Activists say New York failed on climate issues this session

New York is working to meet ambitious emissions reduction goals – these goals are laid out in the New York climate law of 2019. Achieving them requires continued progress that climate activists say is not progress fast enough.

These activists say they were disappointed from the start when they heard Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address in January, and while there were some victories, they remained disappointed as the halls of the state Capitol emptied at the end of the second session. weeks ago.

Critics, meanwhile, say that’s to be expected given the ambition of these goals, and they cite the governor’s withdrawal of congestion pricing and the state’s failure to meet deadlines as evidence that progress toward these goals could be faltering.

Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for climate justice, said Spectrum News 1 that for the state to stay on track, commitment is needed from all levels of state government.

“It’s very important that New York State leaders, the Governor and the Assembly, step up,” she said.

She argued that this session, New York leaders have failed.

“This budget and legislative session have truly missed the mark when it comes to demonstrating the leadership we need to ensure lawmakers prioritize lowering citizens’ energy bills and reducing climate pollution “, she said.

She acknowledged that there has been progress, largely in the form of the passage of the Climate Change Superfund Act. The legislation would require oil and gas companies to pay into a fund to help the state offset the effects of climate change.

“It’s common sense, based on a long-standing policy in New York, the idea that when polluters make a mess, they should be responsible for cleaning up,” she said.

Ken Girardin, research director for the right-wing Empire Center, pointed out that even the success of the Climate Change Superfund Act is not clear. He said the bill followed the lead of a federal law that he said didn’t quite fit the circumstances, putting it on shaky legal ground.

He pointed out that superfunds generally target specific entities for specific cases of pollution.

“In the case of greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel companies alone are not responsible for all of the state’s gas emissions,” he said. “It’s hard to say which storms have or have not been exacerbated by climate change.”

In the final hours of the legislative session, the NY Heat Act passed the State Senate but stalled in the Assembly. Moran said passage of the bill is critical to protecting ratepayers and reducing the state’s dependence on natural gas.

“We are very close to the finish line,” she said.

The bill aims to limit costs for customers as New York transitions away from natural gas, while protecting them from predatory practices.

Moran, with others, placed the blame not directly on the Assembly, but on the end-of-session chaos surrounding Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing.

“The governor dropped this major bombshell by announcing a sudden return to congestion pricing, another important climate policy, and it became a killer for a number of policies like the NY Heat Act,” he said. declared.

However, Hochul told reporters late on the last day of the session that the NY HEAT Act had already fallen off the radar anyway.

Girardin attributed the bill’s failure to what he described as overzealous regulatory power granted to the Public Service Commission.

“In a perfect world, people move toward more climate-friendly options because that’s what the market encourages them to do; with the HEAT Act, it’s sort of trading the carrot for a very big stick.” , did he declare.

Looking ahead, the future of congestion pricing remains uncertain, and the NY HEAT Act is expected to be back next session. It also remains to be seen what changes may have resulted from the negotiations, as well as the upheaval in the congestion pricing debate.