Senate approves O'Mara's resolution commemorating the 45th Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2015 (Updated)

Albany, N.Y., April 22—The New York State Senate today approved a Legislative Resolution sponsored by Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats), chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, commemorating the 45th Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2015.

O’Mara was named the committee’s new chairman in late January at the start of this year’s legislative session.  

It was 45 years ago, on April 22, 1970, when then-United States Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin called for a nationwide environmental teach-in and founded the first Earth Day, which is now observed by more than 500 million people worldwide and national governments in 175 countries.

As part of New York State’s celebration of Earth Week from April 19-26, including today's Earth Day observance, the Senate acted on a Senate Resolution (S.R.1427) sponsored by O’Mara which reads, in part, “Sustaining the quality and the productivity of our natural environment, through a balanced, diligent, fair and serious sense of stewardship and conservation, is the foundation of a healthy society and a robust economy best achieved through a far-reaching, diverse network of decision makers working in unison for common goals and a common good to enhance, preserve and protect the natural resources, environmental beauty and the ethics of conservation which have long defined our State.”  

One of the Senate’s key committee assignments, O’Mara said that as chairman he will continue the committee’s focus on numerous regional and statewide challenges including: soil and water conservation and quality; energy-related demands including the development and promotion of  cleaner sources of energy; open space and preservation initiatives impacting farmland, forests and other state resources; brownfields cleanup; solid and hazardous waste management; invasive and endangered species; and fish and wildlife.  

“I appreciate having the confidence of the Senate leadership to undertake this critical assignment,” said O’Mara, who has served as a member of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee since 2011.  “These challenges and issues confronting New York are vital to the overall environmental and economic well-being of the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and the state as a whole.” 

O’Mara said that he will remain committed to working with his legislative colleagues and the governor to strike a reasonable, sensible balance between environmental conservation and protection, and the need to spark and strengthen economic growth and private-sector job creation regionally and statewide.  

He said that environmental conservation- and protection-related issues have long been a focus of his service in the Legislature. His legislative district encompasses the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions where agriculture, including the hub of the state’s wine-and-grape industry in the Finger Lakes, and tourism are economic foundations.