EnviroPolitics Blog

NY State welcomes fall. Asks public to respectfully share the woods

From the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Get to Know New York’s Natives: Red Maple

With fall officially upon us tomorrow, there’s no better native to highlight this month than one of the first trees to showcase its autumn colors – the red maple (Acer rubrum).

Red maple is one of the most common tree species in the eastern United States, and red maple trees can be found all across New York State. This species’ tolerance of a wide range of site conditions makes it suitable for both natural and urban environments. Mature trees tend to reach a height of 40-60 feet with a full canopy of 30-40 feet in width.

This time of year, red maples are admired for their bright red shades, though yellow and occasionally even orange can be spotted as well. In winter, the sap of a red maple can be used to produce maple syrup. As winter ends, the red flowers and seeds of this species are a welcome sign of early spring. The seeds (samaras), buds, and twigs are treats for mammals, and the tree’s canopy is a popular nesting site for birds. In the forest products industry, red maple is valued for its lumber and pulpwood. The red maple is truly a tree for all seasons and species!

Check out more red maple fun at these links:

Keep an eye on leaf change throughout the state this season with the I LOVE NY Fall Foliage Report, released each Wednesday afternoon.
Ever wonder how to tell a red maple from a sugar maple? Read this spring 2007 piece from Northern Woodlands magazine to learn the tips for telling these two NY favorites apart.

Photos: (Top) Red maple leaves in autumn, photo by USDA Forest Service; (Bottom) red maple flowers in early spring, photo by Chris Evans, University of Illinois

Safely and Respectfully Sharing the Woods this Fall

With hunting and trapping seasons beginning soon, DEC encourages outdoor enthusiasts to respectfully share the woods and follow commonsense safety precautions. Most public lands in New York are open for multiple forms of recreation, meaning outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds share these lands. Whether you are a hiker, hunter, nature photographer, mountain biker or trapper, following a few simple measures can make your choice of recreation safe and enjoyable while sharing the outdoors.

DEC encourages every outdoor enthusiast to wear blaze orange, pink or another bright color, especially during fall and winter. Doing so allows individuals to be seen more easily and from greater distances. In addition, wearing bright colors makes it easier for Forest Rangers, Environmental Conservation Police Officers, or other rescue personnel to find you in the event of an emergency.

When not actively engaged in hunting, pet owners are encouraged to have their dogs wear a blaze orange, pink or another bright color vest or scarf. Dogs should stay leashed at all times. Trapping seasons are open throughout the fall and early winter. Although it’s a rare occurrence, traps set for furbearers (such as raccoons and coyotes) can also capture dogs that are not under control. Trapping is a highly regulated activity, and the regulations are strongly enforced. Trappers are required to take an educational course before getting a license, and DEC works closely with the trapping community to encourage trapping techniques that minimize risks to non-target wildlife and other animals like dogs. Keeping dogs on their leash is safer for the dog and for other people and gives pet owners peace of mind.

Hunting is among the most popular forms of wildlife recreation in the state, drawing nearly 700,000 New Yorkers and more than 50,000 out-of-state visitors. Hunting is a safe and economically important outdoor pursuit, helping to manage wildlife populations and promote family traditions, while fostering an understanding and respect for the environment. Hikers should be aware that they may meet hunters bearing firearms or archery equipment on public trails. Hunters should, likewise, recognize that they may encounter non-hunters while afield. Hunting accidents involving non-hunters are extremely rare.

Hunters looking for solitude can minimize disturbances associated with other forms of recreation by following a few tips. Before a season opens, while scouting for the perfect hunting spot or stand location, take the time to check if your planned location is a popular one. It’s best to avoid crowding other hunters. If your location is near a popular hiking spot, you may experience noise from other people who recreate outdoors. If your preferred spot becomes too crowded, it is a good idea to have an alternative location already identified. Find a destination by visiting the DEC website, checking out DECinfo Locator, or downloading the NY Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife App.

DEC and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (State Parks) encourage you to engage in responsible recreation during the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis. Recreate locally, practice physical distancing, and use common sense to protect yourself and others.

