By: DarlaY
05/18/2023 12:04 pm
Letter from Gary R. Schoonmaker
Is there some kind of media blackout around the Climate Action Council’s activities? The New York State government (Legislature and governor), passed a law in 2019 called the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). That act set a goal of “net-zero carbon emissions for the entire state economy by 2050.”
In order to implement that goal, the legislation commissioned a Climate Action Council to develop a draft Action Plan and then a Final Action Plan. In January 2022, the draft action plan was published and public hearings were subsequently held across New York State. If this is news to you, I expect you are in the majority of citizens of New York State. When I heard about the public hearing in Syracuse, it was only a couple of days before hearings were to be held and I had seen nothing on the news or in newspapers about them. I heard about it on a local Saturday morning radio program discussing how to maintain your home.
By: DarlaY
05/05/2023 8:04 am
The Partial Observer by Roger Caiazza
As part of the Hochul Administration’s plan to implement the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (Climate Act), a market-based pollution control program called ‘’cap and invest” was proposed earlier this year in legislation associated with the budget. It was not included in the final budget bill but it will be considered later this year. This is an overview of this complicated proposal that has affordability and energy use implications.
The Climate Act Scoping Plan identified the need for a “comprehensive policy that supports the achievement of the requirements and goals of the Climate Act, including ensuring that the Climate Act’s emission limits are met.” It claimed that the policy would “support clean technology market development and send a consistent market signal across all economic sectors that yields the necessary emission reductions as individuals and businesses make decisions that reduce their emissions” and provide an additional source of funding. The authors of the Scoping Plan based these statements on the success of similar programs, but did not account for the differences between their proposal and previous programs.
By: DarlaY
05/04/2023 12:04 pm
Letter from Gary R. Schoonmaker
Which is more stable: a one-legged stool or one with three or more legs? The Climate Action Council is moving quickly to implement a program to terminate the use of any energy in the State of New York other than electricity. That would leave us with an energy stool sitting on one leg. Have you ever tried to sit on a one-legged stool?
Right now, we have a stool with multiple legs: We have electricity, yes, but we also have natural gas, propane, gasoline, etc. Why, when so many people are clamoring for diversity, and financial advisors recommend that no one put all of their money in a single investment, does the state legislature and governor think it wise to get rid of all forms of energy except electricity?
