Governor\nCuomo made a startling prediction last week. \nIn an interview on WAMC, the governor said he did not \u201csee anything\nspecific for the rest of the session\u201d related to legislation to fight climate\nchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why the governor would say that can only be\nanswered by one person. It may well be\nthat he feels like enough has been done by the state on climate, which it\nhasn\u2019t. Or that there was no need for\nspecific legislation since the Administration is advancing policies on various\nfronts that would achieve a similar goal. \nOr perhaps it\u2019s something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a striking reversal for the\ngovernor. Just a few months earlier, the\ngovernor \u2013 as part of his proposed budget \u2013 called for the creation of a \u201cGreen\nNew Deal\u201d that would have mandated that New York’s electricity be powered by 100\npercent carbon-free sources by the year 2040. \nUnder the governor\u2019s proposal \u2013 issued with great fanfare \u2013 the state\nwould mandate a significant increase in the amount of electricity powered by\nrenewable sources: moving from the current goal of 50 percent to 70 percent\nrenewable electricity by 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when the budget deal-making dust had\nsettled, the governor\u2019s Green New Deal was left out. So, now that the ink is dry on the budget is\nthe governor throwing in the towel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, the Legislature seems committed\nto taking comprehensive action. For several years, the New York State Assembly\nhas passed a bill known as the Climate and Community Protection Act, which\nwould put into law a goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. With the\nnew majority in the State Senate, this legislation has potential to pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we wait to see if New York will act, in\nthe face of the Trump administration\u2019s hostility to acting on the climate\ncrisis the rest of the nation is moving ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, New Mexico targeted to have its\nelectricity production 100 percent non-fossil fuel by 2045. The Maryland legislature recently passed a\nbill targeting 50 percent renewable power by 2030 and looking into the\nviability of 100 percent by 2040. The\nstate of Washington is acting. Illinois\nmight pass a 100 percent target soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state of California and Hawaii already\nhave acted, adding to the more than 100 U.S. cities that have acted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not all of these plans are perfect, but they\nshow a real commitment to moving from the rhetoric<\/em>\nof promising action to combat the looming climate catastrophe to actual,\nlegally-binding, actions<\/em> that do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compared to the inaction \u2013 or the awful\nactions \u2013 of the national government, promises are<\/em> better. But unless the\nworld acts<\/em>, the devastation resulting\nfrom global warming will ruin the lives of billions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If New York State acted alone<\/em> to aggressively move away from reliance on fossil fuels, it\nwould be impactful. If New York State\nwere an independent nation, it would rank as the 12th or 13th largest economy\nin the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But combined with the actions already taken \u2013\nor soon to be taken \u2013 by states (including California) across the nation, action\nby New York would send a powerful signal: that the nation is moving away from\nfossil fuel power despite the inactions of the Trump Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New York State\u2019s action would be\nconsequential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the world\u2019s climate science\nexperts, actions are needed. In the Fall\nof 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) \u2013 an organization\nthat includes the world\u2019s climate experts \u2013 sounded the alarm bell that governments\naround the world must take “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes\nin all aspects of society” to avoid disastrous levels of global warming. There needs to be a worldwide mobilization to\nreverse greenhouse gas emissions in order avoid this global catastrophe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why the governor\u2019s comments last week\nwere so puzzling. The Cuomo\nAdministration has taken bold actions in the past, most notably when it decided\nto follow the recommendations of the world\u2019s climate experts and keep the\nfossil fuel available through hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) in the\nground. That was an important decision,\nand the Administration has taken additional steps to expand state supports for\nsolar and wind power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, we\u2019re left with the governor\u2019s perplexing\nprediction. If the governor doesn\u2019t\nlead, the Legislature must. There is no\ntime to waste. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Governor Cuomo made a startling prediction last week. In an interview on WAMC, the governor said he did not \u201csee anything specific for the rest of the session\u201d related to legislation to fight climate change. Why the governor would say that can only be answered by one person. It may well be that he feels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2232,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231\/revisions\/2232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}