Cuomo signs plastic bag ban
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill banning single-use plastic bags into law Monday afternoon, on Earth Day, at the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
As Cuomo signed the law, a large crowd gathered into the barn adjacent to the museum, broke into resounding applause. The state law will go into effect in March 2020.
During his speech, Cuomo said plastic bags turn up everywhere, hanging in trees like “bizarre Christmas ornaments.”
“You’ll see them blowing down the street; you’ll see them in the beautiful Hudson River floating up and down the river,” Cuomo said. “Everywhere you go, you’ll see them.”
Cuomo said by 2050, estimates predict there will be more plastic in waterways than fish by weight.
“How bizarre is that?” Cuomo asked.
So the state banned the use of these bags, he added to applause.
“Just stop, stop using the bags,” Cuomo said. Cuomo admitted it might take some time for shoppers to get used to bringing their own bags.
“That’s a change, and change is hard,” he noted.
But he likened shoppers remembering to bring bags to the store to remembering to get dressed and bring their keys before leaving for the store.
Cuomo also used the speech to tout the state’s record on the environment and progressive legislation.
Returning to the environment, Cuomo pointed to a ban on hydraulic fracking for natural gas in New York, the state’s efforts to promote renewable energy sources and joining a group of other states that agreed to live up to the conditions of the Paris Climate Agreement after the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the treaty in 2017.
Cuomo assailed the rollbacks on environmental regulations under the Trump administration, including plans to allow offshore drilling off of state waters.
“The Federal government is still promoting fossil fuels,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo said a mishap involving offshore drilling would cause an environmental disaster in New York Harbor that would wash up the Hudson River.
As he closed his speech, Cuomo turned to a Native American proverb — “We did not inherit the land from our parents, we are borrowing it from our children,” he recited.
The statewide law prohibits grocery stores from providing single-use plastic bags for most purchases. It allows for a $.05 fee to be levied for paper bags purchased at point of sale. The money would be split between the counties that choose to impose the fee and the state, with counties getting 2 cents of every nickel collected.
Cuomo said the state’s share would go towards the state Environmental Protection Fund. A program to distribute reusable bags will be put in place and if local communities decide not to take part the state will step in, Cuomo noted.
New York is the third state in the nation with a ban on single-use plastic grocery bags, joining California and Hawaii.
First- time violators of the plastic bag ban would receive a warning. For a second offense, violators would pay a $250 fine, and repeat offenders would face a $500 fine.
The bags are considered by some to be a scourge on the environment because they are not biodegradable.
Environmental groups estimate tens of thousands of animals, including whales, birds, seals, and turtles, die every year from plastic bag litter in the water because they mistake the bags for food, such as jellyfish.