This fact sheet provided by the White House spells out how the bipartisan infrastructure package just passed will arm the government in battling the climate crisis:
“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal passed by Congress will strengthen our nation’s resilience to extreme weather and climate change while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding access to clean drinking water, building up a clean power grid, and more.“
Here’s more:
President Biden has made combatting the climate crisis a central priority of his Administration, including throughout his legislative agenda. Climate change is already impacting almost every aspect of life in the United States. Extreme heat waves, catastrophic wildfires, and severe drought are taking American lives and livelihoods. In the last year alone, extreme weather has cost America more than $100 billion – often hitting historically underserved groups the hardest, particularly low-income communities, communities of color, and people with disabilities. In just the last few months, nearly 1 in 3 Americans have been hit by a severe weather disaster and 2 in 3 Americans have suffered through dangerous heat waves. Delayed action on climate also sets us back in the global race on manufacturing and innovation, preventing us from harnessing the economic opportunity that this moment represents.
As President Biden emphasized at COP26 in Glasgow, climate change poses an existential threat to people, economies, and countries across the world – and it requires swift and bold action to reduce emissions and strengthen resilience. President Biden has been clear: the climate crisis is a blinking code red for our nation. We must take decisive action to tackle the climate crisis in a way that strengthens our nation’s resilience, cuts consumer costs, and ensures the U.S. can compete and win in the race for the 21st century. This moment demands urgent investments the American people want and our nation needs – investments that will bolster America’s competitiveness, resilience, and economy all while creating good-paying jobs, saving people money, and building an equitable clean energy economy of the future.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal passed by Congress will strengthen our nation’s resilience to extreme weather and climate change while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, expanding access to clean drinking water, building up a clean power grid, and more. When coupled with the Build Back Better Framework, these historic investments will help reduce our emissions by well over one gigaton this decade – ensuring we meet President Biden’s commitment to reduce U.S. emissions by 50-52% from 2005 levels in 2030, create a 100% carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035, and achieve a net-zero economy by 2050. Together, these once-in-a-generation investments will unlock the full potential of a clean energy economy that combats climate change, advances environmental justice, and creates good-paying, union jobs.
President Biden promised to work across the aisle and unify the country to deliver results for working families. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal is a critical step towards reaching President Biden’s goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, and is paired with the Build Back Better Framework to realize his full vision to grow our economy, lower consumer costs, create jobs, reduce climate pollution, and ensure more Americans can participate fully and equally in our economy.
BIPARTISIAN INFRASTRUCTURE DEAL
Public Transit The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal makes the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak – helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions by repairing, upgrading, and modernizing the nation’s transit infrastructure. The deal will invest $66 billion to provide healthy, sustainable transportation options for millions of Americans by modernizing and expanding transit and rail networks across the country. It will replace thousands of transit vehicles, including buses, with clean, zero emission vehicles. And, it will benefit communities of color who are twice as likely to take public transportation and often lack sufficient public transit options. In addition, it will help transit workers who are disproportionally workers of color.
Electric Vehicle Infrastructure The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest $7.5 billion to build out the first-ever national network of EV chargers in the United States. The deal is also a critical element in the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to accelerate the adoption of EVs to address the climate crisis and support domestic manufacturing jobs. The deal will provide funding for deployment of EV chargers along highway corridors to facilitate long-distance travel and within communities to provide convenient charging where people live, work, and shop – and funding will have a particular focus on rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach communities.
Clean School Buses The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will deliver thousands of electric school buses nationwide, including in rural communities, to help school districts across the country buy clean, American-made, zero emission buses and replace the yellow school bus fleet for America’s children. The deal invests in zero- and low-emission school buses, in addition to more than $5 billion in funding for public transit agencies to adopt low- and no-emissions buses. These investments will drive demand for American-made batteries and vehicles, creating jobs and supporting domestic manufacturing, while also removing diesel buses from some of our most vulnerable communities. In addition, they will help the more than 25 million children and thousands of bus drivers who breathe polluted air on their rides to and from school. Diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other health problems that hurt our communities and cause students to miss school, particularly in communities of color and Tribal communities.
Modern Infrastructure The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal invests $17 billion in port infrastructure and $25 billion in airports to address repair and maintenance backlogs, reduce congestion and emissions near ports and airports, and drive electrification and other low-carbon technologies. Modern, resilient, and sustainable port, airport, and freight infrastructure will support U.S. competitiveness by removing bottlenecks and expediting commerce and reduce the environmental impact on neighboring communities.
Resilience The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal is the largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history. Millions of Americans feel the effects of climate change each year when their roads wash out, airport power goes down, or schools get flooded. People of color are more likely to live in areas most vulnerable to flooding and other climate change-related weather events. The deal makes our communities safer and our infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and cyber-attacks, with an investment of over $50 billion to protect against droughts, heat, and floods – in addition to a major investment in the weatherization of American homes.
Clean Drinking Water The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will expand access to clean drinking water to all American families, eliminate the nation’s lead service lines and help to clean up the dangerous chemical PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl). Currently, up to 10 million American households and 400,000 schools and child care centers lack access to safe drinking water. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest $55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water for households, businesses, schools, and child care centers all across the country. From rural towns to struggling cities, the deal will invest in water infrastructure and eliminate lead service pipes, including in Tribal Nations and disadvantaged communities that need it most.
Legacy Pollution The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal delivers the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history by cleaning up Superfund and brownfield sites, reclaiming abandoned mines, and capping orphaned oil and gas wells. In thousands of rural and urban communities around the country, hundreds of thousands of former industrial and energy sites are now idle – sources of blight and pollution. Proximity to a Superfund site can lead to elevated levels of lead in children’s blood. Millions of Americans also live within a mile of the tens of thousands of abandoned mines and oil and gas wells – a large, continuing course of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is a major cause of climate change. The bill will invest $21 billion to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites, reclaim abandoned mine land, and cap orphaned oil and gas wells. These projects will remediate environmental harms, address the legacy pollution that harms the public health of communities, create good-paying, union jobs, and advance long overdue environmental justice This investment will benefit communities of color like the 26% of Black Americans and 29% of Hispanic Americans who live within three miles of a Superfund site – a higher percentage than for Americans overall.
Clean Energy Transmission The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal’s more than $65 billion investment is the largestinvestment in clean energy transmission and the electric grid in American history. It upgrades our power infrastructure, including by building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy. It creates a new Grid Deployment Authority, invests in research and development for advanced transmission and electricity distribution technologies, and promotes smart grid technologies that deliver flexibility and resilience. It also invests in demonstration projects and research hubs for next generation technologies like advanced nuclear reactors, carbon capture, and clean hydrogen.
Interior, Energy, Commerce, and Transportation Departments Announce New Leasing, Funding, and Development Goals to Accelerate and Deploy Offshore Wind Energy and Jobs
Today, the White House convened leaders from across the Administration to announce a set of bold actions that will catalyze offshore wind energy, strengthen the domestic supply chain, and create good-paying, union jobs.
National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met today with state officials, industry executives, and labor leaders to announce new leasing, funding, and goals that employ President Biden’s whole-of-government approach, position America to lead a clean energy revolution, and create thousands of jobs across the country with the choice to join a union.
In his first week in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order that calls on our nation to build a new American infrastructure and clean energy economy that will create millions of new jobs. In particular, the President’s Order committed to expand opportunities for the offshore wind industry. The President recognizes that a thriving offshore wind industry will drive new jobs and economic opportunity up and down the Atlantic Coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in Pacific waters. The industry will also spawn new supply chains that stretch into America’s heartland, as illustrated by the 10,000 tons of domestic steel that workers in Alabama and West Virginia are supplying to a Texas shipyard where Dominion Energy is building the Nation’s first Jones Act compliant wind turbine installation vessel.
Federal leadership, in close coordination with states and in partnership with the private sector, unions and other key stakeholders, is needed to catalyze the deployment of offshore wind at scale.
Today, the Administration is taking coordinated steps to support rapid offshore wind deployment and job creation:
Advance ambitious wind energy projects to create good-paying, union jobs
Investing in American infrastructure to strengthen the domestic supply chain and deploy offshore wind energy
Supporting critical research and development and data-sharing.
Advance Ambitious Wind Energy Projects to Create Good-Paying, Union Jobs
Announcing a New Wind Energy Area. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is announcing a new priority Wind Energy Area in the New York Bight—an area of shallow waters between Long Island and the New Jersey coast—which a recent study from Wood Mackenzie shows can support up to 25,000 development and construction jobs from 2022 to 2030, as well as an additional 7,000 jobs in communities supported by this development. The study indicates the New York Bight lease area also has the potential to support up to 4,000 operations and maintenance jobs annually, and approximately 2,000 community jobs, in the years following. This new Wind Energy Area is adjacent to the greater metropolitan Tri-State area— the largest metropolitan population center in the United States that is home to more than 20 million people and their energy needs. The next step is for BOEM to publish a Proposed Sale Notice, followed by a formal public comment period and a lease sale in late 2021 or early 2022.
Establishing a Target of Employing Tens of Thousands of Workers to Deploy 30 Gigawatts (30,000 megawatts) of Offshore Wind by 2030. The Departments of Interior (DOI), Energy (DOE), and Commerce (DOC) are announcing a shared goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind in the United States by 2030, while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use. Meeting this target will trigger more than $12 billion per year in capital investment in projects on both U.S. coasts, create tens of thousands of good-paying, union jobs, with more than 44,000 workers employed in offshore wind by 2030 and nearly 33,000 additional jobs in communities supported by offshore wind activity. It will also generate enough power to meet the demand of more than 10 million American homes for a year, and avoid 78 million metric tons of CO2 emissions.
DOI action to unlock deployment potential: To position the domestic offshore wind industry to meet the 2030 target, DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plans to advance new lease sales and complete review of at least 16 Construction and Operations Plans (COPs) by 2025, representing more than 19 GW of new clean energy for our nation.
Massive supply chain benefits of deploying offshore wind energy at scale: Meeting the 2030 target will catalyze significant supply chain benefits, including new port upgrade investments totaling more than $500 million; one to two new U.S. factories for each major windfarm component including wind turbine nacelles, blades, towers, foundations, and subsea cables; additional cumulative demand of more than 7 million tons of steel—equivalent to 4 years of output for a typical U.S. steel mill; and the construction of 4 to 6 specialized turbine installation vessels in U.S. shipyards, each representing an investment between $250 and $500 million.
2050 implications of meeting the 2030 goal: Achieving this target also will unlock a pathway to 110 GW by 2050, generating 77,000 offshore wind jobs and more than 57,000 additional jobs in communities supported by offshore wind activity – all while creating further economic opportunity and ensuring future generations have access to clean air and abundant renewable power.
Advancing critical permitting milestones for the Ocean Wind Offshore Wind Project. BOEM is announcing a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Ocean Wind, putting it in line to become America’s third commercial scale offshore wind project. Ocean Wind has proposed an offshore wind project with a total capacity of 1,100 megawatts (MW) — enough to power 500,000 homes across New Jersey. BOEM previously announced environmental reviews for Vineyard Wind (MA) and South Fork (RI), and anticipates initiating the environmental reviews for up to ten additional projects later this year.
Investing in American Infrastructure to Strengthen the Domestic Supply Chain and Deploy Offshore Wind Energy
Investing in Port Infrastructure to Support Offshore Wind. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Maritime Administration today is announcing a Notice of Funding Opportunity for port authorities and other applicants to apply for $230 million for port and intermodal infrastructure-related projects through the Port Infrastructure Development Program. Port Infrastructure Development Grants support projects that strengthen and modernize port infrastructure, and can support shore-side wind energy projects, such as storage areas, laydown areas, and docking of wind energy vessels to load and move items to offshore wind farms. In addition to supporting our nation’s long-term economic vitality, DOT’s review process will consider how proposed projects can most effectively address climate change and environmental justice imperatives.
Access to $3 billion in Debt Capital to Support Offshore Wind Industry through DOE Loan Programs Office. DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) released a fact sheet to facilitate access for the offshore wind industry for $3 billion in funding through LPO’s Title XVII Innovative Energy Loan Guarantee Program. The fact sheet signals that LPO is open for business and ready to partner with offshore wind and offshore transmission developers, suppliers, and other financing partners to scale the U.S. offshore industry and support well-paying jobs. To date, LPO has provided $1.6 billion in support of projects totaling about 1,000 MW of onshore wind.