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Newest quotas from China accept larger volumes of world’s scrap material

By Brian Taylor, Recycling Today

The 12^th 2020 batch of imported scrap quotas issued by the Solid Waste & Chemicals Management Centre of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China will let in a relatively generous amount of material compared with some previous ones.

The 12^th batch, announced Sept. 17, allows more than 730,000 metric tons of recovered fiber to enter through Chinese ports, plus more than 135,000 metric tons of red metal scrap, more than 120,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap, and just 2,600 metric tons of ferrous scrap.

China’s economy is farther along a post-COVID-19 rebound curve compared with most other nations, and its government has targeted infrastructure spending as a major components of its economic stimulus efforts.

The second-half 2020 rebound, combined with the strict quota system for scrap in China, has put a strain on raw material supplies there. One symptom has been a boost in the importation of semi-finished and finished metals in a nation that more often is considered an exporter of such materials.

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The most recent batch of quotas with its higher numbers is similar to the ninth batch, issued in early July, which saw some 200,000 metric tons of aluminum scrap welcomed in as the nation prepared for its economic rebound. The 10^th and 11^th batches, however, together only letting in about 3,700 metric tons of aluminum scrap.

The nation’s government, led by its Ministry of Ecology and the Environment (MEE), has been attempting to lead China’s basic materials producers away from imported scrap. Plastic scrap has largely been banned, while recovered fiber will be severely restricted if not banned in 2021. Metals producers in China appear to have had some success in getting higher grades of scrap metal declared as “resources” allowed to be imported, although that system has not been finalized.

China’s seemingly protectionist stance toward imported scrap has been identified by the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) as a set of actions that are in violation of the country’s World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations.

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On her way out the door, NY sanitation commissioner warns against ‘devastating’ budget cuts

After six years on the job, Kathryn Garcia is considering a mayoral run. In an exit interview, she discourages layoffs, updates waste zone timing and says “zero waste” by 2030 is likely unattainable.

By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive

New York Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia is stepping down as the city continues to work through many pandemic challenges at a potential inflection point in its waste history.

Since being appointed to run the nation’s largest sanitation department (DSNY) in March 2014, managing approximately 10,000 employees, Garcia said she has worked to ensure “a lot of pieces of different puzzles really came together” for city waste infrastructure. This included overseeing the construction of delayed marine transfer stations, signing major disposal contracts, supporting the passage of long-debated legislation, making internal systems paperless, launching a procurement program to support businesses owned by people of color and women, and more.

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But she has also seen setbacks in her tenure, with progress toward a 2030 “zero waste” goal hard to achieve in recent years and what was once the nation’s largest curbside organics collection program frozen amid $106 million in budget cuts. A major plan to reshape the city’s commercial waste sector has also been delayed multiple times due to the pandemic’s economic disruptions. Now, the threat of even more cuts is looming in the months ahead.

Garcia tendered her resignation to term-limited Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, calling cuts and layoffs at the agency so far “unconscionable,” according to multiple reports. Now, she may run for mayor in 2021 and would draw on a long resume at multiple city agencies, beginning with her days as a DSNY intern.

Waste Dive recently spoke with the commissioner ahead of her final week on the job.

The following interview has been edited for brevity.

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New Jersey signs landmark environmental justice bill into law

By Alexandra Kelley, The HIll, Sept. 18, 2020

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed a stalled environmental justice bill into law on Friday that aims to halt the development of new pollution centers like sewage treatment plants, landfills, transfer stations, scrap metal facilities and medical waste incinerators in low-income communities, Reuters reports.

The move comes amid a push for environmental justice that affects communities of color as new data emerges showing historically marginalized populations, such as Black and Hispanic Americans, living in areas with higher concentrations of pollution.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Black and Hispanic Americans facing higher death and hospitalization rates than their white counterparts, scientific literature has focused on how the exposure to more air pollutants worsens that outcome for a severe illness.

Speaking with reporters, Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former Environmental Protection Agency\ official in the Obama administration, said that low-income neighborhoods with large immigrant and minority communities are subject to zoning practices that allow high-polluting industries to establish business nearby. Decades of socioeconomic redlining has forced people of color into less desirable living areas with higher volumes of pollution.

