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BROAD-BASED COALITION URGES MAYOR BLOOMBERG TO STOP NYC COUNCIL BILL INTRO 650

Measure would have ‘chilling effect on citizens’ lawful activity’

(New York, NY – March 13) A broad-based coalition of 44 organizations is asking Mayor Michael Bloomberg to withdraw New York City Council bill Intro 650. The legislation, introduced at the mayor’s request, would require a police permit for environmental monitoring devices.   The coalition of environmental, labor, academic, public health, faith-based and civil liberties organizations stated in a letter sent to the mayor today that Intro 650 would have a “significant chilling effect on citizens’ lawful, and even commendable, activity.”

The New York City Police Department proposed Intro 650 as an anti-terrorism measure. The stated purpose of the bill is to provide timely sampling data indicating a possible terrorist action utilizing chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (“CRBN”) agents.

In its letter, the coalition states the bill is too far-reaching in its broad definitions of biological, chemical and radiological detectors and covers all types of environmental sensors, as well as research and laboratory analyses, used by teachers, students, unions, and other groups. The bill “may actually do more to hinder the flow of information regarding serious airborne pollutants and other environmental health conditions faced daily by City residents than it would aid in the detection of and response to a potential future terrorist attack,” the letter said.

The coalition addressed multiple flaws in Intro 650. The letter noted the following:

·       The bill creates a highly restrictive regulatory scheme and “vests in the police commissioner broad, unilateral authority to regulate matters of significant scientific and technological complexity.”

·       The bill would subject to criminal liability an environmental advocate or medical researcher who, for whatever reason, uses a monitoring device without a license when responding to an emergency requiring immediate detection data.

·       If such a bill had been in effect in 2001, private individuals and independent organizations would have been required to apply for and obtain a permit before conducting any monitoring of downtown air quality following September 11; as a consequence, entirely lawful monitoring during critical periods of exposure to airborne toxic pollutants would have been impossible. The letter notes further that “the misleading nature” of information released at the time by government agencies would not have been discovered without the independent monitoring that revealed dangerously high levels of contaminants present in the air in lower Manhattan.

The coalition told Mayor Bloomberg “we stand ready to work with you” on alternative legislation, “which must be narrowly crafted to serve the legitimate purposes asserted by the NYPD.”