New York state Sen. Pete Harckham, the chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, has proposed legislation that would create a new limit of tax credits for New Yorkers to go solar.

The proposal, which is currently in committee, would give New Yorkers who transition their residence to rooftop solar a maximum per-household tax credit of $10,000. Harckham joined Capital Tonight to discuss how the proposal would work.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week announced a comprehensive ban on asbestos. The move expands upon a 2016 law that dealt with the use of toxic chemicals in every-day products.

The known carcinogen has largely been phased out but is still used in some products.

New York state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos recently announced he’s stepping down from the job after eight and half years.

He is the longest serving commissioner in the agency’s history, and his introduction to the position was forged by a drinking water crisis in the village of Hoosick Falls.

The New York state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation aimed to make utility bills easier to pay for ratepayers, including the NY Heat Act, which aligns utility regulation with state climate justice and emission reduction targets.

The NY HEAT Act, which passed 40-22, had been approved by the state Senate last year but the Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul have yet to find agreement on all variables of the legislation. Hochul included key provisions in her 2025 state budget, but not the entire piece of legislation.

There are several proposals on environmental wish lists this legislative session, including the NY HEAT Act, which advocates say will save New Yorkers money and move them off fossil fuels, as well as the Climate Change Superfund Act, which would make polluters pay for the cost of the climate transition.

“This is a very important budget for lawmakers and the governor to get right when it comes to environmental protections and addressing climate change,” Liz Moran, a policy advocate for Earthjustice, told Capital Tonight.

The New York state Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill that would expand the state's ban of the controversial drilling process to extract natural gas to include a newer practice that uses carbon dioxide to extract methane and circumvents the current policy.

Fracking was first prohibited in New York back in 2014 and then permanently banned in the 2021 state budget.

A collaboration of unions, climate advocates, building industry representatives and environmental groups is calling for New York to decarbonize state-owned college campuses as part of the state budget.

Known as UpgradeNY, the group wants union-led funding to build thermal energy networks at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Purchase to decarbonize heating and cooling on their campuses, the group said Thursday morning.

The State University of New York system will phase out the use of single-use plastics like bags, beverage bottles, food service products, utensils, plastic wrap and packaging films, SUNY Chancellor John King announced Tuesday.

The higher education system will work with the SustainChain public service platform to create a plastics-free solutions hub with access to resources on how to achieve the new requirement.

The giant meat producer JBS was accused of making misleading claims about its greenhouse gas emission goals to boost sales among environmentally conscious consumers in a lawsuit filed Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The lawsuit filed in a state court in New York City alleges that the company claimed it will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 despite having no viable plan to meet that commitment. The lawsuit names as defendants JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings, the American subsidiary of the world-leading producer of beef products based in Brazil.

If you’ve ever purchased anything from Amazon, you’ve probably had to open a plastic bubble mailer and then a second or even third plastic wrapper to get at the thing you ordered.

It’s one reason why more than 300 advocates and elected officials converged on Albany Tuesday to push lawmakers to pass a bill to reduce packaging. Advocates argue that single-use plastic is one of the most serious issues facing the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency is putting more than $20 million toward cleanup in the Ley Creek area of the Onondaga Lake Superfund Site.

U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand shared details from the funding on Tuesday.

New York state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos has decided to step down from the role, Spectrum News 1 learned Wednesday evening.

Seggos has led the DEC since October 2015, the longest tenure a commissioner has served in that department.

The cost of the doing nothing on climate will far outweigh the cost of a climate transition for New York, according to state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos, who addressed concerns on Capital Tonight.

“I just want to make sure viewers are clear. People are already paying for the impacts of climate change. That is a certainty. We spent $36 billion to recover from Superstorm Sandy,” Seggos said. “We see a $55 billion bill, potentially, if we don’t do the right things in New York, just on adaptation over the next 10 years.”

New York lawmakers met yet again within the marble walls of Albany's Legislative Office Building Wednesday to hear testimony on the state’s environmental conservation budget, with topics ranging from assistance for farmers to New York’s State Park system.