“Folks don’t by accident end up in these communities,” Ali said. “We have traditionally pushed people into certain areas, or we’ve chosen those areas that we don’t place a lot of value on to put certain things.”

Per a press release issued by Murphy’s office, the bill will monitor the permit requests of “certain facilities on overburdened communities.”

An overburdened community, in this case, is defined as any community where 35 percent of the households qualify as low-income per the U.S. Census, 40 percent of households are minority-owned, or 40 percent of the households in the community have limited English proficiency.

In New Jersey alone, there are reportedly 310 municipalities that could qualify.

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Trump’s climate change rollbacks to drive up U.S. emissions

The cumulative additional amount of greenhouse gases would exceed the current annual output of Russia, the world’s fourth-biggest carbon polluter.

Emissions spew out of a large stack. — President Donald Trump has taken the U.S. in the opposite direction, pressing for increasing oil, natural gas and coal output. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

By ZACK COLMAN and ALEX GUILLÉN, Politico

President Donald Trump’s rollback of Obama-era climate regulations will cause the United States to pump an extra 1.8 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere between now and 2035, at a time when scientists say the world needs to slash its carbon pollution dramatically to avoid catastrophe, researchers said Thursday.

The forecast from the climate research firm Rhodium Group is one of the most detailed and comprehensive estimates to date of how Trump’s regulatory U-turn will affect the amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide coming from tailpipes, leaking oil and gas wells, power plants and refrigerants. It concludes that if Trump’s rollbacks remain in place, U.S. climate pollution 15 years from now will be 3 percent higher than current projections indicate.

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What’s next for NJ’s sweeping plastic bag ban?

Bill gets a vote, but it calls for eliminating paper bags and more. Even supporters say they might back away

Approval by a key Assembly committee Thursday was seen as a victory by environmental advocates, but it might be short-lived.

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight

A key committee approved a bill to ban single-use carryout plastic and paper bags, as well as other plastics, but now even some of its supporters acknowledged their backing could end without major changes in the legislation.

The measure, a top legislative priority of most New Jersey environmental organizations for the past few years, won approval Thursday from the Assembly Appropriations Committee — seen as a victory by environmental advocates who have pushed for the legislation for the past few years.

The victory might be short-lived, however, given that there seemed to be widespread opposition from both Republicans and Democrats over a provision in the bill to ban single-use paper bags, as well as polystyrene-foam food containers.

The legislation (A-1978) was amended and merged with a Senate version (S-864), a step that means, if approved by the full Assembly, it needs to go back to the Senate for concurrence.

Bill not in the bag

Proponents seemed to recognize there is still a lot of work to do.

“It’s the strongest bill in the country, but it’s not going to happen overnight,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey. “It’s a big step forward, but there’s a lot of work to do.’’

The legislation initially was vehemently opposed by many business interests, but the wide support for banning single-use plastic bags both nationwide and among many communities had diminished some opposition partly due to the proliferation of cities and towns adopting their own, often different, kinds of bans. Businesses prefer a single statewide law, rather than a mishmash of different local laws.

From foe to friend of bill

The New Jersey Food Council, a foe of earlier versions of the bill, now backs a total ban on both single-use plastic and paper bags, said Linda Doherty, president and CEO, although the group won a small technical amendment by the committee. The amendment is expected to be adopted, a change that will mean the bill, if approved by the Assembly will have to go back to the Senate for concurrence.

In New Jersey, more than 130 municipalities have adopted bans, according to Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions. At least eight states, beginning with California in 2014, have adopted statewide bans, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“We think this is the right move at the right time,’’ Coffey said, “It demonstrates people understand this issue and they want action from their legislators.’’

Besides banning single-use carryout plastic and paper bags, the bill also would ban polystyrene foam food-service products and limit the use of single-use plastic straws.

Paper ban draws critics

The ban on single-use paper bags, the first such prohibition in the country, stirred the most opposition in committee, followed by the ban on polystyrene foam food-service containers.

“Paper bags don’t belong in this bill,’’ said Matt Wells, a senior regional manager at Westrock Co., a manufacturer of paper and packaging products, who called the ban a fundamentally flawed public policy.

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