In order to achieve its ambitious climate goals, New York State must make significant and rapid progress in its deployment of renewable energy. An important step in this process is environmental review and permitting. Because ACE NY has been actively involved in highlighting problems and delays in permitting, we wanted to check in to see how things were going.

ACE NY is part of a broad coalition of environmental groups working to improve electric vehicle (EV) access to create a fair and open EV market in New York. As the state pushes towards its goal of phasing out sales of new internal combustion vehicles by 2035, one of the most important considerations is making sure New Yorkers can learn about, test drive, and buy electric vehicles in their home state by as many methods as possible.

In a recent issue of the Adirondack Explorer, an article by Gwendolyn Craig asked the question: “Should the Adirondack Park be used for large solar projects?”. Of all the views presented in the article, former Governor George Pataki’s was the most disturbing. He was quoted as saying “It is utterly inappropriate in the Adirondack Park”. I hope he reconsiders.

Four years ago, when ACE NY held our first event for Climate Week NYC, we had a great breakfast and excellent discussion (Remember the topic? Access to clean energy for low-income New Yorkers), but the rest of the world didn’t pay all that much attention to Climate Week.

In June 2021, New York reached a crucial milestone in the implementation of its nation-leading climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. After months of meetings, all seven advisory panels submitted their recommendations to the Climate Action Council for consideration as it develops the plan to achieve law’s economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction mandates.

WE ACT for Environmental Justice, a Northern Manhattan-based organization, was formed in 1988 to fight the placement of a sewage treatment plant in West Harlem.

WeAct is now the lead organizer of the national Environmental Justice Leadership Forum and has a Federal Policy office in Washington D.C. with ties to the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Congress.

Last year’s historic legislative accomplishment for renewable energy was epitomized by passage of the Accelerated Renewable Energy Siting Act, which created the new Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) and launched a process to improve and standardize siting requirements. By law, the new ORES rules are due by April 1st and all indications are that they will be done on time.

New York has set ambitious goals to increase the sales of electric vehicles (EVs) to New Yorkers, but with the exception of five downstate Tesla outlets, New Yorkers can’t buy a Tesla at retail stores upstate or out-of-state, nor can they buy EVs from other manufacturers like Rivian directly from sales locations.

Texas is currently experiencing once-in-a-generation cold weather that has caused widespread blackouts across the state. Companies are working as quickly and creatively as possible to restore power to the residents and first responders bearing the burden of this anomaly, hopefully bringing an end to this hardship as soon as possible.

The new year brings an exciting and important new stage to implementation of the state’s historic Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Cuomo in 2019, the bill set in motion a process that could put New York in the leadership of the fight to address climate change and launch a new wave of investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.