(uplifting music) (dramatic music) - [Announcer] Today, the Senate majority will cancel legislation.

- [Lawmaker] I will fight like hell for you every single day.

Like I've always done and always will.

(dramatic music continues) (announcers clamoring) - Welcome to this week's edition of "New York Now."

I'm Elise Kline.

Addressing climate change through legislation is an effort many state lawmakers have long carried.

This effort was spearheaded in 2019 when lawmakers passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, also known as the CLCPA, which set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Since then, legislators in Albany have introduced additional policies such as the Climate Superfund Act to help with the implementation of the CLCPA by addressing industry polluters directly.

Policies like the Climate Superfund Act put part of the cost to build renewable energy infrastructure on industry polluters or fossil fuel companies.

Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas used by industry polluters are the largest contributors to global warming accounting for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions according to the United Nations.

We sat down with assembly member Anna Kelles to talk about policies like the Climate Superfund Act and how the threat of climate change fits into policymaking in Albany.

Let's take a look at that conversation.

(exciting music) Thank you so much for joining us today, Assembly Member, climate change is a big issue with many moving parts.

Can you start by telling me what is the threat of climate change and how can policy here in New York address it?

- Yeah, well, the threat of climate change is far and wide.

Of course, we've seen massive destabilization of our weather patterns, so significant increases in flooding, alternating with significant increases, prevalence of wildfires, temperature fluctuations.

I think that, you know, in general, people now understand that climate change is not about the world getting warmer progressively.

It is about the erratic destabilization of our weather patterns and climate systems, and that is what we are in fact seeing getting worse and worse.

So extreme temperatures progressively, you know, in this area, less snow.

The consequences of long-term consequences are changing changes in ecosystem.

So, you know, the plants and animals that, for example in New York, that this has been their ecosystem, that's starting to transition.

The types of trees that we have over time will start to transition.

You know, what animal species can thrive in this area.

So there's the effect on the ecosystem.

We see things significant increases in harmful algal blooms making water less and less safe to swim in for humans and their animals.

You know, we see, of course as I said, the flooding that is affecting the stability of homes.

You know, there's so many ways that it affects us, you know, destabilization of our electric grid system due to temperature fluctuations.

We could go on and on and on looking at every single system that we totally depend on, including our health and mental health that have been significantly impacted, chronic health from children up through aging populations, affecting things like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory issues.

All of these are affected by climate change getting worse.

- And are there any misconceptions, you know, in the time that you've been working in legislature about climate change and how to address it?

- Yeah, you know, I mean, I think that it's starting to feel like willful ignorance at this point because, you know, the scientific community has been, you know, almost complete uniform acceptance that climate change is existing and that it is very severe.

The intergovernmental panel on climate change from the United Nations has been doing regular reports, highlighting not only that we are getting close to a global average temperature increase of the 1.5 degrees Celsius, and, you know, rapidly moving in the direction of potential of getting to that 2.0 degrees Celsius global increase.

And that when we hit those points, we will see significant risk of runaway climate change as systems destabilize.

So, you know, we're seeing that in the scientific community, and you'll still hear people clinging to saying, well, it snowed today.

So I don't know what people are saying, that that climate change is real.

I don't know what people saying that climate change exists.

I saw snow, you know, so obviously it's cold enough.

It is getting to the point where it feels like willful ignorance when you see massive increases in flooding in areas where we have not expected it in the past.

You know, when you hear from farmers that are having a harder and harder time, you know, growing because of having years of just, you know, unprecedented levels of rainfall in the northeast when they're, you know, supposed to be planting and they have to delay their plantings or later on in the year where you see just in incredibly high temperature levels and droughts that affect the plant growth at the other end of the growing season.

So, you know, in many areas you see universal recognition, but with respect to how to address it and the pace at which we need to address it, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that we passed in 2019 in New York State got it right.

It does align with the pace that we need in fact, if you look at the science, it doesn't go fast enough, but it is what is realistic and it's still the most aggressive climate law in the country.

But if we don't continue with this pace, the consequences that we will have to pay for are even worse.

There have been estimates of how much it is costing the state and the country to respond to the increasing wildfires and droughts and floods and temperature extremes in all aspects of our systems.

And there are millions and millions of dollars just in the state alone every single year, let alone billions of dollars every year at the federal level.

So we're going to pay for it one way or another.

It would be wonderful if we could pay for it by mitigating it in the first place rather than spending an unreasonable amount of money destabilizing our economy, responding to the consequences of inaction.

- And how does this issue get legislated here in Albany?

I know you mentioned the CLCPA.

