The April 22nd Edition of City & State Magazine

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

@CIT YANDSTATENY

WHAT IF WE COULD

WITH VIRTUALLY NO POLLUTION OR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS?

WE ALREADY DO. Indian Point produces about 25% of all the power we use in New York City and Westchester annually — without polluting our air. Nuclear power plants like Indian Point produce around 60% of America’s carbon-free electricity.

This Earth Day, consider the fact that without nuclear power it would be virtually impossible to reverse climate change today. Take a closer look at nuclear power, and you’ll discover some facts that may surprise you.

FIND OUT MORE AT SAFESECUREVITAL.COM

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

CONTENTS April 22, 2015

Michael Gareth Johnson Executive Editor

T

6......

FRESH FACES

18......

Meet New York’s newest environmental

EXXON’S EASY OUT

Is Exxon’s settlement with NJ too small to shield the estuary?

officials

By Bob Hennelly

8......

CARBON CONTROL

Is emissions trading working in the Northeast?

By Wilder Fleming

14.....

‘A NOBLE LEGACY’

20......

21.......

De Blasio’s environmental policy builds on Bloomberg’s

By Gabe Ponce de León

16.....

Q&AS WITH KATHRYN GARCIA, EMILY LLOYD AND PAUL TONKO

Q&A WITH DONOVAN RICHARDS HEASTIE’S GRADES

Environmentalists pin their hopes on the new speaker

By Ashley Hupfl

22......

24......

Q&AS WITH RICHARD KAUFFMAN THE CLEAN UP

Upstate praise for the brownfield compromise

By Justin Sondel

26......

28......

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

cit yandstateny.com

@CIT YANDSTATENY

Cover: Illustration

by Guillaume Federighi

30.....

Q&AS WITH JOE MARTENS AND JUDITH ENCK PERSPECTIVES

Robert Sweeney on getting through on climate change

BACK & FORTH

A Q&A with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

3

city & state — April 22, 2015

THE EARTH DAY ISSUE

he concept of cap and trade has been around for four decades, since the Environmental Protection Agency mentioned the cost of clean air in its annual report in 1972.

Over the years, the idea has been touted by some as a solution to the world’s pollution and carbon emission problems and bashed by others as an unnecessary cost to businesses. That fight continues today, clouded by larger disputes over what’s causing climate change, or whether “climate change” or “global warming” are too politically charged for our lexicon.

While this fight over environmental policies like cap and trade has intensified—due to an uptick in damaging hurricanes, deadly tornados and other erratic weather—nine states in the Northeast have been actively engaged in capping emissions from power plants and trading credits from those captured gasses. Carbon emissions have declined in those years, though the impact the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative had on that drop is far from certain.

Also at question is whether the funds captured from the program are being reinvested appropriately, leading some to suggest the whole endeavor could be undermined. Our reporter Wilder Fleming follows the money, giving a comprehensive look at the differing opinions on how the cash is being doled out—or not.

The renewal of the state’s brownfields program is another major development in Albany this year—one that Buffalo in particular is benefitting from. Our Justin Sondel toured a site with Assemblyman Mickey Kearns to get a firsthand look at what the updated law means for the many environmental wastelands that need to be cleaned up.

And in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is preparing to update several green initiatives, including PlaNYC. Ahead of that, we take a look at the efforts he has taken to try and reach the goal of reducing emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050—and whether his approach has really changed much from his predecessor’s.

We cap off our special Earth Day issue with a Q&A with noted environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been actively fighting to preserve New York’s natural beauty for decades. As the former brother-in-law to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he also has great insight into the administration’s policies—at times even advising Cuomo on what action to take. So it was no surprise that he had high praise for Cuomo’s decision to put public health first and ban fracking—a decision, he says, that will resonate around the world.

N

THE ISSUES

ew York’s decision to ban high-volume hydraulic fracturing —or hydrofracking—brought a long and contentious battle to a close. There are still some loose ends to tie up, however, and plenty of other issues for environmentalists to turn their attention to.

HYDROFRACKING

SOLAR POWER

In December, Gov. Andrew Cuomo concluded a yearslong hydrofracking review and made the surprise announcement that his administration would ban the controversial procedure of drilling in shale for natural gas. Several months later, however, environmentalists are still awaiting the state’s final supplemental generic environmental impact statement, a key document to be completed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is required to formalize the state’s ban. When it arrives, observers will be scrutinizing the statement to see whether it addresses how the state deals with fracking waste from its neighbors.

A top goal of Cuomo’s energy agenda has been the expansion of solar power. In 2012 he unveiled his NY-Sun initiative, which coordinates efforts by several state entities with the goal of rapidly increasing the number of solar panels in the state. He also launched the New York Green Bank, an effort to spur private investment in renewable energy, which made its first transactions last fall. However, actual progress was slow during the second half of Cuomo’s first term, and the governor in recent months called for additional funding and new tax breaks and programs, including a community renewable energy program.

61 Broadway, Suite 2235 New York, NY 10006 Editorial (212) 894-5417 General (646) 517-2740 Advertising (212) 894-5422 info@cityandstateny.com

CITY AND STATE, LLC Chairman Steve Farbman President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com

PUBLISHING Publisher Andrew A. Holt aholt@cityandstateny.com Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@cityandstateny.com Events Director Jasmin Freeman jfreeman@cityandstateny.com Director of Marketing Samantha Diliberti sdiliberti@cityandstateny.com Business Development Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com

4

EDITORIAL Executive Editor Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com

city & state — April 22, 2015

Web Editor/Reporter Wilder Fleming wfleming@cityandstateny.com

OIL TRAINS

TOXIC TOYS

The increasing volume of crude oil shipped by rail through New York has prompted questions about safety regulations, both at the state and federal level. The Cuomo administration has pointed to stepped-up inspections while calling for stronger federal regulations. Some members of Congress are also pushing for stricter rules. Meanwhile, fiery derailments of tank cars carrying crude oil in other states have continued to draw attention to the ongoing risk.

State lawmakers have been battling over legislation to ban toxic chemicals in children’s toys. The Child Safe Products Act, which would require more disclosure of chemicals used to manufacture toys and phase out some of them, has been a top priority for environmental groups. The legislation passed the Democratic Assembly, but has died in the Republicancontrolled state Senate.

Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny.com Staff Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@cityandstateny.com Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny.com Copy Editor Ryan Somers PRODUCTION Art Director Guillaume Federighi gfederighi@cityandstateny.com Senior Designer Michelle Yang myang@cityandstateny.com Marketing Graphic Designer Charles Flores, cflores@cityandstateny.com Web Manager Lydia Eck, leck@cityandstateny.com Illustrator Danilo Agutoli

City & State is published twice monthly. Copyright ©2015, City and State NY, LLC

cit yandstateny.com

This is what happens when the 25,000 landlords of 1 million rent-stabilized apartments have the financial resources to make repairs and improvements. They re-invest the rent in their buildings and our neighborhoods. They provide work to small businesses and jobs to local residents – and, most importantly, they preserve existing affordable housing.

city & state — April 13, 2015

But some Albany and City Hall politicians, like Mayor Bill de Blasio, want to turn back the clock to old policies that failed in the past. They want stricter rent laws, and they want to freeze rents while 5 raising property taxes and water and sewer rates. That would push affordable housing right back into the 1970’s and 80’s. We need to move forward, not backwards.

IT’S TIME FOR NEW SOLUTIONS TO AN OLD PROBLEM.

cit yandstateny.com

FRESH FACES

MEET NEW YORK’S NEW ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICIALS

F

ormer Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, who chaired the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, is enjoying retirement. His former state Senate counterpart, Mark Grisanti, was ousted from office last fall. And in New York City, the de Blasio team is still getting its feet wet. So who are the new environmental officials in the city and the state?

NILDA MESA Director, New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability

city & state — April 22, 2015

6

Raptors may find a nest in PlaNYC, a macro-policy on environmental initiatives, if New York City’s new Office of Sustainability director has anything to do with it.

Before joining the de Blasio administration, Nilda Mesa worked as assistant vice president of environmental stewardship at Columbia University. At the time, she told the green-focused website City Atlas her ideal vision for the city would include better strategies to reduce building emissions, startup financing for such efforts and more birds of prey.

“More trees, more plants, more— OK, in my big-picture thing, I would love to see more raptors in the city,” Mesa told City Atlas. “Big birds of prey—whether they are red-tailed hawks or peregrine falcons, I don’t care, I like them all. And peregrine falcons are native to the Hudson River, and so I would love to see habitat developed for peregrine falcons.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio tapped Mesa, a fellow Clinton administration alum, to work as director of the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination in September. Four months in, her office merged with the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, a move the administration said would elevate the agencies’ work. The new Office of Sustainability oversees the administration’s environmental initiatives, leads efforts to reduce

2005’s greenhouse emissions levels at least 80 percent by 2050 and guides the mayor’s green buildings plan.

De Blasio has committed to investing at least $1 billion in greening the city’s public buildings, in part to spur landlords into following suit. Mesa told The Associated Press she was optimistic landlords would voluntarily undertake sustainability upgrades after weathering Superstorm Sandy.

However, she said, the city may mandate changes if necessary.

“There’s nothing like an extreme weather event to bring home to a lot of people the importance of trying to deal with climate change,” Mesa told The Associated Press.

Mesa is also the point person for PlaNYC, a policy designed to prepare the city to adapt to climate change and population growth. The administration intends to update the plan this week.

After a collation of unions and liberal activists urged the administration to consider social inequality in PlaNYC, Mesa vowed to robustly engage residents in drafting the revised document.

“The new 2015 PlaNYC will focus on access to opportunities and livability for all New Yorkers,” Mesa said, according to Crain’s. “From Community Boards to nonprofits, to businesses to online surveys, we’re going use every tool we have to make sure New Yorkers’ voices inform this process, both before it’s published as well as afterwards.

As associate director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Mesa worked with more than 30 agencies to help implement the National Environmental Policy Act. She also worked as the U.S. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s counsel and led legal negotiations with Canada and Mexico.

Her prior environmental roles include working as assistant deputy for environment in the U.S. Air Force and enforcing toxic management and natural resources laws at the California attorney general’s office.

a spending plan to meet the needs of the environment for the next year, but I think we could have done better and I think we should be very cautious and try to avoid taking any additional funds out of the RGGI account so that it gets used to meet our greatest challenge, which is climate change.

STEVE ENGLEBRIGHT Chair, State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation Q: What are your thoughts on the recently passed state budget from an environmental standpoint?

Did you see any of your priorities included? Did it come up short anywhere?

SE: Well I had some concerns about how it ended up being structured. I was concerned that we didn’t have as much of an increase in the allocation for the environmental protection fund as we should have had, and that the money that was used to make the $15 million increase was taken from (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) account.

That money really should be used for issues directly related to climate change, rather than as an alternative for beefing up the Environmental Protection Fund’s other needs.

I was pleased that we had some increases, nevertheless. I was pleased that we had money for the nitrate study in the coastal Long Island area, Nassau and Suffolk counties. We really do need to have a master plan so that that $5 million gets used wisely to help us get there. The plan in turn will help guide us in future years for additional investments into ways to manage the ill effects of excessive nitrogen in our coastal waters and surface waters, both fresh and salt.

I was pleased that we seemed to have an accord on the brownfields reauthorization. I think that’s important, and so overall we didn’t do badly in terms of the authorization for

Q: Do you have other environmental goals or priorities that you want to get done post-budget and before the end of the session?

SE: One of the priorities is progress on) the environmental issues that relte to children’s health and toxics in the environment. I’m carrying that bill and I hope we will move it on Earth Day and I hope in the Assembly we can get some cooperation to make this a priority in the Senate as well.

Q: What are your longer-term environmental goals?

SE: I think we need to implement a strategy that the $5 million that I mentioned for the nitrate study, we need to implement what those plans call for and have enough money to do that. We also need to make use of the RGGI money on initiatives it should be used for, which is to deal with regional greenhouse gas-related issues. Air quality in climate preparedness for climate change. There are no parts of the state that aren’t going to be affected—border to border, north to south, east to west.

Q: Why did you want to be chair of the Committee on Environmental Conservation and what in your background will inform your work there?

SE: I’m a scientist by training and I’m an earth scientist by training. So the issues that relate to this committee have been of great interest to me since I was a teenager and that’s why I majored in biology and geology in college and pursued advanced degrees and studies in hope that I could make a positive difference and help contribute toward this mounting issue by working with my colleagues in elected office. cit yandstateny.com

Chair, State Senate Committee on Environmental Conservation Q: What are your thoughts on the recently passed state budget from an environmental standpoint?

Did you see any of your priorities included? Did it come up short anywhere?

TO: From an environmental conservation standpoint, this budget takes some important steps. First and foremost, it strengthens the Environmental Protection Fund and keeps us moving toward fully restoring the EPF. It makes great environmental and economic sense in my view, because it focuses on so many common problems and it speaks directly to the common good. If we are ultimately successful in this ongoing effort to fully restore the EPF, it will be an enduring achievement that we all can be proud of as a leading effort to address critical environmental initiatives, short and long term, including clean air and water projects, flood control and restoration, and open space preservation. The budget also begins a new Water Quality Infrastructure Improvement fund, which the Senate fought hard for as a priority, that I believe is going to prove successful in helping localities undertake critical water infrastructure improvement projects, including sewer and pipeline repairs. I’m also pleased that we’ve extended the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Program for 10 years and, importantly, refocused it on polluted properties upstate.

