The Trump administration is destroying federal climate initiatives, funding and staffing at an alarming pace, so it is urgent that states remain steadfast in meeting their own climate goals. Unfortunately, New York has been shirking its legal obligations to do so.
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed in 2019, requires New York to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 1990 levels and increase the share of New York’s electricity coming from renewable energy to at least 70%, all by the year 2030. For two years in a row, Comptroller DiNapoli’s report on CLCPA progress has indicated that we are more than three years behind on the required 2030 targets.
Too many of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decisions have been slow-walking policies that would meet these targets. Some examples:
June 2024: Just a few days before the end of legislative session, Gov. Hochul unexpectedly paused New York City’s congestion pricing plan. This 11th-hour move upended budget negotiations in Albany and dashed hopes of getting the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition Act (NY HEAT) across the finish line. This bill would align the state’s energy regulations with the goals of the CLCPA, relieve ratepayers from footing the bill for gas infrastructure expansion, and cap energy bills for millions of households. Even though Gov. Hochul rushed to implement congestion pricing after the election, the fate of the NY HEAT Act remains uncertain.
January 2025: Gov. Hochul omitted the NY HEAT Act from her executive budget. She also announced an unexpected delay until 2026 in implementation of the Cap-and-Invest program. This program would put a rising fee on carbon, using market forces to shift us away from fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fees would raise up to $3 billion per year to speed our transition to an electrified, equitable, and healthy, renewable energy economy.
February 2025: New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation approved air emission permits for adding two 12,000 horsepower compressors to boost pressure in the 32-year-old Iroquois "natural" gas pipeline, which will push 125 million more cubic feet per day of gas toward New York City. This raises risk of leaks, ruptures, fires, explosions and toxic emissions. Just the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the increased gas flow is the equivalent of adding more than a half-million gasoline-powered cars onto our roads. The CLCPA calls for reducing reliance on ‘natural’ gas, not increasing it.
With Trump denying climate change and eviscerating climate funding and policy on a national level, New York needs to step up. Please contact Gov. Hochul, your Assembly member and New York State senator and urge them to uphold ew York’s climate law so that New Yorkers can thrive now and in the future with safe, affordable, renewable energy.
Author: Valdi Weiderpass, Chair of the Susquehanna Group