Dear Constituent,

Happy Earth Day! We celebrate this occasion annually as a time to honor our planet and raise awareness of steps we can take to protect it and lead more sustainable lives. In that spirit, here is some environmental news along with a round-up of resources intended to help anyone looking to take some Earth-friendly actions this week, this month, and beyond. 

Sincerely,

Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg

My office will be co-hosting a constituent services booth with Senator Harckham's team at Ossining's Earth Day Festival; hope to see you there!

Many of our municipalities and local environmental action committees are hosting Earth Day-related events. I hope to be in attendance at many of these events and to see you there!

Saturday, April 26

• Battle of Yorktown Roadside Cleanup, all day, various locations in Yorktown. Click here for more details, including registration information. 
• Putnam County Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day, 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM at Fahnestock State Park (1570 Route 301, Kent, NY 10512). Putnam County residents can drop off household hazardous waste at this event. For more information and to register, visit https://www.putnamcountyny.gov/health/recycle/. 
• Westchester County Household Recycling Day, 9 AM - 3 PM at FDR State Park in  Yorktown (2957 Crompond Rd., Yorktown Heights, NY 10598). Westchester County residents can recycle a variety of household materials at this event. Click here for more information.
• Green Ossining Earth Day Festival, 10 AM - 6 PM at Louis Engel Waterfront Park, Ossining (25 Westerly Rd., Ossining, NY 10562). Westchester’s largest Earth Day festival is back for another year! My office will be co-hosting a booth with Senator Harckham’s team; stop by! 
• Earthfest at Boscobel, 10 AM - 1 PM. (1601 Route 9D, Garrison, NY 10524). Visit with local organizations to learn about climate solutions, pollinator gardens, composting, zero waste, lending libraries, thrift shopping, electric vehicles and lawn equipment, Climate Smart Community programming, and more in a beautiful setting! Click here to learn more and register. 
• Yorktown Repair Cafe, 11 AM - 3 PM at Grace Lutheran Church (3830 Gomer St., Yorktown Heights, NY 10598). Click here to learn more and register.

Sunday, April 27

• Westchester County Compost Giveback and Bin/Rain Barrel Sale, 10 AM - 2 PM at the County Household Materials Recycling Facility (15 Woods Rd., Valhalla, NY 10595). Click here for more information about the event, at which participants can take home free compost and purchase home composting equipment and other items.

Saturday, May 3

• Riverkeeper Sweep, various locations throughout AD95. Click here to see a full list of locations and sign up to help. 
• I Love My Park Day, various locations. Click here to learn more and sign up to help. 

Celebrating Native Plant Month in the Capitol

Over the past month, my office has hosted multiple events related to sustainability. At the end of March, we teamed up with Senator Harckham and a team of subject matter experts for a legislative briefing and press conference about the impacts of climate change on mental health. Click here to learn more. 

At the beginning of April, I was joined by members of New York State’s Garden Club of America affiliates to celebrate Native Plant Month. We hosted a tabling event sharing information and resources and also recorded a video answering frequently asked questions about native plants - click here to learn more about the day's events and see photo and video. 

I was also pleased to display Croton100’s Climate Action Quilts in the Capitol. Click here to watch a video about the Climate Action Quilt initiative and the work that our local chapters of CURE100 do to help us lower emissions in our communities. 

For an update on environmental legislation, please see the legislative update toward the end of this message. 

GridRewards

Con Edison households, take note: you can earn money for reducing energy usage by participating in GridRewards. You can download the app to your iPhone or Android phone or sign up online to get energy-saving tips and notifications about special GridRewards events during which you can earn higher rewards. You can also earn cash for referring friends to the program. Average households can earn over $100 per year over and above the money they save by reducing their energy usage. To learn more, including how to enroll, visit https://sustainablewestchester.org/gridrewards. Sign up by Wednesday, April 30 to maximize your earnings. 

SmartCharge

If you have an electric car and live in the Con Edison service area, you can earn cash rewards for charging during off-peak times by enrolling in the SmartCharge program. Click here to learn more and sign up.

NYSERDA’s EmPower New York program provides no-cost energy efficiency solutions to income-eligible New Yorkers. Homeowners and renters will be connected with a participating contractor to assess if a home would benefit from free energy upgrades such as: 

• Home energy assessment to identify areas of possible energy improvements
• Tips on how to save energy
• Installation of high-efficiency lighting
• Attic and wall insulation
• Installation of clean heating and cooling heat pumps
• Replacement of old, inefficient refrigerators and freezers 
• Water-saving showerheads 
• A monthly electric bill credit of between $5-$15 from community solar.

To check your eligibility and apply, click here. 

Last year, I am proud that we passed important environmental legislation such as the Climate Change Superfund Act (A.3351A of 2024), which will hold corporate polluters accountable for harm to our environment and require them to help pay for climate change resiliency and mitigation efforts. We also passed legislation to ban CO2 fracking (A.8866 of 2024), protecting our air and water from the ills that plague fracking communities. 

There are hundreds of bills relating to the environment currently pending in the Legislature. 

Some highlights include the following: 

• I am the lead sponsor of a bill, A.7060, which authorizes NYSERDA to administer a program providing grants directly to residents to help more people switch to heat pumps.
• I also sponsor A.3533, bipartisan legislation to authorize community preservation funds for the protection of land and water sources. 
• My Climate Relocation Planning and Preparation Act (A.272) legislation is intended to help New York plan for inbound migration as a result of climate change. As extreme events like flooding and wildfires become more prevalent and damaging in warmer areas, New York and areas farther north can expect to begin receiving people fleeing more damage-prone areas. We should begin preparing for this as soon as possible. 
• A.1875 would require inclusion of complete streets principles for certain Department of Transportation projects.
• I am a co-sponsor of the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition, or New York HEAT, Act. If passed, this bill would require the Public Service Commission to enact a plan ensuring that no household pays more than 6% of their income for their monthly utility bills. It would also replace the obligation to serve gas with an obligation to serve energy, eliminating the gas subsidies that we are currently forced to pay and enabling a transition away from gas service to electricity where feasible.

Other environmental legislation I co-sponsor includes: 

• The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would require companies selling, or distributing covered packaging materials and products to reduce consumer packaging, improve recycling and recycling infrastructure, financially support municipal recycling programs, reduce toxins in packaging, and require producers of products to take responsibility for end of life solutions to product packaging.
• The Bigger Better Bottle Bill, which would make more bottles eligible for return and raise the handling fee, encouraging more recycling. 
• A number of bills that aim to eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and other harmful chemicals in various products, to protect our health. 
• A.2101 would create the Green Affordable Pre-electrification (GAP) Fund to help homeowners and tenants fix deficiencies in their homes that prevent them from maximizing energy efficiency and/or replacing fossil fuel appliances with electric ones. 
• A.1373A would expand the solar tax credit, increasing the amount and making it refundable to allow more low-income homeowners to benefit. 
• A.4631B requires fashion companies to adhere to environmental standards and establishes a fashion remediation fund to address environmental damage caused by the fashion industry. 

If you have questions or suggestions about these bills or any others, please feel free to reach out to my office at levenbergd@nyassembly.gov or (914) 941-1111.