How has this worked, you know, since the time you've been here, and what are the challenges or pushback from other lawmakers?

- Well, you know, again, you're getting into the conversation of how and how fast and getting into those weeds.

You know, there are conversations of what we should prioritize and what pieces of legislation should look like.

So I'll give you an example.

I have a piece of legislation that outlines what I believe is the ideal structure for the Cap-And-Invest program that we do need to implement.

It was in last year's budget, A draft pre-proposal was released by the executive earlier this year.

And I found it very concerning because it puts an inordinate disproportionate emphasis on building out a secondary market, making it a cap and trade, allowing large entities to buy up to 25% of any given auction of allowances to prioritize selling those on the secondary market.

It gives a lot of leeway for buying additional allowances off the top, if you know there was a mis-estimation by a company.

It gives a tremendous amount of leeway for energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries without really giving any guardrails to encourage them to transition to renewable energy infrastructure along with everyone else.

So there are some real concerns with it, but the CLCPA scoping plan that outlines the roadmap for how we will achieve the CLCPA really requires that we do create a Cap-And-Invest.

Because what it does is it says, those who are producing the most amount of greenhouse gas emissions should pay for the ability to continue to pollute our air and our atmosphere, and the money that is received from that can counter the very negative impacts of their production of greenhouse gas emissions.

We also passed in the legislature, the climate super fund, which has not yet been signed by the governor, but my hope of course is that she will sign that, and that is to put a fee or fine on polluters who have been polluting, significant polluters over the last 50, 75 years, holding them accountable for past greenhouse gas emissions.

So where Cap-And-Invest is future emissions, the Climate Superfund is related to past emissions.

Those funds are absolutely critical to be able to build the infrastructure as a state, to mitigate climate change, to build out our renewable energy infrastructure, to build up our transmission lines, to prioritize transitioning peaker plants or the most fossil fuel heavy inefficient power plants in the state, transitioning those to renewable energy infrastructure in the disadvantaged communities that experience climate change the most compared to most other communities in the state.

There's also arguments about, you know, which manufacturing industries that we court as a state.

You know, we know that data centers, you know, that, that are exclusively for AI and not focused on AI that create environmental efficiencies because there are AI systems that will and do, and then of course cryptocurrency mining facilities that use phenomenal amounts of energy.

So while we are trying to create efficiencies in our system, we have these industries that are increasing our energy demand at the same time sending us in the wrong direction.

So we have to be smart also about which industries we are courting in this, you know, to come into the state as physical industries.

Because if you look at, for example, the cryptocurrency mining, and this is of course not cryptocurrency I'm referring to, but specifically the mining facilities.

They don't produce a lot of jobs.

Most of them are owned by out-of-state companies.

They use phenomenal amounts of energy, significantly sending us in the wrong direction with respect to our energy efficiency as a state.

And they currently have, you know, contracts where they pay prices for that energy, in some cases, a 10th of what you and I pay, not paying their fair share for the energy they're even using.

So there are a lot of nuanced ways in which, you know, we really do need to get on the same page.

- Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us, Assembly Member.

That is unfortunately all the time we have for today.

We were speaking with assembly member Anna Kelles.

(exciting music) And for more information and resources on the Climate Superfund Act, you can visit our website that's at NYNOW.ORG.

Now we're going to dive into the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

Since the law was passed a few years ago, the state has been lagging in its progress towards its emission reduction goals.

Some climate experts worry if the state doesn't get back on track, there is no way they will be able to achieve their set goals on time.

In this next segment, we look at what the state has achieved so far and why they're behind.

(exciting music) - [Elise] At a time when states across the nation face the impacts of climate change, New York is trying to reach several environmental goals they set for themselves back in 2019 to dramatically decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, also called the Climate Act or the CLCPA, which passed in Albany in 2019, established goals to achieve zero-emission electricity by 2040 and reduce emissions by 85% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Leading up to these big goals, the state also sets smaller goals, such as achieving 70% renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 1990 levels by 2030.

Jeff Friedman, a research faculty member at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at Suny Albany says the state's goals are part of the solution to combating climate change.

- I think they're laudable.

I think this is the way to go.

I think New York has always been a leader in this, and I'm happy to see this and I think, you know, I'm confident that we'll be able to meet these goals.

- [Elise] To achieve the goal set forth by the 2019 state law, the Climate Act created a Climate Action Council.

The Climate Action Council is made up of climate experts, state agency representatives, and climate advocates.

The 22 members were appointed by the governor and legislative leaders from the Assembly and the Senate.

Robert Howarth, the Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology at Cornell University, was appointed as a climate action council member by the assembly speaker.

