Pace Environmental Clinic Study News | PACE UNIVERSITY
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Patch featured Pace University's Environmental Policy Clinic in "Gov. Cuomo Signs Pace University's Endangered Species Bill"
Patch featured Pace University's Environmental Policy Clinic in "Gov. Cuomo Signs Pace University's Endangered Species Bill"
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has signed into law a bill increasing New York State's powers to protect endangered species from the threat of federal policies that weaken protections. The bill was based on research conducted by student clinicians in Pace University's Environmental Policy Clinic.
Alumna Allie Granger '19, as a student, found a loophole in the five-decade old state law that would allow the U.S. Department of the Interior to remove any species its designation had automatically placed on the New York State list, even if the state believed those species still needed protection. In such a case, the state would then have to launch its own research and regulatory process, which could leave species unprotected indefinitely, according to Granger.
The new law, sponsored by Assemblywoman Didi Barrett and Senator Todd Kaminsky, empowers the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation to protect the state's animals and plants, "regardless of the removal of such designation as an endangered or threatened species by the Secretary of the Interior."
