New York voters approved $4.2 billion for climate infrastructure. Now what?
By Vanessa Montalbano, The Washington Post
Voters across New York state approved a $4.2 billion environmental bond measure during last week’s midterm elections that is intended to bolster climate mitigation and land preservation projects. But while the act has been applauded by environmentalists, many are calling on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to do even more now that she has won her first full term as governor.
The bond act “is a beginning, not the end. We need an ongoing commitment to funding environmental justice and climate justice and climate solutions,” said Katherine Nadeau, the deputy director of Catskill Mountainkeeper. “If we don't put substantial funding into our communities, the consequences will be dire.”
Known as the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, the ballot initiative is the first to come out of the state in 26 years, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, a public policy think tank.