Q: Do you have other environmental goals or priorities that you want to get done post-budget and before the end of the session?

TO: One of the top priorities will be to reach agreement on a sensible phaseout of the use of synthetic plastic microbeads as an abrasive in personal care products. Water quality across the Finger Lakes region, the Great Lakes region and statewide is an environmental conservation and protection priority, and so I’m hopeful that we can finally reach an agreement on a phaseout timetable that affords manufacturers time to adapt and takes into account the potential for biodegradable substitutes. A reasonable cit yandstateny.com

Q: What are your longer-term environmental goals?

TO: I truly believe that there’s a critical piece of common ground that we all share when it comes to environmental conservation and protection. So I’ll be doing my best to work with my legislative colleagues and the governor to strike a reasonable, sensible balance between environmental conservation and protection, and the need to spark and strengthen economic growth and private-sector job creation regionally and statewide.

Q: Why did you want to be chair of the Committee on Environmental Conservation and what in your background will inform your work?

TO: For all of the same reasons above, but also because I was born and raised in the region where I’m raising my own family today. Since 2004, I’ve represented a district encompassing the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes.

I’ve taken a personal interest in and championed many of these issues as a legislator, including farmland preservation and protection; wildlife conservation; air and water quality; invasive species; and clean energy.

Because of all of this—as well as being an avid fisherman myself—I have a great appreciation and respect for our natural resources as cultural, economic and environmental mainstays of our communities, our traditions and our values. Industries like agriculture, including the hub of the state’s wine-and-grape industry in the Finger Lakes, and tourism are economic foundations throughout the region. Equally important, they’re heavily dependent upon the quality of the conservation and environmental protection decisions and actions coming out of the Capitol.

We have a responsibility to stewardship and conservation. We have a responsibility to work through these challenges in a balanced, deliberate, fair, serious and sensible way—and I’ll be doing my best to ensure that we will.

Our Perspective Our Perspective On-Call Scheduling On-Call Scheduling Puts Lives on Hold Puts Lives on Hold

By Stuart Appelbaum, President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, By StuartUFCW Appelbaum, President, RWDSU, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW t’s tough being a retail worker. Low wages and insufficient hours can make it a struggle just to t’s being retail worker. wages and gettough by. And now,amaking thingsLow worse is the insufficient hours can practice make it aofstruggle widespread and growing on-call just to get by. And now, making things worse is the scheduling. widespread and growing practice of on-call scheduling.

With on-call scheduling, retailers require employees to call in just hours in advance to see if they are With on-call retailers requiretoemployees working thatscheduling, day. Employees are forced keep to call in just hours in advance to they are their schedules open in the hopessee thatif their that day.

Employees to keep employers will decideworking that they are needed, and inare theforced end, they might not even go to work. their schedules open in the hopes that their employers will decide that they are needed, and in the end, they might not evenscheduling go to work.benefits employers On-call because they can make their staffing On-call scheduling benefits On-call scheduling benefits decisions on a whim.

But weemployers all know employers because they because they canimpossible make theirforstaffing On-call scheduling benefits that it’s virtually people can make their staffing decisions on daily a whim. all know employers because to plan their livesBut thewe same way. decisions on a whim.they that it’s virtually impossible for people can make But we all their knowstaffing that to plan daily liveschild-care the sameor way. decisions on a whim.

How dotheir you schedule it's virtually impossible But we all know that schooling when you don’t know when for people to plan their How do schedule child-care or it's impossible you’ll beyou home or available to take dailyvirtually lives the same way. schooling when knowyour when for people to plan their classes that canyou helpdon’t improve you’ll be home or available to take daily lives the same way. earning power? How do you maintain classes that canofhelp improve any semblance a social life, your or plan for doctor visits or other earning power?

How do you important appointments for maintain yourself or your kids when you never really any ofbe a social life, planyou’ll for doctor visits orsimple other answer knowsemblance when you’ll at work oror when be free?

The important appointments for yourself or your kids when you really is that the burden of on-call scheduling makes it extremely never difficult to know you’llthings. be at work or when you’ll be free? The simple answer do anywhen of these is that the burden of on-call scheduling makes it extremely difficult to do any of on-call these things.

And with scheduling, retail workers can forget about taking a second job that they may need to make ends meet. It’s just not an And with scheduling, workers can forget open aboutuntil taking option foron-call workers who need retail to keep their schedules thea second job that they may need to make ends meet. It’s just not an last minute. option for workers who need to keep their schedules open until the last minute.of on-call scheduling have gotten the attention of New York The abuses Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office announced this The abuses scheduling haveretailers’ gotten the attention practices of New York month that itofison-call investigating 13 large scheduling to Attorney General Schneiderman, whose this determine if they Eric violate state labor laws.

Theoffice AG’s announced office is requiring monthchains that it — is including investigating large retailers’ scheduling practices these the 13 GAP, Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, and to determine if they violate state labor laws.

The AG’s office is requiring Sears — to supply information about their scheduling practices by May. these chains — including the GAP, Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Sears — toworkers supply information aboutontheir practices

by May. Requiring to put their lives holdscheduling without any guarantee of pay is wrong, and the growth of on-call scheduling is a troubling trend Requiring workers to put their lives Working on hold without any guarantee of that our society shouldn’t tolerate. people have a right to their pay is wrong, and the growth of on-call scheduling is a troubling trend own lives, and their own time, and certainty as to when they are on the that our off society shouldn’t tolerate. Working people have a right to their job and the clock. own lives, and their own time, and certainty as to when they are on the job and off the clock.

II

For more information, visit www.rwdsu.org For more information, visit

www.rwdsu.org

7

city & state — April 22, 2015

THOMAS O’MARA

action by New York State would send a strong message to the federal government, continue to encourage more and more manufacturers to fully phase out their use of microbeads, and enhance consumer awareness.

As chairman, I look forward to continuing the committee’s focus on soil and water conservation and quality; energy-related demands including the development and promotion of cleaner sources of energy; open-space and preservation initiatives impacting farmland, forests and other state resources; solid and hazardous waste management; invasive and endangered species; and fish and wildlife.

PAYING TO POLLUTE IS EMISSIONS TRADING WORKING IN THE NORTHEAST?

By WILDER FLEMING

A

city & state — April 22, 2015

8

s congressional Republicans have become increasingly wary of any and all schemes to limit greenhouse gasses, the possibility of a national program that would incentivize power plants to curb their carbon dioxide emissions seemed increasingly remote in recent years. But with the Environmental Protection Agency slated to issue rules for President Barack Obama’s ambitious new climate change plan as soon as this summer, the nation could be on the verge of a dramatic rise in carbon-trading schemes at the state level.

The president’s so-called Clean Power Plan would bypass Congress by using the Clean Air Act to require each state to meet emissions reduction targets—and while the EPA is giving states a lot of leeway when it comes to ways to comply, the agency has highlighted some pre-existing programs, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap and trade agreement between nine Northeastern states that since 2008 has required power producers in those states to purchase allowances in order to pollute.

In its 2014 clean power proposal, the EPA cited the RGGI program (pronounced “Reggie”) as an effective way for states to generate revenue for clean power initiatives—the program has pulled in $760 million for New York to date, and over $2 billion overall—and, with some tweaks, as a possible way for states to lower emissions to meet the federal agency’s proposed standards.

One of just two cap and trade agreements for carbon emissions in the United States, RGGI requires power plants in participating states— New York, Maryland, Delaware and

all of New England—to purchase a permit for every ton of carbon they emit during a set period, on the premise that the emissions have a cost to society. These allowances are sold at quarterly auctions hosted by RGGI, but they can be traded privately among power producers. Anyone with more than enough allowances to cover their emissions can sell their surplus to another power producer, or stockpile them for the future. The program aims to reduce overall carbon emissions by setting a limit on the number of allowances allowed in the market, and that “cap” is reduced over time.

Yet the program is still unproven as a method for dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“RGGI has had very, very small, virtually zero effect on emissions because it hasn’t been binding,” said Robert Stavins, an economist at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government who directs both the university’s environmental economics program and the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements. “‘Business as usual’ emissions have actually been below the cap, so it has had no effect.”

While it is true that total carbon emissions from power plants in all nine participating states are now 40 percent lower than they were in 2005, it is impossible to say whether the reduction can be attributed to the program: Over the past decade a trend toward burning cheaper, cleaner natural gas in the Northeast has coincided with the retirement of dirtier-burning coal plants. The recession and milder winters also reduced demand for power, which led to power plant emissions in 2012 that were actually lower than the cap for 2013. As the EPA itself noted in its clean power plan, “RGGI was not the

New York, Maryland, Delaware and all the New England states participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. primary driver for these reductions.”

“It’s a fairly well-designed program if you make the cap sufficiently stringent,” Stavins said. He says the program’s cap on emissions was made relatively lenient at the outset in part to keep power producers from importing cheaper electricity from non-RGGI states.

“If the program were really stringent, then the cost of generating electricity in New York State would go up and the cost of generating electricity in Pennsylvania would not, because Pennsylvania is not a participant,” Stavins said. “There would be a very strong incentive for electricity companies in New York to import electricity from Pennsylvania. Also, you’d be reducing emissions in New York State, but at the same time you’d

be providing an incentive to actually increase emissions in Pennsylvania.”

Some environmental advocates disagree with that analysis, however, noting that the first RGGI cap was set in 2005—three years before the first allowance auction was held.

“Modeling showed higher prices for natural gas and did not anticipate the recession of 2008,” said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of the Environmental Advocates of New York. “Less consumption of oil and less consumption of electricity (means) a fairly slack cap.”

RGGI ratcheted down its overall emissions cap by 45 percent in 2014 (from 165 million tons to 91 million tons)—and set a 2.5 percent rate of reduction every year thereafter until 2020. cit yandstateny.com

SHUTTERSTOCK/KRTEK

RGGI’S REVENUES RGGI proponents, however, insist that the program indeed contributes to lowered greenhouse gas emissions.

They point to the significant revenues RGGI has generated for participating states, which in part fund clean energy and efficiency initiatives.

According to the New York Energy cit yandstateny.com

Research and Development Authority, an arm of the state executive chamber that oversees how the bulk of RGGI funds are spent, of the $760 million New York has collected from RGGI, $556 million had been allocated for NYSERDA-driven initiatives by the end of 2014, most of which are for clean energy programs. This includes $52.9 million for the NY Green Bank, the state’s clean energy financing initiative, and $113.8 million for Green Jobs-Green New York, which helps New Yorkers retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient. New York’s solar energy program, NY-Sun, also benefits from RGGI funds, along with other clean energy and efficiency programs.

A NYSERDA spokesperson said the initiatives funded by RGGI auction proceeds “are expected to reduce carbon pollution by nearly 5.7 million tons over the lifetime of installed measures.” (The cap for all RGGI power plants in 2014 was 91 million tons of carbon.)

But the state’s handling of RGGI funds has been attacked by pro-energy industry groups, who say the proceeds do not directly benefit consumers or power producers.

The New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance (AREA), a business, labor and energy industry coalition, views RGGI as just one of many taxes—both explicit and opaque—passed on to consumers in their electric bills. AREA estimates that New Yorkers pay the thirdhighest retail electricity prices in the nation—58 percent above the national average.

“The benefits of the innovations are not reaching the ratepayers because the state continues to drive a bigger and bigger wedge between producers and consumers of energy in the form of explicit taxes,” said Richard Thomas, AREA’s executive director.

Thomas says AREA was pleased with a new provision adopted in this year’s state budget requiring NYSERDA to “provide the legislature with a semi-annual report,” which he hopes will boost the transparency of the authority’s spending. The measure also instructs NYSERDA to increase access to energy efficiency loans for low- and moderate-income households.

Another attack on the state’s handling of RGGI funds comes from representatives of New York’s power producers, who say they are disappointed in how the state has

allocated its RGGI money. They contend that NYSERDA sits on the money for too long and does not channel enough back to the power plants themselves to help them reduce their emissions.

“The state is not doing a good job issuing timely (requests for proposals) that actually target the emission points,” said Gavin Donohue, president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York. “One of the reasons we were so supportive of the RGGI program in 2007 was because there were commitments made that the money would go back to the businesses that are impacting carbon emissions the most. And we haven’t seen that at all.”

To date, $14.5 million of the $760 million collected by New York from sale of RGGI allowances has been earmarked for reducing emissions at power plants, and NYSERDA is still in the process of awarding a contract for that project.

According to NYSERDA, “This program is the only one of its kind being offered across all RGGI states, and awards are expected to be announced later in the second quarter of 2015.”

THE BENEFITS In its clean energy plan, the EPA said RGGI-funded programs ultimately drive down power prices for consumers, noting that through 2012,

“participating RGGI states estimate that those investments are providing benefits to energy consumers in the region of more than $1.8 billion in lifetime energy savings.”

