In the shadows of the Ravenswood Generating Station smokestacks, Brooklyn Borough President and NY-7 candidate Antonio Reynoso gathered with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and environmental and community advocates to push back against Gov. Kathy Hochul’s attempts to alter New York’s landmark climate law of 2019, which calls for significantly reducing greenhouse emissions by certain deadlines.
Earlier in March, Hochul moved to delay the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), stating that fully implementing the law would cost New Yorkers thousands of dollars.
State struggling to meet CLCPA goals
The CLCPA set ambitious goals of cutting greenhouse emissions by 40% of their 1990 levels by 2030 and by 85% of their 1990 levels by 2040.
But the state lags far behind meeting the goals set out in the legislation, missing the 2024 deadline to issue regulations and implement a cap-and-invest program that would give teeth to the law.
Hochul penned an op-ed on March 20 stating that the state cannot meet its 2030 targets without imposing “new and crushing costs” on New York residents and businesses, predicting $2,300 in annual rate hikes for New York City natural gas households.
The governor penned the op-ed weeks after receiving a memo from the state’s Energy Research and Development Authority warning that an aggressive cap-and-invest program would cost households thousands of dollars a year in additional energy costs.
“We need more time, and so I am proposing we amend the law to require regulations to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions to be issued at the end of 2030,” Hochul wrote in the op-ed.
The move comes amid ongoing budget negotiations between the governor and the state legislature ahead of the April 1 deadline.
Reynoso urges Hochul to fight for working-class communities
On Monday afternoon, Reynoso and Williams joined representatives from the New York Working Families Party (WFP) and New York Communities for Change alongside local residents to call on Hochul to honor the state’s commitment to reducing emissions, accusing the governor of neglecting working and middle-class residents.
The rally took place on the Elizabeth McQueen Esplanade in Queensbridge Park, with advocates stating that working-class residents in the neighborhood public housing communities are often on the forefront of the fight against climate change.
Reynoso, who is running to succeed U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez in New York’s 7th Congressional District, said Monday that “everyday people” will bear the brunt of the extension of CLCPA deadlines.
“Local communities, like here in Queens, are the ones that suffer the most,” Reynoso said.
Both Reynoso and Williams accused Hochul of not using “all the tools” at her disposal by not including a wealth tax in her executive budget earlier in the year.
“You are saying you have to do this because of how bad the budget is. Why is it not bad enough to have to raise revenue from the people who can afford it?” Williams said. “Why is it so bad that you have to balance the budget off the people who are harmed the most?”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Photo by Shane O’Brien
In her recent op-ed, Hochul wrote that she was pushing for potential changes “out of necessity – to protect New Yorkers’ pocketbooks and economy.”
Other NY-7 candidates criticize Hochul
Assembly Member Claire Valdez, who is also running to succeed Velázquez in NY-7, has vocally opposed Hochul over the move, accusing the governor of siding with corporate donors over working-class communities.
“Which side are you on?” Valdez said at a rally in Albany earlier in March. “Are you on the side of people or polluters? Are you on the side of the working class or corporate donors?”
Valdez further described Hochul’s efforts to alter the CLCPA as an “abdication of leadership.”
“At the very moment we’re seeing how precarious the global oil and gas market can be, why give the fossil fuel industry a huge gift,” Valdez said in a post on X.
Council Member Julie Won, who is also running in the district, pushed back strongly against claims that the implementation of the CLCPA would drive up energy prices for New Yorkers.
Won called Hochul a “coward” for allegedly using federal cuts imposed by President Donald Trump as “cover” to implement rollbacks to the CLCPA.
“Governor Hochul is using Washington’s chaos as cover to reverse environmental commitments from the last seven years. Hochul’s cowardice is putting New Yorkers at risk,” Won said in a statement.
“Instead, New York should be the national standard bearer for a green future by implementing clear cost protections and price caps, investing in building upgrades and electrification that lower bills, and delivering direct financial relief to households to implement the electrification transition.”
Won said the cost projections cited by the governor represented a “worst-case scenario” and said many households could see net savings by transitioning to renewable energy.
A recent report released to City & State by the New Yorkers for Clean Air and Spring Street Climate Fund found that millions of New Yorkers could save up to $270 in energy bills under one cap-and-invest program that the state could implement.
‘Let us breathe’
Monday’s rally heard from some local residents who said they had experienced the impacts of pollution firsthand, predominately from the towering Ravenswood Generating Station.
Christina Chaise, vice president of the Ravenswood Residents Association at the nearby Ravenswood Houses NYCHA development, said most NYCHA developments are located in Environmental Justice areas disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change.
Ravenswood resident Christina Chaise. Photo by Shane O’Brien
“We are the ones who are getting hit the worst when it comes to flooding,” Chaise said. “It’s our time to finally breathe fresh air, so let us breathe.”
In response to Monday’s rally, a spokesperson for the governor asserted that Hochul is committed to a “clean energy future” for New York.
“Governor Hochul is committed to a clean energy future while at the same time making sure New York is affordable for working families,” said Ken Lovett, Hochul’s Senior Communications Advisor on Energy and Environment.
Reynoso, however, pushed back against the governor, stating that a quicker transition to clean energy sources would result in savings for New York residents and businesses.
“Geothermal, solar and wind energy is more affordable than petroleum, so it’s cheaper right off the bat,” Reynoso said. “It’ll be a savings for the people.”
He added that the cost of meeting the goals of the legislation will continue the rise the longer that is delayed, adding that those delays will create serious problems for everyday people.
“We know that the most affordable form of energy is anything but gas, and we have to start moving to that right away,” Reynoso said.
Reynoso urged Hochul to “do everything in her power” to ensure that the state meets the goals laid out in the CLCPA, even if it is unrealistic that it does not meet those targets.
“You make an effort,” Reynoso said. “Then if you fall short, it won’t be because you didn’t try. What we’re doing right now is throwing our hands up and giving up.”