A hot and rainy summer is spurring calls for New York to do more to tackle climate change. Meanwhile, state officials are stepping up efforts to shape an electric future.
There are now 150,000 electric vehicles on New York roads. With the state expecting many more in the coming years, Adam Ruder of the New York State Research and Energy Development Authority is trying to make sure there will be enough charging stations.
“We can’t do it alone,” Ruder said. “We need to work with private sector partners and various state agencies that collaborate to make sure there is enough EV charging infrastructure across the state.”
Hochul’s administration announced this week that $15 million will be spent to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure, placing stations where people are, including businesses and multi-family homes.
“The whole purpose of this is to make charging as easy as possible as part of your regular routine and not have to go out of your way,” Ruder said.
By the middle of the next decade, the only cars sold in New York will be zero-emission vehicles. At the same time, state officials are working to help school districts transition to zero-emission buses. The state is helping with the infrastructure to do that, along with money from a voter-approved bond law.
“Between that and the money for the buses themselves that we’ll be able to put toward that with bond act money and federal money, we’re really going to try to make this as easy as possible for the schools.” Ruder said.
Some advocates, including Food and Water Watch’s Alex Beauchamp, say New York is not doing enough as the state bakes and floods this summer. He calls for passage of a measure that would end state subsidies for fossil fuels and end their expansion.
“Climate change is already here and we’re already paying for it,” Beauchamp said. “So not only do we need to get the state off fossil fuels, but we also need an enormous amount of money to deal with the impacts of climate change that are already here and will get worse.”
For his part, Blair Horner of NYPIRG calls for the approval of a measure that would have to pay the companies considered responsible for the pollution to strengthen the infrastructure.
“They are responsible,” Horner said. “They lied about the threat, undermined the science and misled the public and now we’re going to pay the price.”
Both measures failed to gain final approval in the state legislature.
The New York State Business Council has opposed legislation to make it easier to sue companies blamed for pollution. The organization said the proposal would essentially mask the cost of the energy transition.
“Achieving New York State’s greenhouse gas emission reduction and renewable energy product goals will be costly and harmful, regardless of the long-term benefits, so it is essential that efforts of the state’s implementation are cost-effective, viable and avoid significant harm to the system. the state’s economic climate,” the group wrote in a note of opposition. “We believe there are many reasonable measures that can be part of the state’s implementation plan, and that a broadly applicable carbon pricing mechanism can be part of that effort.”