Some of the more heated exchanges we’ve seen at these hearings so far this session, however, were directed at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation. They're largely concerned with the attainability of New York’s climate goals.

Last July, storms dropped more than a month’s worth of rain in the Hudson Valley, washing away the road to West Point, and causing deadly flooding across the Northeast.

Just last month, coastal storms off the south shore of Long Island downed trees and utility lines and caused what some people have called the worst flooding since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and members of the Great Lakes Task Force introduced legislation that would extend a program that cleans up toxins, combats invasive species and protects watersheds of the Great Lakes, her office announced Wednesday.

A bipartisan bill would extend the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for another five years, through 2031, and increase annual funding levels from $475 million in 2026 to $500 million from 2027 to 2031.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Over the past few decades, New York state has invested attention and public resources into Plug Power, a company involved in the development and manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cells, a cleaner alternative to conventional batteries.

Empire Center for Public Policy Research Director Ken Girardin said as the company has waited for its product to go mainstream it has needed help to remain liquid.

Two Democratic state lawmakers announced new legislation Monday aimed to help improve gathering information on harmful algal blooms (HABs) in New York's waterways.

Introduced by state Sen. Rachel May and Assemblymember Anna Kelles, the Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Prevention (HABMAP) Act would create a centralized resource for reporting and dealing with HABs, including potential and known causes, best practice interventions, expertise and funding resources. The data would enable the state to administer a grant program supporting data-driven best practices in preventing and mitigating harmful algal blooms.

Flooding has impacted a lot of communities across upstate New York at one time or another.

Whether it was record flooding in the Southern Tier in 2011, or more recently in the Hudson Valley, most of us can never feel too prepared.

The Finger Lakes are synonymous with upstate New York, but the health of Cayuga Lake is directly tied to a salt mine that sits beneath its shores.

For years, Cargill has faced criticism as it operated its salt mine beneath Cayuga Lake, one of the cornerstones of the Finger Lakes. Now, word of the company’s potential sale has united lawmakers and environmental advocates to protect the lake they call home.

Since 2019, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature have invested $500 million annually in clean water infrastructure, supporting drinking water and wastewater improvement as well as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) remediation, among other issues.

But in her executive budget this year, Hochul added only $250 million to the funding, which has environmentalists uneasy.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed several notable bills late in the year, including the Grieving Families Act.

But one vetoed bill that hasn’t received much attention is the Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act, sponsored by state Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Pat Fahy.

The Biden administration has awarded nearly $1 billion in new grants to add more than 2,700 electric and low-emissions school buses to the nation’s streets, officials announced Monday.

The buses will be purchased in 280 school districts serving 7 million students across 37 states.

Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration is investing heavily in a new technological process called “carbon capture, sequestration, and utilization," which, in theory, buries carbon dioxide.

A company called “Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions LLC” or more simply, Southern Tier Solutions, is in the process of asking landowners in Broome, Chemung and Tioga counties to lease over 100,000 acres to create test wells.

One of the ways New York state will be able to help pay for the climate transition is via a cap and invest program.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York state Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) released what they're calling a cap and invest “pre-proposal” for stakeholders.

This week, the city issued final rules that will govern enforcement of the Local Law 97, which sets a series of emission targets.

The goal is to reduce building emissions 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act into law on Wednesday, which aims to protect New Yorkers from the public health risk posed by lead pipes.

The legislation requires making information easily accessible to the public about the number and location of lead pipes so that state and federal resources can be secured and efficiently targeted to support local efforts to remove all lead pipes impacting New York’s drinking water.

An upgrade of transmission lines between Oneida County and Albany County, known as the Central East Energy Connect transmission project, has been completed, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

The $600 million 93-mile transmission line project, between Marcy and New Scotland, had 650 new steel transmission monopoles installed, and two new state-of-the-art transmission substations built at Gordon Road and in Princetown, both in Schenectady County. The upgrades aim to allow for increased power transfer capacity and more reliable transmission. They also relieve congestion and enable integration of more renewable energy into the state power grid.

