[CPEO-BIF] "New York bill to ban toxic solvent TCE awaits governor’s signature"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

New York bill to ban toxic solvent TCE awaits governor’s signature

By Elizabeth Shogren 
Reveal
August 4, 2020

Todd Kaminsky, chairman of the New York State Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, was driving to a political event in February when a radio segment caught his attention. It was a Reveal story about a toxic chemical solvent – trichloroethylene, or TCE – that can cause a range of cancers and immune disorders and deform fetal hearts.

Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Island, had long been aware of the dangerous chemical, widely used to remove grease at dry cleaners, military bases and manufacturing facilities. After the Trump administration had scuttled TCE restrictions proposed under President Barack Obama, he’d introduced a bill in November to put similar restrictions in place in New York. But it was just one of more than 100 bills he’d introduced in the current legislative year, according to his staff.

Kaminsky found Reveal’s story “so powerful” that he decided to make a TCE ban the top priority of the session, he told Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. “This is very rare where the two things meet,” he recalled thinking, “where you see a need and you have the power to do something about it.” 

Late last month, both chambers of the State Legislature passed the bill. A spokesperson for Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will review it.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.revealnews.org/article/new-york-bill-to-ban-toxic-solvent-tce-awaits-governors-signature/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org





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