Time is running out for securing a major victory in this year's budget negotiations for environmental programs. Bills must be finalized today to make the April 1 deadline, so please take action now.

Agreements still have not been made on the following three major provisions:

• Updating the Bottle Bill
• Expanding the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF)
• Adding 109 new staff members to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)

In fact, if no agreement is reached, environmental funding could be taken hostage again with other unsettled priorities as it was last year, leaving the fate of programs, acquisitions, and enforcement in limbo for several months.

Our email action alert system is ready to carry your message of necessity to Albany in nanoseconds, so again, please take action now.