6.20.19 – Analysis of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) from Vox.com

David Roberts covers energy policy for Vox.com. The following excerpts, in italics, are from his analysis of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act:

On economy-wide carbon cuts: 

Originally, the CCPA targeted zero carbon emissions, economy-wide, by 2050. After the compromise, the CLCPA now targets net zero by 2050. (With an interim target: 40 percent reductions from 1990 emissions by 2030.)

The difference between “zero” and “net zero” is that only 85 percent of the reductions must come from New York’s own energy and industrial emissions; the remaining 15 percent can come from carbon offsets (e.g., from forestry or agriculture)…

Stationary electric sources — power plants — cannot avail themselves of offsets. They are often located in disadvantaged communities, and anyway, it is well understood how to eliminate their emissions.

Offsets are reserved for facilities or processes where the technology for full elimination of carbon is not yet commercially available (think, for example, cement mixing). For those facilities, there will be a review every four years to ensure that they are using the best available technology (BAT) for reducing emissions before purchasing offsets…

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6.19.19 – Press Release: “Senate Passes Historic Climate Leadership And Community Protection Act (CCPA)”

The below press release was issued by New York State Senate Democrats on 6.19.19:

(Albany, NY) The Senate today passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CCPA) to address and mitigate the effects of climate change by drastically cutting greenhouse gases, diverting the state’s energy reliance to renewable sources, and creating green jobs to promote environmental justice across New York State. This bill is the most comprehensive and aggressive climate change legislation in the nation.

6.19.19 – UPROSE statement on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act

UPROSE today emailed out the following statement on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, passed by the New York State Senate:

The NY Renews coalition—a meaningfully diverse group of over 180 environmental, frontline, climate and environmental justice groups—has worked tirelessly for the last five years to draft, push forward and pass the nation’s most ambitious climate justice legislation; The Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA). Although it did not make it through the negotiations process in its original form (it’s now called the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act), it is still an unprecedented and revolutionary climate bill that warrants genuine celebration!

6.19.19 – NYC-EJA statement on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act

The below statement on the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was issued by the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance on 6.19.19:

As an alliance of 11 grassroots organizations in New York City’s most environmentally and climate vulnerable communities, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) has long championed efforts to pass bold climate legislation that centers racial, economic, and environmental justice. Together with over 180 allies across the state in the NY Renews coalition, we have collectively pushed for the passage of the Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA), a bill that would put New York on a path to 100% emissions reductions by 2050, and dedicate 40% of the State’s clean energy funding to disadvantaged communities to catalyze a Just Transition to a regenerative energy economy.

This week, a revised version of the CCPA was put forward by Governor Cuomo, renamed as the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. While the bill does set New York on a path to dramatically addressing climate pollution, the bill has more significant changes than just the name alone. As a result of last minute negotiations, Cuomo’s bill now requires 85 percent greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions by 2050, with the remaining 15 percent shifting to a “carbon neutral” approach. Given the Governor’s reluctance to pass any climate legislation this session, we pushed our champions in the Assembly and Senate to ensure the most stringent guardrails around this compromise so that any polluters seeking to use problematic carbon offsets to reach climate goals must prove that it is technologically unfeasible to reduce emissions on site. We also ensured that electricity sector was excluded, and that environmentally unjust practices such as biofuels and waste incineration not be permitted. We view this as a missed opportunity to reach 100% emissions reductions, but we will continue to push for an equitable implementation that ensures our communities receive the environmental, health, and economic benefits of reductions in GHG and copollutant emissions.

5.30.19 – Opinion: It’s a great time to call for green jobs in Sunset Park

Environmental advocates have spent decades pushing our society to transition to a low-carbon, sustainable future, but the issue got a major boost last year following the release of a shocking United Nations report on the scale of the climate change problem, coupled with NYC Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a Green New Deal.

I’m hardly an expert on this topic, but the below assumes two points that seem to align with what I’ve read: Seeing the green transition through will a) require a large expansion of green jobs, including the manufacture of everything from solar panels and wind turbines to building insulation and electrified stoves, buses and home heating systems; and b) supportive government legislation that will make the transition legally mandatory and economically viable.

Manufacturing requires space – and Sunset Park’s industrial waterfront has lots of it. What’s more, the city has already passed a potentially major green jobs bill (Intro 1253), and other legislation could emerge at the state and federal level. In short, now is a great time to push for green jobs on the waterfront.

5.22.19 – “Schumer backs aggressive New York climate change bill”

As reported by Politico:

ALBANY — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told state lawmakers he supports an ambitious measure targeting zero emissions in New York by 2050 and requiring investment in low-income and minority communities.

Schumer’s support for the state Climate and Community Protection Act, which has broad support among Democratic lawmakers, comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushes a more moderate position in ongoing negotiations. Schumer says the CCPA would be “the most robust climate policy package passed by any state in the country.”

“Passage of the CCPA would position New York to lead the national debate on how we can tackle climate change and would offer an example for other states to follow — on how to do so while also building a more just and equitable economy,” Schumer wrote in a letter to Assembly members and senators that was provided to POLITICO.

Schumer’s letter is available here for download.

Read the full story here.

— Posted by JVS on 5.28.19, backdated to 5.22.19

5.26.19 – Waterfront issues summary (Updated)

More detail on the below topics is available here. A summary is below. CB7 could investigate these questions using official letters from the board, and by hosting committee meetings. Alternatively, a group of community members could collectively send requests for information to city agencies, experts, activists and private actors, and share what they learn publicly.