He says the climate goals are aggressive but achievable.

- The the goals are required, really, the entire world has to move at least that quickly to decarbonize if we are to reduce the risk of runaway catastrophic global warming.

- [Elise] In December of 2021, the council drafted a scoping plan that outlines recommended policies and actions.

The 445-page scoping plan was finalized a year later after holding 11 public hearings throughout the state.

Doreen Harris, Co-chair of the Climate Action Council says the scoping plan is a roadmap.

- In many ways, that scoping plan provided us with a framework to execute against and certainly that's what we've been doing as a state.

- [Elise] The scoping plan is widely supported by climate experts and advocates.

However, some advocates with the Environmental Justice Alliance say there are some things within the plan they do not support, such as allowing the consideration of a low carbon fuel standard and calling it a false solution to clean air.

The scoping plan's recommendations include regulations and programs to help the state achieve its emission reduction goals.

The council is required to prepare and vote on a scoping plan every five years.

They're also responsible for assembling advisory panels, one state program within the plan called Cap-and-Invest, and tends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by putting an annual cap on the level of greenhouse gas pollution.

John Binder, Deputy Commissioner for Climate Change, Air Resources and Energy at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says the program will provide a regulatory mechanism to ensure and enforce emission reduction.

- There's a legal, regulatory, enforceable emissions cap that goes down every year, and so we will be having that cap go down on a trajectory that gets us towards that 40% by 2030 emission reduction requirement, and the 85% by 2050 emission reduction requirement.

- [Elise] Binder says the invest side of the program is also key to helping the state reduce emissions.

- We auction what are called emission allowances.

And emission allowances are essentially an approval to emit one ton of emissions.

So of a source that is subject to this program has, emits over the course of a year 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, they also will have to obtain 100,000 of these emission allowances.

- [Elise] Binder adds, the emission allowances could generate billions of dollars for the state.

- And we can invest those proceeds in things to make sure that the program is implemented in an affordable manner so that we're not creating a burden on energy costs for consumers.

But at the same time, we can also invest in things that help to further transition the economy to a clean energy economy.

- [Elise] The Cap-And-Invest program is one of many ways the state is trying to reach their goals.

Another method is offshore wind turbines.

As part of the state's goal to establish a zero-emission electricity system, there is a set goal to generate 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2035.

- Offshore wind is one of these game-changing technologies for New York state.

It has first of all, the benefit of a massive ability to inject renewables into the New York City and Long Island region where we have trouble citing other types of renewable energy and its scale creates real opportunities to get after the decarbonization of our grid.

- [Elise] Rory Christian, Chair of the Public Service Commission agrees, saying offshore wind is a significant part of their progress.

- Offshore wind can provide us with a significant amount of emissions-free resources to offset much of the combustion used for electric generation today.

So I see it as a very critical aspect of our overall program.

- [Elise] Harris says, NYSERDA continues to build the offshore wind pipeline through their offshore wind program.

She highlighted one complete project in South Fork and two under construction, expected to be operational by 2026.

Another method for the state to achieve its mission reduction goals is targeting the transportation and building sectors and moving them away from greenhouse gases.

Harris says this process in particular is a big undertaking.

- Buildings and transportation are actually the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in our state.

And they're in some ways the most challenging to decarbonize because of the fact that we have 7 million households across our state.

And fundamentally, there needs to be action in each one of those households to achieve these goals.

- [Elise] Harris says the good news is that there are readily available technologies like electric vehicles.

- In the last two years alone, electric vehicle sales have increased by over 400% in New York state, well over 10% of sales as we speak.

So that's a real inflection point that consumers are adopting these technologies ever more so.

- [Elise] While the state is making progress towards reaching its goals, many advocates and experts argue they are falling behind.

While the state has met deadlines like establishing the scoping plan, it has missed several other deadlines to implement programs and regulations within that plan.

- In the scoping plan in December 2022, we said that the Cap-And-Invest should be fully implemented by the end of 2023.

Well, you know, we're almost two years later and they're still taking public input and discussing and debating and I think that's extremely disappointing.

- [Elise] But Howarth says, the biggest disappointment is the lack of progress to transition the state's building sector to renewable energy.

- If we want to reach that 2030 goal of reducing statewide emissions by 40%, we have got to do that for the building sector or else there's no way.

- [Elise] Advocates and climate experts aren't the only ones who are frustrated.

Some Republican lawmakers say from day one, there has been a lack of proper planning.

- A goal is not a plan, and they've lacked a plan since day one with the CLCPA, which is exactly why they're not going to achieve any of these goals.

