Planning is an important component of success in life. The same is true for government. Developing a plan that relies on broad input, is based on the most recent science and best practices, and recommends specific actions is the hallmark of high functioning government.
New York often follows that blueprint when it comes to planning, but too frequently falls short when it comes to acting on its own plans.
Attacking the problem of the worsening climate is one example. The planet is heating up and 2024 was the world’s hottest year in recorded history. The world’s climate scientists have agreed that “Human activities, principally through emissions of greenhouse gases, have unequivocally caused global warming” and that “limiting human-caused global warming requires net zero CO2 emissions.”
The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (“Climate Law”) was approved six years ago and was designed to set the state on a path toward “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this Century. The “net zero” goal is consistent with the standard set by the world’s climate scientists – who have warned that in order to avoid the worst consequences of global heating, all nations need to adhere to the net zero goal.
New York’s Climate Law set interim goals designed to guide policymakers as benchmark steps to meet the targets advised by the world’s climate experts. Those interim goals commit the state to generate 70 percent of its electricity from renewable power sources and achieve a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – just five years from now.
After the Climate Law was passed the state convened a panel of “stakeholders” to develop a detailed blueprint to meet the law’s milestone goals. That blueprint was released at the end of 2022. Yet, once the fanfare of signing the bill passed and the rollout of the blueprint was over, little was done to meet the challenges set in the Climate Law.
Since so little was accomplished, the oil industry, its allies, and other opponents have pounced and argued that the Law needs to be rolled back. They contend the Climate Law not only increased energy costs, but also has goals that are too ambitious.
Both of these arguments are not backed up by the facts. The European Union recently reported that it will have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% by the year 2030. That goal was set as a midpoint measure to meet the science-based goal of virtually eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. If the EU can do it, we in the United States can, too.
New York’s residential electricity rates are high, however, relative to the nation’s. But that has been true for years. For example in 2018 – the year before the state climate law was signed – New York’s residential electricity rates were ranked the seventh-highest in the nation. Now they are ranked eighth highest. Still high to be sure, but the impact of the Climate Law’s passage didn’t make a meaningful difference.
Unfortunately, as a result of the oil industry’s expensive propaganda campaign, the Hochul Administration is in retreat on the state’s climate-fighting initiatives.
Another example of the failure to aggressively implement its own blueprint is New York’s mounting garbage crisis. Two years ago this week, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued its “New York State Solid Waste Management Plan” to tackle that emerging problem. Among its recommendations, the DEC argued that the state should reduce or recycle its solid wastes at the rate of 85 percent and do so by embracing a “circular economy” approach, one that relies on ensuring that the producer of the waste is responsible for it – not the taxpayers. The plan urged action to, among other things, expand the state’s bottle deposit law and reduce packaging wastes.
Right now, the number one place that residential trash goes to is a landfill; number two is export for disposal; number three is burning; and the last is to be recycled. There is no evidence that the problem is getting better. In fact, the state’s residential recycling rate has been dropping over the past decade.
The state’s capacity to tackle this problem is dwindling. According to the DEC, “New York’s 25 municipal solid waste landfills have a combined landfill capacity of between 16 and 25 years.” If the state’s landfills are filled to capacity in a decade or so, what will happen?
Instead of implementing an aggressive “producer responsibility” program as recommended in its own plan, the Administration is instead working on allowing the existing landfills to expand. For example, it was recently announced that the Administration is considering an expansion of the Seneca Falls landfill.
But as their own solid waste management plan has made clear, landfilling is not the most important solution, reducing the amount of waste, maximizing reuse and recycling, and then disposing of the rest should be the order of priority.
Good planning is essential. But we expect government to follow through in tackling the tough issues, not kicking the can down the road and moving the goal posts. As lawmakers return next month and the governor unveils her budget plan, following New York’s plans to address both the climate and trash crises should be at the top of the agenda.