Current State and National Bills to Watch for the Upper St. Lawrence River

Several bills moving through the NY State Senate, Assembly, and US Congress need your support! Here’s the current list we have our eye on:

NYS Senate bill S1877: Bans unencapsulated expanded or extruded polystyrene foam in floating docks and floating platforms.

Unencapsulated expanded (EPS) and extruded (XPS) polystyrene foam are used in many floating docks in the St. Lawrence River. But what’s good for development often isn’t great for the environment. We now know that EPS and XPS break down into micro- and nanoplastics which are very difficult to recover. During Save The River’s summer trash pick-ups, foam pieces are extremely common and often missed because they’re too small to see. Birds and fish also mistake the foam pieces for food.

New York State Senator Mark Walczyk is sponsoring a bill (S1877) that would require EPS and XPS to be full encapsulated, or sealed, in floating docks and platforms. This means that micro and nano-particles from EPS and XPS docks would not contaminate the River at the rate they are now. The passing of this bill would lead to less pollution on the River, and Save The River still advocates for the complete removal and ban of all EPS and XPS structures in the St. Lawrence.

Please support us in this effort by contacting Senator Walczyk or your local representative. Thank you Senator Walczyk for helping to prevent plastic pollution in the St. Lawrence River

NYS Assembly bill S1464: Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act

The Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) has just been reintroduced to the NYS Assembly and Senate. Here’s what the bill does:

• Reduce plastic packaging by 30% gradually over the next 12 years;
• Require 70% of the remaining packaging to be reused and/or recycled over 10 years;
• Prohibit the false solution of “chemical recycling” from counting toward recycling targets;
• Save tax dollars, by requiring producers to pay “eco-modulated” fees on packaging that encourage producers to design for reuse and recyclability;
• Require these producer fees to cover municipalities’ costs of waste management and recycling, and to make grants supporting reuse and refill projects; and
• Prohibit 14 toxic chemicals and materials from packaging that are known to be harmful to human health and the environment.

Stopping excessive plastic-use from the source is the best way to prevent unnecessary plastic and trash from ending up in the River!

Read the Memorandum of Support from organizations across the State and contact your local Assembly Member and State Senator to show support for this bill! The representatives for the Thousand Islands Region are Assemblyman Scott Gray and State Senator Mark Walczyk. 

US House of Representatives Roll-back of H.J. Res.18: Lead and Copper Rule Improvements

The House of Representatives is considering a resolution that would roll-back efforts to protect millions of Americans from drinking water pipes made from lead. The original rule passed last year (the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements) required local governments to take actions at lower concentrations of lead, remove all lead service lines within 10 years, and increase public notification requirements by local governments when there is contamination.

There is no safe level of lead in drinking water. Lead poisoning from outdated pipes is a serious issue throughout the Great Lakes to both people and wildlife. Save The River urges you to contact your House Representative to stop the roll-back of these drinking water protections.

Please contact Claudia Tenney or your House Representative to prevent the nullification of Chapter 8 Title 5 under the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper: Improvements (LCRI).

In New York, the DEC sponsors the Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSP2) to protect public water sources and the environment. Free technical assistance is available to municipalities for projects specific to the community’s drinking water needs.

Save The River is committed to making sure our community has access to swimmable, fishable, and drinkable water.