Tony Shorris announced his resignation today as executive director of the Port Authority, a casualty of the new Paterson administration just a little more than a year after former Governor Eliot Spitzer had appointed him to the bi-state transit agency. 

Shorris, along with Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia, had been the face of the Port Authority on a number of major issues, including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, the raising of the authority’s tolls and fares and the recent debate over whether it should take over the development of Moynihan Station.

At the most recent Port Authority board meeting late last month, Shorris had rolled out a plan to reduce the authority’s carbon footprint.  In the plans that Shorris outlined, the agency would achieve neutral emissions by 2010 by buying carbon offset credits that he said would come from wind farms and methane capture facilities.

Shorris hasn’t been the only high ranking state official to be forced out by new Governor David Paterson.  Pat Foye, the downstate chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, resigned last month and was replaced in the interim by Lower Manhattan Development Corporation head Avi Schick.  There is speculation that Schick will keep the post at the ESDC.

“I want to thank Tony Shorris for the significant accomplishments he achieved during his tenure as executive director of the Port Authority,” Governor Paterson said in a statement issued by his office this morning. “Under Tony’s leadership, the Port Authority made substantial strides at Ground Zero, with real progress throughout the site, including the raising of steel for the Freedom Tower. With Tony at the helm, the Port Authority also made smart investments in mass transit and devised creative sustainability measures. Tony was also instrumental in the Port Authority’s acquisition of Stewart Airport, which will prove to be a critical investment in our State’s economic welfare. I wish Tony all the best in his future endeavors.”