ALBANY — The New York League of Conservation Voters plans to focus this session on advocating for a low-carbon fuel standard to reduce emissions from the transportation sector, among other priorities.
The bipartisan advocacy group also plans to push tweaks to encourage construction of more renewable projects, address waste issues and promote more energy efficient buildings and appliances.
The League released its 2020 agenda on Friday.
The state passed a measure mandating net-zero emissions by 2050 as part of the signature climate law signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in July. Many advocates say transportation, the largest sector for greenhouse gases in the state, is going to be one of the most difficult areas to tackle.
“There’s strict requirements on when you have to meet certain types of electrical goals” in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, said Julie Tighe, the league's president. “But there’s a path forward for how we’re going to get there on the renewable energy side of the ledger. On transportation, it’s the number one source so it should be where we focus the most effort.”
The concept of a low-carbon fuel standard, which California has adopted, has been kicked around in New York for several years. But it failed to gain much traction in previous sessions. With the passage of the climate law and Democratic majorities in both chambers, supporters see more opportunity to push forward.
A low-carbon fuel standard would create a market-based system in which suppliers of high-emitting fuels on a life-cycle basis — diesel and gasoline, for example — would essentially have to buy credits from those with lower-emitting fuels — biofuels, ethanol or electricity. Lawmakers shouldn’t wait for the work of the Climate Action Council, created under the climate law, to act on this concept, Tighe said.
“We don’t need to wait for the study the Climate Action Council is required to do in order to start taking action to reduce emissions. We know we can be electrifying lots of types of transportation,” she said. “The low carbon fuel standard is a way of doing that that doesn’t require massive investments of taxpayer dollars. Instead of the state funding it you can use market-based mechanisms to help make those changes."
NYLCV will also support New York joining the Transportation and Climate Initiative, a multi-state cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions from transportation fuels and provide revenue to invest in electric vehicles, mass transit and other priorities.
The League also plans to push for some tweaks to the Article 10 siting process for large scale renewables. That includes proactive local planning with incentives, excluding payments from projects from the state's 2 percent property tax cap and establishment of a mitigation bank for project developers to pay into to offset the environmental impacts of construction.
“Everyone has just made a huge commitment to getting a lot of renewable energy sited,” Tighe said. “If the law as it is not working then we’re going to collectively have to come together and make changes to the law to enable that to happen. None of our goals can be achieved if we aren’t making real, significant steps forward on the siting of renewable energy.”
The league will also focus on waste and recycling, an issue in which environmentalists, lawmakers, local governments and industry all have an interest.
An expansion of the bottle bill fell short last session. Tighe said a glass-only expansion should be part of the discussion because it is the material that is the most challenging for municipalities to handle.
Her group supports setting a goal of reducing waste going to landfills by 90 percent by 2040, along with extended producer responsibility for packaging and increased recycled-content requirements for materials.
Tighe said NYLCV is also supportive of Cuomo’s proposal to ban Styrofoam in most restaurants and other food establishments.
Author: Marie J. French, mfrench@politico.com | @m_jfrench