Supporting Critical Research and Development and Data-Sharing
Announcing offshore wind R&D funding through the National Offshore Wind R&D Consortium. The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC), created by the DOE and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), is announcing the award of $8 million to 15 offshore wind research and development projects that were selected through a competitive process. The new projects will focus on offshore support structure innovation, supply chain development, electrical systems innovation, and mitigation of use conflicts that will help reduce barriers and costs for offshore wind deployment. The NOWRDC was established in 2018 with a $20.5 million DOE investment, matching funds from NYSERDA, and with follow-on contributions from state agencies in Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Maine—all resulting in a total investment of around $47 million.
Partnering with Industry on Data-Sharing. The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is signing a Memorandum of Agreement with Ørsted, an offshore wind development company, to share physical and biological data in Ørsted-leased waters subject to U.S. jurisdiction. This agreement is the first of its kind between an offshore wind developer and NOAA, and paves the way for future data-sharing agreements that NOAA expects to enter into with other developers. NOAA anticipates that Ørsted’s and other companies’ data will fill gaps in ocean science areas—particularly in ocean mapping and observing—in service of NOAA’s mission to advance climate adaptation and mitigation, weather-readiness, healthy oceans, and resilient coastal communities and economies.
Studying Offshore Wind Impacts. NOAA’s Northeast Sea Grant programs, in partnership with DOE, DOC, and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, is releasing a request for research proposals to support more than $1 million in grant funding to improve understanding of offshore renewable energy for the benefit of a diversity of stakeholders, including fishing and coastal communities. Grant funding will support objective community-based research in the Northeast to further understanding of the effects of offshore renewable energy on the ocean and local communities and economies as well as opportunities to optimize ocean co-use.
At today’s convening, leaders from across the Administration shared their commitment to work closely with one another and with key stakeholders to deliver the economic potential presented by offshore wind energy resources.
National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy: “President Biden has declared very clearly that when he thinks of climate, he thinks of people and jobs—good-paying, union jobs. That’s because President Biden believes we have an enormous opportunity in front of us to not only address the threats of climate change, but use it as a chance to create millions of good-paying, union jobs that will fuel America’s economic recovery, rebuild the middle class, and make sure we bounce back from the crises we face. Nowhere is the scale of that opportunity clearer than for offshore wind. This commitment to a new, untapped industry will create pathways to the middle class for people from all backgrounds and communities.”
Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland: “For generations, we’ve put off the transition to clean energy and now we’re facing a climate crisis. It’s a crisis that doesn’t discriminate – every community is facing more extreme weather and the costs associated with that. But not every community has the resources to rebuild, or even get up and relocate when a climate event happens in their backyards. The climate crisis disproportionately impacts communities of color and low-income families. As our country faces the interlocking challenges of a global pandemic, economic downturn, racial injustice, and the climate crisis – we have to transition to a brighter future for everyone.”
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm: “This offshore wind goal is proof of our commitment to using American ingenuity and might to invest in our nation, advance our own energy security, and combat the climate crisis,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE is going to marshal every resource we have to get as many American companies, using as many sheets of American steel, employing as many American workers as possible in offshore wind energy—driving economic growth from coast to coast.”
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo: “The Commerce Department is committed to innovative partnerships that advance the best science and data to ensure the development of offshore wind is transparent and inclusive of all stakeholders,” said Secretary Raimondo. “We look forward to engaging the public and private sectors to invest in clean energy solutions, like offshore wind, that will contribute to our whole-of-government approach to combat the climate crisis and create high-paying, high-skilled American jobs.”
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg: “Tackling the climate crisis is vital to our nation’s future,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “The Biden-Harris Administration is taking actions that show how creating jobs and addressing climate change can and must go hand in hand. Today’s announcement makes a critical investment in our nation’s ports, which in turn builds up the resilience and sustainability of America’s economy.”
STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO ON PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PLAN TO DEPLOY OFFSHORE WIND
“The announcement today by President Biden’s Administration of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 represents a historic day for the United States and a tremendous leap forward in tackling global climate change by building back better with clean energy and spurring a thriving green economy, clear priorities for New York State.
“New York State has a proud legacy of being the nation’s leader on combatting climate change and embracing green energy, including executing the largest combined clean energy solicitations ever issued in U.S history and adopting the most ambitious climate and clean energy legislation in the country. We thank the Administration for immediately removing the barriers we faced the past four years with the federal government and creating a new priority Wind Energy Area in the New York and New Jersey Bight that will allow us to continue this legacy for years to come.
“We look forward to working with the Administration to further advance our nation-leading 9 gigawatts of offshore wind power, turning New York into the center of this new industry that will leverage billions in private investment for infrastructure and innovative technologies, while delivering significant climate and health benefits across the state and nation.”
Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, presented a 9-point plan for a Clean Energy Revolution, in stark contrast to Trump’s efforts to roll back climate actions and reignite oil, gas, coal industries over clean, renewable energy. This is from the Biden campaign:
President Trump has spent his presidency ignoring the experts and scientists, reversing the Obama-Biden Administration’s efforts to address climate change, abandoning communities and workers, and blocking states and cities trying to lead— going backwards, all while we should have been doing even more.
On the first day of Biden’s Administration, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there will only be 9 years left to stop the worst consequences of climate change. Biden will act on climate immediately and ambitiously, because there’s no time to waste.
1) Take executive action on Day 1 to not just reverse all of the damage Trump has done, but go further and faster. Day 1 of the Biden Administration is going to be very busy! To immediately make progress on his climate agenda, Biden will take actions including requiring aggressive methane pollution limits for new and existing oil and gas operations; developing rigorous new fuel economy standards aimed at ensuring 100% of new sales for light- and medium-duty vehicles will be zero emissions and annual improvements for heavy duty vehicles; protecting America’s natural treasures by permanently protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other areas impacted by President Trump’s attack on federal lands and waters; and banning new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters.
2) Work with Congress to enact in 2021, President Biden’s first year in office, legislation that, by the end of his first term, puts us on an irreversible path to achieve economy-wide net-zero emissions no later than 2050. The legislation must require polluters to bear the full cost of the carbon pollution they are emitting.
3) Rally the world to urgent and additional action. We know we cannot solve this emergency on our own: the United States accounts for only 15% of global emissions. On Day 1, Biden will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. But we must go further. In his first 100 days in office, Biden will convene a climate world summit to directly engage the leaders of the major greenhouse gas-emitting nations of the world to persuade them to join the United States in making more ambitious national pledges, above and beyond the commitments they have already made. Biden will not allow other nations, including China, to game the system by becoming destination economies for polluters, undermining our climate efforts and exploiting American workers and businesses.
4) Make a historic investment in clean energy and innovation. Biden will invest $400 billion over ten years, as one part of a broad mobilization of public investment, in clean energy and innovation. That investment is twice the investment of the Apollo program which put a man on the moon, in today’s dollars. He will also establish ARPA-C, a new research agency focused on accelerating climate technologies.
5) Accelerate the deployment of clean technology throughout our economy. Creating the best, most innovative clean technology in the world is not enough. We also need to make sure it is used by households and industry in order to achieve aggressive emissions reductions. Biden will set a target of reducing the carbon footprint of the U.S. building stock 50% by 2035, creating incentives for deep retrofits that combine appliance electrification, efficiency, and on-site clean power generation. He will work with our nation’s governors and mayors to support the deployment of more than 500,000 new public charging outlets by the end of 2030. And, Biden will ensure our agricultural sector is the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions, and that our farmers earn income as we meet this milestone.
6) Make environmental justice a priority across all federal agencies. Everyone is already feeling the effects of climate change. But the impacts of climate change (and inaction on climate change) – on health, economics, and overall quality of life – are far more acute on communities of color, tribal lands, and low-income communities. The coronavirus pandemic, which early data suggests is linked to air pollution that disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income communities, is shining new light on this reality. Biden will make it a priority for all federal agencies — and hold them accountable for results — to engage in community-driven approaches to develop solutions for environmental injustices affecting communities of color, low-income communities, and indigenous communities.
7) Hold polluters accountable. On Day 1, Biden will require public companies to disclose climate-related financial risks and the greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains. In his first year, he’ll work to enact legislation requiring polluters to bear the full cost of their climate pollution. But that’s not all: Biden will direct his EPA and Justice Department to pursue these cases to the fullest extent permitted by law and, when needed, seek additional legislation to hold corporate executives personally accountable – including jail time when merited. Allowing corporations to continue to pollute – affecting the health and safety of both their workers and surrounding communities – without consequences perpetuates an egregious abuse of power. These companies must be accountable to the American people, the communities where they operate, and the workers they employ.
8) Create 10 million good-paying, middle-class, union jobs. Every federal dollar spent on rebuilding our infrastructure during the Biden Administration will be used to prevent, reduce, and withstand the impacts of this climate crisis. American workers should build American infrastructure and manufacture all the materials that go into it, and all of these workers must have the option to join a union and collectively bargain. Biden will ensure his infrastructure legislation incorporates labor provisions so federal investments create millions of middle-class jobs, benefiting workers across industries.
9) Fulfill our obligation to the communities and workers that have risked their lives to produce fossil fuels that made it possible for America to win world wars and become an industrial power. Biden will stand with communities and workers impacted by the changing energy market, including by increasing coal companies’ payments into the black lung benefits program, reforming the black lung benefits system so it is no longer rigged in favor of coal companies who can hire lawyers and doctors to ensure miners’ benefits are denied, expanding efforts to help miners detect black lung cases earlier and access care, and enforcing regulations to reduce cases of black lung in the first place. Biden will also establish a task force to help these communities access federal investments and leverage private sector investments to help create high-paying union jobs based upon the unique assets of each community, partner with unions and community colleges to create training opportunities for these new jobs, repair infrastructure, keep public employees like firefighters and teachers on the payroll, and keep local hospitals open.
Read Biden’s full climate and environmental justice plan at joebiden.com/climate
The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential
nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues.
With this summer posting heat records and yet another Category 5 hurricane wreaking
havoc in the Caribbean and Atlantic islands and barreling down on the East
Coast, US Senator Amy Klobuchar has released her plan to tackle the Climate
Crisis, which is distinguished for a focus on agriculture and the Heartland, in
addition to the more common focus on manufacturing, transportation and clean,
renewable energy. This is from the Klobuchar campaign:
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The climate crisis isn’t
happening in 100 years — it’s happening now. 2018 was the fourth-hottest year
on record globally and it was another near-record year for U.S. weather and
climate disasters. The dire warnings in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change and the National Climate Assessment make clear that immediate action is
needed. The National Climate Assessment lays out how increasing global
temperatures are harming our country’s food systems and public health by
increasing the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, while
displacement and destruction caused by climate-related natural disasters
threaten our economy and national security.
Senator Klobuchar is a strong voice from the Midwest when it comes to
climate change. In the Senate, she leads the fight to combat climate change by
serving on the Senate Climate Action Taskforce, has fought for legislation to
reduce greenhouse gases, and has led a Senate resolution recognizing that
global climate change is occurring and will continue to pose ongoing risks
unless we take action. She authored legislation setting a national renewable
electricity standard and she successfully extended renewable energy production
tax credits. The first bill Senator Klobuchar ever introduced was a carbon counter
bill to establish the first national greenhouse gas registry to track emissions
by major industries.
We can’t wait. That’s why Senator Klobuchar is committed to taking
immediate action — without Congress — to transform our energy sector, unlock
scientific breakthroughs, hold the fossil fuel industry accountable, and
support workers and communities that are on the front lines of the climate
crisis. She will:
Use the full power of the presidency to tackle the climate crisis.
Starting on day one of her administration, Senator Klobuchar will take
aggressive executive action to confront the climate crisis. She will introduce
sweeping climate legislation in the first 100 days of her presidency, but she
also won’t wait for Congress when it comes to the full range of legal actions a
President can take to address climate change. Specifically, in the first 100
days of her administration Senator Klobuchar will:
Get the United States back in the Paris International
Climate Agreement on day one. On day one of Senator Klobuchar’s presidency
she will get us back into the Paris International Climate Change Agreement, and
she will immediately begin working with global leaders to strengthen the
agreement so that the United States maintains global leadership to address the
climate crisis.
Restore the Clean Power Plan. Senator Klobuchar will
bring back the Clean Power Plan, which set emissions standards for states with
respect to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. She will negotiate even
stronger emissions standards that account for the progress states have already
made.
Bring back the fuel-economy standards. Senator Klobuchar
will restore and strengthen our fuel economy standards, which are key to making
an immediate impact on the emissions of cars and light trucks. The Trump
Administration has weakened the fuel-economy standards for cars and light
trucks and has challenged the right of California and other states to follow
more stringent standards.
Introduce sweeping legislation that will put our country
on the path to 100% net zero emissions by 2050. In her first 100 days as
President, Senator Klobuchar will introduce and work with Congress to pass
sweeping legislation that will put our country on a path to achieving 100%
net-zero emissions no later than 2050.
End the Trump Administration’s censoring of climate
science. Senator Klobuchar will end Trump Administration efforts to censor
climate science through actions like deleting climate-focused websites,
removing the phrase “climate change” from reports, and preventing government
scientists from attending conferences on climate change.
Set ambitious goals to reduce the carbon footprint of the
federal government. During the first 100 days of her administration,
Senator Klobuchar will aggressively work to reduce the federal government’s
significant carbon footprint. As President, she will set ambitious goals to
increase the efficiency of federal buildings, data centers, and vehicles,
reduce water consumption, and increase the use of renewable energy.
Reinstate the National Climate Assessment Advisory
Committee to immediately start addressing the climate crisis. The National Climate
Assessment Advisory Committee was charged with translating the findings of the
National Climate Assessment into concrete goals. During the first 100 days of
her administration, Senator Klobuchar will reinstate this committee that
President Trump let expire.
Hold the fossil fuel industry accountable. Senator
Klobuchar is committed to standing up to the oil companies and holding the
fossil fuel industry accountable. She will:
End federal fossil fuel subsidies. For too long,
taxpayers have subsidized the massive profits of fossil fuel companies. Senator
Klobuchar will end federal tax subsidies for fossil fuel exploration and
production.
Make politicians accountable to voters, not special
interests. Again and again, bold action on climate has been blocked by the
power of special interests. As President, Senator Klobuchar will put people
first by working to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United
and get dark money out of our politics, as well as establish a campaign finance
system that increases the power of small donors through a matching system for
small donations. She will investigate potential wrongdoings and hold energy
companies accountable.
Expanding Renewable Energy and Transforming the Energy
Sector
There is a scientific consensus that in order to avoid the
worst effects of climate change we will need to achieve 100% net-zero emissions
no later than 2050, which cannot be done without a wholesale transformation of
the energy sector. To expand renewable energy and transform the energy sector
to produce clean power, Senator Klobuchar will:
Invest in infrastructure and provide incentives for state
and local governments, nonprofits, and private companies to expand clean energy
production. Senator Klobuchar will support a landmark carbon pricing system
that does not have a regressive impact on Americans and will help make clean
energy production more cost competitive. She will also do more to accelerate
the adoption of clean energy, including by subsidizing production and investment
by state and local governments, nonprofits and private companies, as well as by
upgrading our grid infrastructure and storage capabilities.
Provide production and investment tax credits.
Senator Klobuchar will create a technology neutral tax credit to support
production of or investment into clean sources of energy. She will also create
a clean energy bond program so that tax-exempt entities can benefit. The
credits will be phased out as overall emissions are reduced.
Upgrade energy grids and storage capacity. Our
country’s electric grid needs an upgrade to account for the irregular nature of
certain clean energy sources, accommodate distributed energy production, and
facilitate smart metering and other innovative technologies. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will create a competitive grant program and a new investment
tax credit to promote investments in grid improvements and storage. She will
also provide rural electric cooperatives access to technical resources and expertise
to overcome the barriers to renewable energy storage and grid improvements
based on a bipartisan bill she leads in the Senate.
Streamline renewable energy production on federal land.
Many federal lands have significant renewable energy potential. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will work to streamline the permitting process for renewable
projects on federal lands while protecting sensitive ecosystems and ensuring a
fair distribution of payments.
Empower municipal utilities and electric cooperatives to
lead on clean energy. Senator Klobuchar knows that one size doesn’t fit all
when it comes to clean energy policy. She will make sure smaller producers,
including municipal utilities and electric cooperatives, have a seat at the
table when decisions are made about federal energy policy. In the Senate, she
authored bipartisan legislation that was signed into law that enables rural
electric power cooperatives and their members to continue to use
energy-efficient water heaters as part of conservation programs. This law
allows cooperatives to optimize both their own energy management and the
environmental benefits of water heaters.
Reduce climate pollution. A carbon price will create
an economic incentive to reduce carbon pollution and there is more we can do to
limit climate pollution from existing fossil fuel production.
Restore and expand the Clean Power Plan. In her first
100 days as President, Senator Klobuchar will bring back the Clean Power Plan,
which set emissions standards for states with respect to reductions in carbon
dioxide emissions. She will negotiate even stronger emissions standards that
account for the progress states have made.
Strengthen enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other
environmental laws. Under the Trump Administration, EPA enforcement efforts
have fallen dramatically. As President, Senator Klobuchar will direct the EPA
to vigorously enforce the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws and make
sure the enforcers have the resources they need.
Reduce methane leakage from oil and gas production.
Methane has as much as 84 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. The
Trump Administration has rolled back EPA and BLM rules to prevent methane
leakage even though the Senate defeated an attempt to repeal the BLM methane
rule on a bipartisan vote and many companies already comply with stricter state
rules. As President, Senator Klobuchar will restore and strengthen the EPA and
BLM methane rules.
Support research to improve negative emissions
technologies. To supplement other mitigation efforts as we transition
to clean energy, Senator Klobuchar will support research to improve negative
emissions technologies that could be used to reduce the amount of carbon
currently in the atmosphere.
Ban new fossil fuel permitting on federal lands and
review and restore environmental protections repealed by the Trump
Administration. To help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels,
Senator Klobuchar will ban new fossil fuel permits on federal lands. Senator
Klobuchar will also undertake a comprehensive review and restore environmental
protections repealed by the Trump Administration. The Trump Administration has
revoked dozens of guidance documents and rules that protect people’s safety,
health and the environment when it comes to our power plants, oil refineries,
national parks and wildlife refuges, offshore drilling, pipelines, and oil and
gas development. Senator Klobuchar will undertake a thorough review of all the
repealed guidance and rules, and work to restore our environmental and safety
protections.
Increasing Efficiency and Rebuilding a Green America
Confronting the climate crisis also means improving energy
efficiency and rebuilding infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
stand up to the effects of climate change. As President, Senator Klobuchar
will:
Increase efficiency and move toward an electrified
transportation sector. Today, transportation accounts for about 30 percent
of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Senator Klobuchar will work to reduce
emissions in the transportation sector through increasing fuel economy,
supporting electrification, and promoting efficient transportation
options.
Bring back the fuel-economy standards. In her first
100 days as President, Senator Klobuchar will restore and strengthen our fuel
economy standards, which are key to making an immediate impact on the emissions
of cars and light trucks. The Trump Administration has weakened the
fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks and has challenged the right
of California and other states to follow more stringent standards.
Invest in electric vehicle infrastructure and promote
electric vehicle sales. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make a significant
investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure and bring back the tax
credit for electric vehicle purchases.
Strengthen transit and commuter rail networks and support
low- and no-carbon alternatives. As President, Senator Klobuchar will refocus
federal transportation grants to prioritize transit projects, first and last
mile connections, and bicycle and pedestrian improvements. She will also
develop new incentives for transit systems and school districts to replace
their existing bus fleets with low- and no-carbon alternatives.
Revitalize freight and passenger rail. Railroads are
an energy- and cost-effective way for producers to bring their goods to market
and get people where they need to go. As President, Senator Klobuchar will
encourage investment in short-line and freight rail networks. She will also
address safety concerns including by mandating two-man crews, improving braking
systems, and ensuring communities are prepared to respond to derailments
involving hazardous cargo. In addition, she will build on her work pushing for
greater competition in freight markets by providing fair treatment for captive
shippers, appointing well qualified members to the Surface Transportation
Board, and reviewing and addressing consolidation in the freight rail industry.
She is also committed to expanding high-speed rail and Amtrak service in rural
America.
Innovate in international shipping and aviation.
International shipping and aviation account for a growing share of carbon
emissions. As President, Senator Klobuchar will support research and strengthen
international agreements to reduce emissions from sources like aviation and
shipping.
Support green manufacturing and provide consumers with
green options. Manufacturing processes and consumer goods can have a
significant climate impact. New technologies can significantly reduce carbon
pollution, but we need to make sure manufacturers have the tools to adopt these
technologies.
Assist businesses transitioning to green manufacturing
processes. Senator Klobuchar is committed to ensuring businesses have the
resources they need to transition to green manufacturing processes. She will
increase technical support through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and
regional development strategies and encourage partnerships with community
colleges and research universities. She will also expand manufacturing tax
credits to specifically support upgrades and investments to reduce greenhouse
gas pollution for manufacturers of all sizes.
Build a market for new and existing climate-friendly
products. As President, Senator Klobuchar will support a market for
climate-friendly products by promoting federal procurement policies that
account for low-carbon energy sources and climate conscious processes.
Create a “Buy Clean” product labeling system. Many
consumers are concerned about how their purchasing decisions affect the
climate. As President, Senator Klobuchar will create a “Buy Clean” product
labeling system to give consumers clear information about products that are
produced to minimize their climate impact.
Institute an import fee on carbon-intensive goods. We
cannot allow foreign competitors to undercut U.S. manufacturers that are
producing goods with climate conscious processes. That’s why as President,
Senator Klobuchar will work to institute a fee on imports of carbon-intensive
goods from foreign countries.
Invest in green jobs and infrastructure. Senator
Klobuchar has proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure package that will modernize
our aging energy infrastructure so that it is secure and efficient. This
massive infrastructure investment will create good-paying union jobs and give
workers the skills they need to succeed in the green economy.
Retrofit buildings to reduce their emissions. Residential
and commercial buildings account for a significant share of U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions. Senator Klobuchar will launch a major initiative to retrofit
existing buildings to reduce their emissions through grants and tax credits
that support insulation, weatherization improvements, upgrades to heating and
cooling systems, and other energy saving upgrades.
Make new buildings climate friendly. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will support the development of the next generation of
low-emission buildings through model building energy codes and benchmarking and
transparency programs that cut carbon pollution and energy bills for American
families and businesses.
Promote effective zoning rules to minimize climate
impacts. Some cities are beginning to update their zoning policies through
initiatives like Minneapolis 2040. Senator Klobuchar will prioritize areas that
have updated their zoning rules when awarding federal housing and
infrastructure grants.
Expand the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Senator
Klobuchar has been a strong supporter of the Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF), which preserves natural resources while supporting outdoor recreation
through investments on our public lands. As President, Senator Klobuchar will
push to permanently fund the LWCF.
Coordinate with broadband and other infrastructure
priorities. In the Senate, Senator Klobuchar has been a leading proponent
of “dig once” policies and other ways to reduce costs by coordinating
infrastructure deployment. As President, she will direct federal agencies to
maximize opportunities for coordinating climate, broadband, and other types of
infrastructure deployment.
Build climate resiliency into all federal infrastructure
investments. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make federal infrastructure
investments resilient to both current and future climate risks and partner with
states and communities to develop regionally coordinated, resilient
infrastructure strategies.
Promoting Research and Unlocking New Scientific
Breakthroughs for Green Technologies
At the same time as we move forward aggressively with the
tools we have today, we need to invest in research that will create new
opportunities to tackle the climate crisis. To unlock new scientific
breakthroughs and promote research, Senator Klobuchar will:
Invest in federally sponsored research. Basic and
applied research can uncover new technologies, make existing products more
efficient, and reduce the costs of the tools we need to take on climate change.
Senator Klobuchar will increase investment in federally sponsored research.
Expand direct federal research. As President, Senator
Klobuchar will make bold investments in direct climate research at the
Department of Energy, National Labs, ARPA-E and the Department of Defense.
Partner with universities and non-profits. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will support a major expansion of federal grants
for climate research to universities and non-profits.
Unleash the creativity of the private sector.
American workers and businesses are a vital source of innovation. Senator
Klobuchar believes we must include the private sector in climate research and
innovation.
Strengthen tax incentives for climate research.
Senator Klobuchar will strengthen existing tax credits for businesses investing
in research to develop new processes, technologies and products that reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and help tackle the climate crisis.
Encourage collaboration between researchers and the private
sector. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make it easier for federal
research grant recipients to partner with the private sector and provide
set-aside grants for projects with strong commercialization potential.
Help American companies become global green leaders.
As President, Senator Klobuchar will increase support for businesses looking to
export green products and technologies through a new initiative across U.S.
export promotion agencies.
Respect science and empower scientists. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will stop the constant attacks on scientists and science. She
will also direct all federal agencies to reimplement scientific integrity
policies, reverse rules limiting what types of science agencies can use, and
restart data collection canceled by the Trump Administration.
Mobilizing the Heartland
Senator Klobuchar is a strong voice from the Midwest when it
comes to climate change. She will give rural areas the tools they need to be
leaders in clean energy production, support agricultural practices that take on
climate change and make sure the heartland benefits from rebuilding a green
America.
Support rural clean energy production. Clean energy,
including wind and solar, is a major driver of job growth in rural areas. In
fact, 99 percent of operating wind capacity is located in rural areas. As part
of Senator Klobuchar’s plan to tackle climate change, she will prioritize rural
energy development, including expanding storage capacity and strengthening our
energy grid. And as we continue to develop advanced biofuel technologies, she
will strengthen the renewable fuel standard.
Invest in wind and solar and support rural energy
development. As President, Senator Klobuchar will invest in interregional
transmission lines and grid improvements to support the development of
renewable energy. She will launch a grant program to help rural cooperatives
develop energy storage and microgrid projects for renewable energy generation,
transmission and storage. She will also support increased investment in small,
distributed wind, solar and biogas projects.
Provide technical resources for small, rural energy
producers and distributors. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push for
new economic and environmental opportunities in rural America by investing in
rural renewable energy development and by passing and signing into law her
bipartisan Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy (EASE) Act to provide rural
electric cooperatives access to technical resources and expertise to overcome
the barriers to renewable energy storage and grid improvements.
Investing in and providing incentives for homegrown
energy. Senator Klobuchar believes that homegrown biofuels are an important
part of our rural economies, our nation’s energy security and reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. In the Senate, she has been a leader when it comes to
standing up to the Administration’s misuse of small refinery renewable fuel
standard (RFS) waivers. She has also worked successfully in the Senate to
provide financing and grant support to biobased manufacturers. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will strengthen the RFS, end the overuse of secret RFS small
refinery waivers, promote the use of blender pumps, pass a statute to ensure
year-round E15 sales, and invest in advanced and cellulosic biofuels.
Help farmers be leaders in responding to the climate crisis.
We can position American farmers to be leaders in responding to the climate
crisis by increasing land conservation and expanding on new techniques that
help store more carbon in topsoil on productive farmland.
Invest in conservation innovation. Senator Klobuchar
will target research into soil carbon sequestration, which could improve soil
health as well as reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere. She will also expand
Conservation Innovation Grants to test emerging conservation approaches,
including practices that increase carbon sequestration levels. And building on
provisions she included in the 2018 farm bill, Senator Klobuchar will further
improve agriculture data research of conservation practices to help farmers
reduce risk and increase profitability.
Protect native sod and improve soil health. Senator
Klobuchar pushed for a provision in the 2018 Farm Bill that closed a loophole
allowing some non-insured crops to be planted four consecutive years without a
reduction in crop insurance assistance for succeeding insured crops. As
President, she will expand nationwide the sodsaver’s prohibition to substitute
crop insurance yields on native sod that is converted to cropland. She will
also expand the Soil Health and Income Protection Pilot Program to help provide
farmers an alternative to cropping less productive cropland.
Expand conservation practices. Senator Klobuchar has
been a champion of supporting farmer conservation efforts and promoting farming
practices that reduce soil erosion and improve air and water quality, including
by helping pass the 2018 Farm Bill, which included several of her priorities.
As President, she will support significant new investments in conservation of
working and retired lands. Senator Klobuchar will support the continued expansion
of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and increase resources for the
Conservation Stewardship Program to help provide farmers the tools they need to
protect and enhance natural resources on working agricultural lands. And after
successfully increasing the acreage cap of the Conservation Reserve Program,
Senator Klobuchar will work to attract more enrollees and ensure payment rates
are fair.
Use green infrastructure investment to strengthen rural
communities. There is a significant infrastructure backlog in rural
America. From roads and bridges to levees and stormwater systems many rural
areas face infrastructure challenges that will be difficult to address without
federal investment. Upgrading rural infrastructure to meet our climate goals
will also provide an opportunity to address the backlog and overcome
infrastructure challenges that are holding back rural America.
Strengthen rural transportation infrastructure. Rural
transportation infrastructure is at risk from the effects of climate change. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will invest in the repair and improvement of rural
bridges that are not part of the federal-aid highway network and invest in the
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to improve inland waterways and ports, including
funding for the Navigation and Ecosystem Restoration Program to modernize and
expand outdated locks and restore ecosystems along the Mississippi.
Expand energy efficiency programs. Energy costs can
be a significant burden on farms, small businesses and households in rural
communities. Senator Klobuchar has long worked to see that the Rural Energy for
America Program (REAP) has the resources needed to provide grants to farms and
rural businesses to install energy efficient technologies, and she will
continue to push for additional resources. In the Senate, she authored
bipartisan legislation that was signed into law that empowers the nonprofit
community to make energy-efficiency improvements to their buildings and
offices.
Upgrade levees to account for more frequent and severe
floods. The floods we saw throughout the Midwest this year show why we
cannot wait to upgrade our levees so they can protect communities from more
frequent and severe floods. Senator Klobuchar will make upgrading levees a
major focus of her infrastructure investment in the heartland.
Update the rural housing stock. Much of the existing
rural housing stock is outdated and in poor condition, which contributes to the
rural housing crisis. Investments in weatherizing and updating homes and their
heating and cooling systems will build value and help renew the rural housing
stock.
Bring high-speed broadband to every household and
business in America. Broadband access can reduce commuting and make
business and farms more efficient. In an effort to close the rural-urban
divide, Senator Klobuchar has previously announced a commitment to connect
every household in America to high-speed internet by 2022. She will focus on
creating accurate broadband maps to identify areas that lack adequate access, bringing
high-speed internet infrastructure to areas most in need, including by
expanding Rural Utility Service grants, and providing greater incentives for
existing providers to upgrade their networks to cover unserved and underserved
areas. She will also work to quickly implement the recommendations of the
Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force to help farmers fully realize the
potential of broadband in their operations.
Leaving No One Behind
Vulnerable communities are currently experiencing a
disproportionate share of the effects of climate change. Senator Klobuchar is
committed to leaving no one behind through investments in climate adaptation
and support for frontline communities. She will also focus on fulfilling our
responsibility to our communities and workers who have helped power this
country.
Support communities that are most directly experiencing
the effects of climate change. Traditionally marginalized communities
including African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and disabled Americans
are experiencing some of the most severe effects of climate change. Senator
Klobuchar will prioritize assisting these communities as they adapt to the
effects of climate change.
Make sure vulnerable communities are a key part of all
decision making. We cannot continue to make decisions about climate change
without directly and meaningfully involving the communities that are most
affected. Senator Klobuchar will make sure traditionally marginalized
communities are a key part of all decision-making processes.
Direct resources to the communities with the greatest
needs. As President, Senator Klobuchar will create tax incentives and
increase federal funding to communities that are most directly experiencing the
effects of climate change. She will also prioritize these communities for
infrastructure investments and in other federal climate change programs.
Strengthen environmental justice programs at the EPA.
The Trump Administration has worked to dismantle environmental justice
programs. Senator Klobuchar will invest in the EPA’s Environmental Justice
Grants, Funding and Technical Assistance and Office of Civil Rights.
Invest in affordable housing that promotes climate
resilience and mitigation. As President, Senator Klobuchar will ensure that
all federal housing programs put strong standards in place to reduce carbon
emissions and she will invest in retrofitting so that existing housing is more
energy efficient.
Strengthen LIHEAP and SNAP to protect the most vulnerable
Americans. To be sure that the most vulnerable Americans do not bear
the costs of climate change mitigation and adaptation, Senator Klobuchar will
strengthen two important programs for low-income Americans — LIHEAP, which
helps with home energy costs, and SNAP, which provides nutrition assistance.
Use disaster funding to build more resilient communities. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will work to end the Stafford Act prohibition that
prevents disaster funding from being used for significant infrastructure
improvements. She will also increase funding for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant
Program.
Fulfill our responsibility to our communities and workers
who have helped power this country. As the granddaughter of miner who
worked 1,500 feet underground, Senator Klobuchar understands the hard work and
sacrifice of those who built and powered our country. She is committed to
supporting and creating new opportunities for workers and communities that have
depended on the fossil fuel industry.
Promote community assistance and support workers.
Senator Klobuchar will work with the public and private sector to attract new
employers and maintain public services, while investing in infrastructure and
educational opportunities in areas that experience job loss. As part of any
carbon pricing system, she will create a significant manufacturing tax
incentive to encourage investment in rural communities or communities that have
faced or are about to face job losses. To make it easier for workers to find
new jobs, Senator Klobuchar will create a new tax credit for companies that
hire workers who had previously depended on the fossil fuel industry for
employment. Workers will also be able to take advantage of Senator Klobuchar’s
previously announced plan to provide tuition-free one- and two-year community
college degrees and technical certifications and expand student loan
forgiveness programs to workers in in-demand occupations.
Reestablish U.S. International Leadership on Climate.
When it comes to global leadership on climate change, the United States has
abdicated its leadership role under the Trump Administration. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will reassert U.S. global leadership to confront the climate
crisis.
Get the United States back in the Paris International
Climate Agreement on day one. On day one of Senator Klobuchar’s presidency
she will get the United States back into the Paris International Climate Change
Agreement, and she will immediately begin working with global leaders to
strengthen the agreement so that the United States maintains global leadership
to address the climate crisis.
Build on the Paris International Climate Agreement to
achieve global emissions reductions we need. Senator Klobuchar will work
with international leaders to build consensus around stronger goals to limit
global warming to no more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. She will also recommit
to controls on other greenhouse gasses through agreements like the Kigali
Amendment. And she will increase U.S. support for the Green Climate Fund.
Establish meaningful enforcement of international climate
goals. The United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse
gasses, but still only accounts for about 15 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions. Preventing catastrophic global warming will require meaningful
enforcement mechanisms to ensure other countries also meet their emission
reduction goals, which means making accountability for climate commitments a central
part of our international agenda, taking on China’s efforts to promote dirty
energy sources in other countries, and considering climate goals in all types
of international assistance.
Protect our national security. As President
Senator Klobuchar will elevate the voices of our military and security experts
who have repeatedly warned that climate change will increase the risks of
international conflict and humanitarian crises. She will work with our allies
to support countries most affected by climate change, including addressing
global food and water shortages, supporting climate resilient development,
helping countries adapt to the effects of climate change, and preparing for the
increased risk of natural disasters.
To pay for these critical investments, Senator Klobuchar
will:
Work with Congress to put a price on carbon that does not
have a regressive impact on Americans. We know that carbon pollution has
significant costs, but for too long the public has been forced to bear those
costs while those responsible for the pollution have paid nothing. Most
economists agree that the most efficient way to promote a transition away from
fossil fuels is by putting a price on carbon. As President, Senator Klobuchar
will work with Congress to put a carbon pricing system in place that does not
have a regressive impact on Americans.
Develop Clean Energy Bonds. As President, Senator
Klobuchar will create Clean Energy Bonds that will support investment in clean
energy projects. Investors would earn back their full investment as well as
interest from energy savings to the government and loan repayments for clean
energy projects. Estimates suggest that these clean energy bonds could raise up
to $50 billion and leverage $150 billion for clean energy innovation and the creation
of over 1 million jobs.
End federal fossil fuel subsidies. For too long,
taxpayers have subsidized the massive profits of fossil fuel companies. Senator
Klobuchar will end federal tax subsidies for fossil fuel exploration and
production.
Make a series of corporate tax reforms. To pay for a
green infrastructure investment worth hundreds of billions of dollars, Senator
Klobuchar will make a series of corporate tax reforms including adjusting the
corporate tax rate to 25%, closing loopholes that encourage U.S. companies to
move jobs and operations overseas, establishing a financial risk fee on our
largest banks, and increasing efforts for tax enforcement.
Increase the capital gains rate. To support and
create new opportunities for workers and communities that have depended on the
fossil fuel industry, Senator Klobuchar will raise the capital gains rate for
Americans who make over $200,000.
Close the trust fund loophole. To support updating
our buildings and providing consumers support through programs like LIHEAP and
rebates, Senator Klobuchar will close the trust fund loophole.
Long Island will have the first stand-alone
large-scale anaerobic digester – a type of food waste recycling center that
converts waste into energy – in the New York City metropolitan area. When operational
in 2020, It will produce four megawatts of clean energy and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions on Long Island by 85,000 metric tons a year, the equivalent to
removing 18,000 cars from the road.
The Board of Trustees of the Long Island Power Authority voted to approve the project which directly supports Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Green New Deal, a clean energy and jobs agenda that puts New York State on a path to a carbon-free economy and supports the State’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.
“New York State continues to lead the way
with clean energy initiatives and innovative solutions that benefit both our
neighborhoods and our planet,” Governor Cuomo said. “By implementing this
groundbreaking technology on Long Island, we can not only produce clean energy
and reduce greenhouse gases, but also spare our landfills and keep our
communities cleaner and greener for decades to come.”
The project will create at least 10 full-time jobs and help retain more than 100. The facility provides a lower cost waste disposal option for food service businesses such as supermarkets, bakeries, restaurants, commercial food processers, cafeterias, catering halls, and hotels. The Town of Brookhaven will also have the capability to divert 10,000-15,000 tons per year of food waste to the project from the more expensive disposal options currently used.
The project, to be operated by American Organic
Energy (AOE) at Long Island Compost in Yaphank, will process approximately
180,000 tons of local food waste per year. This waste would have otherwise been
transported by gas and diesel-powered trucks to distant landfills, along with
30,000 tons of fats, oils and greases (FOG). Working with GE Water and Scott’s
Miracle-Gro, AOE will collect, separate, pre-process, break down, and transform
Long Island’s food waste into convertible energy, electricity, fertilizer, and
nutrient-rich clean water.
Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be
reduced by 85,000 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to removing 18,000 cars off
the road. It will also reduce truck traffic on Long Island roads by 1.4 million
miles per year, compared to current landfill disposal practice. In addition,
Long Island Compost will convert certain stationary equipment from diesel
to electricity, which is expected to reduce diesel fuel consumption by an
estimated 200,000 gallons per year.
Anaerobic digestion is a biological process
that occurs when organic matter is decomposed by bacteria in the absence of
oxygen. During the decomposition process, the biogas released can be recovered,
treated and used to generate energy in place of traditional fossil fuels.
The agreement also establishes annual and hourly limits on the delivery of energy to LIPA. The average residential bill impact would be approximately $0.10 per month, competitive with pricing of other comparable clean energy facilities under contract to LIPA. The anaerobic digester is expected to be operational by December 31, 2020.
The project is also supported by New York
State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) Cleaner Greener
Communities initiative, which provided $1.35 million and also was chosen for a
$400,000 Empire State Development award by the Long Island Regional Economic
Development Council.
“Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New
York continues to find innovative ways to produce and deliver clean energy to
consumers,” Tom Falcone, LIPA’s Chief
Executive Officer, said. “Turning food waste into energy here on Long
Island diverts waste from Long Island landfills, reduces carbon emissions, and
helps LIPA meet New York’s aggressive clean energy goals.”
“By transforming waste into energy,
digester projects like this will reduce harmful emissions and material going
into landfills, while providing economic and environmental benefits to Long
Island residents,” Alicia Barton,
President and CEO of NYSERDA said. “NYSERDA is proud to collaborate with
LIPA to advance clean energy solutions that support New York’s nation-leading
clean energy goals under Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal.”
“This project, the largest this side of
the Mississippi, has many societal benefits including creating renewable
energy, reducing solid waste and reducing truck traffic,” Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of the
Citizens Campaign of the Environment said. “Today the project is cutting
edge, tomorrow it will be standard operating procedure. This transformational
project was seven years in the making, the permits are now completed, and we
are thrilled the construction can begin.”
Empire State Development President,
CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky said, “Clean energy projects like this facility aren’t just good
for the environment, they’re good for the health of our communities and help
build a greener economic future for our entire state.”
Suffolk County
Executive Steve Bellone said,”Governor Cuomo understands the
importance of investing in renewable energy initiatives to ensure a sustainable
future for our communities and communities across the state. We are focused on
expanding our efforts to create a cleaner, more efficient Long Island, and I
thank the Governor for his continued support in making projects like these
possible.”
“Through this partnership, Brookhaven
will continue to move forward with our plans to create an energy park at our landfill
as we cap and close this facility, piping methane to this anaerobic digester to
produce an estimated 1.5 megawatts of energy,” Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine said. “Using food scraps and
other organic matter in this facility to create compost and energy is an
important part of our overall strategy to reduce our waste stream on Long
Island to benefit our environment. I want to thank Governor Cuomo for his
support of this important an innovative clean energy project.”
Senator
Todd Kaminsky said,”For a sustainable future, Long Island must stop sending
excess food to landfills, and instead utilize state-of-the-art technology that
turns waste into clean energy. The future is now, and the approval of this
large-scale anaerobic digester is a breakthrough that marks the beginning of a
new, green era.”
Sammy Chu, CEO,
Edgewise Energy, and Chairman, US Green Building Council – Long Island Chapter
said, “This
project represents a very exciting opportunity for Long Island. It not only
supports Governor Cuomo’s goal of decarbonizing our electric supply but also
addresses our growing regional waste crisis. This is the type of creative
solution that we need right now.”
Kevin Law,
President, and CEO of the Long Island Association said, “The anaerobic digester is the most
sophisticated food waste processing facility in the region. This technology
will digest food waste taken from supermarkets, restaurants, and hospitals and
turn this material into a source of clean energy. The LIA is in full support of
this project which will benefit Long Island’s economy, environment and energy
portfolio.”
Neil Lewis,
Executive Director of the Molloy College Sustainability Institute said,”This project addresses the
interconnection of energy, food and carbon emissions. This anaerobic digester
helps with the solid waste problem on Long Island by reducing food waste, while
also generating electricity. Biogas is a renewable form of energy that should
be put to work for us, rather than causing emissions issues in landfills and
being wasted.”
Julie Tighe,
President, New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) said, “We are in full support of this
effort to deploy technology and solutions that can help New York State achieve
its ambitious climate, clean air, and economic development goals. We
applaud LIPA and look forward to continued efforts to help Long Island develop
a robust organic waste-to-fuel industry.”
New York State’s Green New Deal
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Green New Deal, the nation’s leading
clean energy and jobs agenda, will aggressively put New York State on a path to
economy-wide carbon neutrality. This initiative will provide for a just
transition to clean energy, spurring the growth of the green economy and
mandating New York’s power be 100 percent clean and carbon-free by 2040, one of
the most aggressive goals in the U.S. The cornerstone of this newly proposed
mandate is a significant increase of New York’s successful Clean Energy
Standard to 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030.
As part of the unprecedented ramp-up of renewable energy, New York has already invested $2.9 billion into 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state as it significantly increases its clean energy targets, such as: quadrupling New York’s offshore wind target to a nation-leading 9,000 megawatts by 2035; doubling distributed solar deployment to 6,000 megawatts by 2025; and deploying 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030. To support this ambitious work, NY Green Bank intends to use its expertise in overcoming financing gaps to foster greater environmental impacts per public dollar by raising over $1 billion in third party funds to expand climate financing availability across New York and the rest of North America.
Environmentalists are hailing energy and environmental legacy initiatives in New York State proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in his his annual State of the State and budget address.
“Governor Cuomo made historic commitments today
supporting the advancement of clean energy throughout the state,” stated Lisa Dix, Senior New York Campaign Manager
for the Sierra Club. “With a mandate to source 70 percent of the state’s
energy through renewables by 2030, doubling New York’s distributed solar target
and quadrupling the current offshore wind targets, the Governor has proven that
he is a national leader determined to make New York a 21st century, renewable
energy, economic powerhouse. Through massive investments in offshore wind ports
and clean energy job training centers, New York will be the regional hub for
the offshore wind industry. Working with the administration, climate-affected
communities and labor, we will create long-term, family-wage jobs, while
supporting a robust supply chain and multiplying economic development
opportunities for New Yorkers.”
The initiatives include commitments to:
New York’s “Green New Deal”: The Governor restated his December
goal of making New York 100 percent carbon neutral by 2040. The Administration
will map how New York will achieve carbon neutrality, while providing a just
and fair transition for communities and workers. This initiative includes a $10 billion “Green Future Fund” that supports
climate priorities and emissions reduction goals and $70 million to provide
initial funding for communities affected by the clean energy transition.
Increased Clean Energy Standard Target: New York is now the second state after Hawaii with the most
ambitious clean energy targets in the nation, with a new goal of sourcing 70
percent of New York’s electricity from renewable energy by 2030, including the
most ambitious off-shore windpower program in the country. This doubles the
current targets for energy storage, distributed solar, large scale solar and
wind and quadruples the offshore wind targets.
Increased Green Infrastructure and Jobs: With the Governor
committing to building nearly four times more offshore wind by 2035 than he
initially stated, this is the most ambitious offshore wind generation
commitment in the country. New York will nearly triple the offshore wind
commitment any state has made before. Additionally, about $200 million of the
budget will be invested in building offshore wind ports and clean energy job
training centers.
Clean Transportation and Congestion Pricing: The Governor urged
the legislature to pass congestion pricing legislation to make the Metro
Transit Authority (MTA) more reliable for years to come. Through congestion
pricing, the state would make $15 billion to invest back into the MTA. The
Governor also committed to over $3 billion in funding for clean energy and
clean transportation infrastructure for electric vehicles and charging
infrastructure. The Governor, however, fell short in setting an enforceable
commitment to reducing emissions from New York’s transportation sector, the
economic sector responsible for the most climate/carbon pollution in New York
State.
Governor Andrew Cuomo sees the opportunity to create a new industry centered largely on Long Island to take advantage of the offshore windpower in an area of the Atlantic Ocean, considered “the Saudi Arabia of windpower.” In this, the state is acting much like other nations which jumpstart new industries by funding critical studies, research centers, workforce development. This is all to ease the way, lessen the risk and increase likelihood of success for the private companies which are expected to vie for leases from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
Cuomo has set a standard of the state generating 50% of its energy needs through renewable by 2030, and offshore wind, in addition to solar, hilltop windpower, hydroelectric and other sources (“all of the above”) are considered essential to meeting that goal, which Cuomo has proudly declared the most ambitious in the nation.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation just released proposed regulations to require all power plants in New York to meet new emissions limits for carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. The regulations, a first in the nation approach to regulating carbon emissions, will achieve the Governor’s goal to end the use of coal in New York State power plants by 2020.
Environmental groups including Sierra Club have long advocated offshore wind, especially as Long Island faces a crucial transition juncture of expanding or upgrading fossil-fuel based power plants to meet its energy needs, versus investing and transitioning to renewable energy.
The state is targeting acquiring 2,400 megawatts of energy from offshore wind – the equivalent of what is generated by the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant – enough to power 1.2 million households. The associated industries that would develop to manufacture the wind turbines and platforms, construct ports and stage the equipment, install the turbines, operate and maintain the systems are expected to employ some 5,000 people in relatively high-paying jobs, and generate $6 billion for the region. What is more, over time, windpower will bring down the cost of electricity on Long Island, where high costs of energy are considered impediments to economic growth.
At the same time, the state has invested in new research programs at State Universities, including Stony Brook to address key issues such as storage batteries (for when the wind does not blow), and transmission.
The master plan, being unveiled in public hearings, has been developed over a period of years by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
The strategy is to be the furthest along in order to be first in line to contract for the electricity, which could be sold to New Jersey and other regions, to reduce cost and risk to private entities which will bid for the rights to construct and operate the wind turbines. The state is not actually seeking to be the winning bidder for the leases, but to be the customer for the power for those that do. And the state is also aware that other customers – New Jersey, as one example (though the former governor Chris Christie showed little interest, the new governor Phil Murphy is) – will also be bidding. But there is great confidence because of proximity and the sheer market size, that New York City and Long Island residents will be the beneficiary. And there is so much energy potential from this area, there is “enough for all.” Indeed, NYSERDA is eyeing 3,200 MW of production from the sites it has targeted, of which it would contract for 2,400.
NYSERDA has conducted studies in 20 areas –literally every environmental, biologic, economic and engineering aspect – in order to define every aspect of locating the best places to position turbines and cables, where to stage construction, where to manufacture the turbines and components, even where to invest in workforce development. All along the way, the agency has engaged stakeholders – from municipalities and environmentalists to labor unions to consumer advocates, to commercial fishing interests.
The state has allocated $15 million to spend on workforce development and infrastructure advancement (for example, building port facilities), and is allocating up to $5 million for multi-year research studies that will assist project developers with the data will be made available by NYSERDA in real time to public. For example, data on wind speeds particularly impact economics of projects and will improve the certainty of bids to state.
“We are seeking to invest $20 million or more, kicking off in 2018, for research and development – component design, systems design, operational controls, monitoring systems, manufacturing processes,” said Doreen Harris, Director, Large Scale Renewables, NYSERDA.
To attract private investment in port infrastructure and manufacturing, the state is hoping to spotlight promising infrastructure investments (60 sites have been identified), helping jumpstart project development and “secure its status as the undisputed home for the emerging offshore wind industry in the US.”
Think of it: Long Island used to be the center for America’s aerospace industry. Now it can be a leader in a global offshore windpower industry. What is more, off shore windpower can also bring down Long Island’s historically high utility rates which are considered an impediment to business development and economic growth.
“We’ve established technical working groups to determine best use of funds – to insure new Yorkers well prepared to serve offshore wind industry and connected to the global Industry.” Indeed, offshore wind is brand new for the US, but has been in force in Europe for 25 years.
The United States projects will have the benefit of leap-frogging over earlier technology, with more efficient, productive, and less environmentally risky structures.
The state is estimating that the near-term incremental program cost would be less than 30 cents a month for a typical homeowner – the cost of windpower is front-loaded in the initial construction, as opposed to fossil-fuel generated energy which continues to get more expensive over time because it is a finite resource that is increasingly more difficult and costly to obtain and needs to be transported from further distances to users. Electricity generated from wind is already competitive with fossil-fuel generated power, but over time, as usage thresholds and technology improvements are reached, the costs will go down. And this does not even factor in the environmental and public health benefits of transitioning from carbon-based fuel.
The only kicker is that while New York State is being pro-active, it is BOEM that ultimately controls the leases and is undertaking similar studies, so people are concerned this can be unnecessarily time-consuming and duplicative. And while BOEM under the Obama Administration was full-speed ahead and keen to develop offshore windpower, concern was raised after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke declared the entire continental shelf open for drilling, and this prime windpower area used instead for drilling rigs or equally horrible Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals such as the Port Ambrose that had been beaten back by Governor Cuomo.
But BOEM’s Energy Program Specialist Luke Feinberg, who attended NYSERDA’s May 8 public hearing in Melville expressed enthusiasm for offshore wind in this area (not to mention the area does not seem to have much potential for oil). BOEM presented a timetable that projects out two to five years before actual construction can begin; BOEM intends to hold its next lease auction no later than 2019.
BOEM is taking comments on the proposed “New York Bight” Call Area by May 29. Submit comments and view documents at boem.gov/New-York/
The New York Public Service Commission is now considering a number of options for the state to advance solicitations once the leases are awarded; send comments or view materials at http://documents.dps.ny.gov.
To get more information on the New York State Offshore Wind Master Plan visit nyserda.ny.gov/offshorewind.
New York State has launched the second solicitation for large-scale renewable energy projects under the state’s Clean Energy Standard. The solicitation for up to 20 projects will accelerate New York’s transition to a clean energy economy and is expected to spur up to $1.5 billion in private investment and create more than 1,000 new well-paying jobs for New Yorkers. The solicitation is expected to support 1.5 million megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year, enough to power 200,000 homes, and advance New York’s nation-leading commitment to secure 50 percent of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
“This administration continues to champion renewable energy projects across New York, and this is a major step forward in our efforts to create clean jobs and set an example for the rest of the nation,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “With this action we will continue to capitalize on our natural assets, expand economic opportunities and lay the groundwork for a cleaner, greener New York for generations to come.”
The state is issuing this solicitation as the second in a series of major procurements that are expected to result in the development of dozens of large scale renewable energy projects by 2022 under the Clean Energy Standard. Community engagement and on-the-ground support is crucial for the successful development of renewable energy projects, and the RFP released today includes new standards and requirements for effective community outreach and planning. The RFP also ensures that good-paying jobs will be created by requiring the prevailing wage for applicable positions.
Notable new provisions in this solicitation include:
Requiring that workers associated with the construction of any awarded facility be paid the applicable prevailing wage, a standard set by the New York State Department of Labor, ensuring that the projects will result in quality, good-paying jobs for New Yorkers;
Preserving and protecting New York’s valuable agricultural resources by providing bonus points for renewable energy projects that avoid overlap with land of agricultural importance to New York State;
Ensuring that communities that would host successfully awarded projects are fully aware of the development process, proposers will be required to demonstrate that they have engaged with those communities and have also commenced the associated permitting processes; and
Continuing to encourage proposals that cost-effectively pair renewable energy with advanced energy storage technologies to help meet Governor Cuomo’s commitment to deploying 1,500 MW of energy storage by 2025.
To learn more about the large scale renewable solicitation, visit NYSERDA’s website.
The announcement maintains a predictable pace of annual solicitations for renewable energy developers and will support continued development and investment in clean energy projects across New York State.
The move builds on the Governor’s announcement with Vice President Al Gore in March when the state reaffirmed its commitment to cleaner, smarter energy solutions, including the announcement of large-scale renewable energy project awards and a formal request to the federal government for an exclusion from the new five-year National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
This solicitation supports NYSERDA’s 2017 solicitation through which a $1.4 billion investment dedicated to renewable energy projects was announced earlier this year. That investment included 22 utility-scale solar farms, three wind farms and one hydroelectric project. One of the wind farms features an energy storage component, marking the first time a large-scale renewable energy project has done so in New York State.
The request also builds upon a New York Power Authority solicitation announced last June in concert with NYSERDA’s first solicitation, that will procure 1 million MWh. This investment in large-scale clean energy supply will further expand NYPA’s leadership role as the state’s largest supplier of renewable electricity. NYPA received more than 130 proposals from 51 clean energy developers in response to its RFP. NYPA plans to announce selected developers and customers once contracts are signed, which is expected to be this summer.
These projects will advance the Clean Climate Careers initiative announced by Governor Cuomo in June 2017. The initiative focuses on accelerating renewable energy and energy efficiency to make New York home to 40,000 new, good-paying clean energy jobs by 2020. According to the 2017 New York Clean Energy Industry Report, 146,000 New Yorkers were employed in the clean energy sector, including 22,000 in renewable energy power generation.
Richard Kauffman, Chairman of Energy and Finance said, “Investment in clean energy has been a proven catalyst in jump-starting the economy and providing jobs throughout the State. The significant interest the state is seeing from companies to invest in New York’s clean energy agenda is testament to our resolve to ensure generations to come can enjoy the natural resources which surround us.”
Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA said, “Making progress in the battle against climate change requires a sustained commitment to supporting clean energy projects that will make our communities stronger and more resilient. Governor Cuomo has set the stage for New York to lead this effort through his bold commitment to 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, and we expect that this solicitation being announced today will help us maintain the early momentum we witnessed in the last round, and to pick up our pace in the march towards a cleaner future.”
Gil C. Quiniones, President and CEO, NYPA said, “Renewable energy is a priority for New York State. With these latest sizeable investments in clean and green energy projects and jobs, we are making great progress toward Governor Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard. Through large-scale renewable projects, we are changing the energy landscape in New York, and ensuring that our energy mix is viable and affordable now and into the future.”
Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee Chair Senator Joseph Griffo said, “The development of renewable resources is crucial to New York’s efforts to become more energy efficient. This announcement is a significant step forward and will support the state’s investments in a clean energy economy and job growth across the state.”
Assembly Energy Committee Chair Michael Cusick said, “While fighting climate change, the State is also investing in our economy by providing jobs for New Yorkers. With this plan, Governor Cuomo is ensuring opportunities for businesses to participate in the State’s agenda to have 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. Once again, New York is leading the nation in creating clean energy.”
Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Steve Englebright said, “I am thrilled to see New York taking more aggressive steps towards meeting our renewable energy goals, and in turn, our climate change mitigation goals. The state must rapidly move to produce clean power for homes and business and create well-paying, stable jobs for New Yorkers. Renewable projects, in concert with smart, economy-wide policies, will show that New York is a trendsetter in climate action.”
The Alliance for Clean Energy New York Executive Director Anne Reynolds said, “The renewable energy industry is committed to investing in New York to create jobs and help achieve Governor Cuomo’s ambitious clean energy goals. We applaud the Governor for his commitment to clean energy and for the release of the second solicitation for projects under the Clean Energy Standard. Our member companies look forward to competing for the opportunity to serve New Yorkers and provide pollution-free power.”
Climate Jobs NY Executive Director Ya-Ting Liu said, “New York has become a model for the rest of the country on how to tackle climate change while creating good, middle-class jobs with benefits. We applaud Governor Cuomo’s ongoing commitment to build a robust clean energy economy in New York that supports working families.”
The Nature Conservancy in New York Chief Conservation and External Affairs Officer Stuart F. Gruskin said, “The Nature Conservancy applauds Governor Cuomo for continuing progress on New York’s ambitious renewable energy goals and is thrilled to see a new approach in this solicitation to begin to consider land use. We look forward to continuing to work with the Administration to proactively address siting concerns to ensure clean energy for all New Yorkers while reducing impacts to our critical natural resources.”
Independent Power Producers of New York President & CEO Gavin Donohue said, “We applaud Governor Cuomo’s leadership in moving the Clean Energy Standard forward using competitive auctions. It is important to recognize the benefits of in-state energy resource development to local economies, and a diversity of resources is essential to electric system reliability.”
Reforming the Energy Vision is Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s strategy to lead on climate change and grow New York’s economy. REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency and requiring 50 percent of the state’s electricity needs from renewable energy by 2030. Already, REV has driven growth of more than 1,000 percent in the statewide solar market, improved energy affordability for 1.65 million low-income customers, and created thousands of jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and other clean tech sectors. REV is ensuring New York reduces statewide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and achieves the internationally recognized target of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050. To learn more about REV, including the Governor’s $5 billion investment in clean energy technology and innovation, visit rev.ny.gov, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund hosted the 2017 Nassau County Executive Candidate Forum on Environment & Sustainability at Adelphi University in Garden City on October 15. The format was a panel of three posing questions to the candidates individually and separately, first to Laura Curran, the Democratic candidate, then, in a second session, posing the same questions to the Republican candidate, Jack Martins. With the Trump Administration and Republican Congress pulling back on environmental protection and climate action, the stand that localities take becomes more significant. What follows is a loosely edited transcription, putting the candidates’ replies together after each question—Karen Rubin, News & Photo Features
Laura Curran: I never planned to get involved in politics. I wanted to help my schools, my community, succeed. That sparked my interest to step up and serve the community in a bigger way – I have been in the Nassau County Legislature for four years, I am proud to have worked across the aisle when it was the right thing to do for the people I represent –For example, I was able to restore 10 bus routes that were cut.
As a legislator, I have had a front row seat to the corruption, the mismanagement [of county government]. I know how hard people work, the high taxes we pay. I believe we deserve a government that lives up to us. When I hear about indictments, it’s clear that the machine is breaking down, is not accountable to the people.
Jack Martins: I believe strongly in the Kenyan proverb, we don’t inherit the land from our parents we borrow it from our children. That is motivating. It hasn’t always been the case – water quality, the way we have treated sole-source aquifer historically, the lack of comprehensive sewering, nitrogen outflow to bays and and Sound, have significant environmental issues that is our responsibility to take care of and not simply kick the can down the road. Options for us – priorities, investments in infrastructure – I have had a history of working across the aisle – with Schimel in Assembly – But if there is a critical issue for us here in Long Island it’s water. Environmental sensitivity, wind energy, opportunities for our economy, need to expand bus service.
Adrienne Esposito, Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment: You know the first question: nitrogen. The Bay Park sewage treatment plant is responsible for 85% of the nitrogen loading into the western bays and the western bays are dying – depleted fish, closed shellfish beds, wetlands degrading. The solution is to combine Long Beach with Bay Park, take treated effluent, use the water viaduct currently in place, and discharge out the Cedar Creek ocean outfall pipe. Will you expedite the process of hooking up Long Beach to Bay Park to the existing pipe to the ocean outflow pipe – so bays can be restored and thrive?
Curran: This is a very exciting project. The county was trying to get outflow pipe for bay…. It’s expensive. The county wasn’t able to get (funding?) from the state, federal government. [But] this is an example of how government works well: smart guys had a eureka moment: they realized there is a viaduct under Sunrise Highway,100 years old from an old waterworks, so big, a grown man could stand up in it .What if we bring water up to the viaduct, out to Cedar Creek, 6-7 miles, then there is 2 mile outflow pipe already in Cedar Creek? Altogether it would be half the cost. A viability study showed the plan is viable – they would put a polymer sleeve inside.
The key is expediting [the plan]. We have to work closely with towns and villages because we’ve got to get the treated effluent from Bay Park up the viaduct and back down. We’ve got to work with communities on either side, so we have to make sure they understand and have buy in –we don’t want to shove it down people’s throats. It will reduce the amount of nitrogen into the bays immediately, restore the shellfish. It doesn’t take long before nature will rebound. It would be good for economy, too. A win- win.
Jack Martins: There is a critical need on Long Island, how we discharge effluent into South Bay. Right now, both Long Beach and Bay Park go to Reynolds Channel and we know the effect. Someone came up with the ingenious proposal to connect via existing viaduct – the most complicated part is how to connect from Bay Park to the water viaduct…The viaduct is viable, we can move forward immediately…There are a couple of different options. The sooner we close Long Beach sewer treatment plant …Connect Cedar Creek – lateral to plant to outflow – and discharged 3 miles out. It’s important because of nitrogen loading [which] killed the shellfish industry, killed coastal wetlands. We realized after Sandy that those coastal wetlands protect against tidal surge during these 100-year storms. That’s my commitment, that’s what we will do.
Eric Alexander, Vision Long Island: This issue is on human level: Nassau County has some of most dangerous roads in NYS for pedestrian, bikers, – restaurants, downtowns, growing 55-plus population, growing number of young people who don’t want to drive – what will you do to encourage walkability, ‘Complete Streets’.
Curran – I often talk about how transit oriented development [TOD] will be what saves us as a region – it keeps young people, empty nesters, creates a tax base, jobs. But [existing] infrastructure doesn’t quite support TOD. There are places where we have to reengineer what already have.
I live in Baldwin in the town of Hempstead. We won $5 million in funding for a Complete Streets project to redo our main road, Grand Ave, to make it more navigable for bikers, walkers, cars and buses. This is called a “road diet“: taking two lanes in each direction and turning them into one lane in each for the part of the road that’s in the plan. There is [often] a lot of resistance because people are concerned about change, that it will take longer. But [delays are mitigated by] engineering traffic lights, making turn lanes that fan out so drivers can get to lights in time – that will make it more navigable. But when people can walk around, ride bikes, have alternatives to using a car, people tend to spend more money – they want to stop, shop – which is good for economic development. We’re built up in Nassau County, so we need to reengineer what we already have. That’s what we are doing in Baldwin. I am looking forward to working with zoning municipalities.
Martins: As we consider the next generation of downtown residents, transit oriented development, how we get around safely. I supported Safe Streets legislation in Albany – it made a requirement that when we reengineer streets, we do so in a way that is safe for cars but also pedestrians and cyclists. For us, it’s a question of who we are as a county. We have to have every option for transit – bicycles, pedestrians. We need to make sure we keep roads safe. I represented one of the most dangerous areas in New York State – Hempstead Turnpike – more fatalities – Complete Streets have to be integral to what we do. The county has hundreds of miles of county roads, some of the most heavily traveled in the country. As roads are redesigned, maintained, [we need to be] using Complete Streets [strategies]. That is my commitment. As we stress the need for transit-oriented development, Complete Streets are more important [including] connectivity to train stations.
Nick Sifuentes, Tri-State Transportation Campaign: Transit oriented development requires good transit – something that is slipping. Governor Cuomo announced an advisory council to address dual crises: congestion in/out of New York City, and lack of funding for MTA (including Long Island Railroad). As the future leader of Nassau County what are the policies and proposals you would like to see?
Curran: I would make sure we have strong advocate on the council – Suffolk has a strong guy, Nassau, we don’t even know who it is. I am happy that the third track is on track, because we need to ease getting on/off the island – how trains operate. I would also look to buses and encourage more people to ride the bus even if they don’t have to [instead of driving]. The more choice bus riders, the better we will be. There are interesting examples all over the country: ideas include creating smaller, more flexible routes, more app-based routes to make an appointment to catch a bus. I am excited to pursue these: for every $1 spent on bus transit generates many more dollars in economic activity. It’s not just poor people who need to use buses. It is obviously important for people to take buses to doctors appointments, university, jobs. That’s economic development… Also ride-sharing –I’m glad it’s [now] legal in Nassau County – young people aren’t driving as much.
Martins: Make mass transit more affordable. Use it to make LIRR more affordable, encourage people to leave their cars. As a parent, when I take my children into the city, I have to take out a loan to pay the roundtrip fare. We shouldn’t have that consideration instead of taking car. [Transit] has to be affordable . if they do something with congestion pricing, make it affordable for Nassau County.
Adrienne Esposito: Climate change is real. There is no debate. And Long Island is at the forefront of impacts. New York State set a goal of 50% renewals by 2030 but we can’t get there unless offshore wind is part of the [energy] portfolio. Will you support offshore wind (with site-specific environmental assessment)?
Curran: Absolutely. We have to look for renewable energy. Wind is a gift and we should be harnessing it and anything we can do to harness wind. Also renewables are a growing industry, and I don’t want to be on the losing end. I fought against the LNG [Liquified Natural Gas] port off Long Beach.
Solar panels have a really hard time with permitting – people have to deal with towns, villages, all with different permits that expire differently. We have to work hard with partners –because that is right to do for the environment and the economy.
Climate change. I am concerned with the rhetoric of the president that [the US] will be getting out of the Paris Climate Accord– especially being a coastal community, we see the ravages [of superstorms, sealevel rise]. I am heartened that governors and mayors around the country say they will stick to the Paris Agreement, and I have vowed as county executive to do the same.
Trump has said it is no longer necessary to [require that tax money used for infrastructure must take climate change resiliency into account]. I would insure that every penny would be used [would take] climate change [into account, that is, sustainable development].
Martins: Absolutely. Curious at [the goal of] 50% [renewable] by 2030. I visited Portugal a couple of years ago – toured their renewable portfolio. Portugal gets 60% of their energy from renewable – hydro, wind, solar, voltaics. We should too. I’m a big believer in offshore wind, a great resource for us – the corridor for offshore wind runs from Block Island to south Jersey. We’re in a great position to benefit from cheap energy from wind. I also understand great strides are being made in developing battery technology to store energy at Brookhaven National Labs. That would be an economic boost for us. Right now, the largest project in New York, the east end off Long Island is being staged from Rhode Island. That means jobs are in Rhode Island, economic development is in Rhode Island. It needs to be here on Long Island. If we make a commitment to offshore wind as energy, we should make a commitment to have those jobs here. We live on an island, we have a maritime history. Embrace it, make offshore wind industry here -manufacturing blades, turbines, opportunities for engineering next generation of offshore wind.
IDA Tax Incentives
Eric Alexander: Sustainability and smart growth, but also economic development. To focus growth in downtowns, the Nassau County IDA over the last 7 years provided tax incentives to thousands of units of affordable housing, mixed-use development by train stations… In an election year, attacking IDA incentives is politically popular but they have been anchors of revitalization efforts such as in Farmingdale’s affordable housing component. Will you continue that policy?
Curran: Farmingdale is a perfect example of transit oriented development.. The biggest problem now is you can’t get parking on a Saturday night. IDAs play a serious role, but are subject to attack because if you have nine self-storage facilities getting tax breaks, they aren’t economic drivers that create jobs. But when done right, [IDA tax incentives] can be real motivator, bring the right kind of development into Nassau County. That involves land use planning, that when we do a deal with a developer or business, that real jobs are being created or real taxes being generated from an enterprise, so the investment of taxpayers is returned. We need more transparency in the IDA – open up meetings to the public, let the public give input. When I talk about getting community buy-in for projects, that’s the way. You can’t force things on communities.
IDA is a real asset but must be used properly and if a developer or business doesn’t do what was promised, that there be a muscular way of addressing that.
Martins: My experience as mayor of Mineola, master plan, transit oriented development, overlay district –I see the effects when a community comes together – the commitment it has to expand housing stock, providing affordability for senior, next generation housing. The role for county government: it needs to work with local communities to identify areas where TOD makes sense – Hicksville, Farmingdale, Westbury, Glen Cove …. We as a county could expedite and incentivize. What I would do differently would be to make sure developers who are seeking tax (rebates) make sure they tell communities. Communities feel let down. Developers come before zoning boards and say they need greater density, etc, and then will have the ability to build this, and the community makes a decision to support that request, gives a variance they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. [The community] expects a revenue stream and a tax base that comes back to community. But the first thing is [the developer] goes to the IDA and gets tax credits which undermines what the community expects. So there needs to be transparency, part of the discussion before the decision, not after, that causes so much friction we see.
Generating Revenue for NICE Bus
Nick Sifuentes: How would you create additional revenue for the NICE bus?
Curran: I have suggested pots where money could come from: there is money that was borrowed 8 and 10 years ago that hasn’t been spent (that is a one-shot); the fund balance has way more than needs to be (also a one-shot). You are talking about recurring revenue. I propose that a small piece of ride-sharing money, Uber or Lyft – say 25 cents or 50 cents a ride – to go to buses. It makes sense because all are part of transportation. We could use a small portion of MTA tax and put that toward buses. And red light cameras are $12 million over budget – use some of that for buses. That’s also within the theme of transportation.
Martins: One of the first things I did in in the senate in 2010 and 2011 – I was identified as one of 50 most influential people on Long Island – my efforts to secure funding for Long Island bus was underpinning – NICE bus has a $130 million budget, $66 million from New York State, $45-50 from the fare box, the county puts in $6 million and the rest from ancillary fees, etc. – unbelievable the County only provides $6 million for a system that is so critical to the economy, when years ago, the county paid $20 million. Our responsibility is to put money in place because most who take bus have no other option – we want them to leave the car home – going to work, school, doctors appointments, that they have access to vibrant bus service. I suggested that for ride hailing, we have a surcharge – Uber, Lyft – that surcharge go toward bus. 10-11 million rides a year, 50c surcharge, would put $5-6 million directly into buses. A 50c surcharge is not only appropriate, but would provide a dedicated, steady revenue for buses.
Protecting Drinking Water
Audience Question: What is the most Important environmental issue facing the county and how would you address it?
Curran: The aquifer. We get our drinking water from one place: underground. I am concerned New York City is looking to open 70 wells in Queens. We don’t get another source of water but the city does [upstate reservoirs]. They are concerned about flooding basements so they want to bring down the watertable, but the consequences for us could be disastrous: saltwater intrusion, and could cause Grumman and Lake Success plumes [of contamination] to shift [direction. The Grumman plume is 4 miles by 2 miles and 800 feet deep, almost reaching Massapequa. I am glad to see Cngressmen King and Suozzi working together to [get the federal government] to clean it up. The fact this has gone on this long and the Navy and Grumman are not held accountable for decades….
Martins: The most critical issue facing us as a region, Nassau County, is water supply, making sure we protect our sole-source aquifer against all comers. We live on an island, and the aquifer is tied to Suffolk, Queens & Brooklyn. Our responsibility is to protect it. New York City has other options to get water from upstate reservoirs. Our only plan, A to Z is the sole-source aquifer. We haven’t treated it well over the years, with industrial and manufacturing years post World War II, a lot of damage done – Lake Success, Bethpage. We’ve seen the water supply under constant attack. We have great water providers – we do a good job in maintaining water supply –it is as clean as you get from bottled water- but we have a responsibility to do more – responsibility to surface water – protect our coastal waterways, make sure we enhance sewer systems, sewer treatment plants, make sure that years and decades of nitrogen charging, loading into bays are a thing of the past.
Preserving Open Space
Audience Question: How would you preserve open space in Nassau County from development?
Curran: A Great question because pretty much [all of Nassau] is developed. We have to keep what we have green – that is good to recharge the aquifer. We have to use space we have more wisely – in-fill. You sometimes see suburban sprawl – there is already concrete – you can in-fill with transit oriented development, with the buy-in of the community. There is a lot of new technology now. For example, the boat basin parking lot was redone with permeable pavement – that’s expensive, so you can only do it in small places but I hope it will become less expensive down the road. But in this way, it also keeps water coming into the aquifer.
Something I am excited about – with all the potential – is to look to a resiliency officer [for the county] to coordinate all these things, work with Public Works, the IDA, and other departments to coordinate efforts for environment.
Martins: The good news in Nassau County: we don’t have farms any more. We don’t have the kinds of open space issues that perhaps they have out east. We do have open space, it has to be preserved. Most of our development going forward – transit oriented – is reusing space already used, and taking and reassembling parcels. We have seen it in communities with TOD has been predicated on assembling parcels downtown – see it in Westbury, Farmingdale – we are mature communities. That development will take place not on existing open space but existing used space that is being recalibrated and brought into 21st century – to meet energy, parking, density requirements – so we have a more robust selection of housing than we have currently. Nassau County doesn’t have the housing stock, the variety, it needs – a lot will take place in downtowns around train stations to be most effective. Protect open space that exists, protect parks, invest in them, make sure are as good as ever have been.
Future of Renewables in Nassau County
Audience Question: What do see as the future of Nassau County when it comes to solar, wind, charging stations for electric vehicles?
Curran: We should have charging stations for electric cars. We have a county employee who plugs in and was written a letter to ‘cease and desist’ from the county attorney for ‘stealing county property’. We should start by the county using electric vehicles.
Martins: Charging stations, infrastructure wise, is easy. If we made a commitment to have more readily available – we can see best practices in other states, countries, where they have taken the initiative so we have more robust use because people trust infrastructure to be there to recharge. We haven’t done it. There is need need for a full array of renewable energy resources. We should look at the entire portfolio and see where it makes sense – voltaic cells as car canopies in parking lots – why aren’t we? Acres and acres of asphalt we can use to create energy and electricity now through EV. We have a corridor of offshore wind east of Long Island. I spoke to Deepwater Wind, no one better positioned than Long Island to build, maintain, develop that offshore wind corridor. Shame on us, New York State, if they aren’t going to prioritize those turbines, and those blades aren’t built here on Long Island. If we are going to spend billions of dollars for commitment to offshore wind, I want to make sure it is here in Nassau County economy.
Communities Impacted by Climate Change
Do you support legislation to provide for equitable distribution of resources to communities impacted by climate change specifically communities of color often left out?
Curran: We have to make sure all communities treated fairly. See the effects of climate change. The south shore still has zombie houses because of Sandy. They didn’t have an adequate advocate to help them rebuild. As legislator, I helped them connect to NY Rising, get small business funds, to get resources to rebuild.
Martins: Tax money, investment. We have to look at how dealing with county that is predominantly viewed as affluent while understanding we have areas of significant poverty – in places you wouldn’t necessarily think of – people have a home but are struggling to pay mortgage, taxes, raise families because the high cost of living isn’t an accident. We have among highest costs, so we have people relatively wealthy given their home, but still living with challenges. How we take resources, distribute, whether having to do with infrastructure improvements, access to cheap renewable energy, water safety quality, we have that synergy. I have never seen in my experience certain areas cut out of resources that way, but we have to be sensitive to it.
Recycle Treated Effluent
Why not recycle sewage and turn into drinkable rather than dispose into the ocean?
Curran: That’s not so crazy – people who run sewage treatment plants are working on a project – try to explain in not-boring way –to treat sewage so it looks like water – Sewage treatment plants use hundreds thousands gallons of water a day to do the work of cooling, etc. – Now, they draw that out of the aquifer. Wouldn’t it be better to take treated effluent, treat a little more and use that to do the work of sewage treatment plant, instead of drawing water out of aquifer? We are close to make this happen.
Martins: It’s an interesting point. I was happy to participate in Great Neck Water Pollution Control District – state of art facility – where they treat to a level where potable. I said, ‘You first.’
I had an opportunity to deal with different groups, where sewage can be treated and used for irrigation, plant maintenance and different things where not wasting potable water, can be reused for different purposes – not quite ‘there’ for drinking water… But if we send [effluent out to ocean] 3 miles – dilution rate for effluent – it will have negligible effect on ocean – it is coastal wetlands that are impacted if released right there – like Reynolds Channel. I would like to see part reused – whether for irrigation. We have to focus on continuing the current process of getting it as far from shore as possible so not to impact coastal wetlands, coastal environment, coastal economy.
Closing Statements
Curran: I want to make Long Island environmentally sound, safe, healthy. I moved to Nassau County 20 years ago before we had kids. I came for the Long Island dream: single family house, great school down the block, parks, beaches. We knew we would pay high taxes, but that was part of the deal. As a taxpayer, resident, it is frustrating to see money spent on nepotism, bloated contracts when it could be used to develop technology. Your money is being wasted. I’m in this race because want to restore trust in government, make sure I hire people based on what they know, not who they know, that your money is not part of my reelection campaign. I am eager to get to work. Elect me to give Nassau County the fresh start it so richly deserves.
Martins: There are a lot of issues at play in this year’s election . I encourage you to do your homework, read up on candidates. Whether challenges are environment,t economy – up to county to pay for own budget. For 17 years, we have been under NIFA, not elected – make decisions, affects ability for us to make decisions for ourselves. We need to take control of own finances, pay bills, balance budget – get rid of NIFA so we can commit resources ourselves – whether environment, infrastructure, TOD, creating jobs we all want – so our children have the ability to come home, find jobs, rent apartment and stay here. The best years for the county are ahead, but contingent upon us making decisions about taking control of own county – an idea we haven’t been able to do, so should be shameful to all of us, myself included. Write that check and make that commitment going forward.
With Harvey reaping its terror and Hurricane Irma warming up for its debut, Texas’ climate catastrophe is the latest example of how tragically foolish it is to invest billions to combat ISIS (hardly an existential threat), $70 billion to build a wall along the Mexico border, $1 trillion to rebuild the nuclear weapons arsenal, yet deny the reality of climate change with the attendant costs in the multi-billions of every single one of these climate catastrophes – the cost to the Treasury and taxpayers to rebuild infrastructure, to pay for public health consequences, to lose the productivity of the workforce.
“This is the costliest and worst natural disaster in American history,” Dr. Joel N. Myers, founder, president and chairman of AccuWeather, stated. “AccuWeather has raised its estimate of the impact to the nation’s gross national produce, or GDP, to $190 billion or a full one percent, which exceeds totals of economic impact of Katrina and Sandy combined. The GDP is $19 trillion currently. Business leaders and the Federal Reserve, major banks, insurance companies, etc. should begin to factor in the negative impact this catastrophe will have on business, corporate earnings and employment. The disaster is just beginning in certain areas. Parts of Houston, the United States’ fourth largest city will be uninhabitable for weeks and possibly months due to water damage, mold, disease-ridden water and all that will follow this 1,000-year flood.”
Meanwhile, around the globe there are even greater flooding disasters –1,200 have died so far and 900,000 homes destroyed in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, taking with it farms and crops that will lead to the next climate catastrophe, famine.
Now Congress will soon take up a budget that proposes to slash the EPA into nothing (Scott Pruitt has already scrubbed any research and mention of climate change from the website and is doing his level best to stop any data collection), cuts to FEMA that was already $25 billion in debt before Harvey, cuts to Health & Human Services and every other social safety net. But Trump threatens to shut down government if he doesn’t get nearly $2 billion (a downpayment on $70 billion) for his border wall with Mexico.
Dozens of Long Islanders, constituents of Congressman Peter King turned out for a rally at his Massapequa office to demand he reject cuts to the EPA budget.
Which has posed more of a national security threat to Americans? Climate disasters or ISIS? The wrong-headed approach to national security came to a head with a rally that drew about 60 people on short notice on Thursday, August 31 at the Massapequa, Long Island office of Congressman Peter King, who makes a great show of concern for protecting national security but drops the ball on the national security implications of climate change. (See story)
You only have to compare the horrid waste of blood and treasure because of a disdain for addressing the realities of climate change to the results of the efforts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) consisting of New York State along with eight other Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states (not New Jersey because Governor Chris Christie thought it would better position him to become the GOP presidential candidate if he withdrew from RGGI and denied the reality of climate change). Founded in 2005, the RGGI, the nation’s first program to use an innovative market-based mechanism to cap and cost-effectively reduce the carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change, is updating its goal to lower carbon pollution by reducing the cap on power plant emissions an additional 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. With this change, the regional cap in 2030 will be 65% below the 2009 starting level.
RGGI has already contributed to a 50% percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from affected power plants in New York, and a 90% reduction in coal-fired power generation in the state. To date, New York has generated more than $1 billion in RGGI proceeds, which are applied to fund energy efficiency, clean energy and emission reduction programs.
RGGI continues to exceed expectations and has provided more than $2 billion in regional economic benefits and $5.7 billion in public health benefits while reducing emissions in excess of the declining cap’s requirements. Analysis by Abt Associates – found participating member states had 16,000 avoided respiratory illnesses, as many as 390 avoided heart attacks, and 300 to 830 avoided deaths by reducing pollution. The health benefits in New York alone are estimated to have exceeded $1.7 billion in avoided costs and other economic benefits.
And contrary to the lie that clean, renewable energy and sustainable development will hurt the economy and increase consumer costs, the economies of RGGI states are outpacing the rest of the country and regional electricity prices have fallen even as prices in other states have increased. So even as the RGGI states reduced their carbon emissions by 16% more than other states, they are experiencing 3.6% more in economic growth. Each of the three-year control periods contributed approximately 4,500 job years to New York’s economy and 14,000 to 16,000 job years region-wide.
Meanwhile, New York consumers who have participated in RGGI-supported projects through December 2016 will realize $3.7 billion in cumulative energy bill savings over the lifetime of the projects, according to New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).
New York is actively promoting clean energy innovation through its Reforming the Energy Vision strategy and initiatives. Additionally, programs including the Clean Energy Fund, $1 billion NY-Sun Initiative, $1 billion NY Green Bank, $40 million NY-Prize competition for community microgrids, and others, ensure that progress toward reducing emissions will be accelerated.
New York has devised a host of programs to incentivize local projects aimed at developing clean, renewable energy and sustainability. Most recently, NYSERDA has developed a Solar PILOT Toolkit to assist municipalities in negotiating payment-in-lieu-of taxes (PILOT) agreements for solar projects larger than 1 MW, including community solar projects.
How ironic is the climate catastrophe in Texas, the leading proponent of fossil fuels and opponent of programs incentivizing the transition to clean, renewable energy (and the localized independence that wind, solar and geothermal bring), that Harvey has damaged its oil refining infrastructure, which is already resulting in higher gas prices, not to mention taxpayer money that will be channeled to rebuild the devastation. None of those private, profit-making companies which have gouged and inflicted public health horrors should get funding from taxpayers.
Now Texas will be coming to Congress for billions in aid.
Congress should pass a law: no federal help for states that deny climate change (Florida and North Carolina actually have legislation banning the use of the term) and therefore do nothing to mitigate the consequences, and which deny altogether the concept of a federal, “one nation” government to collect taxes and provide services on behalf of all. Texas, which has cheered the notion of secession, continually supports policies intended to shrink the federal government to a size it can be flushed down a toilet, including dismantling the Environmental Protection Administration and ending environmental regulations. So let them see what that actually means. Let’s also be reminded the Texas’ Republican delegation obstructed federal aid to New York and New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy.
Too harsh? The climate deniers are dooming the entire nation and the planet to such tragic, devastating and costly climate catastrophes. Hundreds of thousands of Texans will emerge from Harvey with their homes, retirement, college funds decimated, very possibly their jobs flushed away along with the floodwaters. Tens of thousands will become climate refugees – just a small fraction of the estimated 200 million worldwide who will be forced to flee flooded coasts as sea levels continue to rise, and storms continue to ravage.
But, since Trump is so keen to dish out taxpayer billions to those he considers his base (one wonders what would happen if and when California is hit with an earthquake), Congress should impose conditions on the billions that will be sent to Texas to rebuild its infrastructure and housing: Texas should do what every other community has done that underwent such devastation: rebuild and transition to clean, renewable energy sources and sustainable, climate-friendly, low-carbon emitting structures.
Congress, which Trump just dared to defy on his tax “reform” (that is, giveaway to the wealthiest 1% and corporations while starving federal government of funding), should make sure that EPA has the people and resources it needs, that climate action is a priority, that the Interior Department does not give away Americans’ legacy (and property) for environment-destroying development, that FEMA and Housing & Human Services (now in the command of a man who dismisses poverty and bad things that happen to some dereliction of personal responsibility) are properly funded and staffed.