One of the more than 100 bills waiting to be delivered to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature or veto is a bill known around the halls of Albany as “The Birds and the Bees Protection Act," which would ban the use of certain pesticides and seeds with a coating in the state of New York.

Capital Tonight spoke Thursday with Dan Raichel, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Jeff Williams, of the New York Farm Bureau.

As lawmakers and advocates start to prepare for the next New York legislative session, one of the people walking the state Capitol’s halls this January will be the new executive director of Environmental Advocates NY, Vanessa Fajans-Turner.

Fajans-Turner joined Capital Tonight to discuss her new role and the upcoming session.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that aims to better combat aquatic invasive species, two Capital Region lawmakers said Friday.

The new legislation enables town boards to further address and combat invasive aquatic invertebrate species, as they are currently only able to address invasive plants under state law.

New York this week announced plans for development of 6.4 new gigawatts of renewable energy – something Gov. Kathy Hochul has called “the largest ever renewable energy investment by a state.”

Both on and offshore projects, including three new offshore wind farms, have been offered conditional contracts, which means they will enter the negotiation phase.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced what she called the largest state investment in renewable energy in United States history, conducting of three offshore wind projects and 22 land-based projects, her office said Tuesday.

The state will commit $300 million and attract an additional $668 million in private funding.

New York state lawmakers will hold a hearing Tuesday on reducing packaging.

State Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Peter Harckham and Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Deborah Glick will take testimony aimed to steer legislative solutions to reduce the amount of waste brought on by packaging.

The New York state Legislature will hold a hearing Monday on potentially expanding the state's bottle deposit law.

State Assembly and Senate Environmental Conservation committee chairs Pete Harckham and Deborah Glick will take testimony to examine legislative solutions to increase the effectiveness of the Bottle Bill.

The cost of creating wind power could be going up.

Politico and other news organizations have reported that all New York state Energy Research and Development Authority-contracted wind project developers are asking the Public Service Commission (PSC) for “inflation adjustments."

Business groups from around New York state want to bring what they describe as a more “thoughtful and practical” approach to the climate transition, so they’re supporting several statewide information campaigns designed to educate the public.

According to Paul Zuber, the Business Council of New York State’s executive vice president, the campaign is supported by a diverse coalition of groups, including local chambers of commerce and transportation organizations.

New York has $165 million in funding available to support environmental upgrades to various transportation systems, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced Friday.

The funding can be used for projects that create new and enhance existing bicycle and pedestrian facilities, improve access to public transportation, create safe routes to schools, convert abandoned railway corridors to pedestrian trails and help reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

New York will make $100 million available for zero-emission public school buses as fleets transition to zero-emission vehicles, as required by the state's 2019 Climate Act, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced Thursday.

This is the first round of funding available for these buses under the $4.2 billion Environmental Bond Act that New York voters approved in 2022. There is a total of $500 million of Environmental Bond Act money available.

This week, business groups around the state are gearing up for a campaign that highlights the unintended costs of the state’s new climate law.

In response, New York Department of Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos told Capital Tonight that the costs of inaction are much higher.

New Yorkers generate about 4 1/2 pounds of trash daily, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. That’s about 15 million tons annually — or the weight of more than 41 Empire State buildings.

“We're not doing well at all," said Dawn Timm, environmental coordinator for Niagara County and chair of the New York Product Stewardship Council. "We haven't moved the needle on recycling in probably 20 years.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation aimed to make it easier to access geothermal heating and cooling systems in order to help reach the goals of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, her office announced Thursday.

The legislation hopes to reduce costs for the installation of geothermal wells, helping New York meet the state’s building decarbonization requirements. It changes how certain wells drilled deeper than 500 feet below the Earth’s surface are regulated. Currently, they are regulated under the same provisions that cover oil and gas mines and drilling. This legislation will create new provisions, streamlining regulation of geothermal boreholes while ensuring that all deep well locations throughout the state are adequately reviewed and that potential impacts from the drilling process are mitigated.

Something is wrong with Cayuga Lake.

