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.
New Yorkers for Clean Power Teach-In: The False Solutions Jeopardizing NY’s Climate Progress
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
—————————————————————————–
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.
Building New York’s Clean Energy Workforce
Building New York’s Clean Energy Workforce
On Monday, August 10, at 12:00 PM we discussed “Building New York’s Clean Energy Workforce: SUNY Morrisville & Ithaca Energy Warriors”. Our special guests were Dr. Ben Ballard, Professor of Renewable Energy at SUNY Morrisville, and Dr. Aloja Airewele, Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Energy Warriors Program Leader.
SUNY Morrisville has one of New York’s longest-running hands-on renewable energy education programs. Dr. Ballard’s presentation will highlight the degree programs, workforce training initiatives, and industry partnerships that prepare students for careers in solar, wind, clean heating and cooling, electrical systems, and energy project development.
The Energy Warriors Green Career Pathways program, directed by Dr. Airewele, provides training for people experiencing barriers to employment within the growing green jobs sector—including heat pump and solar installers, insulation technicians, and reuse specialists. This collaborative training program, grounded in the nationally recognized Roots of Success curriculum, brings together private employers, unions, public workforce development agencies, and educational organizations to provide paid training and a nurturing environment for their trainees.
Gas Planning Let’s Get it Right!
In 2020 the Public Service Commission launched a Gas Planning Proceeding. The goals: to calibrate gas supply to avoid disruptions to service and direct the gas utilities to plan to meet the emissions reductions required by the CLCPA. Good planning is essential to ensure a smooth energy transition, strategically right-size the gas system, ensure that the right investments are made at the appropriate times, and to save ratepayers money. But so far, the gas planning has not yielded the necessary outcomes. Now in 2026, there’s an opportunity to reimagine gas planning and optimize our investments.
Featuring speakers:
Meagan Burton, Earthjustice
Kristina Persaud, Advanced Energy United
Josh Berman, Sierra Club
Heat Pump Rate Design
To achieve widespread adoption of heat pumps, it’s imperative to ensure that households switching from gas to heat pumps don’t see their bills go up. Fortunately there’s a solution! Currently, utilities are overcharging heat pump customers for the poles and wires that deliver electricity. Dedicated heat pump rates, like those already offered by Con Edison, can solve this.
Our esteemed speakers include Juan-Pablo Velez, Executive Director of Switchbox, Magdalen Sullivan, Attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Jessica Azulay, Executive Director at AGREE.
The webinar covers a new report commissioned by AGREE and Earthjustice on heat pump rates. The report can be accessed at this link: https://www.switch.box/nyhprates
Study Two-Pager: https://renewableheatnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/switchbox_nyhprates_onepager.pdf
The teach-in includes an overview of the NY heat pump design working group’s plan to call on the NY Public Service Commission to take action on electric rate design in the “Grid of the Future” docket to ensure that electric heating customers are not overpaying for electricity and to help drive heat pump adoption across the state.
Battery Energy Storage Systems [BESS] in New Paltz and Neighboring Communities
There’s over 5 BESS projects being considered in Ulster County and the greater Hudson Valley region. Watch and hear from Dr. Jefferey Seidman, Vassar College, and Dan Murray, Energy Safety Consultant, and retired Chief in Charge of HazMat at FDNY; they will discuss how BESS systems work, why they’re needed, and what they mean for our communities.
Federal Challenges and the Future of Offshore Wind Projects
On Monday, February 9, from 12 to 1 P.M., NYCP’s Renewable Energy Speaker Series provided an insider’s view of offshore wind in New York State. Our special guest was Alicia Gené Artessa, Esq., Director of the New York Offshore Wind Alliance (NYOWA). Alicia explained why the benefits of offshore wind are critically important to all New Yorkers, including energy security, clean air, economic savings, job growth, revitalized port infrastructure, and protection of marine habitats. Our guest’s legal expertise, policy experience, and advocacy leadership allowed her to provide insight into the recent federal legal challenges to Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind, and to explain what we can do to support the advancement of offshore wind.
How Poughkeepsie got to “Yes” on grid-scale batteries | Vassar College Prof. Jeff Seidman
On Monday, January 12, from 12 to 1 P.M., NYCP hosted a practical guide to advocating for energy storage projects at town meetings. Our special guest was Vassar College professor Jeff Seidman, who drew on his successful effort to overturn Poughkeepsie’s energy storage moratorium. Dr. Seidman explained why the Hudson Valley is strategically crucial for energy storage, and why the area has become a flashpoint for energy debates, even within communities that are generally supportive of renewable energy. Most importantly, he presented compelling, persuasive arguments that we can use in almost any situation to support energy storage in our communities.
NYS Energy Plan – What’s in it, What’s Not, How You Can Help Shape It!
New Yorkers for Clean Power and esteemed speakers to learn more about the draft State Energy Plan, what’s in it, what’s missing, and how to take action before the October 6th deadline. Our panelists will address key highlights and recommendations for the building, power and transportation sectors respectively.
Our speakers:
Josh Berman, Senior Attorney of Sierra Club Environmental Law Program
Marguerite Wells, Executive Director of Alliance for Clean Energy New York
Jaqi Cohen, Director of Climate and Equity Policy Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Your Voice Matters: Help Make the Clean Air (& Climate!) Initiative Happen
In this virtual teach-in we address how the Clean Air Initiative can ensure the CLCPA’s environmental justice and greenhouse gas reduction goals are backed by enforceable regulations with mandatory emission limits on New York’s top-emitting sectors, buildings and transportation. We walk you through how to use New York’s official public comment tool to weigh in on the recently proposed Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, which requires corporate polluters to tell us what they are dumping into our air (really important as EPA has signaled that it will end this requirement at the federal level)
Speakers:
Julie Tighe, President NYLCV & NYLCVEF
Eric Walker, Energy Justice Senior Policy Manager, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Moderated by Betta Broad, Campaign Director, New Yorkers for Clean Power & Association for Energy Affordability
We dive into:
The latest with NY’s cap-and-invest program, now called the Clean Air Initiative and why it’s our best path to regulate and phase out emissions from buildings and transportation.
The health and economic benefits of cap-and-invest + the $1 billion Sustainable Future Fund
How to show up for upcoming public hearings, submit comments, and help push for the reporting rule that would mandate fossil fuel providers to report their GHG impacts, and call for the full release of regulations to actually cap GHG and copollutant emissions.
Targeted Electrification in New York
New Yorkers are paying the price for outdated gas infrastructure. But there’s a better way. In this teach-in we dig into a new report from Switchbox that compares the cost of replacing leak-prone gas pipelines to the cost of fully electrifying the buildings those pipes serve.
The findings? Targeted electrification can save ratepayers billions—even when accounting for full electrification costs. We explored the report’s insights and how the NY HEAT Act can make these smarter investments possible.
Speakers:
Jessica Azulay – Executive Director, Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE)
Juan-Pablo Velez – Executive Director, Switchbox