Last week, Governor Cuomo made a push for environmental initiatives contained in his budget plan.\u00a0 The governor advanced what he described as an \u201chistoric $33 billion, five-year commitment to fight climate change.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The governor urged support for measures: to ban single-use\nstyrofoam food containers and packing materials; to earmark $300 million for\nthe state\u2019s Environmental Protection Fund; to add $500 million to improve drinking\nwater infrastructure; and to permanently ban hydrofracking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the centerpiece of his environmental package was his\nplan to create a $3 billion environmental bond act that \u201cwill fund critical\nenvironmental restoration projects in every corner of the state to ensure New\nYork is able to withstand the threat of more intense and frequent storms fueled\nby climate change.\u201d He dubbed this part\nof the plan, the \u201cRestore Mother Earth\u201d bond act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the need for billions to address the costs of climate\nchange, the governor\u2019s right. New York \u2013\nlike the rest of the planet \u2013 will have to spend billions to mitigate the\nenormous damage caused by climate change. \nA \u201cRestore Mother Earth\u201d bond act offers a down payment for the costs\nthat New York will undoubtedly have to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question is, who<\/em>\nshould pay back the costs of the bond act borrowing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor\u2019s plan proposes that the general public pay the\nback the costs of borrowing the bond monies; for most bond acts, the public\nusually pays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A bond act is a way for the state to borrow a large amount\nof money to meet pressing needs. The\nborrowed money should be used for projects that are expected to last at least\nthe lifetime of the borrowing \u2013 usually 30 years. Thus, spending makes sense for state projects\nthat would protect drinking and fresh water supplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Usually, bond acts are paid back through general revenues \u2013\nwe all pay them back. But not\nalways. In the Environmental Bond Act of\n1986, for example, which was designed to finance the clean-up of hazardous\nwaste sites, the bond monies raised were to be offset by the state charging\npolluters responsible for the messes. \nThat formulation was so successful that the 1986 Bond Act was\noverwhelmingly approved by voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a formulation that makes sense now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Governor Andrew Cuomo\u2019s proposed bond act is \u2013 as he has\nstated \u2013 to finance projects to help the state \u201cwithstand the threat of more\nintense and frequent storms fueled by climate change.\u201d But who\u2019s responsible for climate change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The responsible parties for the climate crisis are the oil,\ngas and coal industries. It is those\nindustries that should pay the borrowing back. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was those industries that knew for decades the dangers of\nglobal warming from the burning of fossil fuels. It was those industries that spent money \u2013 on\nlobbyists, public relations and campaign contributions \u2013 on a disinformation\ncampaign to combat measures to curb greenhouses gas emissions that form the\n\u201cblanket\u201d contributing to the heating up of the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The oil, coal and gas industries should pay for the costs\nresulting from their actions, not the general public. If your neighbor dumped poison on your lawn\nand it had to be cleaned up, should you pay or the neighbor? The neighbor<\/em>\nshould.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While that is a hypothetical scenario, effectively that\u2019s\nwhat happened with climate change. The\nfossil fuel industries used their political know-how to undermine the science\u2014including\ntheir<\/em> science\u2014that warned the public\nabout climate change and used their deep-pockets to block policy reforms\ndesigned to protect the public and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But like that fictional neighbor, it is their fault. They<\/em>\nmade the mess, they<\/em> should clean it\nup. A responsibility lesson that every\nchild learns, they\u2019ve been able to dodge through political muscle and their fat\ncheckbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Governor Cuomo and state lawmakers should ensure that the\noil, gas, and coal industries are on the financial hook, not taxpayers, for the\nlooming climate catastrophe. The\n\u201cRestore Mother Nature\u201d bond act is needed, but those responsible should pay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week, Governor Cuomo made a push for environmental initiatives contained in his budget plan.\u00a0 The governor advanced what he described as an \u201chistoric $33 billion, five-year commitment to fight climate change.\u201d The governor urged support for measures: to ban single-use styrofoam food containers and packing materials; to earmark $300 million for the state\u2019s Environmental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2363,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2361\/revisions\/2363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}