© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
An update has been released for the Android version of the WAMC App that addresses performance issues. Please check the Google Play Store to download and update to the latest version.

Environmentalists In The Capital Region Target Rep. Paul Tonko

Activists are holding their 10th “Tonko Tuesday” of the summer today to protest what they call "the late and slow legislative process that is addressing climate collapse."

Each week, the band of environmentalists position themselves outside Capital Region Congressman Paul Tonko’s Dove Street office in Albany, carrying signs and voicing concerns about the CLEAN Future Act, which sets a national goal to achieve a 100% clean economy by no later than 2050. Sandy Steubing, with PAUSE: People of Albany United for Safe Energy, has issues with the bill she says defines new fossil fuel infrastructure and waste incineration as “clean” energy solutions.

"In the CLEAN Future Act, which is why we're protesting mostly, Representative Tonko has included fracked gas and waste incineration in his definition of clean energy. For example, combined-heat-and-power plants that are powered by fracked gas are listed as 'clean.'"

Steubing says the group's goal is to "bring awareness to the catastrophic crisis facing all of life on earth."

"The definition of clean energy and the CLEAN Future Act is loose and dirty. It is literally dirty. The dioxins and heavy particulates that spew forth from waste incineration, the burning of garbage, the burning of waste, is full of dioxins and heavy metal particulate. Plus, garbage incinerators emit more carbon per kilowatt-hour than coal-burning does. And yet it is treated as a clean source of fuel in the CLEAN Future Act."

Tonko, a Democrat from the 20th district, says from time to time, his office communicates with the protestors.

"I think, you know, we have exchanged with them what we're doing, we're still working on our climate legislation, because, again, it's a work in progress. We want to make certain that through the infrastructure bills, and through perhaps the reconciliation bill, were able to advance the policy initiatives as a very difficult setting in which to get things done. But we're determined to advance a climate legislation agenda. We have some of our downpayments in the in the hope of the infrastructure bill being done. We've incorporated into our budget bills that were done just this past week. For instance, we addressed through the Department of Energy, the electric vehicle purchases for federal state, we're pushing hard on electric vehicle charging stations, were advancing research, renewable energy."

"Tonko says 'we have exchanged with them what we're doing.' But he has never contacted PAUSE even though we've asked for a meeting many times,” said Steubing.

In July Tonko shared what he told activists with WAMC: “There is a section in the bill that speaks to waste, to energy, so they’re upset about that. I told them if I had authored the bill, on my own, I would not include that because I am not a fan of incineration as an energy alternative.”

Steubing, who claims Tonko "continues to operate at a gradual pace," would like to see the Congressman sponsor the End Polluter Welfare Act  "...that would cut fossil-fuel subsidies and tax loopholes of these dirty fuel companies. Tonko's approach to legislation is incremental, but it's too late for that. According to data from the UN's panel on intergovernmental climate change, we have about seven years before we crossed the ultimate threshold of climate collapse, meaning the planet will heat on its own irregardless of what humans do."

 

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
Related Content