When we say that communities of color benefit from the state\u2019s Climate Law, we\u2019re not being abstract. Climate change isn\u2019t front-of-mind for New Yorkers right now \u2013 not when there are mouths to feed, bills to pay and $4 gas on every corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Gov. Kathy Hochul is hoping that Black and Latino New Yorkers, who are on the frontlines of the affordability crisis, won\u2019t read the fine print on her proposal to delay implementation<\/a> of the state\u2019s Climate Law. If state legislators have the courage and ambition to reject her plan, they\u2019ll secure billions of dollars of investment and energy bill relief for communities of color across the city.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s follow the money: when the Climate Law was passed in 2019, New York set up the cap-and-invest program to implement it. Cap-and-invest makes polluting corporations pay for their pollution, then reinvests that revenue directly back into our communities. The state\u2019s preliminary analysis puts first year revenue at $3 billion to $5 billion. In fact, at least 35%\u00a0 percent of that money is reserved for state-designated disadvantaged communities<\/a> \u2013 including virtually the entire Bronx, almost all of Yonkers and Harlem and huge swaths of the Lower East Side, Queens and Brooklyn, particularly Sunset Park and Red Hook.<\/p>\n By delaying implementation of the law, the governor\u2019s proposal would hold back up to $21 billion<\/a> from being invested into neighborhoods that need the funding. That money would have lowered our neighbors\u2019 and family members\u2019 energy bills by reinsulating and weatherizing apartment buildings, installing rooftop solar panels and helping residents make the switch from expensive gas furnaces to efficient heat pumps. Hochul\u2019s plan would let corporate utilities keep that money, to help them continue profiting from rate hikes and driving New Yorkers into debt.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not in debt to ConEd or National Grid, you probably know someone who is. According to Robin Hood\u2019s Poverty Tracker<\/a>, 2 in 5 NYC residents have fallen two months or more behind on their energy bills, and 1 in 4 have had their service cut off. Black and Latino families are more than twice as likely as white households to fall behind, and almost eight times more likely to have their utilities shut off. Implementing the Climate Law on schedule would give these families a lifeline by providing more than $8,500 in energy bill rebates to households making below $200,000 a year.<\/a> By combining short-term bill relief with long-term energy efficiency upgrades, the Climate Law gives us the tools we need to keep vulnerable residents safe and warm in their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n But energy bills aren\u2019t the only rising costs that communities are struggling with \u2013 New Yorkers are dealing with steep medical bills, too. The Climate Law protects neighborhoods like the South Bronx, where children are hospitalized for asthma at more than twice the citywide rate<\/a>, and prevents nearly 12,500 asthma related emergency room visits, according to the State Energy Plan\u2019s Health Impacts Analysis. Using cap-and-invest to replace some of the 15,000 diesel trucks spewing dangerous pollution<\/a> into the South Bronx with pollution-free electric alternatives<\/a> can lower the risk of asthma, cancer and lung and heart disease, reduce the burden of healthcare costs and yes, even save lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Climate Law\u2019s earmarked funding for disadvantaged communities was fought for and won by communities of color, union workers and their elected officials. The passage of the law in 2019 was a shining example of what can be achieved when we get a seat at the table to fight for our own interests. Now, Hochul wants to force through changes that would gut the Climate Law without giving us any input.<\/p>\n To her, and to legislators who are skeptical of the Climate Law, we would say: Come talk to us.\u00a0<\/p>\n Come talk to a grandmother who has to make the choice between warming her prewar apartment and filling up her grocery cart. Come talk to a kid with asthma who can\u2019t play outside because of diesel trucks idling on the street. Come talk to the young vocational school graduates who are ready and waiting to work the 123,000 NYC jobs that the Climate Law would create<\/a> over the next decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n These New Yorkers are dreaming of a better future \u2013 a future the Climate Law is ready to deliver, so long as our leaders commit to nurturing it, not cutting it down before it has the chance to bloom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When we say that communities of color benefit from the state\u2019s Climate Law, we\u2019re not being abstract. 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