if9hQ8Ic/1 ]
9. For Dutchess to hold Home Heating Summit re: home heating oil crisis (as in Ulster, Orange co.'s).
[ http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/September08/10/DC_hm_heat-10Sep08.html ]
10. For Dutchess ESAN "Recommendations for Stream/Flood Management in Dutchess" to be followed.
[ http://www.dutchessemc.org/ESANRecomendations.pdf ]
11. For Green Map added to county website: list farmer's markets/green resources (as in Westchester).
[ http://greenmap.westchestergov.com/ ; http://www.GreenMap.org ]
12. For bike rental program in Dutchess at no cost to taxpayers (as is already in Washington, D.C.).
[ http://www.SmartBikeDC.com ]
13. For Dutchess County to be part of Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act to save open space.
[ http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=101&sh=story&story=23825 ]
14. For cost-saving "Green House Project" nursing home in county-- proven to make seniors happier.
[ http://www.TheGreenHouseProject.org ]
15. For particulate matter air pollution to be measured in Dutchess County as it was until 2002.
[ http://www.ALANY.org ]
16. For greatly expanding current circuitbreaker for school property taxes (bipartisan Little/Galef bill).
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/taxcut (not Saland's idiotic property tax cap-- http://www.TrendNY.org )]
17. For real relief for Dutchess Co. property taxpayers-- Omnibus Property Tax Relief and Reform Act.
[ http://www.OmnibusTaxSolution.org ]
18. For ending secret market manipulations on Wall Street causing higher gas/home heating oil prices.
[see http://www.StopOilSpeculators.com Enron loophole closed; "dark markets" speculation continues!]
19. For wetlands (even small ones) in county to be saved from being paved over by developers.
[ http://www.eany.org/capitolwatch/memos%202009/21_WetlandsProtection.pdf ]
20. For Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies recommend.'s air pollution/quality standards to be followed.
[ http://www.ecostudies.org/threats_from_above.html ]
See this on the front page of today's Poughkeepsie Journal?...
[sorry, PoJo-- but this is straw on camel's back for me-- and reason why I've launched this brand-new blog today!]
"Dutchess Legislators OK Charges for Elections"
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100812/NEWS01/8120339/Dutchess-legislators-OK-charges-for-elections
Not only does the article's headline falsely lead readers to believe that all of us in our County Legislature voted this past Monday night at our monthly full board meeting to punish our county's towns and cities by unfairly charging back to municipalities the cost of elections...
[when fact is six of us in Dem caucus voted no along with Jim Doxsey and GOP Co. Leg.'s Marge Horton and Donna Bolner!]
So-- not only is headline deceptive...but read the entire article-- all 470 words of it (I counted)...
Believe it or not, nowhere is it mentioned in the actual article itself that nine county legislators voted no Monday to this-- Sandy Goldberg, Dan Kuffner, Barbara Jeter-Jackson, Alison MacAvery, Steve White, Jim Doxsey, Marge Horton, Donna Bolner, and myself...(and of course none of us are quoted either)...
[while 5 paragraphs are devoted to letting us all know exactly how GOP's Mike Kelsey feels about this;
note-- hopefully this is fault of editor/publisher; reporter for article is someone I know; old VKR friend]
Let's compare today's Poughkeepsie Journal article on this with Daily Freeman and MidHudsonNews...
Fact: Tuesday's Daily Freeman article on this even pointed out that in my town-- "Clinton would receive less in additional sales tax than it would be charged for election costs"-- and also reported that here in northern Dutchess County, Dan Kuffner and I voted against this unfair plan as "unfunded mandate."
[see: "Dutchess Lawmakers OK Plan To Pay for Elections" by Patricia Doxsey
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/08/10/news/doc4c60b2eb106d8559267311.txt
[What's the Poughkeepsie Journal's excuse for not showing Dems same respect as Freeman?.....none.]
Recall MidHudsonNews.coms' recent coverage of this very same issue-- again-- much fairer...
[see: http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/August/10/DCL_elec_chgbk-10Aug10.html ]
Click on link just above-- Hank Gross actually quoted Co. Leg. Minority Leader Sandy Goldberg on this-- saying she (understandably) "objected to passing on any costs...We all the time complain about the state pushing costs onto us...so-called unfunded mandates...and we scream and we cry about that all the time. This is doing just the same thing to our towns and cities"...
And-- click on this link to watch mtg. itself-- http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CLStreamingVideoLink.htm ;
it wasn't just Sandy Goldberg; other Co. Leg.'s like Alison MacAvery and myself pointed out publicly in our comments on the floor of the Legislative Chambers how unfair this is to our county's municipalities; I pointed out how Rhinebeck Town Supervisor Tom Traudt had brought this issue up to me openly during a number of Town Board meetings over the last year-- and how I had always pledged to vote against chargebacks to towns (whether it be for DCBOE or county sheriff services); Alison M. had statements against the GOP chargebacks from GOP Town Supervisors John Hickman (of East Fishkill) and Joan Pagones (of Fishkill) and from Dem Stanford Town Supervisor Virginia Stern (and T/Pok.'s Pat Myers); how hard was it to just include a quote or two from Dem county legislator on this?...(I guess too hard)...
So-- got a sec?...Send 250 words on this to letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com today; fwd on!...
And-- see http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com -- help us hold the Poughkeepsie Jounal accountable!...
[email us your submissions-- your analyses of unfair Pok. Journal coverage as it happens daily, folks]
http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com -- daily go-to source of info on unfairly skewed coverage in PoJo!
The folks at 85 Civic Center Plaza aren't playing any games, folks-- we need to call 'em out for this...
[think things could get any worse?...you betcha...if we allow them such bias they WILL get worse, folks!]
Many more examples here below of Poughkeepsie Journal bias over last few years-- pass it on...
Joel
444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
p.s. Email us the letters you've submitted to the Poughkeepsie Journal that they've refused to run too!...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thirty more reasons why we're launching http://www.PoJoWatch.blogspot.com -- help us, people!...
[submit your analysis of an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal today, tomorrow, next week, next month]
1. Pok. Journal article just yesterday burying facts on how early retirement incentive will SAVE millions:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20100811/NEWS01/8110340/1001/NEWS/Steinhaus-criticizes-adoption-of-state-s-early-retirement-incentives [recall my email yesterday setting record straight; click on these three links for newspaper articles from all over NYS that were more fair than PoJo re: ERI:
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/07/08/news/doc4c3533e6b4510088730533.txt ;
http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/541139.html?nav=5007 ;
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/nassau-unions-approve-early-retirement-deal-1.1884619
http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=478243 ]
2. Pok. Journal article last fall on how, miraculously, "Water Quality OK"(!)...(when it's not; info here)
[ http://www.RealMajorityProject.blogspot.com ; http://www.petitiononline.com/cleanh20 ]
3. Pok. Journal article-- incredibly biased-- from last Oct. on my visits to Rhinebeck High School classes
[ http://www.PetitionOnline.com/JoelTalk ]
4. The Poughkeepsie Journal also (for the second year in a row)-- has ignored the annual spring "State of the Air" report from the American Lung Association of NYS-- pertinent to us here in our county, as for the second year in a row now Dutchess County air quality has been rated an "F"-- and over 39,000 Dutchess Co. residents with asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema (see http://www.ALANY.org )...
The Poughkeepsie Journal also ignored GOP Co. Leg. killing these two Dem initiatives of mine in Feb.:
5. Dutchess' municipalities could be saving millions of dollars yearly with health insurance consortium.
[ http://www.rhinebecknyvillage.org/minutes/boardoftrustees/2010/03-09-10BTminutes.pdf ;
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100720/NEWS01/7200371/Tompkins-health-insurance-consortium-back-on-track ]
6. Dutchess' homeowners could be saving $250 each winter with a home heating oil cooperative plan.
[ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/nyregion/westchester/28oilwe.ready.html ;
http://www.townofcortlandt.com/Cit-e-Access/news/index.cfm?NID=17424&TID=20&jump2=0 ]
7. In May, the Poughkeepsie Journal ignored press release I sent out to media on how I got five GOP Co. Leg.'s (Horton, Traudt, Sadowski, Surman, and Thomes) to join Dem caucus and Jim Doxsey in signing on to letter I circulated for chronic Lyme disease to be fully treated here in NYS as in RI...
