ESFPA E-News

Where ESFPA Priorities Stand as Legislative Session Hits the Home Stretch

With the Senate set to end their 2025 session on June 13th and the Assembly planning on ending June 17th, we only have a few Legislative days left.  Here is a link to our latest Legislative Report. Below are some of the most likely to move bills:

Petroleum Bulk Storage Paint – SUPPORT A, 6466 (Septimo/S.1704 (Harckham) Passed Both Houses

This bill would amend Chapter 505 of the Laws of 2021 which amended the Environmental Conservation Law § 17-1016 adding a requirement that all Above Ground Storage Tanks (ASTs) have shells and/or roof painted white, beige, or cream to reduce Air Pollution from Petroleum Bulk Storage (PBS) Facilities. The requirement came into effect on January 1, 2024. Environmental groups and the regulated community have raised several concerns and complaints indicating the impracticality and difficulty in complying with the statute.

On January 8th, 2024, DEC issued a compliance memorandum looking for amended legislation.

Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (EPR) – NPAT  A. 1749 (Glick)/S. 1464 (Harckham) Passed Senate

Enacts the "Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act" to require companies selling, offering for sale, or distributing covered packaging materials and products to reduce consumer packaging, improve recycling and recycling infrastructure, including supporting reusable and refill infrastructure, financially support municipal recycling programs, reduce toxins in packaging and require producers of products to bear the onus for end-of-life solutions to product packaging.

ESFPA remains pleased that non-packaging paper is not included in the bill, and it remains a packaging proposal. The Bill passed the Senate last year and we expect it to pass again in 2025. There is pressure from municipalities and environmental groups to amend the bills to include all paper products. If that happens the bill includes provisions related to rates and dates, post-consumer content, mandatory product reductions and toxics that we could not support. ESFPA has not issued a memo on this bill in 2025, but we have signed a memo of concerns lead by the Business Counsel of NY. In Assembly Ways & Means.

Tropical Rainforest Economic & Environmental Stability Act (TREES Act) – OPPOSE – A. 8673 (Glick)/S. 7203 (Krueger) Passed Senate

Enacts the tropical rainforest economic & environmental sustainability act requiring that companies contracting with the state do not contribute to tropical forest degradation or deforestation directly or through their supply chains; establishes the supply chain transparency assistance program to assist small and medium-sized businesses and minority and women-owned businesses in achieving compliant supply chains.

ESFPA objects to this legislation based on definitional concerns, impact on businesses, DEC new role in procurement and the fact that North America accounts for >4% of all consumption of Tropical forest and agricultural commodities. Remains in Assembly Gov Ops committee.

Pesticides in Wetlands OPPOSE - A. 6930 (Burdick)/S. 5983-A (Harckham) Passed Senate

This bill would authorize local governments that have adopted freshwater wetland protection laws to prohibit the use of pesticides in wetlands.

ESFPA opposes this legislation as ECL Article 33 governing the application and use of pesticides clearly preempts local regulation of pesticides. Despite several amendments the Governor has vetoed this legislation three times. 5/29/25 on Third Reading in Assembly.

Reclaimed Lumber – NPAT – A. 3029 (Kelles)/S. 2091 (Kavanagh) Passed Senate

Establishes structural standards for the reuse of deconstructed building materials (i.e. reclaimed lumber); requires the uniform building code to set standards for the use of solid-sawn lumber in construction and for the grading of used solid-sawn lumber; requires the Secretary of State (i.e. Codes Council) to develop a program for grading reclaimed wood for structural purposes.

State Code Council and NYS Building Officials Council (NYSBOC) have issues with this legislation. It was introduced in the Assembly in 2024. Senate cosponsor in 2025. Sits in Assembly Govt. Ops. Committee.

PFAS Discharge Disclosure Act (water) – OPPOSE A. 5832 (Kelles)/ S. 4574 (May) Passed Senate

This legislation would require all existing and new water discharge permits to monitor for one year their discharges and to report any level of PFAS documented.  This legislation was amended on May 31, 2023, to include general permits for multi-purpose stormwater permits. 

ESFPA has opposed this legislation since it added the Multi-sector General Stormwater Permit. S. 227-B Passed the Senate in 2023.  ESFPA has filed a memorandum in opposition to this bill. 5/25/29 A. 5832 referred to Assembly Rules Committee.

Petroleum Bulk Storage Paint – SUPPORT A, 6466 (Septimo/S.1704 (Harckham) Passed Both Houses

This bill would amend Chapter 505 of the Laws of 2021 which amended the Environmental Conservation Law § 17-1016 adding a requirement that all Above Ground Storage Tanks (ASTs) have shells and/or roof painted white, beige, or cream to reduce Air Pollution from Petroleum Bulk Storage (PBS) Facilities. The requirement came into effect on January 1, 2024. Environmental groups and the regulated community have raised several concerns and complaints indicating the impracticality and difficulty in complying with the statute.