The nine RGGI states released an updated report this month claiming initiatives funded by the program generated an estimated “return of more than $2.9 billion in lifetime energy bill savings to more than 3.7 million participating households and 17,800 businesses.”

Jackson Morris, Eastern energy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental action group, said the RGGI investments reduce energy consumption and bills over time.

“Every time you install a solar panel or retrofit a home, you reduce demand that changes the wholesale price of electricity in the entire state,” he said.

John Cahill, former commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and chief of staff to Republican Gov. George Pataki when New York was first negotiating the RGGI program with other states, says he sees no problem with NYSERDA’s use of the funds.

“They have to do it right, and whether it takes a little more time than what people would hope for—people always feel like they don’t get their fair share,” Cahill said. “But I think the idea of where they’re putting their funds with respect to renewable resources, developing and technology—that’s

RGGI requires power plants to purchase a permit for every ton of carbon they emit.

9

city & state — April 22, 2015

But coal-fired power plants— which currently provide around 39 percent of the U.S. power market, compared with close to half in 2008— will continue to go offline or switch to cleaner fuel sources, spurred in large part by new federal regulations aimed at reducing mercury pollution, as well as the nation’s natural gas boom.

While the decision to stop burning coal used to be a question of ethics, it is increasingly the economically sound thing to do.

By 2023, half of the 42 coalburning units in RGGI states are slated to be retired, according to Synapse Energy Economics, a Massachusettsbased consulting firm. (A typical power plant often has more than one “unit,” and each unit can be designed for different fuels.) This represents 30 percent of all the coal power generation in RGGI states, according to Synapse.

But with so many factors at play in the market, it is hard to say with certainty whether RGGI’s newly lowered cap will roughly match the natural pace of reduction, or if it will squeeze power plant emissions in the future.

And while one might assume that the apparently negligible pressure RGGI has exerted would lower allowances’ value to power plants, their price at auction has actually risen over time: RGGI permits began trading at $3.07 in September 2008, while at the most recent RGGI auction in March, all available allowances were sold at a clearing price of $5.41 per ton—a record high.

“Even with the tightening of the RGGI cap, it remains difficult to attribute specific quantities of emissions reductions to any single political, market or economic factor,” said Jordan Stutt, a policy analyst at Boston’s Acadia Center, a nonprofit that tracks the RGGI program.

“However, the tightening of the cap has led to higher RGGI allowance prices, creating a more significant incentive to generate electricity from cleaner sources and to invest more heavily in energy efficiency.”

where the RGGI funds were really intended to be put to use. So I have no criticisms of how NYSERDA has been handling those funds.”

DIVERSION OF FUNDS

10

Not all of the program’s funds have been channeled into NYSERDA programming. The recently passed state budget diverted $41 million of the RGGI money into the state Environmental Protection Fund and the state’s general fund, a move that has riled environmentalists, who say it undermines the program’s legitimacy. It’s not the first time this has happened: In 2009, then-Gov. David Paterson took $90 million from RGGI to help fill the state’s nearly $50 billion deficit.

But while that move occurred during a global financial crisis, this year’s “raid” coincides with a fiscal surplus.

“The purpose of RGGI was to make New York State a leader in (research) and development in renewable technology and energy efficiency, not to support general fund expenditures,” Cahill said. “You’re not fulfilling the goals of the agreement of the original RGGI proposals.”

Cahill worries that moving money around like this will ruin any chances of expanding the program beyond power plants.

“The original focus of RGGI was on the electrical generation side—to see whether the state could effectively price carbon in that specific industry,

he said. “But the whole point was that it would eventually be wider than just the electrical generations sector. Raids on the program make it harder to make the case that this is really an issue of fighting climate change as opposed to just raising general fund revenue, and that undermines the credibility or any efforts to expand the program beyond its original purpose.”

(The only other cap and trade program in the U.S., an agreement between California and the Canadian province of Quebec, applies to the broader economy beyond power plants. Trading in that program began in 2012.)

Environmental Advocates of New York’s Iwanowicz, who worked on RGGI as the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, has even raised the possibility of a legal challenge to the program.

“Unlike the other states, New York did not create RGGI with legislation— it was done by regulation, not by law.

And when you have a mechanism that actually raises revenue with that sort of program, you need to be really careful about how you spend it,” Iwanowicz said. “This to me smells like an unauthorized tax that only the legislature can approve.”

For its part, the Cuomo administration claims the portion of the RGGI funds diverted toward the general fund will help pay for solar energy tax credits that have been in the state’s financial plan for years.

“The $23 million to support solar

NATIONAL IMPACT Between 2014 and 2020, RGGI plans to reduce power plant emissions of carbon dioxide in the nine participating states by about 13 million tons, from 91 million to 78.18 million. Since electric power plants emit about 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide around the United States every year, this means a national reduction of just 0.6 percent. Power plants represent 40 percent of the nation’s total carbon dioxide emissions.

and other clean energy technologies (i.e. green buildings credit, alternative fuels and electric vehicle recharging property credit, clean heating fuel credit) are spurring New York’s clean energy economy and creating local jobs,” said NYSERDA spokesperson Kate Muller.

“The additional $18 million going to the State’s Environmental Protection Fund will be used to bolster programs that reduce greenhouse gases (i.e. land acquisition, carbon mitigation for farmers) and invest in climate protection.”

THE GOP’S EVOLUTION It was a Republican, Gov. George Pataki, who in 2003 first sent letters to 11 governors inviting them to participate in discussions over a regional cap and trade program for carbon dioxide emissions.

But by 2011, a lawsuit was in fact

HOW CAP AND TRADE WORKS CAP

CAP

UNUSED ALLOWANCE

city & state — April 22, 2015

FOR SALE

CO2

EXCESS CO2

ALLOWANCES

MONEY

filed over New York’s RGGI program

by Americans for Prosperity, a group backed by the Koch brothers, billionaire businessmen known for backing rightwing causes. The suit challenged the program’s constitutionality, arguing that it amounted to a hidden tax on electricity that was never authorized through the state Legislature.

“RGGI is a tax and spend scheme that should be voted on by the New York state legislature,” said Mark W. Smith, the lawyer who represented Americans for Prosperity in the case.

“This recent tapping of RGGI monies for general governmental purposes only serves to prove that point.”

An Appellate Division court ultimately dismissed the complaint on the grounds that it was filed too long after RGGI’s implementation.

While that attempt failed, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took it upon himself to withdraw his state from the program in 2011, saying “it does nothing more than tax electricity, tax our citizens, tax our businesses, with no discernible or measurable impact upon our environment.” (Some environmental advocates say the Koch brothers pressured Christie to pull out.

“They were the ones that convinced Gov. Christie to remove New Jersey from the program,” Iwanowicz said.)

This left RGGI the nine-state program it is today.

But unlike in New York, New Jersey did institute RGGI through the state Legislature, a fact that has dogged Christie’s attempts to fully exit the program. In response to a lawsuit, a New Jersey court ruled that since RGGI was instituted via legal statute, the governor must move to repeal the carbon trading regulations through formal measures that include a public comment period. Christie has since initiated a rulemaking process that is ongoing. In October, both the state Senate and the Assembly Regulatory cit yandstateny.com

NY’s Largest Nurses Union Ventures to Albany to Push for Support on Vital Healthcare Issues Affecting NY Patients Healthcare Advocates Ask for Lawmaker Support on Safe Staffing Ratios, Universal Healthcare Program and Ending Healthcare Disparities On Tuesday, April 21, more than 1,000 registered nurses (RNs), caregivers and nursing students from Buffalo to Brooklyn rallied at the State Capitol to lobby legislators to support the growing healthcare needs of patients in New York, including addressing the current staffing crisis facing hospitals. RNs from across the state have been advocating for safe staffing levels, knowing that these new regulations will save lives and that the research is on their side. Clinical and academic studies have consistently shown that safe staffing improves patient outcomes and even saves money. Nurses made lobby visits to lawmakers to underscore the need for supports to end healthcare disparities through single payer legislation and to keep regulations in place that protect patients and communities. Tuesday’s action comes on the heels of thousands of NYC and Westchester County nurses and caregivers joining together for a historic informational picketed outside of 17 area hospitals bringing attention to the staffing crisis.

NYSNA nurses are strongly supporting the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act, a bill that would set safe minimum nurse staffing levels in all New York hospitals. This legislation has been supported by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and other labor, community and patient advocate groups. However, multi-million dollar lobby groups such as the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) have strongly opposed this legislation. NYSNA calls for the immediate passage of the New York Health Act, which would create a state-wide universal healthcare program. It would provide comprehensive health coverage for all New Yorkers with full choices of doctors and other providers. The program would be publicly funded based on ability to pay and would eliminate the “local share” of Medicaid, saving local governments billions of dollars.

Since 2004, several states have pursued legislation addressing safe-staffing concerns in nursing. As of last December, many states have either enacted legislation or adopted regulations addressing nurse staffing ratios. Seven states have required hospitals to have staffing committees responsible for plans and staffing policy (CT, IL, NV, OH, OR, TX, WA). However, California is the only state that stipulates that a required minimum nurse-to-patient ratio to be maintained at all times by unit. While some critics of safer staffing ratios claim that mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios burden hospitals with higher operational costs, research shows that safe staffing is, actually, more costeffective. Safe staffing improves nurse performance and patient-mortality rates, reduces turnover rates, staffing costs and liability.

Listen to New York nurses tell their stories: “Right now, in our state, nurses in some facilities are being forced to care for 10, 15, even 20 patients at once. That’s dangerous! Lives are placed in jeopardy when there are not enough nurses at the bedside,” said Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, a registered nurse at Montefiore Medical Center and NYSNA President. “That’s why we’re fighting for safe staffing ratios in all of our hospitals. We have no choice -- our patients’ lives depend on it!”

“Putting lives at risk by forcing nurses to take care of additional patients to increase the bottom line is not appropriate,” said Julisa Saud, an RN at Elmhurst Hospital in New York City. “Standards of care are needed, and that’s why I support the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. It is legislation that will save lives and allow New Yorkers to hold hospitals accountable for the care they provide.”

"The staffing problem in our hospitals has gotten worse lately," said Kathy Santoiemma, an RN who works at Montefiore Medical Center’s New Rochelle Hospital.

"The hospital practice of understaffing is almost a daily problem for us and it must be addressed."

“There’s a public health crisis rooted in the costs of insurance. That’s why state lawmakers need to pass New York Health, for the sake of our patients, their families and communities across the state,” said Marva Wade, a RN at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and a member of NYSNA’s Board of Directors. “Because of the rising cost of health insurance and rising copayments and deductibles, growing numbers of New Yorkers are prevented from receiving needed health care. We must put in place a healthcare system that gives priority to patient need.”

“Our patients deserve a nurse at their bedside to care to their healthcare needs, and right now… there just aren’t enough nurses to provide the care that they so desperately need,” said Michael Healy, a 13-year critical care ICU RN at St. Charles Hospital on Long Island. “New York state needs a safe staffing law that will ensure that all hospitals – from Buffalo to Brooklyn – have safe nurse-to-patient ratios that not only will protect us, but will protect our patients.”

“In study after study, unsafe staffing levels lead to worse health outcomes, including shock, cardiac arrest, and hospital-acquired pneumonia," said Martha Wilcox, an RN at Sullivan County Public Health. "We know that a safe and reliable healthcare system of the future cannot be created unless we empower our frontline providers of care, and give them what they need to get the job done. We need hospital management to take safe staffing seriously."

FLATS.indd 11 NYSNA_CS042215_FP.indd 1

4/21/15 7:29 PM 4/21/15 7:26 PM

city & state — April 22, 2015

SHUTTERSTOCK/CHRISTOPHER HALLORAN

12

Oversight Committee adopted identical resolutions seeking to prevent New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection from adopting rules that would finalize the state’s exit.

Christie’s hostile stance is indicative of Republicans’ shifting view on cap and trade, which was once lauded in conservative circles for its flexibility.

Wary of the rigid restrictions that environmentalists sought to place on the energy industry, conservatives in the 1980s and ’90s began pushing a market-based approach as an alternative strategy for reducing pollution.

Under RGGI, power plants are only reviewed for compliance every three years—a period spanning 12 allowance auctions. (If, during one of these audits, a power plant is found to hold fewer allowances than can cover their emissions during that time period, they are hit with a hefty fine for every excess ton of carbon.)

“If you’re a power plant the good thing about that three-year compliance period is that it lets you play the market,” the NRDC’s Morris said.

“Maybe you see a lower price one year and you stock up a little bit—you can bank those allowances. And maybe it’s really high priced one quarter and you say, I’m good, I’m going to wait till the next quarter and play things out.”

The Reagan administration used a cap and trade system to phase out leaded gasoline in the 1980s, and President George H. W. Bush’s 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act aimed at curbing the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that cause acid rain is largely credited with bringing that problem under control. But the political stances on cap and trade have since been widely reversed.

“Environmentalists actually didn’t like cap and trade when it was created because they didn’t think it would achieve results,” Iwanowicz said.

