BY SAM SPOKONY | Some might say it’s become a Sisyphean struggle for state Senator Daniel Squadron.
Since taking office in 2009, Squadron — who is 32 and represents the state’s 25th district, covering the East Village, Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn — has consistently been one of the Senate’s most outspoken members on environmental issues. And he’s now become that house’s leader on those issues, according to E.P.L./Environmental Advocates, an Albany-based nonprofit that annually ranks lawmakers based on their legislative contributions to environmental protection.
The organization awarded Squadron a score of 81 this year, the highest in the state Senate and the only one above 80, after he sponsored 10 environmental bills during the last legislative session, which ended in June.
But Senate Republicans, who currently hold a 33-to-29 majority, have blocked every one of those bills, along with a number of others that Squadron has co-sponsored. In fact, Senate Republicans were so vehement — and, subsequently, effective — in their opposition to environmental protection that their average legislative score was only 33, according to E.P.L./Environmental Advocates. The Senate’s total average score was 45.
“I wish I could say there’d been more robust debate on those bills,” Squadron said in an interview last week. “But the fact is that the most important environmental issues of the day are being defeated without discussion, simply because the Republican leadership isn’t interested in having a debate.”
Squadron’s currently stalled environmental bills deal with issues including the creation of state energy efficiency standards for both appliances and building design; comprehensive accident prevention planning regarding petroleum spills and leaks; the establishment of a small business and household pollution prevention program; the phasing out of pesticide use on state property; conservation of freshwater wetland areas; and stiffer enforcement of state environmental law regulations and policies.
In addition, one of the bills he is sponsoring seeks to amend and strengthen an earlier bill on pollution from idling heavy-duty vehicles that passed the Senate in 2010. The amendment would make it a violation for heavy-duty vehicles to idle for more than three minutes. Like the other bills, it remains held up in committee.
Squadron expressed pride at being named the year’s top scorer on those issues, but continually stressed the frustration of playing what has become a veritable second fiddle to the Democrat-led Assembly, which has been vastly more successful in passing environmental protection bills.
The Assembly’s average score this year, based on the E.P.L./Environmental Advocates rating system, was 75. Its Democrats scored an average of 89 — and the highest scorer, Jeffrey Dinowitz of the Bronx’s 81st District, received a 97.
“In the end, I was disappointed that the highest score in the Senate was 81,” Squadron said, adding that he sometimes wonders about the root of his counterparts’ inability to compromise on big environmental issues.
“I think there’s no question that there’s a general fear of having these conversation,” he explained, “but it can be tough to tell whether the Republican Party is simply that far out of the mainstream, or if it’s the special interests funding them that make it impossible. But either way, the conclusion for New Yorkers is the same.”
Squadron has also actively joined the fight against hydraulic fracturing — more commonly known as hydrofracking — in New York, as natural gas companies seek to install wells throughout the Upstate area. The issue still hangs in limbo, as Governor Andrew Cuomo has not yet decided what course to take on allowing or disallowing companies to begin drilling. Squadron noted that a Senate bill requiring health studies of hydrofracking has not yet been allowed to come up for a vote.
In addition, he appeared in a recent short documentary by “Gasland” director Josh Fox advocating against hydrofracking in New York, citing studies and industry documents that purportedly show the practice is unsafe. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assemblymembers Robert Sweeney and Barbara Lifton and state Senator Liz Kreuger are also featured in the documentary, entitled “The Sky Is Pink.”
In the film, Squadron targeted gas industry lobbyists and tactics that are used to hide hydrofracking’s dangers.
“There’s no question that if people hadn’t talked about this, and cared about this, it would’ve happened,” Squadron said. “It would’ve happened under cover of night, and the first time we would’ve heard about fracking in New York would’ve been at the first crisis.”