Harmful Algal Blooms, or HABs, have been widespread there. While New York state is supposed to be doing assessments and comprehensive watershed cleanup of the blooms, it hasn’t been, according to Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, an independent environmental monitor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced the state has rolled out a roadmap for public schools to transition bus fleets to zero-emission vehicles, as required by the state's 2019 Climate Act.

The law bars school districts from purchasing additional buses that burn diesel starting in 2027 in preparation for a 2035 deadline.

This week, the state attorney general announced that New York along with more than 20 other states reached an updated $12.5 billion settlement with the company 3M for their role in contaminating drinking water sources with a “forever chemical” known as PFAS.

Rob Hayes, director of clean water for Environmental Advocates NY, told Capital Tonight that “so many drinking water sources in New York and across the country are contaminated by these chemicals and are putting New Yorker’s health at risk when they put on the tap.”

The nonprofit group Protect the Adirondacks called on Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday to release the long-stalled Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force report, according to a letter to the governor.

The Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force was organized in 2021 and completed its deliberations for a report by late 2022. The report, which has the non-profit said was drafted months ago, has yet to be released.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed a bill that bans the dumping of radiological waste from the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear plant as it goes through the decommissioning process.

The measure was passed by the state Legislature back in June as lawmakers and environmental advocates pointed to the economic damage that can be done by discharging the waste into the Hudson River. Opponents, including a labor union that represents workers at the Westchester County site as well as the owner of Indian Point, said the measure is unnecessary and could cost jobs.

We are seeing some early ballpark figures for New York state’s transition to clean energy: The bill appears to be around $44 billion.

It’s an estimate found in the New York state Department of Public Service’s “First Annual Informational Report on Overall Implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.”

LOS ANGELES — A Duarte-based company called LifeArk is taking a unique approach to building affordable housing for homeless people across California — by using plastic as the main material in its pre-fabricated, modular-building system.

Spectrum News got an inside look at the first 19-unit permanent supportive housing community in El Monte built by LifeArk as well as their future projects, including a 30-bed housing project set to open in 2024 in Los Angeles City Council District 5.

Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as well as consumer rebates, are receiving a $29 million boost, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced.

New York is trying to reach the target of significantly curtailing carbon emissions in the coming years. One of the key challenges is expanding the use of electric vehicles, where demand is in part dictated by the cost as well as concerns over where to find a charger.

New York's top utility regulator Rory Christian acknowledges the transition to cleaner and renewable forms of energy in the coming decades and how that will affect ratepayers in New York will present complications.

"I think that might be one of many challenges we have to face and we're going to need to look at this from a variety of different perspectives," he said. "It's going to require an all-of-government solution."

On Thursday, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland traveled to New York’s Capital Region to highlight the progress made on offshore wind projects.

Anne Reynolds, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy NY, joined Capital Tonight to discuss the “growing pains” and reasons for optimism in the renewable energy field.

Extreme heat continues across the American south this week while Canada experiences its worst wildfire season on record, also driven by extreme heat.

According to Reuters, the searing heat is part of a global pattern of rising temperatures, attributed by scientists to human activity.

New York's shorelines, susceptible to the impact of climate change through flash flooding and erosion, could soon have a new way of being protected.

State lawmakers gave final approval this month to a measure that is meant to encourage the Department of Environmental Conservation to use "nature-based solutions" to stabilize tidal shorelines.

New York lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to a measure that would ban the dumping of radiological waste from the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear plant as it goes through the decommissioning process.

The Democratic-led Assembly approved the measure with a handful of Republican votes as lawmakers and environmental advocates point to the economic damage that can be done by discharging the waste into the river. Opponents, including a labor union that represents workers at the Westchester County site as well as the owner of Indian Point, contend the measure is unnecessary and could cost jobs.

Liz Moran, policy advocate at Earthjustice, joined Capital Tonight to discuss the NY HEAT Act, which failed to get passed by the end of the scheduled legislative session. It would change state law to stop utility companies from building new natural gas hookups used to generate electricity. It would also cap utility bills at 6% of their income for low-and moderate-income households, which advocates say could save affected families up to $75 per month.