“Then somewhere along the way conservatives found this to be a liberal plot, and now cap and trade is a dirty word in the conservative movement.”

The reversal in conservative circles on cap and trade gained serious momentum in 2010, when congressional Republicans condemned a Democratic climate change bill that included the system. That year, Republicans, who won control of the House, campaigned against “cap and tax” as a boondoggle that only amounted to government overreach.

“It wasn’t antipathy toward the

Gov. Chris Christie effectively withdrew New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in 2011.

instrument itself, it was rather opposition to climate policy, so I think you could characterize the ‘cap and tax’ phenomenon as collateral damage,” said Stavins, the Harvard economist.

Although former Republican presidential candidates including John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee all supported various carbon-trading programs before 2009, they have since shied away from or even attacked cap and trade.

“It’s part of the political polarization of the Democratic Party moving toward the left and the Republican Party toward the right,” Stavins said.

“The ridiculous verb they use for McCain is that he was ‘Tea Partied’ in the primaries, and he was, and he almost lost the primary when he was up for re-election in his Senate seat.

And as a result he moved to the right to fend off that primary and he has remained there ever since.”

In March, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to all 50

governors urging them to ignore the EPA’s plan to reduce carbon emissions from power plants. That same month, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a bill that seeks to prevent federal agencies from regulating carbon emissions.

While EPA officials have said the states by and large seem to be ignoring McConnell’s plea—and are working with the agency to prepare to comply with the plan—the legal challenges to the agency’s clean power plan are far from over: Over a dozen states and Ohio-based coal company Murray Energy Corp have sued the EPA over its plan.

This month three Republicanappointed appellate judges said they cannot review the case until the proposed rules are issued, which could happen this summer.

THE FUTURE With the EPA’s climate change plan, Morris says the National

Resources Defense Council is “confident that the proposal is on a sound legal footing.”

“It has allowed the states that are in RGGI to get ahead of the game,” Morris said.

And while it is impossible to say with certainty how much RGGI has decreased emissions from the power sector, Morris says the program has provided power producers with the framework they need to rethink their operations going forward.

“What you can say with confidence is that by providing a price on carbon, even one that was very modest at the beginning of the program, you have provided power plants with the certainty they need to think through their investments and their assets,” Morris said. “It was an unprecedented victory for providing the private sector with the security they needed to plan for a world where emitting carbon is no longer free. And that’s a fundamental shift.” cit yandstateny.com

A CLEANER, GREENER NEW YORK CITY Thanks to the New York City Council, The Doe Fund’s “men in blue” clean and beautify over 170 miles of streets, sidewalks, and parks each day, all while rebuilding their lives and the lives of their families.

And that means a cleaner, greener, stronger New York for all of us.

‘A NOBLE LEGACY’ DE BLASIO’S ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY TO BUILD ON PREDECESSOR’S PASSION

By GABE PONCE DE LEÓN

city & state — April 22, 2015

14

ROB BENNETT FOR THE OFFICE OF MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO

W

hen Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled his signature environmental policy, PlaNYC, in 2007, its 127 green initiatives launched New York City to the forefront of the global sustainability movement, even as Washington was mired in gridlock.

During his inauguration, Mayor Bill de Blasio paid tribute to his predecessor’s achievement. “Your passion on issues such as the environment and public health,” he told Bloomberg, “has built a noble legacy.”

Now the mayor will have an opportunity to build on that legacy.

The plan is required by law to be updated every four years, and on April 22, de Blasio will reveal his revisions to his predecessor’s policy.

The contrast between the approaches of the two administrations—the consultantladen, data-driven Bloomberg team versus de Blasio’s frequent rallying cry for social justice—has left many wondering what the made-over plan will look like. Media reports indicate de Blasio may even rename the initiative (to OneNYC). But the difference may be more one of talking points than policy.

“Whether driven by metrics or by the heart, it will lead to the same conclusion that our communities are at risk,” said Eddie Bautista, executive director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and a former member of the Bloomberg administration.

De Blasio’s administration divulged that growth and resiliency will be linchpins of the revised plan, along with sustainability and equity. And though the Bloomberg administration never named equity as the focal point of its sustainability agenda, the former mayor was keenly aware of

Mayor Bill de Blasio will release his revision of PlaNYC this week.

the intersection of social justice and environmentalism. At the launch of PlaNYC, Bloomberg noted that children in low-income communities have higher rates of asthma, and pledged to address that “outrage.”

An update to PlaNYC in 2011 called for a feasibility study on reducing citywide emissions 80 percent by 2050. The resulting report, “New York City’s Pathway to Deep Carbon Reductions,” was released in the final month of the Bloomberg administration. “Achieving 80 by 50 is theoretically feasible,” it concluded, “but would require change at an unprecedented and technologicallyuntested scale.”

Carbon emissions in the city originate from four primary sectors: buildings, power generation, solid waste and transportation. Buildings, however, account for nearly threequarters of that pollution. According to the December 2013 feasibility study, there are nearly a million buildings in the city, and to achieve the 80 by 50 goal, “unprecedented levels of investment would be needed to improve the efficiency of building envelopes, mechanical systems, lighting and appliances.”

The 80 by 50 announcement was accompanied by a pledge to retrofit virtually all city-owned buildings— some 3,000 in total—as part of a

larger plan called One City: Built to Last. In addition to setting an example, the city hopes to spur private building owners to retrofit as well through several initiatives. If targets aren’t met, the plan leaves open the possibility of mandatory retrofits.

Earlier this month, de Blasio followed up on that green building commitment with an announcement of $100 million in efficiency upgrades to scores of city Housing Authority developments.

After buildings, power generation is responsible for the largest share of carbon emissions. Investment in microgrids and energy-efficient combined heat and power systems is cit yandstateny.com

likely to be part of the updated plan, experts say.

How to manage the million of tons of solid waste produced each year is an issue that advocates say will test this administration. From landfill and waste transport emissions, to equity concerns around infrastructure distribution, to low recycling rates and lack of commercial sector oversight, solutions will not come easily.

“We need to see clear and ambitious goals around recycling,” said Gavin Kearney, director of environmental justice at Lawyers for the Public Interest. Kearney has been pushing for the implementation of a 70 percent citywide recycling rate over the next five years or so.

Transportation is an issue some advocates believe the original PlaNYC could have done more to address.

Bloomberg’s inability to push congestion pricing through the state Legislature was the most public setback to his sustainability crusade.

“We have a great public transportation system, but it’s mostly built for getting people in and out of Manhattan, and for that reason we have a lot of people in the outer boroughs who drive cars,” said Adam Forman, a policy researcher at the Center for an Urban Future. “Building a transportation system that better serves people in outer boroughs— whether through bus rapid transit or new subway lines—is critical for both equity and environmentalism.”

To some degree, PlaNYC is a “living document,” expected to evolve with time. Many advocates insist public health issues such as food deserts and obesity should fall within its purview. Others argue for affordable housing, or the adaption of infrastructure to accommodate the growing elderly population.

Environmental justice organizations have long argued that the impact of climate change falls disproportionately on the poor, who often face a harder recovery after natural disasters. In anticipation of the PlaNYC update, a coalition of environmental justice and labor activists released a platform, Climate Works for All, calling for the creation of tens of thousands of jobs to retrofit the city’s largest buildings, install renewable resources, replace old gas infrastructure and expand mass transit. Environmentalists will also be watching closely for the allocation of financial resources and political capital to advance whatever vision is laid out.

They won’t have long to wait. The new plan is out this week, and the executive budget is due next month.

And however de Blasio plans to pitch the update, chances are his revisions will owe a debt to his predecessor’s record on social equity and the environment.

“Many people call that environmental justice,” Bloomberg said at the launch of the original PlaNYC. “I simply call it the right thing to do.”

Rebuilding our Infrastructure the Rebuilding Infrastructure the On Workers’ Memorial Day, Right Wayour Time to Put Worker Safety Before Profits Right Way

By Mario Cilento, President, New York State By Cilento, President, NewNew York York State State AFL-CIO ByMario Mario Cilento, President, AFL-CIO AFL-CIO

The $5 billion state budget surplus has

The $5 billion state budget Moments of silence and reflection will be has taking spurred an endless supply ofsurplus creative ideas spurred endless supplyStates of creative ideashere place allanover the United including on how to spend New York’s newfound on how York to spend New York’sApril newfound in New State on Tuesday, 28, as we settlement windfall.

Most of those proposals have centered on recognize It proposals is a day tohave honor the menonand settlementWorkers’ windfall.Memorial Most ofDay. those centered addressing physical infrastructure deficiencies, which is certainly women whophysical were injured, sickeneddeficiencies, or died as awhich result is of certainly their work, addressing infrastructure a but worthwhile proposal.

But knowing what to spend it is alsoand a day to look forward to ensure workplace safety remains anecessary necessary and worthwhile proposal.

But knowing what to spend amoney priority now and into the future. money on is not enough, we must rebuild our infrastructure on is not enough, we must rebuild our infrastructure the the rightway. way. right Workplace hazards exist across all job titles, and while workplaces are much safer today, is muchinfrastructure more that can– be done to prevent Ininvesting investing publicthere dollars both settlement Inthese public dollarsinto into infrastructure – both settlement tragedies. money and beyond, we must be sure to create good jobs withwith money and beyond, we must be sure to create good jobs adequate labor protections tied to every dollar spent.

From adequate labor protections every dollarjobs spent.

From Construction work remains onetied of thetomost dangerous in America. prevailing ratetotobe project labor agreements, the public andconstruction workers If you happen Latino or an immigrant worker in the prevailing rate to project labor agreements, the public and workers alikethen needyou assurance theatbest and trained labor According will be field are eventhat more riskskilled for on-site job injuries. alike need assurance that the best skilled and trained labor will be used. to a study by the Center for Popular Democracy, 60 percent of OSHAused. investigated fall -from -elevation fatalities in New York State involved We must also ensure there are protections Latino and/or immigrant workers.

It isbeyond why athe lawconstruction that provides We must also ensure there are protections beyond construction phase. There should be Buy requirements into to protection for these workers is soAmerican important.

And it is the whybuilt attempts phase. should beiron Buy requirements built into roll backThere the law must be stopped. procurement, so that any andAmerican steel sourced from these projects creates jobs here at home.

We and muststeel ensure the infrastructure our procurement, so that any iron sourced from these projects The Scaffold Safety Law requires contractors and project owners to families take to school and work every day is built with quality creates jobs here at home. We must ensure the infrastructure our ensure safety equipment and training are provided to laborers working American craftsmanship.

Wework can never allow of families take to school and everyagain day is builta repeat with quality above the ground; if embarrassment, not, they’re heldinresponsible for work related the Verrazano Bridge which the MTA sent $34 American craftsmanship.

We canand never again allow a repeat of injuries. someforbig developers corporations million toBut China steel used in the bridge’s repair. want to change the embarrassment, in which MTA sent $34 thatVerrazano by limitingBridge their liability and responsibility in the scaffolding-related million to China used Unfortunately in the bridge’sthis repair. workplace deaths for andsteel injuries. tactic puts profits Also, any permanent jobs created should be protected, by ensuring ahead of worker safety. that public services are staffed through civil service, and that any Also, any permanent jobs sector created should be protected, by ensuring non-construction, private jobs thatismay resultfor arerising subject to Opponents claim the Scaffold Safety Law to blame liability that publiclabor services are staffed through civil service, and that any adequate standards in terms of wages and benefits. insurance rates. It’s a flawed excuse. The Scaffold Safety Law saves

15

non-construction, private jobssafety that measures, may resulttheir are insurance subject to lives and if contractors abidesector by these Finally, the focus on infrastructure should notthe distract us from the adequate labor ofiswages and benefits. rates should gostandards down not in up.terms If that not case, then insurance

other budgetary needs.explaining From education to public healthcare, New companies have some to do. The “Sunshine Bill” (A-4718 York must reinvest strong public services, many of which have S-3392) would require insurance companies disclose claims data on Finally, the focus onininfrastructure shouldtonot distract us from the been cut to the bone in recent years.

Public Services and those construction accident payouts, thereby “shining the light” on insurance other budgetary needs. From education to public healthcare, New industry practices. whomust provide them are asset public that strengthens community.

York reinvest in an strong services, our many of which have

SPENCER T TUCKER

protections included in the Scaffold Safety Law are not watered down or rolled back. Workplace safety is critical as we work toward the ultimate goal ofFor making sure that on Workers’ Memorial DayAFL-CIO, there are no new more information on the New York State names added to remembrance monuments across our state. visit www.nysaflcio.org

Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg presents an update to PlaNYC in 2011.

For more information on the New York State AFL-CIO, visit www.nysaflcio.org

city & state — April 22, 2015

been to the boneSafety in recent years.workers’ Publicsafety Services and those New cut York’s Scaffold Law puts before profits. who them are an safety asset isthat Let’sprovide make sure workplace thestrengthens priority, and our that community. the important

cit yandstateny.com

CS_04222015_Deblasio.indd 15

4/21/15 6:37 PM

KATHRYN GARCIA Commissioner, New York City Sanitation Department

city & state — April 22, 2015

16

Q: What have you been focusing on in your first year?

