Environmentalists are urging state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul to include a fleshed out cap-and-invest program in New York’s budget, but the details may get left on the chopping block
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“The climate crisis is an existential crisis, which is already impacting every single worker,” said Katherine Nadeau, NY Renews steering committee member and program director of Catskill Mountainkeeper. “And we need the governor and the legislature focused on not only responding to climate impacts but also working to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.”
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A proposal to place an economywide cap on greenhouse gas emissions in New York is becoming a potential sticking point in budget negotiations as the overtime clock continues. Gov. Kathy Hochul has indicated that legislative sign-off for a rebate from the proposed cap-and-trade scheme, dubbed “cap and invest” is a major priority. But Assembly leadership has maintained it has no interest in getting it done in the budget.
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Powered by fossil fuel money, New York governor Kathy Hochul and state senator Kevin Parker tried hard to weaken the state’s climate law last week, especially its provisions on methane, as Julia Rock reported. Thanks to a well-organized and left-wing climate movement, they failed.
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“Our coalition will continue to defend against changes to our state’s Climate Act, including changes to the definition of renewable energy as is being pushed by fossil fuel interests in Albany,” NY Renews said in a statement. “We will continue fighting to ensure that any ‘cap and invest’ proposal includes environmental justice safeguards."
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“NY Renews is proud to stand with a movement that stopped — for now — changes to New York’s progressive 20-year methane accounting method as written in law. Our coalition will continue to defend against changes to our state’s Climate Act,” read a prepared statement from NY Renews, one of the state’s major climate coalitions.
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Katherine Nadeau, who’s deputy director of the environmental nonprofit Catskill Mountainkeeper and helped develop the state’s 2019 climate law, called the new proposal “magic math,” adding that she worried it “would only embolden” the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to obstruct climate action and send the wrong message to other states.
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New York State Senator Pete Harckham (D, WF - 40TH, Westchester & the Hudson Valley), chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee, says this proposal would be counterproductive to the state's 2019 climate law.
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At least a dozen environmental groups have sent memos opposing Parker’s bill, S6030, since it was introduced on Monday including Sierra Club, Earthjustice, NY Renews, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Food and Water Watch and Environmental Advocates NY.
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More than 300 climate activists came to the state Capitol on March 28 to urge the Governor and state lawmakers to include NY Renews’ Climate, Jobs and Justice Package in the final budget due April 1
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NY Renews, the coalition of environmental, community and labor groups that backed the climate law passed in 2019, is fighting to influence a cap-and-trade program proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. If they’re successful, outside observers are hopeful that a more equitable framework could be exported to other states including California, which has had a cap-and-trade program since 2013.
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I envision a world where the health and safety of our communities come before the profits of oil and gas CEOs. Our families and our children are not expendable. That’s why I’m calling on …. legislators to support and advocate for the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Bill Package to support the transformation of our energy economy to renewables and to invest in communities most harmed by the climate crisis.
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In this legislative session, there are several excellent climate bills, from the Climate, Jobs and Justice package… to other bills calling for the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies and the divestment of these fuels from a major pension fund.
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In New York, the NY Renews coalition – the state's largest climate justice coalition – has included over $200 million in their recent state budget proposal to help build zero-emission buses, filling gaps in state and federal spending to electrify school and city buses in accordance with the state's 2035 mandate.
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Over the next few weeks, Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will finalize the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year. When they do, they must remember their littlest constituents and include the full NY Renews Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package to ensure our children, and all New Yorkers, have a chance at a safe, healthy, secure future.
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Moreover, [the Senate Budget] establishes a “Climate and Community Protection Fund” that would direct spending into four specific buckets, as the NY Renews coalition has pushed for.
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The Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package is a three-part plan for New York’s climate future. It would expedite the process of developing renewable energy through the Build Public Renewables Act and raise funds for climate initiatives through the Climate Change Superfund Act, which would require the state’s biggest fossil-fuel offenders to pay significant fees to the state.
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Katherine Nadeau, member of the NY Renews Steering Committee and deputy director of Catskill Mountain Keeper, says the Climate Community Protection Fund would ensure the Cap-and-Invest program would move forward correctly, and avoid increasing pollution in low-income areas or minority neighborhoods that struggle the most.
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“All of this is going to require both a significant investment as well as a strong, transparent, fair, and community-focused spending plan. That’s why my office introduced legislation to establish the Climate and Community Protection Fund in partnership with NY Renews, a statewide coalition representing hundreds of thousands of environmental justice, community-based, labor, faith, business, and youth organizations from across the state.”
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[Gas utilities] could support the Climate, Jobs and Justice Package, a suite of bills championed by NY Renews, the state’s largest climate justice coalition. In addition to securing a just transition for our state’s fossil fuel workforce, the package invests heavily in utility geothermal networks, which would employ existing gas workers to install a web of geothermal lines under our streets.
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