NY Renews Statement on 2021 Legislative Session
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***: June 11, 2021
Contact: Arielle Swernoff | (646) 450-5461 | arielle@nyrenews.org
Web: @NYRenews | www.nyrenews.org
NY Renews Statement on 2021 Legislative Session
Climate inaction has real consequences for NYers
“The 2021 legislative session has ended, and the legislature and governor have failed to fund the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) by passing its companion bill, the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA).
Governor Cuomo, when signing the CLCPA, said, “Climate change is a reality, and to not address it is gross negligence by government and irresponsible as citizens.” Two years later, the failure to fund the enormous just transition required by the CLCPA shows the irresponsibility the governor warned of. The scale of the climate crisis is enormous and only compounded by the pandemic and recession. The legislature and governor have not met the urgency of the moment. Without adequate funding, the CLCPA’s mandates will not be realized.
This inaction has real, human consequences. Every year that New York lawmakers fail to pass the CCIA, the climate crisis worsens unabated, more people suffer asthma attacks and die prematurely because the air is too polluted, and more seniors suffer from heat stroke during punishing summer days. The cost of climate pollution should be soberingly clear to lawmakers, as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic knowing that exposure to air pollution increased the death rate in communities of color already suffering from high levels of pollution.
The impacts of climate inaction are felt particularly by Black and brown New Yorkers, who are disproportionately exposed to air pollution and subsequent health consequences, and are most impacted by floods, storms, heat waves and extreme weather. By failing to move the CCIA and provide the necessary funding to meet the state’s climate and equity mandates, the legislature and governor are consigning frontline communities to another year of inadequate support for necessary climate justice investments.
Despite the legislature’s inaction, New Yorkers are ready to fund New York’s Just Transition to a regenerative economy, create hundreds of thousands of good, green jobs, they are ready to make polluters pay, hold them accountable for the role they play in fueling the climate crisis and exacerbating environmental racism with impunity. New Yorkers are ready for the CCIA. Over 280 NY Renews member organizations, representing labor unions, faith groups, environmental justice, base-building, climate, and multi-issue organizations in every region of the state — from Long Island to Buffalo, New York City to the North Country, and from Rochester to the Hudson Valley — support the bill. And a recent Data for Progress poll shows strong support for the CCIA with nearly 7 in 10 New Yorkers favoring its passage and implementation.
At the same time, we know that fossil fuel companies and utilities, along with their allies in the New York Business Council and the Legislature, will continue to spread misinformation and fear in order to protect their bottom lines. These companies and their cronies do not want to pay for the true cost of decades of poisoning our air, our planet, and our communities. Just as with the multi-year fight for the CLCPA, NYRenews is not deterred. There is too much at stake.
We are organized, we are powerful, and will not give up until we win the climate and community investments our state deserves. Albany has not seen the last of us. The people of New York demand climate, jobs, and justice, and we will not stop fighting until a just transition is won.”
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