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New York
ENVIRONMENTALISTS ALARMED BY PUSH TO ‘UNDERMINE’ NEW YORK’S CLIMATE LAW
The proposal has support from the fossil fuel industry and would likely enable
more combustion of natural gas and other fuels for longer than currently
envisioned under New York’s climate law in a plan approved in December.
Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated in her State of the State address in January that
she wants to link a proposed cap-and-trade policy for emissions in New York with
other states. | Hans Pennick/AP Photo
By Marie J. French
04/02/2023 06:11 PM EDT
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ALBANY, N.Y. — Changing New York’s unique accounting method for greenhouse gas
emissions has become an unexpected issue in state budget talks — sparking
concern among environmental groups.
The proposal has support from the fossil fuel industry and would likely enable
more combustion of natural gas and other fuels for longer than currently
envisioned under New York’s climate law in a plan approved in December.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is supportive of the change, which was also proposed in a bill
sponsored by Energy Committee Chair Sen. Kevin Parker on Monday, and it has come
up in budget negotiations. Some other Senate Democrats are not supportive of the
proposal.
“The 20-year methane accounting reflects the reality of the climate impact of
burning natural gas,” said Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), who chairs the
powerful Senate Finance Committee, in a statement. “It is one of the strongest
parts of the [state’s climate law]. Giving in to the polluter lobby by weakening
our methane accounting will kneecap all our efforts going forward.”
New York is the one of only two jurisdictions to use a 20-year time horizon to
account for the damaging effects of planet-warming gasses instead of 100 years.
Maryland’s 2022 climate law also uses the 20-year metric.
This important distinction was a key provision pushed by supporters of the
state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act passed in 2019. It makes
methane, the main component of natural gas, more potent than under the longer
accounting timeline. Backers say this more accurately reflects the short-term
warming impact of greenhouse gasses and the urgency around reducing emissions.
Hochul’s administration has been examining the issue of accounting for
greenhouse gasses for the past few months.
The governor indicated in her State of the State address in January that she
wants to link a proposed cap-and-trade policy for emissions in New York with
other states. She directed state agencies to analyze the cost of using
international accounting methods compared to the state’s law for cap-and-trade.
California and other markets all use the 100-year timeline and incorporate the
benefits of capturing emissions from biofuels before they’re burned.
“We’re getting closer to the time when these costs would begin to show up for
New Yorkers,” said a person in the governor’s office who requested anonymity to
candidly discuss negotiations. “New York has an outlier greenhouse gas emissions
accounting methodology, and that emissions accounting methodology will drive
additional costs to consumers as compared to the accounting methodology utilized
by the rest of the world.”
The cost of using the CLCPA accounting metrics has not been fully analyzed,
according to the governor’s office, and they’re focused on affordability as a
key component in budget negotiations around cap-and-invest and climate policies.
The state’s most recent greenhouse gas inventory for 2022 shows emissions are
about 170 million tons higher under the state’s accounting framework than the
international standard used by the federal government and other states. That
includes “upstream” emissions that occur outside New York.
“To achieve the CLCPA statewide emissions targets, New Yorkers would be
financially responsible for eliminating those inflated emissions and out of
state emissions,” the person in the governor’s office said.
Hochul’s top energy officials have publicly defended the estimated costs, which
in the climate plan approved in December use New York’s accounting rules, as
being a small fraction of the state’s economic output. They’ve repeatedly said
that the net health and climate benefits outweigh those costs.
The CLCPA mandates that New York reduces emissions 40 percent from 1990 levels
by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050, with the remainder offset to hit net zero. Under
the current accounting, those reductions will require an aggressive
electrification of buildings that currently rely on natural gas. There’s also
little incentive under the current framework to use low-carbon fuels like
renewable natural gas or biodiesel.
“At the end of the day, we just have to get to net zero, not absolute zero, and
we have until 2050,” Parker said. “Part of what we have from the ecoterrorists
is an attempt to move the goalposts.”
