While Assembly Speaker Silver’s position favoring Second Avenue construction the length of Manhattan has become well-known, and Assembly Democrats have a general distaste for heavy farebox financing of MTA programs, the biggest new development at Wednesday’s NY Assembly hearing was the emergence of bus pollution as a mainstream transit issue.

The MTA has claimed for years to be moving ahead with clean bus plans, but its proposed bus purchase will increase NYC Transit’s reliance on diesels (MTR #239).

Silver told MTA Chair E. Virgil Conway that NYC Transit’s plan for huge purchases of diesel buses were a "major concern," and pointed to sky-high city childhood asthma rates and MTA L.I. Bus’ diesel phase-out plan.

The Natural Resources Defense Council calls diesel particulate pollution the "number one air pollution issue in New York City." Thanks to the education and advocacy carried out by NRDC and community groups throughout the city on diesels and clean natural gas bus technology, the Assembly is positioning itself to do something about it.