January 19, 2016
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2016–17 budget plans include a $300-million appropriation to fully fund the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) for the first time since the fund was created in 1993.
The Cuomo plan will nearly double the size of the EPF, bringing it up to full funding for the first time in its history.
The fund is a source of support for capital projects that protect the environment and enhance communities. Capital projects are usually large projects that purchase land or construct facilities. Most projects that receive grants of EPF money combine it with other funding sources that require matching funds.
The EPF is the most important source of funding for new park lands and campgrounds statewide, as well as new forest preserves in the Adirondack and Catskill parks. It also supports smart growth grants to small communities, municipal recycling projects and farmland protection.
The EPF approved by the Legislature in 2015 currently stands at $177 million. Recent polling shows that New York voters strongly support additional spending on environmental priorities, and specifically, for fully funding the Environmental Protection Fund. Of those who were offered a description of the state’s EPF, more than seven in ten (73%) said they support full funding.
Polling conducted in 2015 by the Adirondack Council, Open Space Institute, The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land showed broad voter support for increased conservation spending. Polling showed that New York voters are by far most supportive of conservation spending on water quality and rebuilding infrastructure. They also support funding programs that preserve forests and wildlife habitat, improve air quality, keep parks open and well-maintained, and provide public access to waterfronts.
Cuomo has also proposed putting another $100 million in a new state fund that provides grants to local governments for faltering sewer systems or clean-water infrastructure.
The EPF has been raided during difficult budgetary times, dropping to as low as $134 million in the 2010–11 fiscal year. The funding level still has to be approved by the legislature during negotiations with Cuomo over the next three months.