NY Renews Response to 2022-2023 State Budget
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***: April 11, 2022
Contact: Lala Peñaranda | lala@nyrenews.org | (301) 526-1312
Web: @NYRenews | www.nyrenews.org
State Coalition Expresses Disappointment With Climate-Light State Budget
Last week, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its most recent report with a stark warning: “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.” Simply put, our governments, at all levels, must commit to significantly higher investments if we are to avert the worst cases of the climate crisis and better protect disadvantaged and other environmental justice communities.
In this context, NY Renews is deeply disappointed that the Governor and State Legislature have proposed only a fraction of the funding necessary to effectively implement the mandates of our state’s landmark climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) concluded the state will need to provide a minimum of $10 billion per year for the next 30 years to support New York’s Just Transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, our state’s government still believes it can nickel and dime its way out of the climate crisis.
At a time when the lives of millions of New Yorkers are hanging in the balance, when domestic and international geopolitical trends—including increasingly toxic petro-wars, air quality, and drinking water—highlight the need for an end to the fossil-fueled economy, the state budget as proposed can only be characterized as a dereliction of duty.
How is it that nearly $1 billion dollars of the people’s money is there for a new football stadium but not for saving the lives of New Yorkers while the Governor and the Legislature, through a series of budgetary false starts, punted the direct investments we need to a Bond Act? This money, which may not be approved by the voters of New York, must not be viewed as a guaranteed investment in New York’s Just Transition.
As such, while NY Renews members generally support increasing the Bond Act, we do not believe it should be conflated with dedicated funding necessary to implement the climate law and put New York in the best position to comply with its mandated emissions reduction and climate justice commitments. In short, the Governor and Legislature should be less focused on creating 60,000 seats for a new football stadium and more concerned with adding 60,000 good paying, clean energy jobs to the economy.
The recent IPCC report does not mince words—the time to adequately address the climate crisis is dwindling. We simply don’t have time to revisit this issue year after year. Climate change is upon us and will not offer the residents of our state respite while lawmakers quibble over appropriate funding amounts to avert a crisis the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) estimates will cost the state tens of billions annually. However, according to NYSERDA, investments at scale would result in myriad economic and health benefits. Hence, this is not the time for a politics of paucity in the form of inadequate, parsimonious budgets. The CLCPA is a bold policy that requires bold spending to prevent it from becoming an unfunded mandate.
We understand 2022 is an election year, but this doesn’t obviate the need for adequate investments to address the climate crisis. Lawmakers should be more concerned with regenerating the economy through adequate climate investments than they are with re-election.
We still have a chance to fund the state’s legal mandate to mitigate the effects of climate change while also addressing legacy and systemic environmental racism. NY Renews demands the Governor and State Legislature do the right thing and do right by New Yorkers by effectively funding our climate law while investing in a regenerative economy that fuels the future of our state without polluting it or putting the people at increased risk.
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