SOURCE:
By RY RIVARD - May 13, 2024
Gov. Kathy Hochul took the pulse of New York’s environmental community on issues ranging from implementation of the state’s climate law to efforts to address coastal resiliency in an informal setting last week.
Attendees were generally pleased to get a chance to share their priorities with the governor and her staff, and they were complimentary of the effort to bring them together.
“It was just a more substantive conversation than you normally get to have,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
Esposito was among the 30 outside, non-administration attendees as Hochul hosted representatives of key environmental groups along with the heads of several agencies and authorities for dinner on April 29 at the Executive Mansion.
Key executive chamber staff John O’Leary, deputy secretary for energy and environment and Ashley Dougherty, assistant secretary for environment, were also present. The heads of seven energy and environmental authorities and agencies, plus the director of the Office of Renewable Energy Siting, were in attendance: NYPA, LIPA, NYSERDA, DEC, PSC, Park and the EFC.
“The governor was very present and really spoke with passion about her commitment to the environment, and it was really quite inspirational,” said Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson. “The administration was clear that … adaptation and resilience are part of management of state parks and are living laboratories for implementation of good sound land management practices that will be consistent with climate change.”
Hochul and her officials solicited input on the rollout of the cap-and-invest program, which is poised to increase fossil fuel costs for consumers with a portion offset by a rebate and proceeds invested in the transition to clean energy. They also asked for feedback on implementation of the climate law, with some recognition of the hurdles faced in achieving those goals, and the future of the environmental bond act.
“I think it’s important that the governor took the time to bring a number of environmental leaders together,” said New York League of Conservation Voters president and CEO Julie Tighe. “We weren’t being called in to be yelled at, which was how it would often happen in previous administrations.”
One suggestion raised by some attendees was for Hochul to designate a “climate czar” to focus on the implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which is nearing its five-year anniversary.
“We have to understand that this isn’t just the role of DEC or NYSERDA, that there are elements across all of these agencies,” said Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “If there’s nobody there to teach old dogs new tricks, who’s holding the hands of these agencies to get the implementation right?” — Marie J. French