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The Hudson Valley is set to have a public hearing for New York state’s draft plan to all but eliminate carbon emissions in the coming decades to combat the climate crisis.
On May 12, the state Climate Action Council will have a hearing at Peekskill’s Paramount Hudson Valley Theater to discuss its 300-plus-page Draft scoping Plan, according to Haley Viccaro, a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, on Thursday. The theater can accommodate more than 1,000 people.
The plan targets New York to become carbon-neutral in 2050 by following the goals set out in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. It is the nation’s most ambitious law addressing climate change.
After much outcry over not having events in Hudson Valley, the announcement was made. However, the Hudson Valley has the highest concentration of communities identified as disadvantaged and would be eligible for the benefits of the ambitious plan. Advocates were concerned about the distance residents would have to travel to hear the hearings in Albany and Bronx.
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State officials also announced Wednesday a May 4 hearing at Peekskill, but local advocates feared that supporters would not be able to attend due to insufficient time.
Viccaro stated that the May 12th date is “perfect” because it gives more notice. However, it is still within our comment period. This refers to a public comment period that ended June 10.
More than 500 local elected officials, residents, and nonprofits signed a petition to the Climate Action Council’s 22-member co-chairs in March calling for a Hudson Valley hearing. first reported.
Local advocates pointed out that 45% of census tracts within the mid-Hudson area were considered disadvantaged communities according to the state’s Climate Justice Working Group. They wrote that this was the same as New York City.
Jen Metzger, a senior policy advisor to the advocacy group New Yorkers for Clean Power and a former Hudson Valley state senator who co-sponsored the 2019 climate law, pointed to the percentage of disadvantaged communities in the region, as well as the rural nature of the Hudson Valley.
“It’s going to affect communities all up and down the Hudson,” she said. “Our farms are at the forefront of climate change, experiencing direct impacts. We have a lot on our hands.”
The plan seeks to reduce carbon emissions by at least 85% from 1990 levels by 2050. This is according to the 2019 climate law. Carbon sequestration, such forestation, would offset the remaining emissions.
The 2019 climate law stipulates that the state must meet certain benchmarks in order to achieve the decades-long objectives. These include:
- By 2025, there will be 6,000 megawatts distributed solar energy and 185 trillion British thermal unit on-site energy savings.
- 70% of renewable energy storage will be available by 2030, including 3,000 megawatts and a 40% reduction on emissions.
- By 2035, there will have been 9,000 megawatts of offshore winds;
- By 2040, 100% of electricity will be zero-emissions.
It is expected to be expensive. The draft scoping plan includes three scenarios. It is expected to cost upwards of $290 billion.
However, the plan states that it will benefit the state from $90 to $120billion and could create 10 jobs for each job lost. Inaction could cost $90 trillion.
It indicates the scenario for strategically using low-carbon fuel — such as bioenergy — would cost the most, $310 billion, and have the least net benefit. Meanwhile, the plan’s $290 billion option for an accelerated transition from fossil fuel combustion would have the largest net benefit.
The 2019 climate law makes it clear that the transition will ensure equity goals for low-income communities as well as communities of color considered disadvantaged. In doing so, at least 35%, with a goal of 40%, of benefits of spending from the plan must go to these communities.
Metzger said that this can lead to job creation in the Hudson Valley and sequestration and reduction of remaining emissions.
But it also has public health implications with reduced fossil fuel combustion in communities such as Newburgh, which has one of the highest asthma rates in New York and emergency room visits that more than double the state average, according to state health Data.
Raya Salter, a New Rochelle-based environmental attorney who sits on the Climate Action Council, also joined in pushing for a Hudson Valley hearing, but she worried about the population center of Westchester in the county’s south that won’t have a hearing.
The council’s first hearing for the draft plan was April 5 at Bronx Community College — still a schlep for lower Westchester residents in communities in Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, cities that have census tracts identified as disadvantage communities.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Salter said of the Peekskill hearing. “But we’ve got a big population in southern Westchester.”
The public comment period on the draft plan closes June 10. The Climate Action Council will meet to finalize its plan by the end of the year.
For more information, please visit https://climate.ny.gov/CAC-Meetings-and-Materials. Here are the remaining hearings
- Brooklyn: New York City College of Technology, The Theater at City Tech, Tuesday, May 3, 4 p.m.
- Virtual: https://nyserdany.webex.com/nyserdany/onstage/g.php?MTID=e3f037513c7ab055c46f1253fb908265e, Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m.
- Tupper Lake: The Wild Center, Tuesday, May 10, 4 p.m.
- Virtual: https://nyserdany.webex.com/nyserdany/onstage/g.php?MTID=eecfcf639bf8b5c07f1740e976f494fba, Wednesday, May 11, 4 p.m.
- Peekskill: Paramount Hudson Valley Theater, Thursday, May 12, 4 p.m.
Eduardo Cuevas covers diversity, equity and inclusion in Westchester and Rockland counties. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @eduardomcuevas.
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