Tonko congratulates Santabarbara on A+ rating from conservation voters

Advocacy, legislative work on local environmental issues in Montgomery County cited

Albany-area Congressman Paul D. Tonko is congratulating Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara again received an A+ rating from the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) for his legislative work on environmental issues this past session. NYLCV is the only statewide environmental organization in New York that advocates for clean water, clean air, renewable energy and open space.

“Congratulations to my friend Angelo Santabarbara for earning this distinction from the League of Conservation Voters recognizing his work over the previous term as a true environmental champion in our New York State legislature.,” said Tonko says.

Santabarbara sponsored and championed 16 environmental bills during this year’s session — twelve of which passed the Assembly.

Among those laws is the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act; the Child Safe Products Act that bans chemicals that have been proven to be harmful to human health from children’s products; and a measure that aligns New York’s water-saving performance standards with the federal guidelines.

Santabarbara is a civil engineer who rose to political prominence for his advocacy on local environmental issues in Montgomery County,  a portion of his district where he has fought to protect natural resources and quality of life in rural communities.

He notes the Glen Canal View Business Park, which was identified for a bio-solid sewage facility last year. That proposal would have sited a sewage sludge facility over an existing aquifer in the Glen Industrial Park. The proposal was ultimately withdrawn after Santabarbara introduced a bill calling for a moratorium on such facilities until environmental concerns could be further investigated.

“We are seeing increased interest in environmental protection as more and more communities are seeing forest areas lost to industrial uses that can cause damage to the environment and put natural resources at risk,” the Assemblyman tells The Chronicle.

“Clean water, clean air, renewable energy — if elected leaders are serious about safeguarding public health, they cannot compromise on these important issues,” Santabarbara argues.

The constituents of his Mohawk Valley district, which stretches from Schenectady, along the Mohawk River to Herkimer County, agree.

“[He] is wise enough to understand that without farms we have nothing. His proposed bill isn’t only protecting our farm, it is protecting our future,” said Cara Bruno and Tony Bruno, members of Saving T.O.M. (Town of Mohawk).

“Angelo recognizes the impacts that loss of these resources can have on the community’s health and well-being and seeks to make more opportunities for communities to provide guidance and feedback when natural resources are at risk,” said Steve Helmin, a Board Member of Citizens Against Local Landfills.