[join 366 signed to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/StopLyme ; http://www.ILADS.org ; also see http://www.UnderOurSkin.com : 80+ attended screening of this film I organized at Rhinebeck Town Hall]
8. The Poughkeepsie Journal completely and totally ignored it last October when 150 came out to join Pete Seeger, Ned Sullivan of Scenic Hudson, William Schlesinger of the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Eban Goodstein of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, and Allison Morrill Chartrychan of Cornell Cooperative Extension's Environmental Program, and many more for our Second Annual 350.org Rally for a Green New Deal as part of the International Day of Action on Climate Change...
9. Of course, also importantly, day in and day out the Poughkeepsie Journal ignores how the vast majority of us across NYS still strongly support a more progressive tax system on millionaires and Wall Street to solve our state's budget problems, stop the budget cuts, layoffs, and property tax hikes and sales tax hikes-- and the Journal ignores how we in middle class pay more than millionaires...
[ http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org ; http://www.itepnet.org/wp2009/ny_whopays_factsheet.pdf ;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/taxhistory2.htm ; http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/01/08/plutonomics ;
http://www.petitiononline.com/stocktax ; http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/facts/capitalism-love-story ;
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=940073&category=STATE ;
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100328/FREE/303289966 ;
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/oct/16/barack-obama/most-small-businesses-wont-be-subject-to-obamas-ta/ ]
Note-- to be more specific-- I hope I'm not the only person who notices that over and over and over again that Poughkeepsie Journal articles about the state budget seem to constantly quote conservative think tank pundits like E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy-- while refusing to quote progressive NYS budget experts like Frank Mauro of Fiscal Policy Institute or Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness-- for instance, this article from last Fri.'s Pok. Journal is prime example:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/print/article/20100806/NEWS/8060329/Doubt-arise-that-long-awaited-budget-will-remain-balanced (we can no longer allow this practice to go unchallenged, folks!)...
10. I also, frankly, hope you might agree with me that if a four-term GOP county legislator still in office here in Dutchess walked 140 miles in 12 days from the NY Stock Exchange in NYC to Albany for tax fairness for the middle class instead of millionaires and the middle class-- I hope you would agree that the Poughkeepsie Journal wouldn't completely ignore it-- but they did when I did this last month-- in spite of huge articles across state in Gannett's Journal News, front page of Register Star, front page of Daily Freeman, article in Sunday Daily News the day after I started my walk, etc.; click here for more:
http://capitaltonight.com/2010/07/joel-tyner-on-his-walk-for-governor/ ;
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/07/10/news/doc4c37fcdb44d51661744817.txt ;
http://registerstar.com/articles/2010/07/06/news/doc4c32a75cc1855188661389.txt ;
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100630/NEWS05/6300324/-1/newsfront/Cuomo-challenger-Joel-Tyner-hikes-to-Albany--urging-millionaires-tax ;
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/07/end-game-07072010.html ;
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/29214/making-a-point-is-hard-and-blister-inducing/ ;
http://www.freemanonline.com/articles/2010/07/03/news/doc4c2ece83c332b629092426.txt ;
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/July/07/Tyner_walk_complete-07Jul10.htm ;
http://assets.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/27/2010-06-27_team_cuomo_rallies_on_familiar_refrain_change.html ;
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/27980/tyner-walking-for-his-candidacy/ ;
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=939163&category=state .]
11. The Poughkeepsie Journal has also completely ignored how Dutchess County taxpayers alone have spent literally over $1.7 billion on war in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last nine years.