State business leaders have met last-minute changes made to a bill to limit plastic pollution and increase recycling statewide with fierce pushback in efforts to prevent the measure's passage in the last few days of session.

The legislation, nicknamed the Packaging and Recycling Infrastructure Act, would establish an Extended Producer Responsibility system in New York and make producers of packaging responsible for the costs of consumer waste and reduce used toxins. It would limit single-use plastic products for companies that sell packaged goods and charge them a fee to go into a fund to improve recycling infrastructure, increase the amount of waste that's recycled and support other local recyling programs.

Last month, state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul could not reach an agreement in the $229 billion budget to align utility regulations with the sweeping goals of a climate change provision to reduce carbon emissions in the coming decades.

Now, as state lawmakers wrap up the legislative session this week, a final push is being made to pass the bill, known as the NY Heat Act, among its supporters.

New York's move toward electrification is a massive undertaking, and the timeline to implement it is aggressive. Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), the state must reduce emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. That’s in less than seven years.

“It’s a crunch; it’s 78 months ‘till 2030,” said Bart Franey, the vice president of Clean Energy Development at National Grid. “That’s like tomorrow for us.”

Back in 1967 when the film “The Graduate” came out, “plastics” may have seemed like the future.

Not today.

Dozens of agricultural organizations and state business leaders are pushing back against a legislative effort to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in New York.

The chemical pest control, more commonly referred to "neonics," is often used to coat treated corn, wheat and soy seeds and is used in insecticides and to maintain decorative vegetation. The measure, dubbed the Birds and Bees Protection Act, would ban the use of seeds treated with the pesticide starting Jan. 1, 2026.

Passing legislation to curb new natural gas hookups before session ends is looking grim.

Lawmakers will not likely pass the measure, coined the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act, after it was amended and resubmitted Wednesday to the Assembly Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee. The committee is not scheduled to meet again before the last day of scheduled legislative session on June 8.

A proposal to ban the discharging of radioactive material into the Hudson River has cleared key legislative committees in the state Senate and Assembly as lawmakers eye a final vote in the coming days.

The measure, proposed as a way of further regulating the decommissioning of the Indian Point Energy Center in Westchester County, has advanced through the Environmental Conservation Committees in both chambers.

The recently passed New York state budget ushered in a new era of electrification: It mandates that new construction in the state is powered by electricity starting in 2026. It also authorizes the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to build renewable energy projects and ensures that the state’s largest buildings and campuses are powered by renewables.

Several of the just-passed proposals were part of the Climate Action Council’s scoping plan, created to ensure that New York meets its goal of reducing carbon emissions 85% by 2050.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New York state estimates already this year taxpayers are spending more than $800 million for projects related to climate change-caused damages and resiliency projects.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, sponsors legislation that would hold the world's biggest oil and gas companies responsible for at least some of those costs moving forward.

PASADENA, Calif. — You’ve probaby seen smudging, or even done it yourself — the trendy act of lighting sage on fire to cleanse the energy of a space.

But local Gabrielino Tongva member Samantha Johnson says the trendy practice is putting white sage at risk of extinction. It’s being picked and poached faster than it can regrow, and it’s an incredibly sacred and important native plant.

Four companies New York's pension fund has invested in have agreed to analyze and target a reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli on Tuesday said.

The companies included Carrier Global Corp, Papa John's International Inc., Century Aluminum Co. and Spirit Reality. Kraft Heinz, meanwhile, will create a deforestration-free policy of sourcing.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday shrugged off the potential of New York's plan to end natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings and homes by 2027 being impacted by a legal challenge to a similar provision in Berkeley, California while also pointing to the rebates for consumers to help make the transition.

"There are court cases happening all over the country, whether they have an effect here is another question," Hochul said on Monday in Buffalo.

New York state is making available $2.1 million in competitive grant money to aid local air quality improvement projects, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced.

Community-based non-profit organizations will qualify for the money to aid disadvantaged communities in New York that have struggled with air pollution.

It was a good New York budget for environmental advocates.