KG: Identifying ways to deliver our critical services faster and more equitably and preparing the agency to take the next step in terms of sustainability. We have expanded the NYC Organics Collection pilot and are developing plans to continue to grow that program. We have given focus to quality-of-life issues, including the successful removal of all illegally placed clothing bins on public property in the city. I am particularly proud of our snow fighting despite the relentless winter weather that included one of the coldest Februaries on record and a total of 25 different weather events.

Our pilot of more efficient snow rou ting in Staten Island and Manhattan was a great success, and we will continue to expand this service to additional parts of the city going forward.

Q: What have you been doing to improve recycling rates? Has there been improvement?

KG: I try to look at each of the different components of the waste stream and develop a program for each one. For example, food scraps, yard waste and soiled paper make up roughly one-third of the material we collect. We currently offer curbside organics collection to more than 100,000 households. This spring we are expanding organics collection service to five additional neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx to serve a total of 133,000 households with nearly 340,000 residents. We are also working to expand the re-fashioNYC and e-cycleNYC programs, which allow residents to drop off unwanted clothing and electronics for reuse and recycling at no cost to the city.

Q: Has the city’s new ban on throwing out electronics with normal trash caught on?

KG: The ban is actually the result of a law passed by the state in 2012 that took effect in January. The city carried out the ban earlier this year, but we issued warning stickers instead of tickets for the first three months.

Electronic waste, though a small portion of the overall waste stream, contains not only potentially hazardous materials like lead, mercury and cadmium, but also valuable and scarce materials like aluminum, copper and gold. With the help of our electronics recycling partners, we have created the e-cycleNYC program to collect e-waste from apartment buildings with 10 or more units. New Yorkers can also drop off unwanted electronics at more than 95 locations in all five boroughs, and we are holding twice as many SAFE Disposal events this year as in past years. At our first event at Midland Beach, Staten Islanders dropped off more than double the amount of e-waste we collected at last year’s event.

Q: How can the city ensure waste processing is distributed equitably throughout the city?

KG: Mayor Bill de Blasio has long supported a fair, sustainable fiveborough plan for managing our solid waste. Last month, we opened the first of four converted marine transfer stations in College Point, Queens.

Once fully operational, that MTS will accept more than 1,000 tons of waste per day that had previously been tipped at private transfer stations in Jamaica. As a result, this historically overburdened neighborhood may see the tons of waste and number of trucks cut in half. Three more MTSs are scheduled to open in the next three years, fully realizing the benefits in other overburdened communities. Full implementation of the plan will reduce the city’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by 34,000 tons and truck travel on city streets by 5.7 million miles per year.

Q: How has the pilot program for converting food scraps into natural gas gone?

KG: The pilot for food waste processing at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant has been working well so far. We learned that the DEP’s anaerobic digesters are not great at processing leafy or woody material, including the yard waste collected curbside in the NYC Organics pilot.

However, they are great at converting food waste, especially from restaurants and other commercial kitchens, into clean, renewable natural gas. The city hopes to scale up the program over time, with the goal of taking 50 tons per day of food waste by the end of this year and ramping up to 250 tons per day over the next few years.

EMILY LLOYD

PAUL TONKO

Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Member, House Energy and Commerce Committee

Q: What have you been focusing on in terms of sustainability during your first 14 months?

EL: One of [the Department of Environmental Protection’s] most important missions is ensuring an adequate supply of drinking water, and over the last decade, we have invested more than $10 billion in our water supply infrastructure. We are also working to drive down the demand for water by investing in water-saving retrofits at city-owned properties and incentivizing upgrades and repairs in private residences and businesses.

Q: The amount of crude oil being shipped by train through New York has increased significantly. Is that a problem?

PT: Yes, for many reasons. There are safety issues that put our communities and first responders at risk. There are noise problems that make some neighborhoods unlivable. And, in the long term, there are environmental problems with our continued reliance on fossil fuels.

Q: What will the future of sewer treatment plants look like? How are the city’s plants evolving?

EL: DEP operates 14 wastewater treatment plants throughout the city that clean—on an average day—more than 1 billion gallons of wastewater.

These plants consume a tremendous amount of electricity, and we are at the forefront of an industrywide movement to capture and optimize the energy-producing capabilities of the facilities. At the Newtown Creek plant, we are partnering with National Grid to purify the biogas byproduct into enough pipeline-quality natural gas to heat nearly 5,200 homes. We also have ongoing optimization projects in West Harlem and on Staten Island.

Q: What did the city learn from Superstorm Sandy and how has the city adjusted?

EL: When Sandy made landfall in the city, we had already begun drawing up plans to fortify our wastewater facilities. Resiliency measures have already been built into projects at the Gowanus and Manhattan pump stations, and will continue to be added at other facilities. Upstate, Sandy’s strong winds meant waves piled up along the shore of one of our reservoirs and caused some erosion. We now regularly examine wind forecasts during extreme storms to ensure the protection of the water supply.

Q: The state says it has taken action in response to concerns about oil trains. In your opinion, is New York doing enough?

PT: I agree that the governor’s office recognizes this as an urgent problem.

However, New York can only do so much when we have a deadlocked Congress in Washington, D.C. I have worked with the administration, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, to expedite regulations, and I have urged members on the House Appropriations Committee to provide full funding for safe shipment of energy products like Bakken crude. However, we will never completely wipe out these problems until we “think outside the barrel” and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

Q: New York took funds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to cover spending items in the state budget. Does that put the RGGI at risk?

PT: Any time that money gets reallocated from a program like RGGI, I am concerned. When we sweep these dollars away, we handicap our ability to spend less time and money on cleanup and rebuilding after the next natural disaster. RGGI is the kind of marketbased approach that economists and environmentalists support.

New York has led the nation in the way we approach and address climate change, and we just have to show the rest of the country that a cleaner environment and economic growth go hand in hand. cit yandstateny.com

RE-EXAMINING THE EXXON DEAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS, OFFICIALS SAY SETTLEMENT IS TOO SMALL TO SHIELD NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY ESTUARY

By BOB HENNELLY

L

city & state — April 22, 2015

recommendations to the state judge overseeing the Exxon case. Should the court approve the deal, settlement opponents can appeal the decision in the state’s Appellate Division.

CB1 GETS IN THE MIX

A view of Manhattan from wetlands in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

Balagia, Exxon’s general counsel, blasted the state’s initial $8.9 billion claim as a number “pulled out of thin air.”

COUNCIL HEARINGS POSSIBLE “I definitely believe that the paltry New Jersey Exxon settlement will undermine any attempts to secure a viable future for wetland restoration in Newark Bay,” Donovan Richards, chairman of the New York City Council Committee on Environmental Protection, told City & State.

“Wetlands are a proven natural buffer against hurricanes, superstorms and other high-impact weather-related events. Any long-term sustainability planning for New York and for New Jersey must prioritize our first lines of defense.”

“As the council representative for

the eastern side of the peninsula, protecting communities along the coast is a primary concern,” he added.

“Last year I held a hearing with the Waterfronts Committee on the impact of the Rahway Arch project on Staten Island, and would definitely consider doing something similar to discuss the impact of the N.J. Exxon settlement and the decay of infrastructure on the future on New York City.”

The city’s increasing interest in the Exxon deal comes as NY/NJ Baykeeper, the Sierra Club and several other environmental groups are encouraging participation in the 60day public comment period. That period started earlier this month and ends in early June.

Under New Jersey procedure, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection has to review the public comments and then file a report with

Last week, lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1 Planning Committee, which knows all too well the effects of a Sandy-like storm, voted to weigh in on the Exxon deal during the public comment period. The unanimous vote to author a resolution calling for a more substantial Exxon settlement to fund wetland and saltwater marsh restoration came after a presentation from Chris Len, staff attorney for NY/NJ Baykeeper.

The CB1 members were transfixed during Len’s presentation, which showed just how close some of New Jersey’s hottest legacy toxic spots were to New York City. Len said Newark Bay contains some of the most critical yet vulnerable infrastructure in the region, which would greatly benefit from marshland and wetland buffers. He cited as an example how Sandy’s massive 12-foot storm surge took out the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s plant, the fifth largest in the nation, which treats waste for 3 million northern New Jersey residents.

With the plant inundated for weeks after Sandy, billions of gallons of untreated and partially treated human waste flowed out on the bi-state estuary, which was also hit by the untreated waste from several other failed sewer plants in the region.

Newark Bay is also home to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey cargo handling facilities. The cit yandstateny.com

GLYNNIS JONES / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

18

ast month New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed concerns that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s settlement with Exxon to resolve $9 billion in environmental claims for 3 cents on the dollar was inadequate to address pollution that experts say impacted the entire estuary the two states share.

In a sign that the bi-state controversy continues to heat up, other New York City elected officials and civic leaders are suggesting that the $225 million Exxon deal is a major lost opportunity to fund the restoration of saltwater marshes and fresh water wetlands, which the bi-state estuary badly needs to buffer the coast from ongoing sea-level rise and the next Superstorm Sandy.

New Jersey’s initial claims alleged Exxon had degraded and destroyed at least 1,500 acres of wetlands in and around the company’s former sites in Bayonne and Linden, which they had operated for close to a century. Since The New York Times first broke the story, it was disclosed that the deal also covers l6 other contaminated Exxon sites, as well as several hundred gas stations.

The natural resource damages claims at issue in the deal are paid to compensate the public for the loss of the use of natural resources like wetlands, waterways and shorelines due to contamination. But the Christie administration diverted to the state’s general fund anything in excess of $50 million from past NRD awards.

The Christie administration has defended the settlement as the largest such natural resource damages claim in state history, which resolved over a decade of pending litigation. Jack

ANDREW F. KAZMIERSKI/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Senator Jeff Klein A view of Port Newark in Bayonne, New Jersey.

cit yandstateny.com

Joan McDonald, NYS Department of Transportation

ADVERTISE WITH CITY & STATE TO:

Reach elected officials Educate NY’s most engaged leaders Raise awareness and shape legislation

For advertising information, please contact Jim Katocin at 212.284.9714 or Jkatocin@CityandStateNY.com

city & state — April 22, 2015

Roland Lewis is the CEO and president of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a bi-state coalition of 800 organizations committed to the long-term sustainability of the New York and New Jersey waterfront.

In 2011, the MWA’s harbor-wide strategies to promote the long-term sustainability of the estuary were

19

Senator Dean Skellos

‘A FRACTION OF WHAT WE WILL NEED’

adopted by the Bloomberg administration’s NYC Vision 2020 as the comprehensive waterfront plan for New York City. But in New Jersey, the MWA does not seem to have gotten the same political traction.

Lewis says the controversy over the Exxon settlement comes at a time when there are important questions about just how the region is going to fund the major investments required to meet the challenges of sea-level rise and future Sandy-like storms.

“What people don’t realize is the approximately $13 billion we’ve already committed is just a fraction of what we will need to protect ourselves from the next Sandy-scale storm,” Lewis said. “We know it’s a down payment on our resiliency, but just how much of a percentage of what’s required is it? Is it 10 percent, 20 percent or 30 percent?”

The MWA is currently undertaking a study that Lewis hopes will answer this critical question.

“We are spending money on studies for things like floodgates for Newtown Creek, but how much will it cost to build the actual projects? Budgets are tight everywhere,” he said. “There is an accounting we have to do to see just what we need to spend to protect ourselves and where that money will come from.”

Lewis says the kind of wetland and saltwater marsh restoration NY/NJ Baykeeper wants to see would be a wise investment in the resiliency and long-term viability of the entire bistate estuary. “Wetlands and mashes soften the blow of a Sandy by mitigating the wave action and, as a result, save lives,” he said. “There’s a real need for this restoration, especially for New Jersey.”

Commisioner Ken Adams

Sandy surge inundated thousands of new vehicles worth $400 million and caused havoc with the bi-state agency’s massive cargo cranes, disrupting commerce. Over on the Arthur Kill— where Exxon’s Bayway facility is now run by Phillips 66—the surge knocked out the refinery’s ability to produce gasoline, which disrupted fuel supplies throughout the region.

CB1 Chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes is a civil engineer who majored in hydrogeology. Hughes says the most cost-effective storm resiliency plan is to revive and restore wetlands and saltwater marshes throughout the estuary the two states share.

“Community Board 1 cares about what happens in New Jersey because the water and wetlands are interconnected, and if there is a loss of wetlands, or a failure to replace ones degraded or destroyed, the impact will not only be felt in New Jersey but in lower Manhattan as well,” Hughes told City & State.

“Through a more just settlement with Exxon, it’s our hope to get the kind of financial resources we need to restore the wetlands and marshes that could really make a difference for both states,” she said.

buildings were required to completely phase out use of No. 6, the dirtiest oil, by (this month). We will continue the conversation with the administration on the benchmarking process and goal setting.

DONOVAN RICHARDS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27TH BNY MELLON 101 Barclay Street 10th Floor: West Assembly • New York, NY 10007

BRIEF:

20

While many of the major healthcare issues facing New York remain the same as years past, a new make up to the New York State Assembly, the NYS Department of Health and more clarity on which New York City officials are in charge have provided additional clarity on how certain legislation and policy will shift or change in the coming months. City & State convenes leaders in government, business and advocacy for multiple panels on the future of healthcare and healthcare policy in New York.