On January 8th, 2024, DEC issued a compliance memorandum looking for amended legislation.

New Forest Carbon Inventory for Vermont

To monitor the carbon benefits of Vermont’s forest sector, Dr. Alexandra Kosiba of UVM Extension prepared the recently released 2025 Vermont Forest Carbon Inventory. The inventory covers carbon stored in forests, as well as carbon gains and losses across the forest sector, including sequestration by existing forests, urban trees, newly established forestland and harvested wood products in use and in landfills. It also measures emissions from when a forest is converted to another type of land use, such as agriculture or development. 

A couple of interesting tidbits from the study:

• The relative stability of four forest carbon pools (Figure 1) - below ground biomass, deadwood, forest floor and soil.  Clearly the most dynamic pool over time is above ground biomass.
• One trend evident in Figure 2 is that the rate of carbon sequestration in Vermont’s forests has declined since 1990, indicating that these forests are now storing carbon at a slower rate. This reduction is likely a result of the natural maturation processes of Vermont's forests; while older forests tend to store more carbon overall, they do so at a slower sequestration rate.
• In terms of carbon sequestration rates, younger stands exhibit faster rates of carbon uptake compared to older forest stands. For instance, when forests transition from the 0-20 year age class to the 21-40 year age class, the average increase in carbon stored is 18 Mt C per acre. As forests continue to mature into the 41-60 year age class, the increase in carbon storage tapers off to about 9 Mt C per acre, reflecting a slowing rate.

The study uses FIA data as a base for assessment which does raise some concerns about landscape accuracy due to plot densities.  It nevertheless provides a statewide means of assessing forest carbon pools and showing key differences between carbon storage and net carbon flux.  Something we do not see reported a lot.

Update on the Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program

The Securing Northeast Forest Carbon Program was created to be a cooperative initiative among the state forestry offices of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, launched in 2021. The project was initially funded by a USDA Landscape Scale Restoration Grant awarded to the NE State Foresters Association and lead by Charles Levesque, which concluded this past winter. Recognizing the value of the collaboration and its educational outreach, University of Vermont Extension has stepped in to continue facilitating the program, including maintaining the website and newsletter to ensure ongoing communication and engagement. 

They’ve also decided to change the name to the Northeast Forest Carbon and Climate Partnership. They think this name better reflects the group moving forward. The website URL will remain the same: https://northeastforestcarbon.org/.

Reach out to Ali Kosiba (alexandra.kosiba@uvm.edu) with any questions or thoughts. New York's contact for the partnership is Molly Hassett - Forest Climate Section Leader, NY DEC, Division of Lands and Forests – Molly.Hassett@dec.ny.gov

Lessons from the First American Forest Foundation Carbon Auction

American Forest Foundation hosted its first Carbon Auction for carbon credits generated from the Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP). However, the auction didn’t go as planned. The feedback was that the format did not meet buyers’ needs. To read more about this auction, and how AFF is moving forward check out the outcome report. 

Click the link below to read the outcome report:

Pennsylvania Forest Seminar: Regenerating Forests with Slash Walls

June 10, 2025, 12:00 PM-1:00 PM ET

Discover the innovative approach of slash walls, first developed in 2017 at Cornell University’s Arnot Teaching and Research Forest, to effectively exclude deer and promote forest regeneration. This engaging presentation will explore 4 to 6 years of vegetative response data from permanent sample points, highlighting changes in regeneration stocking, hardwood seedling diversity, seedling height growth, and other key metrics inside and outside slash walls. Learn about the design and construction of these walls and gain insights into their impact on forest ecosystems, including comparisons of younger and older installations.

During this one-hour webinar on vegetative responses to slash walls, including regeneration stocking and seedling growth metrics, participants can attend at no cost unless they are seeking continuing education credits.

Who is this for?

• Forest landowners
• Natural resource professionals
• Interested public

What will you learn?

• Design features to ensure slash walls are correctly built
• The response of forest vegetation in regeneration harvests in the absence of deer
• Variation in vegetation response among slash walls and silvicultural techniques to achieve desired goals

Earn Credits

• Society of American Foresters CFE credits (1.0 credit) Category 1-CF
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative credits - 1 hour (.25 years) CE credits
• State Coordinated Licensed or Registered Forester Credits
• Peer Volunteer/Master Gardener Update Training

Registration is required to receive the link to access the webinar. A link to the recorded webinar will be emailed to registrants within ten business days after the live event. The recording will be accessible for six months from the event date.

Click the link below to register for the webinar: