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climate change superfund act
New Yorkers Can’t Afford for Gov Hochul to Keep Delaying Climate Action
As we gear up for another summer of extreme weather events, we need our elected leaders to understand the urgency for action.
Jun 12, 2024
This past weekend, the New York State Assembly finally got its act together and passed an urgent piece of climate legislation, the Climate Change Superfund Act. Designed to make fossil fuel corporations pay for the damage they have done to the environment, the bill, initially passed by the Senate earlier this spring, now heads to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk. It is imperative that the governor, after consistently backing down on climate this year, signs this bill into law.
Gov. Hochul’s reticence to pursue climate action is, at this point, well-established. Just last week, she made headlines for slamming the brakes on a congestion pricing initiative that was supposed to take effect later this month. The impending tolls would have reduced traffic in downtown Manhattan, improved air quality, and funded much-needed upgrades to public transit. Combined with the Inflation Reduction Act’s groundbreaking federal investments in clean energy nationwide, congestion pricing would have moved our state one step closer to a sustainable future. Instead, Gov. Hochul chose to play petty politics with the livability of our city.
Last month, as I prepared for another summer of extreme weather events in New York City, I joined hundreds of climate activists in Albany to demand that the state legislature pass the Superfund Act and another climate-related bill—the HEAT Act. I marched through the halls of the State Capitol, linking arms with climate activists of all faiths, holding banners, chanting songs, and demanding climate action from the New York State Assembly and Gov. Hochul.
Should Gov. Hochul fail to act, here’s what we can expect more of: a hotter New York City, plagued by more frequent and more severe storms, flooding, and air pollution.
Gov. Hochul’s behavior is forcing us to take action. Not even two months ago, she chose to exclude the NY HEAT and Climate Superfund Acts from the annual state budget. Then she backed down on congestion pricing. As the days heat up, it’s more important than ever that our elected officials deliver on their promise to ensure a liveable future for our communities here in New York City.
Last summer, extreme weather wreaked havoc across our city. Between smoky skies and flooded streets, city life was consistently derailed by out-of-control weather conditions. September 2023 was the wettest September in New York City in over a century. And, a year later, we seem headed into another stormy summer. In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned that 2024 will see above-normal hurricane activity.
These extreme weather events and others are a direct result of climate change. Canadian wildfires are getting more intense as a hotter and drier fire season becomes the norm. Warmer ocean temperatures are fueling stronger tropical storms, and climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and more extreme. These are ramifications of climate change that our governor needs to take seriously: Inaction simply isn’t an option.
This August will mark two years since President Joe Biden signed the most significant piece of climate legislation in American history into law. The Inflation Reduction Act devoted $370 billion to lowering energy costs for American households, building out clean energy, and other climate solutions. In New York State, IRA capital is already starting to flow to consumers. Since 2023, New Yorkers have been eligible for tax credits that make buying an electric vehicle, upgrading home heating and cooling systems, and replacing inefficient refrigerators more affordable. A few weeks ago, New York became the first state to offer rebates to low- and middle-income New Yorkers who want to make clean-energy upgrades to their homes. Passing the Superfund and HEAT Acts, and reversing her ill-advised decision on congestion pricing, is simply the most sensible thing for Gov. Hochul to do.
New York City is already suffering from a bad case of the heat island effect, a phenomenon where dense urban areas experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas, largely due to vehicular traffic. We cannot afford to let unregulated vehicle traffic continue to overheat our city. Should Gov. Hochul fail to act, here’s what we can expect more of: a hotter New York City, plagued by more frequent and more severe storms, flooding, and air pollution.
My worries about the risks of inaction are exactly why I made the trip to Albany earlier this spring. As we gear up for another summer of extreme weather events, we need our elected leaders to understand the urgency for action. Gov. Hochul can’t continue to ignore the climate crisis. She must reverse her position on congestion pricing, sign the Superfund Act, and steer the HEAT Act into law. We simply can’t afford to play politics or wait any longer.
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NY Gov. Hochul 'Must Sign' Climate Change Superfund Act
"Gov. Hochul, fresh off a spineless congestion pricing reversal that scandalized New Yorkers, needs to get back to work and make this landmark legislation the law of the land," said one campaigner.
Jun 08, 2024
After what New Yorkers and environmental campaigners called a "betrayal" by Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this week, the Democrat is now under pressure to sign the Climate Change Superfund Act, which state legislators finally passed early Saturday morning.
Noting that the 95-46 New York State Assembly vote happened after 3:00am and followed the Senate passing the bill, Empire State Indivisible declared Saturday that "there can be no further delay! Gov. Kathy Hochul must sign the climate superfund into law IMMEDIATELY so NYS' worst and wealthiest polluters pay for the harm they've caused our communities!"
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) similarly celebrated the passage of the bill, which—if signed by the governor—will force establish a 25-year fund financed by fossil fuel companies, with a third of the $3 billion in annual funding reserved for disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected by the climate emergency.
"The historic legislative approval of the Climate Change Superfund Act," NYPIRG said, "is a huge step toward ensuring that Big Oil contributes to the mounting costs of climate catastrophe. Of course, the bill cannot become law without Gov. Hochul's approval, but the act helps protect taxpayers and allows revenues to be made available to contribute toward necessary—but expensive—resiliency projects."
"The sponsors and the supportive lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly deserve credit for making sure that Big Oil adheres to the lesson that we all learned as kids, 'you make a mess, you clean it up,'" the group added.
"It's time to make polluters pay, and it's time Gov. Hochul acted as the climate leader she promised the Pope she would be."
Food & Water Watch senior New York organizer Eric Weltman also welcomed the vote, saying that "the Climate Change Superfund Act is the legislation New Yorkers need right now. We applaud the Assembly for coming to their senses in the final hours of the legislative session and passing this critical bill. Now, Gov. Hochul, fresh off a spineless congestion pricing reversal that scandalized New Yorkers, needs to get back to work and make this landmark legislation the law of the land."
As Common Dreamsreported Thursday, Hochul faced intense criticism this week for reversing her support for a first-in-the-nation congestion pricing plan and halting its implementation in New York City, jeopardizing not only expected emissions cuts but also much-needed funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Weltman asserted that "it's time to make polluters pay, and it's time Gov. Hochul acted as the climate leader she promised the Pope she would be. Hochul desperately needs to look good—signing this legislation is the perfect opportunity to do something right for a change."
Other campaigners and New Yorkers also noted the governor's recent move. After highlighting some "huge victories for workers," ALIGN executive director Theodore A. Moore said that "at the eleventh hour, the Assembly also passed the Climate Superfund Act, joining the ever-growing chorus of New Yorkers saying enough is enough, and placing the burden of rising climate costs on Big Oil and corporate polluters, not just working families."
"But one 'environmental thing' a year won't meet the climate crisis at the speed it's racing past us, especially when long-fought wins like congestion pricing can be demolished in an instant," Moore stressed. "Without aggressively transitioning New York off of fossil fuels and creating the green jobs of the future, the Legislature calls it quits on our state's survival."
After the congestion pricing decision, author and activist Bill McKibben, who founded Third Act, wrote that "if any possible good could come from Hochul's cold-blooded betrayal, it's that she, and Albany Democrats in general, might feel the need to give environmentalists some kind of win."
The New York Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act, "and the climate superfund bill, are both up for action in this final week of the legislative session," McKibben noted earlier this week. "It would be scant comfort to see them passed in the wake of this shocking schism, but it would be something."
While supporters of the Climate Change Superfund Act are now hopeful that Hochul will sign it—and make her state the second, after Vermont, to enact such legislation—they also expressed disappointment that other bills weren't passed this session, particularly Senate-approved NY HEAT Act, which aims to limit reliance on gas.
"With Gov. Hochul dropping a major bomb on climate action by delaying congestion pricing, the Assembly failed to rise to the occasion to pass the key climate policy New Yorkers need to cut energy bills and ensure the state is on track to meet our climate goal—the NY HEAT Act," said Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for Earthjustice.
"With utilities already proposing to raise already high bills rising due to our reliance upon gas infrastructure, and one year after we saw orange skies, the Assembly has turned their backs on the policy solution," she continued. "The same body that once championed our nation-leading climate law has now earned a reputation as the body holding back the policies New York needs to meet what is laid out in this law."
The Renewable Heat Now also decried the Assembly's "astonishing failure" to pass the bill. Jessica Azulay, executive director of Alliance for a Green Economy, which is part of the campaign, emphasized that "the NY HEAT Act would have been a lifeline for New Yorkers struggling with high energy costs and facing the devastating impacts of the climate emergency."