PROGRAMMING: 8:00AM, Registration and Networking 8:45AM, Welcoming Remarks and Word from our Sponsor 9:00AM, Back and Forth with Ram Raju, President / CEO of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation 9:30AM, Panel of Officials, Advocates and Experts on Major Shifts in Healthcare and Healthcare Delivery • Jason Helgerson, Director of Medicaid and Deputy NYS Health Commissioner* • State Senator Kemp Hannon, Chair, Senate Health Committee* More panelists TBA 10:30AM, Back and Forth with Dr. Mary Bassett, Commissioner, New York City Dept. of Health* city & state — April 22, 2015

* pending confirmation

For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please call Jasmin Freeman at 646-442-1662 or email jfreeman@cityandstateny.com

Chair, New York City Council Committee on Environmental Protection

Q: What have you been focusing on in your committee?

DR: Improving our city’s air quality, revamping building efficiency standards, requiring the use of biodiesel in our city’s fleets, limiting unnecessary nighttime illumination for nonresidential buildings—to save the city the equivalent of one power plant in energy costs—increasing the number of electric charging stations in municipal lots and garages; that’s just a brief snapshot of the priorities of the Environmental Protection Committee. This week the committee will be voting on changes to the air code, last updated in 1975. Earlier this month, we introduced legislation on establishing a solar ombudsperson to remove red tape and facilitate the process for individuals, building owners, managers and others interested in making the change to solar energy. We are also committed to improving the infrastructure of our city through the continued integration of grey and green infrastructure for long-term sustainability planning and continued oversight of the Department of Environmental Protection.

Q: Are there annual or short-term benchmark goals built into the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050? How has the rollout been, and when do you expect to start seeing changes?

DR: I was recently appointed by Mayor de Blasio to co-chair the advisory board of PlaNYC. Many of the revisions will be focusing on setting measurable goals and using an integrative approach to reducing our carbon footprint.

Currently, there are numerous pieces of legislation that contain benchmarks to measure progress. The air code calls for the phaseout of school busses that do not meet tier 4 standards set by the EPA and that are unable to be retrofitted by 2020. Additionally,

Q: Given the administration’s opposition to the waste equity bill, how do you see the push to more equitably distribute waste processing evolving?

DR: We as a city must rethink our waste management infrastructure to allow composting, recycling and, ultimately, a zero-waste system. We have worked closely with a coalition of environmental justice groups, such as the Environmental Justice Alliance, to raise this issue and advocate on behalf of the communities of color that are forced to process the waste of a city of at least 8 million people. In southeast Queens, there are a number of waste stations located directly next to residential neighborhoods, impacting the health and well-being of residents.

I look forward to ensuring that all New Yorkers fairly share the costs of collecting and disposing our waste.

Q: The administration has expressed support for updating the Clean Air Act, and says its planned revisions would be the most comprehensive updates since the 1970s. What work is being done on that? When do you anticipate seeing changes?

DR: For the past year, I have worked extensively with environmental advocates, the administration, various agencies and other stakeholders on the revisions to the air code. We look forward to the mayor signing this bill into law.

Q: What is one thing that can be done to make the city more sustainable?

DR: The city must make critical investments in its struggling infrastructure. (Superstorm) Sandy exposed the extent of our vulnerabilities as the water rose and paralyzed entire neighborhoods in the city. Recently the number of reports on water main breaks, explosions, flying manholes and other near-catastrophic events occur far more often than we would like. We must upgrade sewers, water mains, utility lines, transportation fleets and routes. Setting the bar for higher efficiency standards for new buildings and retrofits is also an area that we cannot afford to overlook.

Prioritizing the maintenance and upgrading the backbone of city will help prepare us for today and for the challenges that we are bound to face in the not-too-distant future. cit yandstateny.com

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT CARD

WITH SILVER’S DEPARTURE, ADVOCATES PUT THEIR HOPES IN HEASTIE

By ASHLEY HUPFL

REPORT CARD VOTE

BILLS

l He

as t

ie

21

Fracking Moratorium NY-Sun Act Environmental Justice for All Brownfield Tax Credit Reporting Private Well Water Quality Testing

Source: EPL/Environmental Advocates 2014 Environmental Scorecard cit yandstateny.com

Car

% 0 10

city & state — April 22, 2015

A

fter nearly 20 years as Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver was a known quantity in Albany. After Carl Heastie was elected as his replacement in February, environmentalists have been watching carefully to see if they’ll have a champion in the new speaker, like his predecessor.

“Well, it’s obviously very early,” said Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York. “I think the Assembly has been a place where traditionally members have really high scores on our sister-organization scorecard.”

Both Heastie and Silver received a score of 100 on the annual EPL/ Environmental Advocates 2014 scorecard, which evaluates each state lawmaker’s voting record on environmental issues.

“I think the speaker really has a value for protecting the environment, because so many members of the conference have value in protecting the environment,” Iwanowicz said.

“I think it’s a relationship that will continue to exist in that house.”

Iwanowicz told City & State he expects environmental advocates will have a friend in Heastie, but noted some concerns about plans in the state budget to take funds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and put them in the Environmental Protection Fund.

“It’s a little bit odd to see the Assembly going along with the governor’s raid of the climate program.

Still trying to sit down and meet with the speaker and figure out why,” Iwanowicz said. “But we’re expecting a fairly robust agenda as usual from the Assembly on Earth Day: Child Safe Products Act, dealing with climate change, and some other issues. So I think we’re hopeful the speaker will really put together a head of steam to tackle climate change.”

The Dollars and Sense of a Basic Education

By Ralph da Costa Nunez, PhD President and CEO Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness Half of all homeless parents in New York City shelters don’t have a high school diploma. In essence, this means they can’t read or write at a level required to get a decent job, permanently sentencing them to low-wage, dead-end jobs or, as is the case for many, no employment prospects at all.

Despite policy declarations and expectations, how can we expect a homeless mother to move on from shelter to a home of her own without a job that pays a decent wage? In truth, shelters have become places where family economic and social instability festers if opportunities are not made available. Today, when average length of stay is over a year and over half the families who leave shelter return, would it not make sense to address the gap in a parent’s education while they wait for a viable housing option to become available?

Irrespective of the competitive angling between the General Educational Development Test (GED) and New York’s newly introduced Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), it’s clear that completing a high school equivalency degree makes sense for both homeless parents and the taxpayer. Studies of family literacy programs demonstrate that every dollar invested in adult literacy yields over $7 in higher incomes, tax contributions, reduced criminal justice expenses, and diminished reliance on public assistance. Those without a basic education are essentially relegated to being a permanent underclass — which is both an expensive prospect for the city and a stain on our conscience. An individual who doesn’t complete high school costs the city nearly $134,000, ironically for expenses like jail and shelter.

On the other hand, those with a high school diploma or equivalency degree earn 65 percent more over a lifetime, providing a $193,000 benefit to the city. Education does pay, and can be the difference between residing in shelter or your own home.

22

Today there are about 12,000 homeless families in New York City. The cost of getting an equivalency degree is approximately $1,500 per individual. It would cost $9 million to provide all homeless parents currently lacking a high school degree with a basic literacy program. Doing nothing racks up a sunk cost of $804 million and a staggering waste of human potential. You don’t need to be an economist to see the return on investment.

Adults struggling with literacy are fighting the longstanding aftermath of an incomplete education on a daily basis— they might not be able to find directions to a new job, come up with a family budget that makes sense, or navigate their child’s school paperwork. In-shelter basic education programs allow access to much-needed resources and remove red tape often associated with outside programs.

There is no excuse to continue to allow parents to cycle in and out of the shelter system without arming them with the most fundamental tool for realizing their potential as individuals, citizens, and caretakers. It’s unrealistic to expect someone lacking literacy skills to wade into a grim job market and succeed. Why should taxpayers continue to throw good money after bad?

city & state — April 22, 2015

A basic education alone is not a permanent solution, but it’s an important stepping-stone to a long-term solution for low-skill workers. With it, homeless parents can consider enrolling in community college or applying for jobs for which they were previously unqualified. Investing in literacy skills gives homeless families a tremendous leg up when it comes to escaping homelessness and saves taxpayers millions of dollars. In-shelter high school adult education programs are a victory for everyone.

We have a unique opportunity to act now. We know who they are, where they are, what they are up against, and what services will make the most difference. Now what we need is bold leadership and common sense to make it happen. It’s time to read the writing on the wall, and make sure everyone can as well.

In the end, family homelessness isn’t simply about the need for housing; it’s also about the need and role of education in achieving that end.

ICPH

Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness www.ICPHusa.org

The Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness is a New York City–based think tank focused on the impact of public policies on poor and homeless children.

RICHARD KAUFFMAN Chairman, Energy & Finance, Office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Q: In February, regulators at the New York Public Service Commission outlined a strategy for the state to begin implementing the governor’s Reforming the Energy Vision plan, whereby utilities will begin building clean and renewable distributed energy platforms across the state. This includes projects in lower-income communities intended to promote energy efficiency. How will these initiatives benefit low-income New Yorkers?

RK: As part of the coming changes in the energy market, New York is targeting the needs of low- to moderate-income families to ensure that they receive greater access to affordable, cleaner and more resilient energy choices. Until now, low- to moderate-income families who want to go green would struggle to find ways to buy solar panels or make their homes more energy efficient. As part of the governor’s energy vision, utilities are encouraged to partner with community groups to assist lowand moderate-income families, most notably by directly investing in the development of renewable resources and other distributed resource projects to benefit these customers.

Utilities and third-party energy providers will also work with community groups to target local system needs and enhance participation of low- and moderateincome customers through innovative initiatives such as Community Choice Aggregation and community net metering, which are designed to give communities greater control over their local energy decisions. These initiatives also offer new ways for these customers—many of whom are renters or have rooftops ill-suited for solar—to access the growing renewable energy market.

It is also important to note that utility and third-party efforts will

be complemented by a strong New York State Energy Research and Development Authority focus on lowand moderate-income customers, which includes an emphasis on providing home energy efficiency services to low-income households and removing financial and other barriers to building energy-efficient affordable housing.

Combined, these regulatory and programmatic steps will put low-and moderate-income energy needs at the front and center of the REV future.

The response to these initiatives has been terrific, with low-income community advocates applauding these groundbreaking steps.

Q: Is there a timeline on when we’ll start to see results?

RK: Regarding next steps, details on these new programs will be finalized later this year. Meanwhile, the PSC’s consumer advocate continues to work with low-income advocates, utilities and other interested stakeholders as part of the ongoing development of REV. Q: What’s next for the REV plan?

RK: Significant energy infrastructure and business model changes related to REV are already in the works.

In July, utilities, working with innovative technology companies and others, will unveil cutting-edge demonstration projects that will be used to test new designs and services for the utility of the future. These demo projects, an important step toward implementing REV policy changes, are an opportunity for the utilities to partner with third parties in new kinds of business relationships that expand the market for new energy solutions.

Today, utilities do not have an economic incentive to support many technologies that can deliver tremendous value to customers, such as solar, energy storage, demand management and energy efficiency.

Demonstration projects will test new business models that provide revenue streams outside of the traditional rate base to motivate the utility to proactively support third-party providers of these kinds of technologies.

These partnerships will result in increased access to distributed energy resources at a lower cost for customers.

The demonstrations will also inform the regulatory proceeding itself, so we get the rules right to ensure the projects and business relationships can be first of their kind, rather than one of a kind. In addition to the demonstration projects, utilities are hard at work developing REV implementation plans, due in December. cit yandstateny.com

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015

TASTE PENTHOUSE

45 BEAVER STREET, ALBANY, NY 12207 On April 28th, City & State convenes leaders in government, business, advocacy and the media to discuss timely issues facing the state this legislative session, including Affordable Housing, the Cuba Trade Mission, and New York Energy.

SPONSORED BY:

3:30PM

Registration and Networking

4:00PM

Opening Remarks

4:15PM

PANEL: Affordable Housing and Opportunity DARRYL TOWNS, Commissioner and CEO, New York State Homes and Community Renewal Assemblyman KEITH WRIGHT, Chair NYS Assembly Committee on Housing

5:00PM

BACK & FORTH: City & State’s Official Cuba Debriefing Editor-at-large Gerson Borrero sits with senior correspondent Jon Lentz to discuss the inner workings of Cuomo’s Cuba trade mission, the reaction on the ground, and where the opportunities might be.

5:30PM

PANEL: Energy and the Big Solutions!

RICHARD KAUFFMAN, Chairman of Energy & Finance for New York ROBERT LURIE, CFO, New York Power Authority

For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, contact Jasmin Freeman at jfreeman@cityandstateny.com or call 646-442-1662.

THE CLEAN UP

UPSTATE DEVELOPERS, LAWMAKERS PRAISE BROWNFIELD COMPROMISE THAT CONFINES TOUGHEST REFORMS TO NEW YORK CITY

C

city & state — April 22, 2015

24

arts full of concrete rattled through the cavernous bottom floor of a vacant warehouse building in South Buffalo and out to a dumpster earlier this month, as about 90 workers chipped away at a rehabilitation project, with the first tenants set to move in this summer.