According to Liz Moran, New York public advocate at Earthjustice, the spending plan “exceeded expectations” by attacking greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from buildings.

The state budget was inches from the finish line, but environmental advocates weren't wasting any time to start the fight for legislation to reduce plastic packaging and expand recyclable bottles in New York before the session ends next month.

Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Blythe Danner joined hundreds of people who met with lawmakers Tuesday to ensure two bills to reduce plastic pollution and expand recycling statewide pass the Legislature within the next five weeks.

New York advocates and legislators rallied at the state Capitol Monday for legislation aimed to protect bees and their role as pollinators by ending the use of a group of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, or neonics.

The Birds and Bees Protection Act (S.1856/A.3226) is in response to a 2020 report from Cornell University finding that using neonics poses a threat to the state's bees while providing few benefits to farmers.

Officials are expected to put the finishing touches on the 2023-24 state budget this weekend, including finalizing programs to protect the environment and satisfy the state's strict benchmarks to fight climate change.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a tentative budget framework in the Capitol on Thursday night with few details.

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul have reached a tentative deal to end gas hookups in new construction in the coming years as part of a broader effort to shift the state away from fossil fuels and to more renewable forms of energy.

The agreement is meant to cushion the effect the measure will have on consumers, with pre-existing gas stoves unaffected. But at the same time, it's a tangible push toward making a transition to cleaner forms of energy, a change that will have a wide-ranging effect on energy policy in New York.

A listening tour is being launched by Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration for the public to provide input on how to spend $4.2 billion on environmental infrastructure upgrades around New York.

Hochul's office on Monday also announced $425 million in a new round of water infrastructure improvement projects.

In an attempt to further spur clean technologies in New York amid a push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury, state officials on Friday announced a multimillion-dollar program to support new insurance policies and products.

Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced a $6.5 million plan under the Insurance Innovation for Climate-Technology Solutions program as part of an effort to release grants for risk management and insurance market expansion for businesses that are transitioning to climiate-friendly products.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday touted the millions of dollars being sent to states like New York – including $21 million to make improvements to a bridge just south of Albany. And more cash for New York communities may be on the way.

Money is flowing into New York to improve its infrastructure. And Buttigieg says much of that cash is coming with an eye toward the future.

Lawmakers leading the climate fight are turning up the heat about which climate protection measures should be in the final state budget and which are a priority for the remainder of the legislative session as Democrats start to fracture over how to pay to successfully meet New York's emission reduction goals outlined in state law.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has made it clear her administration won't include a provision in the next budget to alter the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act, or Climate Act, and the timeline used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. But it doesn't mean it won't be a possibility later this session, or that the other more robust measures climate advocates are pushing for won't advance outside the budget, either.

New York was slow to adopt renewable energy under the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

According to Inside Climate News, New York is number 24 out of 50 states when it comes to generating gigawatts of power, having created just 6,895 gigawatt hours of wind and solar in 2022 compared to Texas’ 136,000 gigawatt hours.

In Albany, where lawmaking can move at the speed of smell, the Hochul administration’s retreat on a new climate policy was breathtaking.

On Monday, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority President and CEO Doreen Harris told Capital Tonight they were backing a bill sponsored by the Legislature’s Energy Committee chairs to, in effect, weaken the state’s climate laws. The purpose? To prevent New Yorkers from paying “potentially extraordinary costs."

Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration will not prioritize a proposal to re-calculate methane emissions as part of the ongoing state budget negotiations following an uproar from environmental and climate advocacy organizations over the plan.

But Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority President and CEO Doreen Harrris did not rule out further pursuing the idea, warning that "affordability" for consumers needs to be part of the conversations surrounding how to transition New York from carbon-based fuels to more renewable and cleaner forms of energy.

Add climate to the list of issues around which Gov. Kathy Hochul and Legislature leaders are butting heads in budget negotiations.