Topic: Promoting local green jobs

• CB7 and other community actors could engage office holders and activists, including UPROSE and other members of the Climate Justice Alliance, in a public discussion linking new and proposed legislation to local green jobs. Legislation to focus on includes Intro 1253, the Climate and Community Protection Act (CCPA), and the De Blasio administration’s climate agenda. (Also relevant: Zellnor Myrie and Velmanette Montgomery both back the CCPA in the Senate, while Félix W. Ortiz supports it in the Assembly.)   
• A recent study by the ALIGN coalition found that Intro 1253 will sustain 40,000 jobs annually, including more than 23,000 construction jobs and nearly 17,000 indirect jobs. Could those jobs be brought to Sunset Park?
• An analysis of the CCPA concluded that the legislation would “generate between 145,000 and 160,000 jobs per year in the state.” Could any of those jobs be brought to Sunset Park?
• What Sunset Park properties are now our could be viable for green jobs? What opportunities exist at BAT and Bush Terminal Campus? What options exist at private properties? This includes Liberty View Industrial Plaza and IC (see below), as well as many other smaller properties that are for sale or looking to sign new leases (examples of such properties are here: survey 1, survey 2, survey 3).

3.20.19 – Demos study on the jobs and economic impact of the Climate and Community Protection Act

The study linked to below was issued by Demos on 3.20.19:

• The Climate and Community Protection Act: A Big Win for New York State on Jobs and the Economy

From the study:

Ignoring climate change is the real job-killer in today’s economy, and this is very much the case in New York State. New York is well-positioned to reap employment gains and other economic benefits from the clean energy and clean economy transition promoted by the CCPA. In contrast to a number of states whose economies rely heavily on fossil fuel industries—in the Gulf Coast South, Appalachia, and the Great Plains—New York’s energy and employment profiles are among the least fossil fuel-dependent in the country. New York’s positive starting points on clean energy bode well for a successful and economically beneficial clean energy transition.

A combination of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean transportation investments, if fully scaled to achieve the CCPA’s renewable energy targets, promises significant employment and income gains for New Yorkers. This is especially true in light of New York’s relatively small fossil fuel workforce, as noted. The state’s fossil fuel workforce is comprised of about 13,000 workers in a total statewide workforce of nearly 9 million, according to estimates by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (PERI). While some fossil fuel job losses in the clean energy transition are probably unavoidable, financial support to help these workers transition to new employment should be part of the state’s plan for reaching 100 percent renewable energy economy-wide by 2050.

Overall, the jobs picture under the CCPA is overwhelmingly positive. PERI finds that a mix of renewable-energy and energy efficiency investments sufficient to put New York on a pathway to 100 percent renewable energy and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 would total about $31 billion annually over the first decade. PERI estimates that such investment will support 160,000 direct and indirect jobs initially and an average of about 150,000 in each year over the first decade, or the equivalent of roughly 1.5 million employment-years in total over the decade (by 2030, the number of jobs supported could decline slightly to 145,000 due to productivity gains). If you also count induced jobs—jobs created by the purchasing power of new clean energy workers—the total employment effect statewide is to create and support approximately 220,000 initially and 212,000 jobs on average over a decade, for a total of 2.1 million employment-years over a decade (see Table 1). 

— Posted by JVS on 8.5.19, backdated to 3.20.19

3.17.19 – Questions and action suggestions re: Industry City rezoning and waterfront redevelopment

Below is a list of questions and issues for CB7 to explore in relation to Industry City’s rezoning, and the waterfront more generally:

For Industry City (IC) re: on-site jobs

1. Will IC share the raw tenant survey data it collected in 2015 and 2017 in any form?
2. Does IC collect, and (if so) will it share, data on the salaries of its workers, their full/part time status, their benefits, and/or their job advancement over time?
3. Can IC break down which individuals – for example, Sunset Park or South Brooklyn residents – are getting which kinds of jobs in the development?

For IC re: the Innovation Lab

1. Can IC share data on who is utilizing the Lab’s programming, who has obtained jobs through the Lab, and what kinds of jobs they are?
2. IC has said that more than 350 “local youths” have been “connected with internships” through the Lab. Can IC provide statistics concerning those individuals, such as where they are from, how old they are, and what their educational background is? And can it provide any salary or job placement data connected to those internships?
3. All Innovation Lab participants – OBT, CUNY City Tech, SBIDC, and the Center for Family Life – should be asked to share any available data and information on their Lab programming and its impact.

3.3.19 – Suggested questions to expand the Sunset Park waterfront conversation

Goals:

1. To expand public understanding of the redevelopment activities already underway at private and city-managed properties.
2. To promote a more robust ongoing, public dialogue with the city and private developers concerning potential future uses for waterfront properties.

Notes:

1. Existing planning documents to reference include: New York Works, Engines of Opportunity, the 197-A plan, and the Sunset Park Waterfront Vision Plan. Major projects also have websites, such as the BAT website and the Made in NY Campus site.
2. Below is a list of topics and questions to consider. Addressing them would best be done via ongoing, public meetings with city staffers, and direct public meetings with private developers.
3. To be sure, a good deal of related information is publicly available, and community engagement has taken place in a variety of ways over the years. (Because a subject is new to me doesn’t mean it’s new to others!)
4. That said, I believe that many of the below matters aren’t clearly understood by members of the public. I also think we would all benefit from a more robust and ongoing dialogue with city officials – and private developers, if possible – concerning these matters.
5. An EDC-community task force was assembled for the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project. Do other such task forces exist? If not, could they be formed for BAT, the Made in NY Campus, and other matters?
6. Another suggested tactic: a set of two hour meetings with EDC and De Blasio administration staffers could be scheduled for upcoming Saturdays. They could be held in the CB7 office, and would be recorded and posted online. The meetings would aim to address specific questions regarding waterfront projects while also permitting a moderated public forum for members of the public to ask questions about, and advocate for, specific visions of waterfront redevelopment. Among the topics we could discuss: