Protect the Environment & Public Health


Help Fight Climate Change
Climate change is the greatest environmental threat facing the planet. The accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing extreme weather events, harmful algal blooms, ocean acidification, and rising sea levels. If left unabated, this will have devastating impacts on New York’s economy, infrastructure, public health, coastal areas, and natural ecosystems. Through our Fossil-Free Future Campaign, NYPIRG is fighting for comprehensive policies that will set New York up to lead the charge to combat the climate crisis. *Visit our climate change webpage to learn more about our work on this critical issue.
Clean Drinking Water for All New Yorkers
The public has the basic right and expectation from government that the water coming from their taps is going to be safe for them to drink. Sadly, New York’s abundant water resources are threatened by aging and crumbling water infrastructure, chemical contamination from industrial sites, and fossil fuel development, transportation, and waste. NYPIRG is advocating for aggressive policies that would stop water contamination crises by protecting drinking water from source to tap.Fully Funded Water Infrastructure
New York State has some of the oldest water infrastructure in the country, with many pipes over 100 years old. New York has gone decades without properly funding these systems, which has meant billions of gallons of untreated sewage entering our waterways and hundreds of water main breaks annually. It has been estimated that over the next 20 years, $80 billion will need to be invested to make all of the needed repairs, replacements, and updates to New York’s wastewater and drinking water infrastructure. New York must commit to annual funding that will meet outstanding water infrastructure needs.Regulate Dangerous Chemicals
There are over 80,000 unregulated chemicals on the market, many without any evidence to prove that they are safe for public health. When chemicals are unregulated, there is a greater chance that they can get into our water – which is exactly what has happened in Hoosick Falls, Petersburgh, Newburgh, and numerous communities on Long Island. New York cannot keep waiting for people to get sick from exposure to dangerous chemicals to take action – this is a vicious cycle that must be broken. To prevent chemical contamination in water and exposure, New York should:- Establish drinking water standards, known as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), for contaminants believed to be unsafe for public health and likely to show up in drinking water.
- Protect land around source water.
- Regulate or ban the use of dangerous chemicals in products.

Tackling the Solid Waste Crisis
New York is facing a solid waste, toxics, and plastic pollution crisis, which is contributing to climate change and polluting our communities and waterways. A January 2022 international report found that the world is beyond the toxic tipping point. This scientific study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, found that "the total mass of plastics now exceeds the total mass of all living mammals," a clear indication that we've crossed a boundary. Crucially, production of single-use plastics shows no signs of slowing down and has been exponentially increasing. Since 1950, there has been a 50-fold increase in plastic production. This number is expected to triple by 2050. And reliance on plastics is worsening the global climate crisis. Over 99% of plastics are sourced from fossil fuels. The most common source of plastic resin in the United States is natural gas. This means that the more plastic society uses, the longer the fossil fuel industry is kept running. NYPIRG is working to ensure that New York moves forward with policies that prevent the production of waste and improve successful recycling initiatives.Solution: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
New York’s strategy to address solid waste must stress its Waste Hierarchy mandated by law. At the top of the hierarchy is waste reduction, followed by reuse, and then recycling. Echoing this, the state’s Climate Law Scoping Plan calls for a “dramatic shift in the way waste is managed” by 2050. Highlighting the need for a circular economy approach, it stresses the need to reduce waste across the state to end reliance on landfills and incineration. NYPIRG is committed to these guiding principles in our approach to solid waste policy. New York has taken some steps in the right direction by banning plastic bags and foamed polystyrene, but the work cannot stop there. To address the solid waste crisis, New York should:- Require producers of consumer goods to bear responsibility for recycling and disposal of their product’s packaging: A significant contributor to our waste and plastic pollution crisis is that consumer brand-owners are not on the hook to deal with the impact of their product’s packaging. Nearly 30% of the waste stream is packaging, much of it unrecyclable. Product producers have no requirements or incentives to reduce packaging waste, create reusable products, make packaging easier to recycle, or boost market demand by using more recycled content. To deal with this problem, a policy idea called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requires companies to be financially responsible for mitigating the environmental impacts of their product’s packaging through reduction, recycling, and reuse.
- Update and expand the state’s highly successful container deposit redemption program, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill: One of the most successful recycling and litter reduction programs in New York is the Container Deposit Law, called the Bigger Better Bottle Bill. As an EPR policy, the Bottle Bill not only ensures that products are recyclable, but also creates the financial incentive to ensure that the containers will be recycled. After its four decades of success, the Bottle Bill should be modernized by expanding the law to include popular non-carbonated beverages, wine, spirits, and hard cider – and by increasing the redeemable deposit value to 10 cents to increase the rate of recovery. Modernization of the 40-year-old Bottle Bill will further enhance litter control (most notably in underserved lower income communities), help stimulate recycling efforts, encourage the use of refillable containers, and is a matter of economic justice that will provide badly needed funding for communities that face low redemption rates due to inadequate access to retailers and redemption centers. States with bottle deposit laws have a beverage container recycling rate of around 60%, while non-deposit states only reach about 24%. The national group ReLoop stated in a 2022 report that the Bottle Bill’s expansion and deposit increase to a dime would likely result in a 90% recycling redemption rate.
- Reduce plastic in the marketplace: New York State should ban rigid polystyrene containers and packaging and adopt “upon request” policies for plastic straws, utensils, and stirrers. Municipalities including New York City have started to pass these laws locally already.
