Thompson Targets Greenhouse Gas Emissions. "Reducing Numbers Is Crucial."

For Immediate Release  June 21, 2010  Contact: Ken Houston 716.854.8705 houston@senate.state.ny.us
                                                                                         
BUFFALO, NY – Greenhouse gas emissions is a global problem and  New York State Senator Antoine Thompson (D-parts of Erie & Niagara Counties) is working to reduce the potentially negative side effects.   The Senate has just approved a bill (#s4958) sponsored by Thompson that calls for businesses, State agencies and homeowners to cut down on their greenhouse gas emissions.  
The bill would also require the Department of Environmental Conservation to create and promote on its website a method of calculating greenhouse gas emissions and offer ways to minimize it.
If this problem is ignored, Senator Thompson says the results can be devastating to our environment and human life. “Scientists predict that increased greenhouse gas emissions and  warmer global temperatures can cause an increase in the number of high ozone days,  and that can lead to more hospitalizations due to asthma attacks. Greenhouse gas emissions can also result in rising sea levels that can damage costal infrastructure.”

Thompson says that wildlife and forest preserves would also be in jeopardy, because of greenhouse gas emissions.  Scientific studies show that in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by as much as 80%.