New York’s climate transition is expected to cost billions of dollars annually, which is one of the reasons the governor included a Cap & Invest program in her executive budget — it’s a pollution credits scheme through which polluters can help pay for the transition’s enormous tab. But until wind, solar and other renewables are more attainable, average New Yorkers will still be on the hook, financially.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Democratic leadership in New York state government wants to begin making natural gas a thing of the past. However, the plans for getting there differ.

Dennis Elsenbeck, head of energy and sustainability at Phillips Lytle, said buildings represent the state's largest single source of carbon emissions at roughly a third with transportation close behind.

New York leaders in Albany are close to an agreement on a first-in-the-nation ban on gas and fossil fuel hook-ups in new construction. The ban would likely start in 2025 or 2026, though that’s still being debated. The legislation will likely include exemptions for restaurants and back-up generators.

While both proposals are similar, the timeline for the legislature’s version of the “all-electric building act," sponsored by Brian Kavanagh and Emily Gallagher (S562A/ A920A), is somewhat more aggressive than the governor’s. It would prohibit “infrastructure, building systems, or equipment used for the combustion of fossil fuels in new construction statewide no later than December 31, 2023 if the building is less than seven stories and July 1, 2027 if the building is seven stories or more."

Who will pay for the ongoing damage caused by climate change?

The Climate Change Superfund Act may be one answer. The bill is sponsored by New York state Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. It was included in the Senate’s one-house budget last week, but not in the Assembly’s.

Antonio Reynoso, who has led Brooklyn for over a year as borough president, is striving to make pregnancy safer for Black Brooklynites and bring affording housing to his borough.

Last year, Reynoso launched a maternal health public education campaign called the Maternal Health Task Force, meant to connect people in Brooklyn with information and resources for better pregnancies.

The specifics differ, but Democratic state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are backing the same goal of ending the use of fossil fuels like natural gas in new residential and commercial construction.

The competing plans, advancing to the same goal on different timetables and sizes of buildings, are being considered as lawmakers and Hochul negotiate a $227 billion state budget this month.

With the release of the New York state Senate and Assembly one-house budget resolutions, Capital Tonight spoke with the Business Council of New York State (BCNYS) about the emerging spending plan due April 1, and the organization’s priorities.

Ken Pokalsky, vice president of BCNYS, said Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget is a mixed bag.

A coalition of green groups and unions is pushing the state to decarbonize its largest groups of buildings by replacing fossil fuels with thermal energy.

Buildings are the largest source of emissions in New York state, contributing over 32% of all pollution in the state.

There are several proposals in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget that could move New York’s 2019 Climate Law from theory into reality, including her “Cap & Invest” plan.

The state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates that New York get 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

State lawmakers want to ban the discharging of radioactive waste in the Hudson River amid the decommissioning of Indian Point Energy Center in Westchester County.

The nuclear plant, first opened in 1962, has had waste released into the water for decades, but a concerted environmental effort has significantly cleaned up the river in recent decades.

A measure backed by environmental advocates to reduce packaging waste and expand recycling efforts over the next decade is getting pushback from business organizations.

The New York bill would have companies cut their packaging by 50% in the next decade and have 90% of their packaging be made out of recycled materials within 12 years.

After serving on the board of the New York Power Authority since 2015, Anthony Picente, the Republican Oneida County executive, has resigned, citing disagreements with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration. Picente said it is a “matter of good conscience” to resign and cites policies differences on the environment, economy and public safety.

Picente argues that he is in favor of renewable energy but raises concerns about the speed that the policies are being implemented at. In his resignation letter to the governor, Picente writes that these decisions “that will impact people’s lives and livelihoods … need more thought, more discussion and certainly more input from the entire state.”

Mark Levine, who has led Manhattan for over a year as borough president, says cracking down on the illegal marijuana market and increasing affordable housing are top issues in the borough.

Three cannabis dispensaries have opened in Manhattan, including The Union Square Travel Agency, which opened last week.

New York lawmakers are proposing ways of getting companies responsible for pollution and climate change to pay up.

The proposals range from efforts to have oil and gas firms pay the state to offset the cost of climate change to New York. At the same time, lawmakers have proposed making it easier to sue companies deemed responsible for pollution.