NYS Environmental Commissioner Grannis calls for “all hands on deck”
Adam Bradley, Pete Grannis and John Hall at Temple Beth El
February 1, 2008
Editor’s note: On Jan. 13, State Assemblyman Adam Bradley, Congressman John Hall and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis conducted a panel discussion at Temple Beth El in Chappaqua titled “A Light Among Nations – Advocating for Real Energy Solutions for a Greater Future.” Several Bell Middle School students under the supervision of Annie Madden, 8th grade science teacher, and Danielle Runfola, 8th grade English teacher, attended this panel discussion. This report is the second in a series of three written by the students. The series will cover each speaker’s presentation. This week the students report on remarks by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis.
by Ellen Rothschild and Anup Kishore
“Climate change affects everyone and we need all hands on deck,” proclaimed Pete Grannis, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. He spoke on Sunday, January 13, at Temple Beth El about New York State’s governmental response to climate change and energy dependence in a talk titled, “A Light Among Nations - Advocating for Real Energy Solutions for a Greater Future.” Commissioner Grannis said that when dealing with global warming, the national government should support current policies considered at the state level, rather than continue the current pattern of hindering progress.
One example of positive government action would be to support and encourage the implementation of solar panels, wind turbines or other alternative energy sources by all government-owned buildings, such as schools, town halls and post offices. Municipalities can also start using bio-diesel vehicles for their school buses and other town vehicles and encourage energy conservation. Doing so will aid in the response to climate change, and federal support would encourage the states’ efforts to implement environmentally responsible changes like New York Governor Elliot Spitzer’s goal of a 15% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in New York State by 2015.
Still time to mitigate the effects of climate change
He added that the environment is the responsibility of citizens, and it is up to citizens to fight for change. He thinks there is still time to mitigate the effects of climate change but that state governments cannot wait around for the federal government to take action. He also believes that New York State needs to reduce building emissions and speed the production of greenhouse gas-reducing technology. Climate change is a man-made problem, and it is a problem that is going to redefine humanity’s progress or lack thereof for all posterity.
One highly publicized possible solution to the energy crisis is the development and increased use of ethanol. Commissioner Grannis was quick to speak to the fact that ethanol technology is only one of several possibilities for addressing fossil fuel dependence and that its use also introduces additional issues and is not quite the “silver bullet” that it is portrayed to be.
Since ethanol consumes so much corn, possibly as much as half of the United States corn crop by 2008, according to U.S. News & World Report, prices are rising all across the marketplace. According to Grannis, meat and dairy prices are projected to rise due to an increase in the price of corn used for feed. This price increase is due to corn’s decreased supply and the reduction in farmland devoted to growing food as the amount of land dedicated to fuel crops like corn for ethanol increases. Farmers can do one of two things with their ‘yellow gold’: they can sell it for feed or sell it for fuel. It is becoming increasingly clear that this economic situation is not a positive one for the future of food crops in the United States.
Corn-based ethanol, not an environmental slam-dunk
Some people say that ethanol uses more energy than it creates. However, corn-based ethanol has a slightly positive net energy balance. That doesn’t mean that corn-based ethanol is a clean energy source that doesn’t result in the emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In fact it is quite the contrary. Many greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels are used in the production of ethanol, from tractors in the fields to trucks for transporting the fuel. Also, there are coal-fired ethanol plants like the one that opened this past year in Richardton, N.D.
United States Representative John Hall (D-NY19), also spoke at the gathering and added that it would be irresponsible for the state or federal government to pass a bill that only addresses ethanol as an energy source. Rather, people need to take advantage of other forms of energy like geothermal, wind, solar power or even tidal.
Peter Grannis, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
by Alex Chepigin
Peter Grannis is a former representative of the 65th district of New York in the assembly and the current commissioner of the New York State department of environmental conservation. While he was an assemblyman he passionately addressed environmental issues of concern and he helped pass laws addressing issues such as acid rain, clean air and water, fluorocarbons and recycling. Additionally, he fought to pass the State Environmental Quality Review Act and the first Bottle Bill, a law that puts a small refundable deposit on any drink container that is returned when the container is brought back to the store at which it was bought to be recycled. The bill encourages people to recycle and has seen major success.
Commissioner Grannis signed a law that required all state contractors operating heavy-duty trucks to have the best technology available and to use the fuel with the lowest sulfur content. Due to this effort, Commissioner Grannis is a three-time winner of the Legislator of the Year award from the Environmental Planning Lobby and was accorded similar honors by the Audubon Society. He authored New York’s Clean Indoor Air Act and laws that help to prevent the sale of tobacco to adolescents. He also received awards for these achievements.
Click here for a printable view of this article.
Click here to read more Schools articles.Click here to read more Science & Environment articles.
Click here to send a copy of this article via email.
We're interested in your opinion. Click here to submit a comment on this article, or any other.