The project at 500 Seneca St. will see a 300,000-square-foot former industrial complex—which has been vacant off and on for long periods of time since 1958—converted into a business and residential space in the heart of a once-bustling manufacturing corridor. Dust-covered cherry and pine floors, with pools of water dotting the expansive soon-to-be offices, will be varnished and glimmering.

The Savarino Companies project, like many in Western New York, will benefit from brownfield tax credits— more than $6 million on the $38 million project—as part of a state program that gives breaks to developers who clean up and build on contaminated sites. The program was set to expire at the end of the year, but was extended by a decade as part of the state budget negotiations.

Sam Savarino, the president and CEO of Savarino Companies, said he would have never pursued the ambitious redevelopment project if the brownfield credits—and historic preservation tax credits his company will also receive for the rehab—were not available.

“The economics on this project just don’t work otherwise,” Savarino said.

“On a lot of projects that’s the case.”

To get the credits, the company had to pay for the remediation of a loading dock area that had been contaminated with solvents at some point in the 114-year-old building’s history.

Savarino Companies has also been granted brownfield credits on an apartment complex it is building along the Buffalo River about a mile from the

Once an industrial complex, 500 Seneca St. will become housing and offices.

500 Seneca project.

“These are neighborhoods that, there’s no incentive to go in and clean them up,” Savarino said. “Typically the buildings with problems like this or properties with problems like this is that they sit with nobody doing anything with them. They’re still leaching contaminants into the environment.”

Since the program’s creation in 2003, the state has approved 523 sites and has granted 195 certificates of completion, the letter from the state Department of Environmental Conservation verifying that the developer has fulfilled all requirements to get the tax break. About one-quarter of those certificates of completion have come in Erie and Niagara counties.

During that time, the state has given out over $1 billion in tax credits—$128 million in cleanup credits and $970 million in redevelopment credits, according to the state agency’s records.

Savarino said that with so much contamination in Western New York

and the lack of a high-stakes real estate market like New York City, most of the sites being developed under the program would have likely sat vacant, keeping surrounding property values depressed and remaining an environmental hazard for those living nearby.

“There is no positive incentive for people to clean them up,” Savarino said. “It’s not going to happen on their own.”

When the program was extended, Western New York legislators in both parties and in both houses praised the compromise, which set up stricter requirements for developers in New York City, but left the tax credits largely the same for the rest of the state.

Downstate legislators and advocates have long complained that developers were taking advantage of the program, receiving credits on upscale apartment buildings and hotels that required little remediation and would have gone forward without the breaks.

But not everyone is happy with the

extension. The day after the deal was struck, Peter Iwanowicz, the executive director of Environmental Advocates of New York, released a statement saying that while the reforms instituted in New York City were a step in the right direction, they should have been applied across the state.

“To be sure, many of the most egregious abuses of the program have occurred in New York City—but certainly not all of them,” Iwanowicz said. “In fact, many of the most costly projects have occurred in places like Westchester County and Syracuse, areas where the current program will largely remain as-is.”

Arthur Giacalone, an attorney from the Buffalo suburb of East Aurora who has long taken up environmental and tax issues, has similar concerns.

He said that while some projects in Western New York are deserving of the tax breaks and stick to the program’s goal of incentivizing development on parcels with significant contamination, other high-profile projects—like Kim and Terry Pegula’s HarborCenter or Delaware North Companies’ new headquarters—required minimal remediation, are in a downtown area that saw little industrial activity and would have moved forward without the credits.

“The brownfield credits have been used appropriately for heavily contaminated sites,” Giacalone said.

“But the abuses, if they’re happening downstate, our developers are just as likely to abuse them as anyone else if given the opportunity.”

Giacalone said the program has been described by developers and politicians as an essential economic development tool that needs to remain as it is upstate to be effective, but the reality is, developers didn’t want the rules to change because they would lose access to the lucrative credits. cit yandstateny.com

NANCY PARISI

By JUSTIN SONDEL

Clean Air Policies For All New Yorkers

By Norris McDonald Whether it is Hunts Point in the Bronx, East Harlem in Manhattan, Arverne in Queens, or Red Hook, Brooklyn, minority neighborhoods are surrounded by congested transit routes, riddled with dirty fossil-fuel infrastructure, or entangled by a network of high voltage transmission lines. More needs to be done to protect these communities and all New Yorkers from harmful toxic emissions hidden in plain sight.

City & State Reporter Justin Sondel, center, speaks with Sam Savarino, left, and Assemblyman Michael Kearns, right.

“From my perspective, the brownfield tax credits appear to be just another source of corporate welfare being billed out for the well-connected developers,” Giacalone said.

Assemblyman Michael Kearns, a Buffalo Democrat, was one of the lawmakers who were ecstatic that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature came to terms and kept the program in place for another 10 years.

Kearns, whose district includes scores of polluted parcels in once-major industrial and manufacturing corridors, said he has seen many properties returned to the tax rolls, some with manufacturing jobs attached, since the program started.

“If a couple of developers can really use private money and we have a public-private partnership, I think it benefits a lot of people,” Kearns said. “It’s putting people to work, which I think is an important thing.”

Kearns said the projects create jobs during construction and turn buildings and lots that are burdens on the neighborhood into places the community can benefit from and be proud of.

“In order for Buffalo to be competitive and in order for Buffalo to do these projects, unfortunately these credits are necessary,” Kearns said.

Kearns defended the compromise, saying New York City can afford to lose projects that don’t qualify because someone else will inevitably come by to develop the land. But in Buffalo and the rest of upstate, the new rules applied to the Big Apple would have been too “rigid,” he said, killing many projects before they even got started.

“Here every project is vital,” Kearns said.

Kearns said he would be open to making further changes to the program if it were to cut down on abuses in projects that would go forward without the breaks, though he doesn’t believe many of the Buffalo projects fall into that category. But he said the cit yandstateny.com

important thing for him is making sure the tax credit does not expire.

“We can work out the kinks of the program,” Kearns said.

Back at 500 Seneca, Sam Savarino spoke excitedly about the large courtyard planned in the center of the building: Windows from offices on three floors will look down into the airy space. It will be a common area with a café and bistro.

The developer was part of a team assembled by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, a major business advocacy group in the region, that traveled to Albany to give input on the brownfield program reforms.

Savarino said the program is largely used well in the Buffalo area, though his group did suggest some reforms that will be applied across the state as part of the extension deal.

“For us, I think, in Western New York, some common-sense changes to the program to prevent abuse, they really weren’t going to affect the projects here, so there really wasn’t a lot of opposition to that,” he said.

Applying for the tax credits is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that often slows progress on projects. “If you don’t have a good amount of time it’s not worth the effort to get into it,” Savarino said.

For 500 Seneca, that time and effort was worth it, Savarino said, because it would never have happened otherwise. That’s why a long-term extension of the program was important.

Savarino said in New York City a developer might do $200,000 worth of remediation on a $2 million site and build a $1 billion building on top, with the credits applied to the entire project.

“That’s not the situation in Western New York,” Savarino said. “The economy is different. The property values are much reduced. We have a great stock of old industrial buildings that aren’t otherwise going to be reused.”

Policymakers can make an equitable difference by committing to cut emissions from power plants, preserving access to low- and non-emitting baseload power sources, as well as transitioning our cars and trucks to alternative fuels including electricity and compressed natural gas. These policies prioritize air quality and work to re-distribute the disproportionate burden that vulnerable populations shoulder for clean energy enthusiasts.

Uneconomic fossil fuel plants threaten the economy as well as people’s health. New York’s leaders must not turn a blind eye and must work to ensure the scales of environmental justice are equally balanced when applying the law.

This is why increasing access to infrastructure to recharge electric cars or refuel CNG trucks is of urgency. This can take a significant bite out of tailpipe emissions, comprising 24 percent of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions, and clear the air along densely populated transit corridors. This would directly benefit minority neighborhoods.

25

Further, new energy initiatives should not cloak efforts to subtract nuclear power from New York’s fuel mix. Germany, Japan, and California offer cautionary tales of creative clean energy funds backfiring. Each prematurely closed nuclear power plants and are now grappling with some of the highest emissions ever recorded, increased electric prices, and tenuous grid reliability.

New York must take care not to make the same mistake with Indian Point Energy Center, a nuclear power plant that supplies over 25 percent of New York City’s power and 11 percent statewide.

Clean air should not be packaged as a luxury good for the well to do. It should be available for all New Yorkers.

Norris McDonald is the Founder and President African American Environmental Association (AAEA) and a member of the New York AREA Advisory Board.

SPECIAL SPONSORED SECTION

The New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance (New York AREA) is a diverse group of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working together for clean, low-cost and reliable electricity solutions that foster prosperity and jobs for the Empire State.

WWW . A R E A - A L L I A N C E . O R G

city & state — April 22, 2015

NANCY PARISI

Pollution carries a hefty price tag. According to a report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, approximately 1.4 million New Yorkers suffer from asthma, which the Department of Health estimates costs $1.3 billion in direct medical expenses, lost productivity, and the priceless loss of life.

SIGN UP FOR

JOE MARTENS Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Q: What are your thoughts on the recently passed state budget from an environmental standpoint?

JM: From an environmental perspective, the budget is exceptional.

There were major reforms to the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Program and a 10year extension of the tax credits; a $1 billion, 10-year extension for the state Superfund program; an expansion of the DEC’s authority to use the state’s oil spill fund for spill training and preparedness; an increase in oil spill staff and an increase in the fees on petroleum products; creation of a

26

new Habitat Conservation and Access Account, which will leverage federal funds for management, protection and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat; $200 million for a new municipal water and wastewater infrastructure grant program; $5 million to undertake an assessment of nitrogen pollution in Long Island; a $15 million increase in the Environmental Protection Fund; and a $40 million NY Works capital appropriation that will provide the DEC funds to upgrade its facilities.

Q: What are the DEC’s major initiatives in 2015?

JM: The DEC will focus on improving access to public lands; complete a major forest preserve acquisition in the Adirondacks; open a new Catskill Interpretive Center; initiate a pilot aquatic invasive species control program; and roll out several initiatives to improve the management of private forest lands.

Q: What are some of the longer-term environmental goals for New York?

JM: Longer-term goals include reduction in emission of greenhouse gasses, working with the EPA on compliance with the federal Clean Power Plan; working with communities and businesses on reducing solid waste; and making maximum use of renewable resources.

On the 45th Anniversary of Earth Day The Nature Conservancy thanks Governor Cuomo and Legislators

city & state — April 22, 2015

The Must-Read Morning Roundup of New York Politics and Government

for increasing environmental funding and advancing conservation policies to protect New York for future generations.

Our morning email delivers daily exclusives from City & State, as well as a curated summary of the day’s most pertinent headlines, editorials, news tidbits, schedules and milestones from across the political landscape in New York—all before 7 a.m.

Be the first to know. www.cityandstateny.com/subscribe for more information.

cit yandstateny.com

Region 2 Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Q: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to undercut the Obama administration’s efforts to set stricter clean-air standards at the local level. Is that a risk?

JE: I think it’s unlikely to undercut the effort. What we’re talking about is the Clean Power Plan, also known as Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. This is a regulation that the EPA is moving forward with that for the first time ever would require reductions in greenhouse gas pollutions from fossil fuel power plants. It will cover not-yet-built and proposed fossil fuel plants—oil, gas and coal—and also existing fossil fuel power plants. This is one of the most important regulations that the EPA has ever proposed in the area of climate change.

I think a lot of people are surprised that there is not yet national regulation of carbon pollution from fossil fuel power plants. The way we’re doing this is a little different. It’s very flexible and it’s very cognizant of the need to ensure reliability and of potential cost to ratepayers. The way we’re doing it is, if you look at how we regulated pollution that causes acid rain, we came with numbers and said for every large fossil fuel plant you can’t emit X amount of sulfur dioxide or X amount of nitrogen oxide.

This approach is much more flexible. It shifts a lot of the decision-making to the state. We give each state renewable energy goals and energy efficiency goals with the intention of driving down carbon pollution.

We say to each state, you figure out how you get there. So it’s expanded the role for the states. So the question logically becomes, what if a state chooses not to do a plan? Or more likely, if they do a plan that’s inadequate, what happens? What happens is, if a state fails to do a plan or do an effective plan, the EPA is obligated to develop a plan for the state. You can’t just say, I’m going to take a pass on this regulation or do an inadequate plan. If the state doesn’t do it, the EPA will do it. My guess is states would prefer doing their own plan. The plan then comes to the EPA for approval. If there are inadequacies, we will talk to the state and try to make sure that it meets the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Q: Is climate change having any tangible impact in New York right now?

JE: Yes. New York’s climate is already changing.

We’ve got hotter annual temperatures, rising sea cit yandstateny.com

Q: Several coal-fired power plants in New York are being repowered with natural gas. What are the pros and cons of this trend?

JE: If it’s currently burning coal, burning natural gas will likely have less air pollution at the smokestack.

