On June 14, E2 members Greg Hale, Wendy Neu and John Sullivan joined advocates from NRDC and other environmental groups in Albany to urge New York State Senators to pass the New York Oceans and Bay Protection Act (S-7244A) this legislative session. The bill, which passed the State Assembly in May, takes an important step towards improving the health of New York’s coastal areas by creating a New York Ocean and Bays Protection Council, which will coordinate state marine resources and decisions, encourage ecosystem-based management approaches, and ensure that accurate information about the state of coastal fisheries is widely available. It also calls for the establishment of a comprehensive ocean management plan by the fall of 2008.

E2 members met with eleven Senate offices - including those of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Senate Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Carol Marcellino - to impress upon them the critical role healthy ocean and bay ecosystem play in the economic well-being of New York. S-7244A would promote improved coordination and management of NY’s waterways and would direct state agencies to conduct their activities in ways that protect, conserve and restore ocean and coastal resources.

Learn more about the New York Ocean and Bays Protect Act.