NYS DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos Stepping Down

Earlier this week NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner, Basil Seggos, announced he would be stepping down. Seggos has served in this role since 2015.

Seggos’ legacy is a mixed one, as journalist Peter Mantius notes. At our office we have a cardboard cut out of Seggos that we used in a public meeting in early 2020 to call out the parceling up of the Tonawanda Coke site to shift much into the Brownfield program, despite Honeywell Corporation’s clear role as a Potentially Responsible Party for the whole site.

While the final decision on this and other issues rests on the commissioner’s shoulders, ultimately this and other failings of DEC are due to systemic legislative policy decisions that prioritize corporate profits over public health and environmental justice, not just the decisions of one person – we need legislative reforms to shift these systems, such as changes to the Brownfield Clean-up Program.