- [Elise] Some legislative leaders agree, saying it is simply impossible.

- I don't see ny way to say that this is achievable.

So I mean, I think the science and anyone that looks at this rationally would say the same thing.

- [Elise] Some democratic members disagree.

State Senator Pete Harckham says the Climate Act's goals are ambitious but achievable.

He also stresses the importance of curbing greenhouse gas pollution as soon as possible.

The Department of Environmental Conservation says they are working hard to implement programs and regulations, but the public input process is taking longer than expected.

- In my couple of decades here at the agency, just about, I've never seen this kind of intensive stakeholder outreach process for a regulatory program, and that's a good thing.

- [Elise] Other state agencies say several other challenges have delayed their progress, especially when it came to large new construction projects, including the pandemic, inflation, supply chain constraints and interest rate challenges.

- These are once in a generational events individually, but collectively there are paradigm shifts.

So we have to look at the plans that we've made many years ago, understand how the reality of events today have affected those plans and make adjustments accordingly.

- [Elise] Christian adds, the agencies are working well together and they're moving ahead with speed to make up for lost time.

Some environmental justice advocates argue while agencies are doing what they can, the governor's office has failed.

Eunice Ko, Deputy Director at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance says state agencies need strong leadership to help shift the state to renewable energy.

- On the executive side, we've seen a lack of urgency and leadership coming from Governor Hochul.

- [Elise] Paul D. Michel, a communications representative from the governor's office responded, saying, Governor Hochul has implemented some of the nation's strongest actions on climate, highlighting budgetary and policy measures to accelerate the pace of clean energy development.

The governor also recently spoke at the State's annual Clean Energy Summit, which outlined the next steps to support the state's progress towards its emission reduction climate goals.

- So we have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders.

If you didn't feel it, I just put it on yours.

It's heavy.

It's heavy, but we'll not fail the future.

Failure's not an option.

This is New York, we can figure this out.

- [Elise] The next steps outlined during the summit included advancing the state's agency actions towards supporting a zero-emissions electricity system and soliciting industry feedback on advanced nuclear technologies.

Greg Lancette, President of the New York State Pipe Trades Association, who attended the Climate Summit says nuclear technologies could be a good solution for alternative energy that could help the state catch up on its climate progress.

- The new technology with the nuclear reactors, they're much smaller footprints of the traditional reactors that were built into fifties, sixties, and seventies.

So it's a small compact solution that provides ample amounts of electricity and a very high reliability.

- [Elise] But some climate experts have reservations.

- In the scoping plan, we debated nuclear power and we really didn't see much of a role for new nuclear power because it's expensive and slow to deploy, and we can meet the goals more cheaply and more quickly with wind, solar, hydro, and appropriate storage.

- [Elise] While state agencies and state leaders discussed the option of nuclear power, some state lawmakers have a different solution to meet the climate goals, extend the deadline.

Republican lawmakers in the Senate recently introduced a package of bills related to the state's climate goals.

One bill would delay the Climate Act's mandates by 10 years.

- I think the message is certainly from our conference and from our colleagues, Republicans in the Senate has been very clear that we need to re-look at this, readdress it and maybe slow down a bit and again, bring reality back into the situation.

- [Elise] With a democratic-led legislature.

It's unclear if these bills will move forward without some level of support from democratic lawmakers.

And some democratic lawmakers say, while the government can extend a deadline, mother nature will not.

Ko says the Environmental Justice Alliance plans to continue to push state leaders and lawmakers to comply with the Climate Act through organizing and public hearings, letter campaigns and rallies.

And while legislators await upcoming legislative session to hammer out policies around this issue, some climate experts say New Yorkers don't have to solely rely on the government to decide how and when to protect the environment.

- You can't just say, oh, you know, this politician is worried sufficiently for me, so I'm not gonna worry about it.

That doesn't work.

It doesn't work that way.

It's communities that really make these things work.

And I think as a community, we need to have that kind of concern.

- Friedman says, there are a lot of ways individuals can reduce their carbon footprint from purchasing an electric vehicle and using more energy efficient appliances, to simply using less plastic.

The plastics industry is currently responsible for four times more greenhouse gas emissions than the airline industry.

So while reducing plastic pollution may seem minimal on an individual scale, it can still make a difference.

Elise Kline, "New York Now."

(exciting music) And for more information on climate policies in Albany, you can visit our website again, that's at NYNOW.ORG.

While that does it for this week's edition of "New York Now," thank you for tuning in and see you next week.

(exciting music continues) - [Narrator] Funding for "New York Now" is provided by WNET.