Hochul’s non-compromise on climate rollbacks

Gov. Kathy Hochul is doubling down on her plans to roll back the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act as the state budget drags on into a fourth week of negotiations past the April 1 deadline. Although her latest pitch to legislators ostensibly offers two potential paths forward, lawmakers and advocates alike seem to view it as a false choice between two bad options.

Hochul provided state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie with two options for compromise during a private meeting between the three leaders Monday, according to three Assembly sources briefed on the latest discussions. 

Through the first door: a 2029 deadline to adopt necessary regulations such as a cap-and-invest program – incrementally sooner than the 2030 deadline the governor originally proposed earlier this year, but still much later than the 2024 date the state was meant to have enacted the rules. Also through the first door: a new, largely nonbinding 2040 emissions benchmark – absent a specific reduction goal. City & State previously reported that Hochul had suggested a new 2029 regulations deadline and the more flexible requirements for a 2040 emissions reduction target. Through the second door: keeping Hochul’s originally proposed 2030 regulations deadline and the binding 2050 emissions benchmark currently in the law of an 85% reduction in greenhouse gases compared to 1990 levels. It was not immediately clear whether the 2050 emissions reduction goal is on the table as part of budget conversations, though Hochul previously said that target date would remain unchanged. 

The latest on Hochul’s other major proposed change to the law – amending the state’s emissions accounting methods, which is strongly opposed by lawmakers and activists alike – did not seem to be part of the talks described to City & State. The governor has said she wants to change from a nation-leading 20-year accounting method that more accurately reflects the impacts of methane gas in favor of a much more common, but less stringent, 100-year accounting method.

The latest proposals did not seem to leave Assembly members terribly pleased, according to two sources. One Assembly member said the proposals “fell flat” and were far too general without key specifics. The same member also suggested a shift from 2030 to 2029 for regulations is hardly a change, and too late regardless. 

The state Senate had not met to discuss the newest proposals by late Tuesday morning, but Stewart-Cousins did not dispute City & State’s characterization of what the governor had presented her with in their meeting Monday. “We are all very, very clear that we need to do multiple things,” she told reporters. “We have to protect the environment. We have to continue our commitment to moving the ball forward, and we're also in a hostile environment on a national level as it relates to all the things we're trying to do.”

Stewart-Cousins said negotiations have centered around finding the right “balance” between current realities and committing to the state’s ambitious climate goals. She added that she “always” believes there’s room for more compromise, and expressed confidence Hochul wants to find the best solution. “I do believe that the governor is coming … in good faith, and would like to have been in a better position to really accomplish the goals,” Stewart-Cousins said.

Climate activists were far less charitable. “If accurate, the proposals are deeply concerning,” Justin Balick, states vice president at Evergreen Action, said in a statement. “There’s a path forward for reasonable adjustments to the CLCPA while ensuring we keep aggressively deploying cheap clean energy while keeping pollution in check … If the Governor’s proposals move forward as is, it would be a disastrous outcome for people’s wallets and the air they breathe. It’s time for the state to do everything in its power to make progress.”

Liz Moran, New York policy advocate at Earthjustice, used even stronger language. “It’s embarrassing that the Governor of NY’s climate agenda amounts to ‘no we can’t!’ when the Governors of TX, VA, IL, and CA – who also live in Trump’s America – continue to build out renewables and lower costs for struggling Americans,” she said in a statement. “The Legislature shouldn’t stand for anything less.”

Climate advocates with New York Communities for Change, Food & Water Watch, Climate Defiance and other groups protested Hochul’s attempts to change the climate law in Albany on Tuesday. They blocked the entrance to the governor’s office on the second floor of the state Capitol, prompting arrests by state troopers. “Hochul needs to shut the fuck up and pull her fucking bill back,” NYCC organizer Pete Sikora yelled as he was arrested. “Don’t do this in the dark of night, Hochul – stick with the people.”