ALBANY—There is nothing in writing yet from federal judge Thomas Griesa, who yesterday declared an injunction preventing the state's expanded bottle law from taking effect on June 1. But someone passed along a court transcript.
In it, Griesa writes "the defendants are preliminarily enjoined from carrying out or enforcing the phase of the statute which provides that bottles with the new labels are to be sold exclusively in the State of New York" and also that "the court is granting a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the June 1 deadline."
There's another part of the bottle bill not referenced: a provision that would have the state start collecting the nickels from unclaimed deposits, which are currently kept by bottlers.
"At this point, nobody knows how extensive this decision is," said Laura Haight, a lobbyist with NYPIRG who advocated for the expanded bill.
Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for David Paterson, said lawyers are "reviewing the court's ruling."
There had been hope of a legislative fix to this issue, but that never happened.
Bottle Court Transcript Bottle Court Transcript JimmyVielkind