But then you’ve got to look at how you get the natural gas. Is there a whole different set of environmental management concerns with natural gas extraction?

The conversation should not be if you should have backup power or co-powering with coal or gas. The real question is, why aren’t we making a dramatic increase in investments in energy efficiency and renewables? The cheapest power plant is one you don’t have to build. If you get really serious about energy efficiency, not only does that drive down carbon pollution, it also saves utility ratepayers money and it creates scores of new jobs.

Q: The Cuomo administration announced late last year that it would ban hydrofracking in New York. What is the EPA’s current stance on fracking?

JE: We’re working with states and other stakeholders to help ensure that natural gas extraction does not come at the expense of public health and the environment.

By Gavin Donohue It has been 15 years since New York State boldly decided to move electricity generation away from an under-performing vertical monopoly structure. Over that time, competition at the wholesale market level has resulted in sustained outstanding performance by independent power producers and innumerous benefits to New York’s ratepayers. Today, New York’s electricity is generated more efficiently, more cleanly, more reliably, and more affordably than ever before.

At the turn of the 21st century, the average annual wholesale price of electricity (the price of electricity before delivery charges, taxes and fees) was around $56. Whereas that price was just over $58 in 2013. That’s an increase of only 2 percent in 13 years and, when adjusted for inflation, is actually 34 percent lower than it was in 2000!

When compared to the prices of other everyday commodities, like chicken or cable television, which have doubled in the same period, the wholesale price of electricity has remained remarkably constant. Indeed, in recent times the price of electricity has actually been lower than it was when the markets were deregulated. In 2012, the record low average price of wholesale electricity was set at $44.11, an amount that is 22 percent lower than when competitive wholesale markets were first introduced in the state.

Despite the reduction of wholesale prices, electric bills remain high. Up to 70 percent of a typical residential bill is composed of delivery costs, taxes and public policy fees. The actual commodity cost – the electricity used – is only 30 percent of the bill.

Why is the wholesale price of electricity so consistently low?

27

Competition reaps efficiency. Independent power producers know they must compete with each other in the wholesale market to provide needed electricity and therefore constantly strive to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Additionally power plants have reduced their “heat rates” (a measure of fuel efficiency) by 30 percent since 1999; meaning that New York’s independent power producers are using nearly one-third less fuel to efficiently produce the same amount of electricity today as they did 15 years ago. That results in more savings for consumers in 2015.

The list of benefits, which includes significant emissions reductions and increased reliability, goes on. As the State considers further changes to the electric system, it would be prudent to recognize the success of competitive wholesale electricity markets in New York.

Gavin Donohue is President & CEO Independent Power Producers of New York and a member of the New York AREA Advisory Board.

SPECIAL SPONSORED SECTION

New York AREA’s membership includes some of the state’s most vital business, labor and community organizations including the New York State AFL-CIO, Business Council of New York State, Partnership for New York City, New York Building Congress, National Federation of Independent Business and many more.

WWW . A R E A - A L L I A N C E . O R G

city & state — April 22, 2015

JUDITH ENCK

levels and more frequent extreme rain events. In the summertime, the afternoon rainstorms are much more intense than they used to be. A lot more rain comes down in a short period of time, completely overwhelming the sewer system in New York City.

The easiest response is that sea level rise is increasing.

Also, there are health impacts of hotter New York summers, especially for people on fixed incomes who can’t afford air conditioning.

Climate change is not something in the future.

It’s here and now. While I know that there is some skepticism, but not much, actually, among community people, what really drove climate change home for so many New Yorkers was Superstorm Sandy. We can’t say that climate change caused the storm, but what we can say is that the warmer ocean temperature made Sandy much more intense than it would have been.

So 44 people died in New York City due to Sandy, and we’ve got highly vulnerable populations living in coastal areas. Remember how people living in public housing were without electricity for a long time. I remember a media report about the debate on whether or not to evacuate a nursing home in Coney Island and everything that goes along with those hard decisions.

So I am afraid that there are tangible impacts in New York right now due to climate change.

That’s why it’s so urgent as a coastal community that we have an effective national strategy that does two things. One is drive down carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. And then secondly, start building more resilient communities. There are some really modest, common-sense steps we can take on resiliency. Then there are the more profound issues, like where do we build and where do we rebuild and should we be building on flood plains?

Should we building structures over the Hudson River that we know are vulnerable to climate change impacts? Whenever there’s an infrastructure decision to be made, part of the decision-making process has to include the potential impacts of climate change, whether that’s transportation or housing or where water treatment plants are built.

How Wholesale Electricity Markets Benefit NY

SIGN UP FOR

PERSPEC TIVES

GETTING THROUGH ON CLIMATE CHANGE

ROBERT SWEENEY

E

28

city & state — April 22, 2015

The Must-Read Afternoon Roundup of New York Politics and Government Last Read keeps its readers up-to-the minute on all the day’s top stories with an afternoon update that hits inboxes before 5 p.m. The afternoon email highlights newly released reports, crucial in-depth analysis pieces and long-form profiles, as well as calling attention to some of the day’s top tweets from city and state politicians and the reporters who cover them.

Be the first to know. www.cityandstateny.com/subscribe for more information.

very politician who has ever done polling on issues knows where environmentalism stands on the list of priorities: If you ask voters whether environmental issues are important to them, they will overwhelmingly say “yes.” If you ask whether those issues will affect who they vote for, the “yeses” will plummet to the low single digits.

How do we get the public on board with these issues in a more enthusiastic way?

As we celebrate Earth Day in New York this year, the issues debated will be familiar—and that’s because year after year so few are satisfactorily resolved. Environmentalists argue the need for prompt and significant action on a wide range of issues. On virtually every issue, opponents argue that the actions proposed are job-killers that will hurt the economy.

Each side makes its case and the public doesn’t know what to think— they certainly don’t understand the potential impact of all this on their everyday lives.

In almost every case, environmentalists could make a valid argument that the bills they propose would create jobs and benefit the economy. But that discussion rarely takes place.

Let’s take the big kahuna of environmental issues: climate change.

As legislators have debated year after year, with little result, the reality of climate change has impacted both the private and public sectors.

A New York Times article last year (“Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change”) detailed the concerns of the private sector worldwide about the practical impact of climate change on the bottom line, citing Coca-Cola and Nike.

“Coke reflects a growing view among American business leaders and mainstream economists who see global warming as a force that contributes to lower gross domestic products, higher food and commodity costs, broken supply chains and increased financial risk,” the article

stated. “Nike has already reported the impact of climate change on water supplies on its financial risk disclosure forms to the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

In its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, the U.S. Department of Defense noted: “Among the future trends that will impact our national security is climate change.

Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict.”

Neither Coke nor Nike nor the Pentagon is making a political statement here; their actions are a simple recognition of practical reality.

The job for environmentalists is education and communication: help the public understand what the issues are and how they have a personal impact. Not just that power plant emissions from other states pollute our air, but that Uncle Joe’s heart condition may be caused or aggravated by that pollution. Not just that mercury in the environment is a problem, but that up to 600,000 babies are born in this country every year with elevated levels of mercury that can affect their development and IQ, according to U.S. government officials.

This strategy was used by hydrofracking opponents when, after years of debate, the issue of health impacts was introduced into the discussion. Suddenly, it was much more personal, and health concerns appeared to sway more people to oppose hydrofracking, resulting in a ban in New York.

An informed and educated public that believes it has a personal stake in the outcome of these issues will demand meaningful action and elevate the importance of environmental issues to a new position of strength and significance.

Robert Sweeney is a former state assemblyman from Long Island.

cit yandstateny.com

Green enerGy for new york Made in new York

fisonic thermal kinetic turbines

a revolution in green energy technology. fisonic thermal kinetic turbines reclaim coned waste-steam, water and condensate to generate abundant clean electric power.

Easily ConnECts to any DistriCt stEam or BoilEr BasED systEm

Produce no-cost electricitY The Fisonic Thermal Kinetic Turbine generates electric power as part of its heat-exchanging process.

Zero-eMissions Green Power The Thermal Kinetic Turbine is powered entirely by steam and water.

It has no exhaust and doesn’t require a chimney or venting. easY sYsteM inteGration The Thermal Kinetic Turbine easily connects with any boiler or district based steam system. deMand resPonse The Thermal Kinetic Turbine produces continuous electric power that reduces your grid demand-charges.

environMentallY FriendlY The Thermal Kinetic Turbine reclaims waste heat, virtually eliminates wastewater and lowers carbon footprint by helping existing district networks operate more efficiently all year round. sMall, Modular, FootPrint The Thermal Kinetic Turbine is compact making it convenient for installation into existing facilities without disruptive renovation or construction low Maintenance The Thermal Kinetic Turbine has only one moving part and requires minimal maintenance.

Manufactured in new York For more information contact: Robert Kremer, CEO – robert.kremer@@fisonicsolutions.com Kevin Rofheart, Director of Marketing – kevin.rofheart@fisonicsolutions.com 100% Made In the USA • Veteran Owned Company • CCR/SAM Certified Vendor Fisonic is a Con Edison Commercial and Industrial Energy Efficiency Market Partner

The Woolworth Building 233 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10007 Office: 800-606-0629 x105 www.fisonicsolutions.com

WATER KEEPER R

30

obert F. Kennedy Jr. was born into one of

bottom. That’s why we had the federal statutes in the first place, after Earth Day 1970. Prior to Earth Day, there was horrible pollution. The problem is it was being left to the states. The only reason it got cleaned up is because we switched that to give that power to the federal government.

America’s most famous families, but he has made a name for himself as one of the country’s leading environmental lawyers and advocates.

Kennedy, who teaches environmental law at Pace University, chairs the board of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a coalition of environmental organizations that combat pollution.

He is also lead attorney for Hudson Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council, spearheading efforts to clean up the Hudson River and Long Island Sound.

Kennedy spoke with City & State Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz about New York’s fracking ban, the court case against the EPA’s power plant rules and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s opposition to the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

C&S: How effective has the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (in which New York participates) been? Is cap-and-trade the future?

RFK: It’s hard to tell where we’re going to go. I actually like cap-andtrade for carbon, because it uses the power of the market to incentivize and give industry the opportunity to actually make money by doing something good for society. That’s how the market is supposed to work. Now, the free market is the most powerful economic engine ever devised. But it has to be harnessed to a social purpose or it will just drag us down the road of corporate kleptocracy and environmental destruction. So you have to organize market rules so people can make money by doing good things for society, rather than forcing people to make money by doing bad things to the rest of us, which is how the energy market now is arranged.

The following is an edited transcript.

city & state — April 22, 2015

City & State: The biggest environmental news in New York in recent months has been the Cuomo administration’s decision to ban hydrofracking. Were you surprised?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: I was surprised because the oil and gas industry have been able to exert such power that it’s unusual for a politician to have the gumption to stand up to them.

C&S: How significant is it that New York is banning fracking?

RFK: I think it’s very significant. It’s a substantial milestone. As Governor Cuomo said from the beginning, if he found fracking was going to damage public health, he wasn’t going to go forward. And he’s the first governor to put public health first. Cuomo said no, we’ll do the health studies first. And when the health study came in, the financial cost of fracking and the cost to the health of the people of the state exceeded the financial benefits. That is a milestone, not only for this country but across the globe. People are going to be talking about that decision.

A Q&A WITH

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. C&S: Thousands and thousands of New Yorkers raised concerns about fracking. What role did that play?

RFK: They played a huge role.

Politicians can’t act in that vacuum, even when they know a decision is right. If you don’t organize politically, the correctness and reasonableness of an administration will not drive it through the political process.

C&S: On the national level, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s stricter clean-air standards for power

plants. How do you expect that case to play out?

RFK: I posit that the court will uphold the federal government’s power to regulate carbon, ozone and particulates and other pollutants from power plants. It’s clear from the statutory language and from precedent that the president has that power. Just rationally, the president has to have that power because nobody else can do that. The states certainly won’t regulate them. It’s too easy for the industry to dominate the state political process and get the states to compete against each other in a race to the

C&S: In 2001, you and Andrew Cuomo attended a rally to call for the closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Did you have any role in informing his point of view on that issue?

RFK: Andrew makes his own decisions about policy. I think he’s keeping his word on Indian Point. The DEC, his state agency, has made it very clear that they do not want to renew the permits at Indian Point and they’ve been acting very aggressively to ensure there is substitute power when we do close Indian Point down.

To read the full interview, including Kennedy’s take on the most pressing environmental issues facing New York, go to cityandstateny.com.

cit yandstateny.com

CALLING ALL NEW YORKERS

LET’S MAKE SURE OUR KIDS AREN’T BEING EXPOSED TO POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS!

TELL ALBANY TO PASS THE CHILD SAFE PRODUCTS ACT.

SIGN THE PETITION AT WWW.FIGHTTOXINS.COM

Albany: Stand Up for Workers and Protect the Scaffold Safety Law

COALITION

NORTHEASTERN ON OCCUPATIONAL NY COALITION SAFETY & HEALTH

For further information on what they’re saying, straight facts and the 12 things you need to know about the scaffold safety law, please visit:

w w w. S c a f f o l d S a f e t y L a w. c o m