[see http://www.NationalPriorities.org ; recall CBS and ABC polls this summer; most against Afghan war]
12. That's not all folks, though-- perhaps most importantly...
How would you feel if you ran and lost five times for various county and state legislature offices since 1996-- only to finally be elected to our County Legislature in 2003-- and finally be part of the first Democratic majority in our County Legislature in three decades-- and get literally dozens of your progressive initiatives/resolutions actually passed in our County Legislature-- only to find the biggest newspaper in county ignore 20 resolutions passed-- letting Steinhaus off hook for not implementing?...
[forget about me; Pok. Journal has let us ALL down by failing to report on County Exec's blocking these]
1. For Independent Dutchess Energy Alliance: $1 billion in savings on electric bills over ten years.
[based on successful green jobs/retrofits example of Cambridge, MA-- see
[ http://www.CambridgeEnergyAlliance.org ; also Town of Babylon's http://www.LIGreenHomes.com ;
also-- http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/03/our-bright-idea-growin-brighter-and.html ]
2. For Dutchess to save literally hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on power costs w/Municipal Electricity Gas Alliance (like Putnam, Ulster, Sullivan, and twenty other counties).
[ http://www.MEGAEnergy.org ]
3. For saving 30% on lighting bills in county bldg.'s switching fixtures from T-12's to T-8's/metal halides.
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Replace-T8-Or-T12-Lights-With-New-Energy-Efficient-T5-Lighting&id=2117699
4. For Dutchess to keep using lever voting machines and state/federal gov.'t to make sure we can too.
[ http://www.ETCNYS.org ; http://nylevers.wordpress.com/ -- Times covered this...not PoJo tho...why?!?]
5. For zero-waste approach to resource recovery in our county: save money, create clean green jobs.
[join over 25 other Dutchess residents on board this-- at http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ]
6. For cost-saving green roofs, rain gardens, wind turbines, composting toilets to be on county property.
[ http://www.GreenRoofs.com ; http://www.RainGardens.org ; http://bianys.com/node/418 ; http://www.petitiononline.com/goldpoop ; http://www.CompostingToilets.org ]
7. For solar panels on County Office Building/22 Market St./Poughkeepsie (then all county buildings).
[ http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/mar08/030608.htm ; http://www.HVCE.com ]
8. For new SuperLOOPer discount card at local stores and restaurants for frequent users of LOOP bus.
[ http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Tom+Malone/01Ur0if9hQ8Ic/1 ]
9. For Dutchess to hold Home Heating Summit re: home heating oil crisis (as in Ulster, Orange co.'s).
[ http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/September08/10/DC_hm_heat-10Sep08.html ]
10. For Dutchess ESAN "Recommendations for Stream/Flood Management in Dutchess" to be followed.
[ http://www.dutchessemc.org/ESANRecomendations.pdf ]
11. For Green Map added to county website: list farmer's markets/green resources (as in Westchester).
[ http://greenmap.westchestergov.com/ ; http://www.GreenMap.org ]
12. For bike rental program in Dutchess at no cost to taxpayers (as is already in Washington, D.C.).
[ http://www.SmartBikeDC.com ]
13. For Dutchess County to be part of Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act to save open space.
[ http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=101&sh=story&story=23825 ]
14. For cost-saving "Green House Project" nursing home in county-- proven to make seniors happier.
[ http://www.TheGreenHouseProject.org ]
15. For particulate matter air pollution to be measured in Dutchess County as it was until 2002.
[ http://www.ALANY.org ]
16. For greatly expanding current circuitbreaker for school property taxes (bipartisan Little/Galef bill).
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/taxcut (not Saland's idiotic property tax cap-- http://www.TrendNY.org )]
17. For real relief for Dutchess Co. property taxpayers-- Omnibus Property Tax Relief and Reform Act.
[ http://www.OmnibusTaxSolution.org ]
18. For ending secret market manipulations on Wall Street causing higher gas/home heating oil prices.
[see http://www.StopOilSpeculators.com Enron loophole closed; "dark markets" speculation continues!]
19. For wetlands (even small ones) in county to be saved from being paved over by developers.
[ http://www.eany.org/capitolwatch/memos%202009/21_WetlandsProtection.pdf ]
20. For Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies recommend.'s air pollution/quality standards to be followed.
[ http://www.ecostudies.org/threats_from_above.html ]
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