ENVIRONMENTALISTS RALLY OPPOSITION
At least a dozen environmental groups have sent memos opposing Parker’s bill,
S6030, since it was introduced on Monday including Sierra Club, Earthjustice, NY
Renews, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Food and Water Watch and
Environmental Advocates NY.
“Governor Hochul would side with the fossil fuel industry to torpedo New York’s
landmark climate law, along with her own budget proposals to address the climate
crisis, should she move forward with a proposal to weaken the state’s accounting
for methane emissions,” said Earthjustice’s New York policy advocate Liz Moran.
“The Governor and the Legislature still have the opportunity to make this a
winning budget for the climate, but that is thrown to the wind if they cave to
fossil fuel interests to gut New York’s climate law.”
Parker said the 20-year timeline makes achieving the state’s climate goals more
expensive, as utilities pass costs along to ratepayers. He also said New York
using its own accounting method ignores the need for a global solution to reduce
emissions.
“It creates an easier time horizon and cost horizon for companies to use as they
go into this process,” he added. “At the end of the day, something that works is
better than something that’s fast.”
Proposals to give rebates to New York residents from climate funds raised under
a cap on pollution would address concerns about cost for residents, said New
York City Environmental Justice Alliance executive director Eddie Bautista.
“That would make sure that costs are not regressive,” he said. “The senator’s
bill endangers the emissions goal that environmental justice communities have
fought for for decades.”
ACCESSING FEDERAL MONEY
National Grid, one of the state’s largest gas and electric utilities, and
National Fuel, the largest gas-only utility, have previously pushed to change
the accounting framework.
The forestry industry, the Clean Fuels Alliance that represents producers of
alternative fuels and airlines are all supportive of Parker’s proposed measure.
One argument they’re making is that New York needs to align its accounting with
federal standards for companies to easily access incentives from the Inflation
Reduction Act.
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“If we don’t have this accounting we could lose billions of dollars of new
investment,” said John Bartow, executive director of the Empire State Forest
Products Association. “It’s more expensive to accomplish our emissions
reductions using a 20 year” accounting method.
Bartow cited a report prepared by Tristan Brown, an associate professor at SUNY
ESF, that seeks to calculate benefits of the state supporting use of low-carbon
fuels.
These groups have also been supportive of a low-carbon fuel standard for
transportation, which would incentivize displacing fossil fuels with biodiesel
and other alternatives. Detractors are wary this would simply prolong the use of
combustion engines that still emit co-pollutants rather than accelerate
electrification.
Another change in the bill that’s drawn support from groups pushing for broader
use of low-carbon fuels is requiring Department of Environmental Conservation to
change the way it accounts for burning renewable natural gas produced from
sources like crops or cow manure. Right now, DEC calculates those as very
similar to burning fossil fuels.
“You’re severely discouraging investments in New York from low carbon fuel
providers who might otherwise come to the state,” said Floyd Vergara, the
director of state governmental affairs for the Clean Fuels Alliance of America.
He said the group is not involved with the push to change the time horizon for
greenhouse gas accounting.
Assemblymember Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Environmental
Conservation Committee, is not persuaded. She said federal officials have
indicated that funding from the IRA will be based on individual projects, not
the state’s plans.
“It clearly is the fossil fuel industry that is trying to stir up that there’s a
big problem,” Glick said. “It’s a complete red herring.”
Glick said she would not support the Hochul administration’s pitch to change the
accounting under the cap-and-trade proposal.
“It’s all very preliminary, but not good,” she said. “We’re not interested in
doing things that erode the goals of the CLCPA. You set aggressive goals. You
understand that you work as hard as you can to reach a goal, sometimes you
don’t, but you don’t undermine your goal at the outset.”
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that one other state,
Maryland, also uses the 20 year timeline for emissions accounting.
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* New York,
* Environmentalists
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