Natural Resources

The New York Environmental Bond Act

THE CLEAN WATER, CLEAN AIR, AND GREEN JOBS ENVIRONMENTAL BOND ACT OF 2022

Roadmap for implementing the NYS Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act

Statement written by Beth Radow, chair of the LWVNY committee on Energy, Agriculture and the Environment, and Kay Wagner, LWV Tompkins County Natural Resources Chair and submitted during the public commenting period for the NYS Climate Action Plan. This plan was written as a roadmap for implementing the NYS 2019 CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) legislation.

2-year moratorium on cryptocurrency

LWV New York State request to Governor Hochul to sign bill A7389C/S6486D for two-year moratorium on new or extended previous permits for cryptocurrency mining operations using POW authentification methods into law

Recycling: Letter to Governor Hochul

Letter to Governor Hochul from LWVNY and other groups urging her to amend the Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) Package in the budget – intended to make the package significantly stronger.

Bitcoin: Letter to Governor Hochul from LWVNY

Request for Issuance of an Executive Order for a Moratorium on Blockchain Transactions that use Proof of Work Authentication Methods for Cryptocurrency Operations

Bitcoin: Moratorium Bill

LWVNY support for bill A.7389C/S.6486D which requires a moratorium on some cryptocurrency data centers which use proof of work protocols

The bill establishes a moratorium on consolidated operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions; provides that such operations shall be subject to a full generic environmental impact statement review.

Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain: The Promise and the Peril

To view recording: https://youtu.be/qIuMqn2ISA4

An online presentation by Irene Weiser, Coordinator of Fossil Free Tompkins,
sponsored by LWV of Tompkins County and LWV of Cortland County
January 13, 2022, at 7 pm

A technology exploding across NYS is celebrated for its transformative potential while criticized for its environmental impacts. To better understand this important issue, the League of Women Voters through its local chapters in Cortland and Tompkins counties presented a program on the above topic at 7 pm on Thursday, January 13, 2022.

Speaker Irene Weiser, Coordinator of Fossil Free Tompkins, covered the basics of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies and how the energy appetite of some forms can threaten to derail achievement of NYS climate goals. While not throwing the blockchain baby out with the bitcoin bathwater, she discussed possible directions forward.

Weiser has spent 10 years working toward local and state energy policies that will bring an affordable, equitable transition to renewable energy. She was elected to three terms as councilmember in the Town of Caroline, serving from 2012 to 2020.

Co-Sponsored by: Campaign for Renewable Energy, Fossil Free Tompkins, People for a Healthy Environment, and Sustainable Tompkins

To view recording: https://youtu.be/qIuMqn2ISA4

Recent Developments Related to Natural Resources

Programs and Projects: Natural Resources

See 2019-2020 Program Report in the April 2020 Bulletin