Action Alerts

Urge Governor Hochul to sign climate and environmental protections into law

What's At Stake

New Yorkers, and residents across the nation, look to our state to step up as a leader on climate action, keep people safe from toxic chemicals, and protect both the people and wildlife that live here. Thanks to your advocacy, and the advocacy of thousands of others across the state, several key climate and public health bills passed through New York’s legislature this past session! Now we need your help to get them across the finish line and signed into law by the Governor. The following five bills will help New York hold corporate climate polluters accountable, reduce climate emissions from food sources, and ensure parents have information to protect their children from toxic chemicals.

Urge Governor Hochul to sign these crucial public health and environmental protections into law today!

Read More
  • Climate Superfund Act (S2129A/A3351) Make polluters pay! Establishes a climate change adaptation cost recovery program in New York State, that would require fossil fuel companies that have significantly contributed to greenhouse gas emissions to pay a share of the costs of infrastructure investments required to adapt to climate change impacts.
  • Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Program (S5331A/A5906A) Expands the State’s successful food donation and food scraps recycling program by gradually scaling down the annual average tonnage of food scrap generators that are required to join the program and by extending the food waste recycling requirements to food scrap generators within 50 miles of a recycling center with capacity. This will increase the number of participating establishments, which in turn increases the amount of food waste the state can redirect to New Yorkers in need and divert from landfills. With landfills being the largest source of methane emissions in New York, reducing these emissions by preventing food from decomposing in landfills is also a critical step to address climate.
  • Good Food NY Bill (S.6955A/A.7264A) Authorizes municipal public institutions to award food contracts to bidders who fulfill one or more values important to local communities. These values, outlined in the bill, reflect support for local economies, environmental sustainability, racial equity, valued workforce, valued agricultural sector, animal welfare, and nutrition. This legislation will allow municipalities to use their purchasing power to support more sustainable and climate-friendly food production, helping reduce agricultural pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Diaper Ingredient Disclosure Act (S.2279B/A.43B) Requires all diapers sold in New York to include an ingredient label on the packaging. Many disposable diapers contain ingredients that are dangerous for babies’ developing bodies. However, diaper manufacturers are not required to disclose these toxic ingredients to caregivers. This legislation provides caregivers with the information they need to make informed decisions about the children under their care.
  • Horseshoe Crab Protection (S3185A/A10140) Bans the taking of Horseshoe Crabs for commercial and biomedical purposes. Considered “living fossils” for their 450 million years of survival and existence without evolutional changes, the Horseshoe Crab, is a key member of the ecosystem as their eggs feed migratory birds.

These important bills, together, ensure New York is doing everything in its power to hold polluters’ feet to the fire and protect public health and our shared environment. Send a letter to Governor Hochul today!

Kale, strawberries, flowers, and more grow in raised beds at the Rockaway Youth Task Force community garden in Queens, NYC.
Kale, strawberries, flowers, and more grow at the Rockaway Youth Task Force community garden in Queens, NYC. (Jeenah Moon for Earthjustice)

36 Days Remain

Delivery to Governor Hochul

Important Notice

Your message is delivered to a public official, and all information submitted may be placed in the public record. Do not submit confidential information.

By taking action, you will receive emails from Earthjustice. Change your mailing preferences or opt-out at any time. Learn more in our Privacy Policy. This Earthjustice action is hosted on EveryAction. Learn about EveryAction’s Privacy Policy.

Why is a phone number or prefix required on some action forms?

Trouble Viewing This Action?

If the action form is not loading above, please add earthjustice.org as a trusted website in your ad blocker or pause any ad blockers, and refresh this webpage. (Details.) If the action form still does not display, please report the problem to us at action@earthjustice.org. Thank you!

Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.