by Roger Downs, Conservation Director
On April 4th, 2023 the International Panel on Climate Change released a report declaring that if we do not immediately accelerate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the earth could reach dangerously high temperatures by 2030, pushing the climate past irreversible tipping points - like thawing permafrost, burning rainforests, and melting glaciers - all of which have catastrophic climatic impacts of their own. The report, which was compiled by thousands of experts over an exhaustive 6 years of data collection warns that climate disruption in the interim will get more severe even as we seek to curb emissions. There could not be a more dramatic call for New York to act.
In the past few years alone New York state has been pounded by superstorms, deluged with floods and scorched with record heat due to the advancing effects of a warming planet. This has translated into citizens drowning in their own homes, roadways and bridges washed away, and property destruction on an unprecedented scale. Beyond the growing frequency and intensity of severe weather events, New Yorkers will be facing the economic and social costs of dying oceans, hospitalizations due to extreme temperatures and poor air quality, agricultural blight, rapid changes to ecosystems and rising sea levels if we do not work together to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
In this context, the 2023 legislative session presented itself as an incredible opportunity for New Yorkers to lead. It should not be forgotten that New York is the 10th largest economy in the world, and has tremendous influence over global trends and policy through its market share and media presence. And with a self proclaimed climate governor, Democratic supermajorities in both houses and a directive from the Climate Action Council (CAC) to make the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) operational through further legislative action, there was hope that this would be a watershed year for climate solutions and ensure that there are no statutory or financial hurdles before the final CLCPA regulations are in place by 2024.
But New York State politics have a way of wasting opportunities and derailing best laid plans. Despite the year beginning with an executive budget proposal containing legislation that aligned with several recommendations from the CAC, including initiatives focused on electrifying the building sector, reducing waste through circular economies, decarbonizing the transportation sector, generating revenue while reducing carbon pollution, and removing barriers to renewable energy development - negotiations stalemated on multiple fronts, leaving the final budget a month late and short on key legislation.
On balance, what was accomplished in final negotiations did not speak to the urgency of the raging climate crisis and other looming environmental problems, but represented, sadly, policies that were still far ahead of the rest of the nation. Even when NY stumbles we tend to fall forward.
The final budget signed by Governor Hochul marked the passage of a first-of-its-kind statewide fossil fuel ban in new construction starting in 2026 as well as the beginnings of a plan to decarbonize New York’s most polluting state owned buildings and campuses. The budget also included the foundation for a sector wide “Cap and Invest” greenhouse gas emissions reduction program, the details of which will materialize through a later rule making process. And, as always, the devil will be in the details. The budget also continued the recent trend of increased environmental spending, including $400 million in funding for the Environmental Protection Fund, $500 million for clean water infrastructure and the addition of over 265 jobs across multiple environmental agencies to help administer the recently enacted 4.2 billion dollar bond act and climate law. All good things.
But what was left on the table after negotiations broke down, not only represent missed opportunities - but actually negated the effectiveness of some of what had passed. Case in point: the New York Home Energy and Affordability Transition Act, (NY HEAT) which fell out of the budget, would have modernized NY’s Public Service Law to be in sync with our climate law, eliminating ratepayer subsidies for new gas hookups, ending the obligation to serve gas in buildings, and enacting mechanisms to protect low to middle-income families from rising energy prices. Without NY HEAT, utilities will continue to build out expensive gas infrastructure in New York and work to hook up more homes to fossil fuels before the all-electric mandates require heat pumps and appliances in 2026. But even with the new ban enacted in the budget, the Public Service Commission does not have the legal authority to fully stop this surge of fossil fuel infrastructure build out and utilities still maintain a legal “obligation to serve” any customer demanding gas service. Closing this loophole is an absolute imperative before the end of the legislative session (June 8th) or else ratepayers and the climate will be burdened with more stranded assets.
In addition, the Sierra Club looks forward to working with state leaders to pass several other critical pieces of legislation that did not pass during budget season; bills that will support packaging reduction & recycling infrastructure, build our future all-electric transportation sector, protect pollinators from harmful and unnecessary insecticides, and ban PFAS and other forever chemical from everyday products. But we anticipate the same cynical political obstacles that plagued budget season and led to gridlock will continue in an already truncated end-of-session. And the Sierra Club and our colleagues will continue to push back on exemptions and carve outs for industrial polluters, prolonged compliance timelines, and weakened zero emissions standards.
At the heart of this political anemia that plagues Albany appears to be a fear of passing along the costs of the climate transition to voters, and the subsequent and outsized influence that utilities, fossil fuel companies and the chemical industries have on the electorate. While these are real issues, there appears to be a fundamental miscalculation as to how New York progressive politicians combat this pressure and actually enact effective policies that improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers. To this end, progressives do not win tossup elections by watering down sound policies to appeal to right leaning voters. The current political discourse has made party loyalty virtually intractable. We win elections by invigorating our base to come out and vote. But Democratic voters stay home in large numbers when they don’t feel progressive leaders are actually acting on behalf of those that want to protect the environment, create family sustaining jobs and combat the climate crisis. This is why a change of course is so necessary in these remaining weeks of the legislative session. We have no time left to waste.
To find out more about Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter’s legislative advocacy please visit:/content/legislation.