Gov. Spitzer plans to redirect nearly half
of Environmental Protection Fund this year

NEW YORK - Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposal to redirect monies from the Environmental Protection Fund to the state's general fund would have a significant impact on some of the state's most valued cultural resources and the local economies that depend on them, according to the New York League of Conservation Voters.

In amendments to the state budget that he will submit to the Legislature today, the governor is calling for an additional $25 million in EPF monies to be diverted to cover other costs - on top of the $100 million he had already requested be diverted in his original budget proposal last month. While NYLCV applauds the governor and Legislature for increasing the EPF's total funding last year, the new amendments would divert nearly half of its current $250 million budget for other purposes. Over the years, $322 million has been borrowed in this manner from the EPF - and the new amendments would bring the "IOUs" to the fund up to $447 million. That translates into nearly a half billion dollars of unrealized environmental projects.

Marcia Bystryn, NYLCV's executive director, said the League would lobby aggressively in Albany this year to protect environmental funding.

"The Environmental Protection Fund is not only the state's primary resource for protecting farmland and increasing open space, it is also an economic engine of its own making," Bystryn said. "The EPF helps us care for the Great Lakes, maintain our parks and keep zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums open. These are important educational, cultural and recreational programs that are vital to local economies. We look forward to working with our government partners in Albany to keeping them strong."

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The New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) was founded in 1989 as a nonpartisan, policy-making and political action organization that works to make environmental protection a top priority with elected officials, decision makers, and voters by evaluating incumbent performance and endorsing and electing environmental leaders to office in New York State.