New York Climate Change Fight 'Hits the Road' in New Bills
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June 5, 2008
Albany, NY - Until this week, New York was taking a one-industry approach to attacking the problem of climate change, concentrating on power generation.
Now lawmakers in Albany are trying something different. Lindenhurst Assemblyman Bob Sweeney chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee and says a new bill moves beyond just regulating climate change emissions that come from power plants.
"Basically this bill is going to look at pretty much everything else. I mean literally everything else that emits or could emit greenhouse gases, and we'll ask our Department of Environmental Conservation to figure out what we need to be doing about that."
He says the bill that passed the Assembly follows the advice of top scientists in setting greenhouse gas reduction goals of 80 percent by the year 2050. This week, Rockland Senator Thomas Morahan offered "The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Control Act" which closely follows the bill that passed the Assembly. Opposition to the bill includes the auto industry, which claims the cost to implement pollution controls could put them out of business.
Jackson Morris with Environmental Advocates of New York says cars, trucks and other modes of transportation are the number one source of climate-changing pollution, accounting for one-third of the state's emissions. Morris expects the Department of Environmental Conservation will start there, with new C02 reduction requirements.
"There are major gains that could be made in the transportation sector, and also in the agricultural sector, involving methane capture. There's the building sector, and then there's obviously just large industries such as cement kilns, steel refineries, things like that."
Morris says New York dairy farms could take a major step under this legislation, because methane capture takes a potent greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere, while providing renewable energy in the process.