New York has set an ambitious climate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but false solutions threaten to derail progress. In this teach-in, we will examine three problematic solutions: so-called “renewable natural gas,” hydrogen blending for buildings, and carbon capture and storage, all of which could impede real climate action.
Guest Speakers:
● Hillary Aidun, Earthjustice
● Erin Murphy, Environmental Defense Fund
● Carolyn Raffensperger, The Science and Environmental Health Network
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Hillary Aidun, Senior Associate Attorney Earthjustice
A senior associate attorney in the Northeast Regional Office. Hillary works to advance environmental justice in the northeast region and advocates for meaningful and equitable implementation of New York’s climate law in state court and before administrative agencies. Before joining Earthjustice Hillary was a fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, where she worked on expanding renewable energy resources, challenging federal regulatory rollbacks, and tracking New York State climate law.
Erin Murphy, Senior Attorney, Energy Markets & Utility Regulation
Areas of expertise: Natural gas and electricity market design, natural gas policy, utility regulation. Erin represents EDF in regulatory proceedings involving the design of wholesale and retail natural gas markets, seeking to facilitate the clean energy transformation. She advocates before state public utility commissions for gas supply planning mechanisms to prevent unneeded long-term investments in gas infrastructure, and for utility adoption of programs to reduce methane emissions from gas distribution networks. Erin also advocates before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for new and better ways to facilitate renewable energy integration and harmonize the wholesale natural gas and electricity markets.
Carolyn Raffensperger, Executive Director Environmental Health Network.
While working as an archaeologist in the desert Southwest of the U.S., she was enchanted by the beauty of the landscape and horrified at the environmental threats posed by dams, mining and toxic waste disposal. She left archaeology to work for the Sierra Club in Illinois. The desire to protect the rivers, prairie and desert led her to law school. Her graduate school training in archaeology and her law school education provides the tools Carolyn needs to serve her clients—the future generations of all species.
Learn why a strong Cap-and-Invest Program will help us achieve our climate targets with cleaner air, improved public health, and good jobs. Hear from state agency experts and clean energy and environmental justice advocates about how the program will work and the need to make it as ambitious and equitable as possible. Learn how you can help urge our leaders to take action and make the Climate Act real!
During this Teach-In, we heard from:
• Sameer Ranade, Senior Advisor for Climate Justice, NYSERDA
• Dale Bryk, Director of State & Regional Policies at Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program; Senior Fellow at RPA
• Eric Walker, Energy Justice Senior Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice
We then heard from NYCP’s Policy Director, Anshul Gupta about how you can take action for an Equitable & Ambitious Cap-and-Invest Program. Add your comments here: https://p2a.co/vABXQ6O
Did you know that New York has five BILLION dollars to spend on building energy efficiency and electrification over the next five years? In this NYCP Teach-In, we took a deep dive into the New Efficiency New York (NENY) Proceeding, which will determine how this money will be spent on building energy efficiency and building electrification in NYS from 2026-2030.
Our speakers included:
– Juan Pablo Velez, founder and executive director of the think tank, Win Climate presented his recent report: New Efficiency New York, an Appraisal of Past and Proposed Spendingt detailing how utilities and NYSERDA managed the first traunch of NENY money and how they propose to spend the next one. Read the report here: https://www.switch.box/neny
– Rebekah Morris-Gonzalez, Director of Climate Initiatives, at the Pratt Center for Community Development. Who presented on her report titled: “How NYSERDA’s Empower+ Program Shortchanges Low-Income Residents.” Read the report here: https://prattcenter.net/uploads/0124/1706652850133244/Empower_Brief_Final.pdf
New Yorkers need cleaner heat and lower bills. Tell Gov. Hochul, Speaker Heastie, and the NY Legislature to include the NY HEAT Act in the budget.
From Brooklyn to Babylon, 1 out of 4 New Yorkers resides within a half-mile of a large e-commerce warehouse. Along with fulfilling orders, these facilities bring a host of health and environmental hazards like asthma and heart disease. Historical practices of discrimination and racism placed warehouses near communities of color and low-income families, forcing them to face the brunt of these impacts. It’s time for a change.
The Clean Deliveries Act is a common sense bill that requires these facilities to track and reduce their pollution, thereby protecting the air of the neighborhoods where they reside.
During this Teach-In, we heard from:
Emmitt Mendoza-Gaspar, Chief of Staff for AM Marcela Mitaynes
Sam Becker of the Environmental Defense Fund
Jaqi Cohen of the Tristate Transporation Campaign
Antonio Rosario of the Teamsters
We then heard from the ElectrifyNY coalition about how you can take action to make this crucial bill a reality this session.
Join the Fight for Clean Deliveries: https://p2a.co/E83CRWT
New Yorkers need cleaner heat and lower bills. Tell Gov. Hochul, Speaker Heastie, and the NY Legislature to include the NY HEAT Act in the budget.
A new report to be released on January 18 by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) traces the growth of mega-warehouses in New York communities, driven in part by the e-commerce boom.
Following the release of a national report, the release of the New York Proximity Mapping Report shows the warehouse boom’s unequal health burden on New York communities.
ElectrifyNY, EDF, and NY State legislators joined for a press conference highlighting the report’s findings and the need for legislation like the Clean Deliveries Act. The Clean Deliveries Act would direct the state to conduct a review of emissions related to large warehouses and require warehouse operators to choose from an array of actions to minimize pollution.
Access the full report: https://globalcleanair.org/academic/report-one-in-four-new-york-state-residents-lives-within-half-a-mile-of-a-mega-warehouse/
Take action with ElectrifyNY to pass the Clean Deliveries Act: https://bit.ly/cleandeliveries
The NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (HEAT) Act (S.2016A/A.4592A) is a transformative climate and energy affordability bill that clears the path to investing in clean, modern, electric heating systems for all New Yorkers.
During this Teach-In, we learned more about this legislation and what we can do to help get it passed this session.
Our speakers included:
Chris Casey: Senior Attorney, Climate & Clean Energy Program for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Allison Considine: NY Senior Campaign & Communications Manager for the Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC)
Jessica Azulay: Executive Director of Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE)
Learn more about this legislation and how to get it passed at https://bit.ly/NYHEAT.
View the speaker slides here: https://nyforcleanpower.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/12.15.23-NY-HEAT-Act-Teach-In.pdf