Your recent editorial ("Mr. Cuomo's lost opportunity," Dec. 27) disregarded the facts surrounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo's recent veto of an unclaimed bottle deposits bill and his unwavering support of the Environmental Protection Fund.
Gov. Cuomo is a staunch protector of the fund. When he took office, he inherited a $10 billion budget deficit and extreme fiscal difficulties. He maintained EPF funding at $134 million, sparing it the legislative cuts made to it prior to his tenure.
He has never engaged in the "gimmickry" of raiding the fund to pay other bills or diverted a single dime from it. In August, he announced the acquisition using EPF money of 69,000 acres of former Finch Pruyn land, the largest addition to the Adirondacks preserve in more than a century. He ensured the EPF continued to fund millions in grants for historic preservation, urban forestry and farmland protection.
The bill in question had no impact on the amount of revenue the industry receives from the Bottle Bill law. Under the Bottle Bill, the state receives 80 percent of unclaimed deposits. The industry uses the other 20 percent to cover the costs of operating the deposit program. The vetoed bill would not have changed the split nor would it have addressed any of the Bottle Bill's alleged flaws, as the editorial suggests.
As Gov. Cuomo stated in his veto message, he is "committed to finding additional ways to strengthen the EPF and will work with the Legislature to do so." He vetoed this bill because it was passed outside the budget process, and it would have had a $10 million negative impact on the state financial plan, a key omission in your editorial. After years of uncontrolled deficits, our state needs to avoid budget bills outside the budget process. It is easy for the Legislature to increase spending for a popular program when they are not required to make commensurate cuts elsewhere.
This is an important debate and the facts matter. It is unfortunate your editorial chose to ignore them.
ROBERT M. HALLMAN
Deputy Secretary for Energy and the Environment