Gov. Andrew Cuomo loves the environment too much to compel New York City stores to charge a nickel for plastic bags, he said Tuesday afternoon.

Cuomo announced he would sign a bill passed by state lawmakers that kills the city's law, which was to be implemented Wednesday.

"I have reeled in numerous plastic bags while fishing in the Hudson and off Long Island," the governor said in a 925-word statement. "I have seen plastic bags in the trees while hiking in the Adirondacks and driving down the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. It is a statewide challenge. As such, a statewide solution is the most appropriate way to address this issue."

Like Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the governor said the city's law was bad because the nickel fee would have gone to retailers instead of an environmental cause. Senate Republicans had blasted the measure for the opposite reason, citing their affinity for plastic bags, 10 billion of which are dumped in landfills by the city every year. Only 32 of the 197 state lawmakers who voted on the city legislation supported the fee, which supporters said would get New Yorkers in the habit of bringing their own bags to shop.

The governor vowed to advance a statewide measure to reduce the use of plastic bags, but that was little consolation to distraught environmentalists for several reasons.

First, allowing the city's bag fee to take effect would not have prevented Albany from passing a statewide bill. In fact, it would have boosted the chances of such a bill because lawmakers opposed to the city's measure would have had more urgency to supersede it. The bill Cuomo signed yesterday removes any pressure for Albany to act.

Second, as Cuomo alluded to in his statement, there is no guarantee that he can pass a statewide bag bill. State legislators, all of whom face re-election in 2018, have diverse and often opposing views on plastic bags that appear impossible to reconcile. Republicans who control the state Senate love disposable bags and want them to remain free. Heastie suggests he might support a fee if the money went to eco-friendly initiatives, while some of his members consider it a tax on the poor.

Third, the governor's decision ensures that billions more plastic bags will end up in landfills as well as oceans, rivers, streets, trees, sewage-treatment plants and other unwelcome places while he undertakes his promised quest to pass a better bill. It will be at least two years before a new bill takes effect. The bags thrown away during that time will take hundreds of years to decompose.

In his statement, Cuomo said bags should be treated as beverage bottles and cans are.

"The very first bottle-deposit law in the 1980s had a similar flaw [to the city's bag bill]. It allowed a windfall to retailers initiating the deposit, costing the state roughly $1.6 billion in revenue," the governor said. "In 2008, the state finally admitted the error and developed the political will to change the law which was amended; now, 80% of the deposit goes to the state to protect and improve the environment. We should not repeat that mistake."

Left unsaid was that even though the state did not receive unredeemed nickel deposits, the law made New York cleaner for decades by providing a financial incentive to recycle bottles and cans. Environmentalists regard it as the most effective anti-litter measure in state history. And it did not cost the state $1.6 billion—or anything, for that matter—because the state was not collecting money for beverage containers before the bottle bill passed either.

The governor is correct, though, that making the 5 cents a redeemable deposit statewide rather than a city-based fee would be better for the environment because it would effectively raise a 62-county army of bag collectors.

Cuomo said he would convene a task force to recommend a measure by the end of the year to curb the use of single-use bags. The annual legislative session ends in June.

The governor's announcement Tuesday prompted a slew of responses from disappointed environmentalists.

"We are deeply saddened that Gov. Cuomo has signed the bill to nullify New York City's fee on carryout bags," said Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. "Though we appreciate his obvious concern for the issue, there is now a law on the books that overturns the principle of home rule and leaves us with no near-term solution to the very real problem of plastic-bag waste."

The City Council had passed the bag-fee bill 28-20. It was the only close vote since it passed a road-pricing measure in 2008. That, too, was killed by Albany, also to the dismay of advocates for a cleaner planet.

"In the Trump Age, state government’s role cannot begin and end with blocking the work of local governments," said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. "While it’s been an open secret that Gov. Cuomo did not want to deal with this legislation, as the state’s chief executive, he has the opportunity and, now, the responsibility to lead."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo loves the environment too much to compel New York City stores to charge a nickel for plastic bags, he said Tuesday afternoon.

Cuomo announced he would sign a bill passed by state lawmakers that kills the city's law, which was to be implemented Wednesday.

"I have reeled in numerous plastic bags while fishing in the Hudson and off Long Island," the governor said in a 925-word statement. "I have seen plastic bags in the trees while hiking in the Adirondacks and driving down the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. It is a statewide challenge. As such, a statewide solution is the most appropriate way to address this issue."

Like Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the governor said the city's law was bad because the nickel fee would have gone to retailers instead of an environmental cause. Senate Republicans had blasted the measure for the opposite reason, citing their affinity for plastic bags, 10 billion of which are dumped in landfills by the city every year. Only 32 of the 197 state lawmakers who voted on the city legislation supported the fee, which supporters said would get New Yorkers in the habit of bringing their own bags to shop.

The governor vowed to advance a statewide measure to reduce the use of plastic bags, but that was little consolation to distraught environmentalists for several reasons.

First, allowing the city's bag fee to take effect would not have prevented Albany from passing a statewide bill. In fact, it would have boosted the chances of such a bill because lawmakers opposed to the city's measure would have had more urgency to supersede it. The bill Cuomo signed yesterday removes any pressure for Albany to act.

Second, as Cuomo alluded to in his statement, there is no guarantee that he can pass a statewide bag bill. State legislators, all of whom face re-election in 2018, have diverse and often opposing views on plastic bags that appear impossible to reconcile. Republicans who control the state Senate love disposable bags and want them to remain free. Heastie suggests he might support a fee if the money went to eco-friendly initiatives, while some of his members consider it a tax on the poor.

Third, the governor's decision ensures that billions more plastic bags will end up in landfills as well as oceans, rivers, streets, trees, sewage-treatment plants and other unwelcome places while he undertakes his promised quest to pass a better bill. It will be at least two years before a new bill takes effect. The bags thrown away during that time will take hundreds of years to decompose.

In his statement, Cuomo said bags should be treated as beverage bottles and cans are.

"The very first bottle-deposit law in the 1980s had a similar flaw [to the city's bag bill]. It allowed a windfall to retailers initiating the deposit, costing the state roughly $1.6 billion in revenue," the governor said. "In 2008, the state finally admitted the error and developed the political will to change the law which was amended; now, 80% of the deposit goes to the state to protect and improve the environment. We should not repeat that mistake."

Left unsaid was that even though the state did not receive unredeemed nickel deposits, the law made New York cleaner for decades by providing a financial incentive to recycle bottles and cans. Environmentalists regard it as the most effective anti-litter measure in state history. And it did not cost the state $1.6 billion—or anything, for that matter—because the state was not collecting money for beverage containers before the bottle bill passed either.

The governor is correct, though, that making the 5 cents a redeemable deposit statewide rather than a city-based fee would be better for the environment because it would effectively raise a 62-county army of bag collectors.

Cuomo said he would convene a task force to recommend a measure by the end of the year to curb the use of single-use bags. The annual legislative session ends in June.

The governor's announcement Tuesday prompted a slew of responses from disappointed environmentalists.

"We are deeply saddened that Gov. Cuomo has signed the bill to nullify New York City's fee on carryout bags," said Marcia Bystryn, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters. "Though we appreciate his obvious concern for the issue, there is now a law on the books that overturns the principle of home rule and leaves us with no near-term solution to the very real problem of plastic-bag waste."

The City Council had passed the bag-fee bill 28-20. It was the only close vote since it passed a road-pricing measure in 2008. That, too, was killed by Albany, also to the dismay of advocates for a cleaner planet.

"In the Trump Age, state government’s role cannot begin and end with blocking the work of local governments," said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. "While it’s been an open secret that Gov. Cuomo did not want to deal with this legislation, as the state’s chief executive, he has the opportunity and, now, the responsibility to lead."

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