Politics on the Hudson

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Griesa issued a preliminary injunction this afternoon that stops the state’s new bottle recycling bill from taking effect June 1, The International Bottled Water Association said.

The association last week filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the law from going into effect, saying bottlers will not have enough time to implement the law and put New York-specific bar codes on all bottles and cans.

The association said that the judge requested the state and the bottlers to provide further information for a reasonable timeframe “in which to enact a workable effective date.”

Lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson passed the bottle bill as part of the state budget last month to expand a 5-cent deposit to bottles of water. Yet bottlers complained that the law was full of problems and sought to change it, eventually taking their case to court.

Lawmakers and Paterson offered amendments to the law, but the sides have yet to reach an agreement on potential changes.