DEC holds public hearing on areas struggling with climate leadership

HUDSON VALLEY — In conjunction with Catskill Mountainkeeper, a conservation and recreation group, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) asked Hudson Valley residents to share their thoughts about the draft disadvantaged communities (DAC) criteria at a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, June 29.

Beginning at noon, the virtual hearing was led by DEC Administrative Law Judge Michael Caruso. On behalf of the DEC and the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), Caruso called the event process “important.”

He explained the DEC, in partnership with NYSERDA, has held 11 such public hearings across the state to collect public input on the draft DAC criteria, and to advance its finalization. The goal is to help guide the implementation of the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

With representatives from environmental justice groups across the state and state agency representatives, Caruso said New York’s Climate Justice Working Group voted this past December to release the draft criteria to identify disadvantaged communities for the public to review.

The public comment period began in March and closed on Thursday, July 7. It may be viewed at www.climate.ny.gov. The criteria is based on geographic, public health, environmental hazards and socioeconomic factors.

Once approved, the data will be used to help meet the directives of the Climate Act relating to reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as informing regulatory impact statements and clean energy and energy efficient investments statewide.

DEC Office of Environmental Justice’s David Witt spoke about the New York Climate Act. He called it the nation’s most ambitious climate change legislation. Its goal is to reduce New York greenhouse gas emissions by 100% over 1990 levels by 2050, with an incremental target of at least a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030.

“By implementing the Climate Act, we will create opportunities to build a better future,” Witt said. “To ensure that this work also advances climate justice, the Climate Act mandates that at least between 35 to 40% of the benefits of NYS spending on clean energy accrue in disadvantaged communities”

He added “the identification and prioritization of disadvantaged communities and accounting for the benefits of cutting pollution and improving resilience is what makes our Climate Act a transformative law.”

To identify disadvantaged communities in New York, Witt said the Climate Justice Working Group used the act’s language to ID disproportionally burdened communities.

The group voted to include 45 indicators using data on environment hazards, climate change risk, public health issues, geography and socioeconomic factors like race, income, education level, unemployment rates and housing conditions.

He also said the DEC designations reflect the working group, its lived experiences and those who have lived in “historically overburdened and underfunded” communities.

While explaining how communities were tracked and identified, Witt said based on the criteria, 54% of households in the Mid-Hudson Valley region fall under the DAC criteria, with 46% found in geographically disadvantaged communities.

The hearing drew diverse thoughts and comments from  advocates for clean power and individuals with connections to the DEC. Many offered ways to make improvements.

Cal Trumann, a careers and education coordinator for New Yorkers for Clean Power, said the group broadly supports the criteria as identified.

“We encourage this working group and the DEC to accept ground truthing comments on an ongoing basis,” he said, “both to allow for more input than you may be able to receive during this limited period and because many areas are continuing to experience changing demographics.”

Trumann added his organization hopes the DEC will overlay the DAC map with a road map, so people can readily identify the boundaries of the disadvantaged communities.

Livingston Manor resident Taylor Jaffy shared her support for defining disadvantaged communities’ criteria. She said one big issue the DEC can capture moving forward is “creating more potential for some kind of buffer zone or other analysis that can capture the hazards that are in between census tracks, so we can capture more exposure between the census tracks.”