On Earth Day 2021, Attorney General James Highlights Environmental Accomplishments in Western New York

AG James Continues to Fight Relentlessly on Behalf of New Yorkers and the Environment

NEW YORK – To celebrate Earth Day 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James today highlighted a number of local, statewide, and federal public health and environmental protection efforts that her office has taken to protect communities in Western New York.

“Throughout my career, I have taken countless legal and legislative actions to protect the environment because far too often, the negative impacts of an unhealthy planet are not shared equally,” said Attorney General James. “We cannot talk about Earth Day and climate change without first talking about the disproportionate impact on our most vulnerable communities. That’s why it has been important for me to address critical issues for Western New York communities, such as lead poisoning in Buffalo homes and hazardous waste in Tonawanda. This Earth Day, I remain committed to supporting and protecting our communities through critical environmental actions, both in New York and across the nation.”

Attorney General James has taken a number of actions in the Western New York region to address key climate, environmental, and public safety concerns. For example:

• Attorney General James reached a $4 million agreement this week that resolves years of hazardous waste disposal and oil spill contamination at the former Tonawanda Forge site in Tonawanda, New York. Over the years, a number of soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water sampling investigations of the Tonawanda Forge site have found the presence of asbestos, petroleum, and other hazardous substances — including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, heavy metals (such as lead and arsenic), volatile organic compounds, and semi-volatile organic compounds. Some of this contamination was found at levels exceeding state cleanup standards designed to protect public health and the environment. The agreement stipulates that American Axle & Manufacturing will compensate the state of New York for costs associated with the state’s cleanup of contamination at the site. 

• In September 2020, Attorney General James, with the city of Buffalo and Erie County as co-plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit against a group of individuals and companies in the Buffalo region for repeatedly and persistently violating county, city, state, and federal laws by illegally allowing lead paint-related hazards to proliferate in their rental properties. The violations by the group, which has owned and managed more than 150 single- and two-family homes in predominantly low-income communities, has led to dozens of reported instances of childhood lead poisoning. The poisoning of children from lead paint in aging rental housing is of particular concern within the Buffalo region. Tens of thousands of rental properties in Buffalo that were constructed before 1978 contain lead paint, which, if not properly maintained and managed, can cause lead poisoning. If such properties are properly maintained, however, lead poisoning can be prevented. The health impacts of lead paint in rental housing are particularly acute in the Buffalo region, where elevated blood lead levels are more prevalent in low-income neighborhoods than high-income neighborhoods.

On a statewide basis, some examples of notable actions taken by Attorney General James include:

• Continuing to Hold Accountable Those Responsible for the Contamination of PFAS — so-named “forever chemicals.” The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is currently litigating a landmark lawsuit against the makers of PFAS-containing firefighting foam products for the contamination caused by the use of their products and the creation of a public nuisance. This lawsuit seeks to recover at least $51 million in costs incurred by the state in the cleanup of the dangerous chemicals released into the environment at several military bases, civilian airports, and other sites in New York.                                      
                                         
  
• Assisting in Implementing New York’s Climate Law. In 2019, New York enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), the most ambitious clean energy and climate law in the nation. The new law requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. The law creates a Climate Action Council — and Climate Justice and Just Transition Working Groups — charged with developing a scoping plan of recommendations to meet these targets and place New York on a path toward carbon neutrality, in manner that ensures all New Yorkers secure the economic and environmental benefits of the renewable energy economy. The OAG is actively engaged in assisting agencies with the implementation of CLCPA to ensure it meets its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and fostering a just and equitable transition to a green economy in New York. 

For four years of the Trump Administration — and particularly in its final year — Attorney General James was a national leader in countering the former administration’s relentless, reckless, and illegal efforts to eliminate critical safeguards on which individuals, families, and communities in New York depend. Examples of recent federal environmental actions taken by OAG that are benefiting New Yorkers include:

• Forcing Action on Smog Pollution. In October 2019, Attorney General James filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to abide by its legal responsibility under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to ensure upwind sources of pollution do not continue to create unhealthy smog in New York. The lawsuit followed EPA’s denial of a petition filed by New York that cited the Agency’s legal responsibility under the CAA to control emissions of upwind pollution sources. Smog is a serious and persistent public health problem in New York, where more than two-thirds of the public regularly breathes air that is polluted with smog. In July 2020, a federal appeals court sided with Attorney General James and overturned EPA rejection of New York’s petition to curb smog pollution from upwind sources. The court directed EPA to do its job in addressing upwind pollution emissions that impede New York’s ability to attain and maintain health standards for smog. Last month, EPA issued a rule proposing to further limit pollution from upwind sources.

• Challenging Trump EPA’s “Dirty Power” Rule. In August 2019, Attorney General James led a coalition of 23 attorneys general and eight local governments, in a lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s EPA over its "Dirty Power" rule. The rule replaced the Clean Power Plan, the first-ever nationwide limit on one of the largest sources of climate change pollution — existing fossil-fueled power plants. The Trump Administration rule rolled back these limits and would have had virtually no impact on these emissions, prolonging the nation’s reliance on polluting, expensive coal power plants and obstructing states’ progress towards clean, renewable, and affordable electricity generation. In a major win in the fight against climate change, a federal appeals court in January 2021 agreed with Attorney General James and her coalition that the repeal was unlawful, and vacated the Dirty Power Rule ensuring that this unjust and illegal rule will no longer see the light of day.

• Protecting Migratory Birds. In January 2021, Attorney General James led a coalition of 12 states in suing over a Trump Administration Department of Interior (DOI) rule narrowing the scope of protections for migratory birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) by eliminating liability of the oil and gas industry and others for killing birds, as a result of oil spills, electrocution, and pesticide poisoning, among other things. Attorney General James had previously led a coalition of eight states in successfully convincing a federal court to set aside the legal basis for that narrowing, but the Trump DOI ignored that ruling and proceeded to formalize it into regulation. In March 2021, the Biden DOI agreed with Attorney General James and withdrew the basis of the rule — the Trump-era determination that the MBTA is inapplicable to incidental (non-purposeful) killing of migratory birds. More than 320 species of birds regularly migrate through, nest, or winter in New York. New York hosts 4.1 million birdwatchers and a $4.2 billion birdwatching and wildlife watching industry.                                                              

According to the New York University School of Law’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, since 2017, OAG has been a leader in taking legal actions against federal agencies on issues related to the environment. In recent years, OAG has taken over 240 significant regulatory and legal actions — and over 70 actions in 2020 alone — in opposition to the former administration’s concerted, across-the-board drive to undermine many of our nation’s bedrock health, safety, and environmental laws.