New York State

Hochul signs climate bills, but advocates want more

As time runs out to meet the state’s climate goals, activists say both the governor and lawmakers can act with more urgency

Gov. Kathy Hochul surveys the damage from remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021 shortly after becoming governor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul surveys the damage from remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021 shortly after becoming governor. Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

Just days after she took office, Gov. Kathy Hochul found herself responding to a climate disaster as the remnants of a deadly hurricane ripped through New York City. At the time, she pledged bold action to increase coastal resiliency and combat climate change during her time in office. On Tuesday, Hochul signed into law legislation meant to help lower carbon emissions from buildings, a crucial step toward meeting New York’s environmental goals. 

Despite the fanfare the bill received, however, the governor still has not indicated her position on a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining, a major priority among climate activists. Nor has she offered support for other priorities like a polluters tax, expanding municipal renewable energy production and banning gas hookups in new buildings. The state Legislature too left climate and environmental advocates largely disappointed, and they say that both lawmakers and the governor must step up if they want the state to achieve the benchmarks set up in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. 

Before they broke for the year, lawmakers in Albany did act on a few climate-related bills, including the one Hochul signed on Tuesday that sets new efficiency standards for buildings. The governor said that the bill signings served in part as a message to the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a decision last week rolling back federal oversight of power plant carbon emissions. “This is New York,” Hochul said. “Do what you want, we’ll do everything we can to protect our lives, our families, our bodies and our planet’s future.” She praised the state’s continued leadership in the climate arena, including the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050, as well as a $4.2 billion bond act to help fund green projects. 

Still, Hochul has not yet acted on another piece of legislation that lawmakers approved after a contentious negotiation process, a bill that would create a two-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining pending environmental impact statements. Speaking to reporters following her bill signings on Tuesday, she once again would not offer her position, instead saying that her office is continuing to review the language. “There’s a lot of information to digest about this, and we’re being very thoughtful,” Hochul said. 

The governor’s lack of explicit support for that bill, as well as others that lawmakers didn’t pass like the Build Public Renewables Act and the All Electric Buildings Act, has left some advocates disappointed. “We think that this a common sense and easy climate win for the governor here,” Liz Moran, New York policy advocate for Earthjustice, told City & State. She said overall, Hochul has “put forward some meaningful policies,” but would like to see her “more aggressively pursue them.” Moran pointed to the governor’s inclusion of part of the All Electric Buildings Act, which would ban gas hookups in new buildings, in her executive budget. But when it fell out of the budget, Moran said the commitment did not seem as clear. 

This does not fall on just the governor, though. The state Legislature has also failed to act on a number of different priority bills for climate advocates, like the Build Public Renewables Act, which would expand New York Power Authority’s ability to generate renewable energy. It passed in the state Senate, but died in the Assembly. “We agree with the goals of the Build Public Renewables Act,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in a June statement. “The final version of the bill… had support in our conference, but not enough to move forward at this point.” He set a July 28 date for a hearing on the legislation, but Moran said that lawmakers must move quickly on this and other climate bills. “Really, we can’t afford to wait,” she said. 

Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, praised the governor’s actions on Tuesday, as well as her commitment to climate goals since she took office. “The governor, from the beginning, she came in right on the heels of a storm,” Tighe told City & State. “And she has been talking about clean energy for many, many, many years before this.” She said that the state has still not done enough to crack down on emissions in the transportation sector, a particular point of disappointment with lawmakers this year, but added that it was “not for lack of leadership on (Hochul’s) part.” And though climate change has taken a back seat in recent weeks to concerns over guns and abortion rights, the high-profile Supreme Court decisions that mobilized New York – and the governor – on those issues can offer a similar rallying cry to activists. Already, the court has rolled back the power of the Environmental Protection Agency. Given Hochul’s success coalescing around the abortion and gun rulings, she could once again have the opportunity to do the same with climate as she heads into the general election.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.