Congestion Pricing Fallout
CONGESTION PRICING FALLOUT: Environmental advocates who have backed congestion pricing because of its potential to reduce pollution from transportation and increase transit use were outraged by Hochul’s abandonment of the hard-fought win. The governor announced an “indefinite pause” in a prerecorded video released Wednesday after POLITICO first reported on the decision late Tuesday.
New York League of Conservation Voters president Julie Tighe said she was “shocked and dismayed” by the governor’s decision. “We cannot drive our way out of the climate crisis — and we shouldn’t let a small number of drivers who refuse to take mass transit in the most transit-rich region of the country dictate transportation policy,” Tighe said in a statement.
Tighe, who has been an ally of the governor and is on the shortlist for Hochul’s next Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner, called on the governor to show courage and enact the fee on drivers. NY Renews, the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club also criticized the governor’s decision.