"Our leaders in Albany—the state Assembly first and foremost—have once again shown where they stand by refusing to implement the state's landmark climate law and enable a strategic and cost-effective transition away from fossil fuels in buildings," Azulay said. "Their blockage of this bill for three years in a row is a shameful abdication of their duty to serve the people they represent. We will not forget this failure as we struggle with utility shutoffs, high temperatures, and bad air this summer."
Along with also expressing support for the NY HEAT Act, which "would help save ratepayer dollars and curtail the expansion of the state's reliance on fossil fuels," NYPIRG noted that "the state's worsening solid waste disposal problem was not addressed and both the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act and the Bigger, Better, Bottle Bill are two important components toward reducing trash that is filling up the state's landfills."
"We urge action on those issues," the group said, "and we urge Gov. Hochul to approve the Climate Change Superfund Act."
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A Bronx Doctor’s Prescription: The NY State Assembly Must Act on Climate
The assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul must include the NY HEAT and Climate Change Superfund Acts, two bills that would help wean our state off polluting fossil fuels, in the upcoming budget.
Apr 16, 2024
When I was a pediatric intern at what is now the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Washington Heights, I took care of children desperately wheezing from asthma attacks almost every night that I was on call. While their anxious parents stood by wringing their hands, we treated these children with inhalants and intravenous medications until they broke asthma’s grip on their ability to breathe. I kept wondering why so many children had asthma.
Now, as a Bronx resident, I know that our county has the highest asthma rates in New York City and among the highest in the United States. I also now know that the scientific literature makes clear that a major cause of asthma in children is air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Major Deegan Expressway, and other major arteries that flow through the Bronx are causing children to develop asthma, forcing them to gasp for air when they have attacks.
This is why the New York State Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul must include critical climate change legislation in the upcoming budget. Those are the NY HEAT and Climate Change Superfund Acts, two bills that would help wean our state off polluting fossil fuels. The State Senate has included both bills in their one house budget. But now, with budget negotiations entering the 11th hour, the assembly and governor must act to include them in the final budget.
It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities.
Asthma is not the only health condition caused by greenhouse gasses released into the air we breathe. Studies show that air pollution from burning fossil fuels is a risk factor for adult respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and several more illnesses. We know about the devastating storms, wildfires, and heatwaves that are ever more common thanks to the climate crisis; we also now know that climate change is affecting our lungs, hearts, and brains.
New York State is committed under the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to transition away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy. But the HEAT and Superfund Acts are designed to help our communities get through the climate crisis and reduce the burden of air pollution with which we in the Bronx contend every day.
The HEAT Act caps utility costs at 6% for low- and middle-income families, helping limit costs as we transition away from dirty fuels. This is a chance for us to pursue environmental justice, to support those communities who have been impacted by the climate crisis first and worse. As a doctor, I have witnessed firsthand how Black and Brown communities here in the Bronx have suffered from this pollution. This bill is a small step to limit the costs for working families as we move forward to a greener future.
The Superfund Act, meanwhile, requires large corporate polluters across the state to pay for the harm they’ve caused. This means paying to equip towns and cities statewide with their climate resilience and adaptation projects. It has the potential to raise up to $3 billion for our state annually, money that will go directly to supporting a quick transition to the livable future we need. After a year of climate crises across our state, with deaths in Western New York from an extreme blizzard, record-breaking heat, and wildfire pollution this summer, and fast, furious rainfall in NYC, we can’t afford our elected officials to sit idly on this bill.
As mentioned, the State Senate has already passed the Superfund and HEAT acts. Governor Hochul has put some aspects of the HEAT Act in her budget proposal. The State Assembly, however, has thus far failed to act on either piece of legislation. It is unconscionable that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, whose home district is here in the Bronx, is not willing to follow the leadership of the Senate and pass legislation that will support the health of his own constituents. Governor Hochul must also take a more active role in pushing for the climate justice legislation our communities so desperately need.
The Bronx is overburdened with polluting highways, warehouses, and power plants. Climate change is bringing us devastating storms like Hurricane Ida and making it harder for us to breathe. It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities. We must move both the NY HEAT Act and the Climate Change Superfund Act into law.
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