State legislators are considering the governor's proposal to roll back the state's climate law, and if it comes to fruition, the already-lackluster approach to reducing vehicle miles traveled in New York could grow ever more slack.
Weakening the emissions standards and pushing back the deadline for regulations could open the door for more dubious highway expansions that encourage more car use and result in pollution.
State DOT regularly claims that its projects lower emissions by reducing the time cars idle on roadways and maneuvers around direct explanations of how it is following the state's 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which is easy to do with no actual regulations released.
Gov. Hochul's rollback on the climate law itself can exacerbate this because New York would go four more years without regulations after missing the initial 2024 deadline. That's four more years of legal cover.
Hochul is asking state lawmakers to change the climate law — which aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050 — by moving the release of regulations to 2030.
The state is already off the pace to meet the 2030 regulations, and moving this deadline makes it nearly impossible. New, unspecified benchmarks would be created for 2040 and 2050, and the accounting methodology measuring the impact of emissions would use a 100-year scale rather than the current 20-year scale.
"These impossible emission reduction targets … only used by New York and one other state … will ensure our failure despite all of our efforts and billions of dollars spent," Hochul wrote in an Empire Report opinion piece on Friday.
The state Climate Action Council's 2022 scoping plan said that the only way to meet the current goals was to seek a 15- to 20-percent reduction in vehicle miles traveled per capita by 2050.
And the state's climate law directs state agencies to approach projects and internal policies with the goal of reducing carbon emissions.
State lawmakers aren't just going along with this, though, with some drawing a line in the sand over the new accounting methodology. There's also the matter of this proposal being introduced long after the governor's official executive budget proposal or her 30-day amendments.
"It shouldn’t be in the budget at all," said Assembly Environmental Conservation Chair Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan) in an interview with State of Politics.
More news:
- Climate law and advertising budget goals are a new campaign fight for Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. (The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)
- Hundreds of non-profits in New York made illegal campaign contributions in the state Legislature and beyond. (The Times Union)
- As Streetsblog has already noted, Hochul's car insurance scam kicked off a lobbying arms race in Albany. (Gothamist)
- A pedestrian was hit by a driver on Sunday and seriously injured on the Sunrise Highway in Suffolk County. (Newsday)
- The MTA is moving ahead with Second Avenue Subway work despite interference from the Trump administration. (Gothamist)
- The footage from Justin Timberlake's Sag Harbor DWI arrest was released, and yikes ... (Newsday)
- Sen. Bernie Sanders is traveling to the Bronx this weekend in support of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest New York City residents. (The New York Times)
- Andy Byford, project lead for the Penn Station redesign, is keeping the door open to private real estate deals. (The New York Post)
- Parks and Trails New York announced Utica and Lyons were selected for the Empire State Trail Town program. (The Poughkeepsie Journal)
- The City of Albany has a $15-million budget deficit that grows to $22 million next year, but the gap won't affect the $400-million redevelopment plan using state funding. (WAMC)