- Transition the market towards more reusable items.
New York debates voting by mail (WAMC, September 25, 2023)
Gobernadora Hochul promulga paquete legislativo para fortalecer los derechos electorales en Nueva York (El Diario, September 21, 2023)
A good day for democracy in New York (The Daily Gazette, September 21, 2023)
END FOSSIL FUELS: Thousands gather in NYC for climate justice rally (New York Amsterdam News, September 19, 2023)
AOC joins thousands in New York climate change march with furious message for Biden (Fox News, September 18, 2023)
Cuomo wins another round to protect his multi-million dollar book deal (WAMC, September 18, 2023)
SU’s Student Association discusses advocacy, plans to improve Title IX (The Daily Orange, September 18, 2023)
Tens of thousands march to kick off climate summit, demanding end to warming-causing fossil fuels (NY1, September 17, 2023)
Ethics commission ruled unconstitutional (My Twin Tiers, September 16, 2023)
N.Y. ethics commission meets for first time since court ruling (Spectrum News, September 13, 2023)
Future of NYS ethics commission up in the air (CNY Homepage, September 13, 2023)
Bus to end fossil fuel march in New York City (Hudson Valley One, September 13, 2023)
Judge strikes down New York state ethics panel (WXXI, September 11, 2023)
Landlords could get two-year break on Local Law 97 penalties if they demonstrate ‘good faith’ effort to decarbonize (AM New York, September 12, 2023)
Taking action to avoid climate catastrophe (WAMC, September 11, 2023)
Suit spurs talk of constitutional ethics change (Spectrum News, September 11, 2023)
Cuomo Wins Book Lawsuit, Leaving New York’s Ethics Panel in Limbo (The New York Times, September 11, 2023)
Discussing the threat of climate change (WXXI News, September 6, 2023)
New York Cigarette Taxes Rise By $1 Per Pack, Highest In Nation (The Post Journal, September 4, 2023)
New York’s premier college financial aid program is wrapping up its 50th year (WAMC, September 4, 2023)
The biblical rains that are devastating parts of the state are fresh evidence that the costs of adapting New York's infrastructure to the world climate’s "new abnormal" will be staggering. Legislation -- approved by the Senate (S.2129A) -- would require the largest oil companies to help pick up the tab and do it in a manner that will stop them from passing the costs on to consumers. Read NYPIRG's statement on downstate's devastating floods.
Advocates and Business call on Governor Hochul and DEC to release grant funds to struggling Bottle Redemption Businesses
Thousands Join March to End Fossil Fuels, Demand Biden Declare Climate Emergency & Phase Out Plan
NYers face hundreds of millions of dollars in climate costs while big oil racks up huge profits, nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars over past 30 months
NYPIRG 50th Anniversary, Celebrating Five Decades of Victories and College Student Empowerment, Will Be Held on October 13th in NYC – Author and Activist Jane Fonda, Community Service Society's David Jones, State Senator Liz Krueger, U.S. Sen. Schumer's State Director Martin Brennan, and New Deal Strategies' Camille Rivera to Receive NYPIRG's "Changemaker" Awards
New York’s “New Normal” Not Normal at All: Frequent Climate Disasters, Staggering Costs — Governor Hochul Leaves New Yorkers on the Financial Hook for Billions of Dollars in Climate Damages and Extreme Weather Emergency Preparedness While Letting Big Oil off the Hook
NYPIRG Has Updated Its 2023 Legislative Session Review, Including the New York State Assembly Actions
With New York Budget Deficits Growing and Climate Costs Soaring, Will the Assembly Make Big Oil Pick Up the Tab? NYPIRG Urges Assembly to Pass Climate Change Superfund Act
Tale of the Tape: NYPIRG's 2023 Legislative Review – The number of bills that passed in the Senate increased, while that number decreased in the Assembly. The Governor's use of emergency "messages of necessity" continues to move upward.
Congressmen Goldman and Nadler joined with NYS legislators, NYPIRG and other advocates to call on Albany leadership to make corporate climate polluters pay
Video – Disinformation: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Campaign to Undermine New York's Climate Act
VICTORY! NYPIRG Celebrates First in the Nation Law to Electrify New Buildings
Statement: NYPIRG Reacts to Gov Hochul Leaving Climate Change Superfund Out of the Budget
As Albany Negotiates a State Budget, NYC College Students Call for Free and Reduced Price Transit Fares for Education Access
Faith Leaders, Environmentalists, Senators: New York Needs to Show The Nation How to Tackle Climate Catastrophe - Groups Urge Albany Lawmakers to Include Green Power, Big Oil Superfund in Final Budget
NYPIRG REACTS TO ONE-HOUSE BUDGET BILLS – This week, both houses released their "one house" budget bills. Now lawmakers' attention will turn to negotiating differences. Here are key policy areas where NYPIRG has advocated and for which the Governor, the Senate, and the Assembly have established budget positions.
Release: New York’s Tobacco Control Efforts are “Up In Smoke” Due to Shrinking State Support
Report: Up In Smoke: Billions from Tobacco Use, Pennies for New York’s Tobacco Control
REPORT: Rebuild by Design releases the report “Atlas of Disaster: New York State” that identifies the impacts of recent climate disasters across New York State at the county level, for the years 2011-2021.
Top Big Oil Corporations Announce Record $215 Billion 2022 Profits – New Yorkers Tell Albany Leaders: Make Climate Polluters Pay!