While the bill has not been signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul yet, the Natural Resources Defense Council's New York policy director, Rich Schrader, is calling a moratorium on certain types of cryptocurrency mining operations an "11th hour victory" for environmental activists.

"The bill wasn't really going anywhere the last few weeks of the session," Schrader told Bobby Cuza on "Inside City Hall" Monday, crediting a coalition of activists and labor groups for helping convince lawmakers of the merits of the bill. "Cryptocurrency mining is enormously, wastefully energy intensive."

"In terms of its worldwide use, it's seven times the use of Google, as far as electricity use," Schrader added.

Schrader talked through the bill, countering cryptocurrency advocates' concerns the bill bans most or all mining, as opposed to just certain, new mining operations that use fossil fuels. He also discussed environmental legislation that did not get sent to the governor's desk, including the Build Public Renewables Act.