Opinion: Lawmaker, advocate call on Gov. Hochul to get moving on ‘Cap and Invest’
Al Stirpe Jr., Member of Assembly, 127th District & Ethan Gormley, Climate Justice Organizer, Citizen Action of New York (CANY)
It’s been over 50 days since Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State. That’s 50+ days since the governor revealed that she was delaying crucial climate action in New York.
The current situation at the federal level will have lasting, harmful impacts on our environment, frontline communities, and our transition to a clean, affordable, renewable energy economy. Yet even as we see these damaging actions coming from the climate change denier in the Oval Office, Hochul continues to delay climate action by suppressing regulations for Cap and Invest.
The crucial Cap and Invest program is needed to fund New York state’s Climate Law, reduce pollution and invest in our communities. It puts corporate polluters on the hook for the amount that they pollute into the atmosphere while also reducing their emissions over time. Perhaps just as importantly, the Cap and Invest revenue from corporate polluters has the potential to greatly benefit areas like Central New York.
Through this program, we can see new funds made available for energy affordability, which is especially important as National Grid seeks massive rate hikes across Upstate New York. Not only that, Cap and Invest has the ability to improve Central New York homes by funding projects to increase energy efficiency measures, like insulation and important home repairs, while also assisting in the transition to clean electric heat pumps to heat and cool homes without the use of polluting and harmful gas.