Testimony of the Green Legal and Education Fund Inc.
To the New York State Legislature Joint Budget Hearing on the
2023-24 Executive Budget Proposal on Environmental Conservation
February 14, 2023

My name is Mark Dunlea, and I am chair of the Green Education and Legal Fund (GELF). I am also the convener of PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy), the 350.org affiliate in the Capital District and serve as national co-chair of the EcoAction Committee of the Green Party of the U.S. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the state budget on environmental issues.

Now that the climate scoping document is out 3.5 years after the CLCPA was passed (and 13 years after Governor Patterson first issued an Executive Order to create a climate plan), we hope that State lawmakers will dramatically speed up the transition to a clean energy future in order to increase the chances that future generations will have some chance of a decent quality of life.

We continue to call for the state to officially declare a climate emergency, which needs to include a halt to any new fossil fuel infrastructure and an investment of at least $15 billion annually in renewable energy and other Green New Deal initiatives. The state must make surviving climate change the number one priority for all actions at every level of government.

There are a variety of ways that State lawmakers can raise $15 billion annually – a carbon tax, Climate Superfund Act, tax the rich, polluter penalty. The state needs to create an ongoing revenue stream for climate action, including assisting New York households to pay for the clean energy transition. This includes $2 billion annually for subsidies for low and middle-income households to decarbonize their residences.

One key issue is what form of carbon pricing New York will enact. GELF's recommendations on how to respond to the Governor's cap-and-invest carbon pricing program (which still largely lacks most critical details) are detailed below. We believe, like most economists, that a robust carbon tax is a much better alternative. If the legislature decides to support C&I, we urge it to set a cap on emissions that is lower (stronger) than is presently required by the CLCPA.

Lawmakers should also set a minimum price of carbon of at least $60 per ton, rising rapidly to the $120 that DEC estimates as the social cost of carbon.[1] We must end the taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuels. Of the $6 trillion estimated by the International Monetary Fund in global subsidies, the vast majority is from governments' failing to hold polluters responsible for the damages their actions cause.[2]

As GELF did when Governor Cuomo proposed it 4 years ago, we support the proposal by Governor Hochul to have the New York Power Authority (NYPA) build renewable energy facilities.

GELF recommendations for the state budget include:

• an expansion of the bottle bill on its 40th anniversary;
• an end to the $7.6 billion subsidy for three upstate nuclear power plants;
• the legislation to transform the state capitol complex to 100% clean, renewable energy;
• a major expansion of funding for mass transit statewide;
• increased funding for water infrastructure; and,
• enact the Extended Producer Responsibility bill introduced by Senator May to reduce packaging waste rather than the proposal by Governor Hochul. 

The full testimony is available here.