Congestion pricing green light

Presented by Attentive Energy One

CONGESTION PRICING GREEN LIGHT — POLITICO’s Danielle Muoio Dunn: The Biden administration on Friday cleared New York’s congestion pricing plan to move forward, approving an environmental review that suffered such significant delays many doubted the first-in-the-nation tolling system would ever happen. The Federal Highway Administration issued a letter approving the New York Metropolitan Transportation’s Authority environmental assessment and issued a draft “Finding of No Significant Impact” that will now be up for public review for 30 days, according to a copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO.

The news means the agency has been given the green light to start charging drivers entering central Manhattan at peak times in an effort to cut down on gridlock. MTA officials have said they would need almost a year to set up the new tolling infrastructure once it obtains federal approval, putting it on track to meet its current target of launching congestion pricing in the second quarter of 2024.

NY RENEWS ON OFFENSE: Heading into the end of session, the coalition that spurred what became New York’s climate law is going on the attack against National Grid. One of the state’s largest gas and electric utilities, the company has been criticized for pushing changes to the state’s climate law and advocating for the continued use of the gas system as New York moves to achieve its goals of reducing emissions. Grid also backed a reliability provision in the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on fossil fuels in new buildings, to some success.

NY Renews has started a sign-on letter calling for National Grid to leave New Yorkers for Affordable Energy. The industry-aligned group, which currently also lists National Fuel Gas, pipeline companies and unions as steering committee members, has run ads opposing the ban on fossil fuels in new construction and also raised concerns about the state’s climate plan focusing on electrification. NY Renews is running ads including in POLITICO’s New York Playbook and launching a social media campaign. “It’s not too late for National Grid to change course and play a pivotal role in New York’s clean energy transition. Drop the propaganda, embrace utility thermal energy networks, and put tens of thousands of New Yorkers to work in our future clean-energy economy,” the sign-on letter says.

Both National Grid and New Yorkers for Affordable Energy professed a desire for dialogue in meeting New York’s energy goals in statements to POLITICO on Sunday. National Grid’s Bryan Grimaldi, vice president corporate affairs, stated that the company supports the state’s goals. “This is complex work, and there are a lot of stakeholders – and opinions involved. That is why we participate in a variety of coalitions and groups, including those made up of our industry peers and labor unions that represent a majority of our employees,” he said. “While we may not agree with every position of every group of which we belong, and we believe reasonable people can differ on the right solutions, it is important for us to be part of the conversation.” “We believe dialogue is important and encourage productive conversations to meet our common goals,” said Daniel Ortega, the current executive director of New Yorkers for Affordable Energy who also heads up community affairs for the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative. “We look forward to working with the administration, legislators, and the public to ensure the system remains affordable and reliable.” (The former executive director of the organization who also worked for Danskammer Energy, Michelle Hook, now works for National Grid Ventures, the unregulated side of the utility.) — Marie J. French

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Here’s what we’re watching this week:

MONDAY

— NY Renews hosts a post-budget call to lay out the next steps for the coalition after some limited wins on the spending side in the budget on cap-and-trade but none of the guardrails on the cap side that the group had pushed, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY

— New York-based businesses, including Kickstarter, meet with legislative leaders to advocate for the passage of the Climate, Jobs & Justice Package, which is backed by NY Renews.

— Lead Free Kids New York calls for urgent action on childhood lead poisoning, noon, 4th floor of the New York State Capitol building.

WEDNESDAY

— The Independent Power Producers of New York hosts their conference, 8 a.m., Albany Capital Center.

Around New York

— A new study will examine hurricane evacuation from regions such as Long Island and New York City that are prone to catastrophic tropical storms. (An audit by the state comptroller faulted the lack of an update of this planning.)

— The CITY’s Sam Maldonado examines carbon capture in New York City.

— Cornell has a new type of broccoli.

— The Adirondack Park Agency is debating public input limits.

— The Champlain Hudson Power Express project completed water testing.

Around New Jersey

— New Jersey is looking at its options after congestion pricing for part of New York City was approved by the federal government.

What you may have missed

CLIMATE PLAN PROGRESS — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: The state took its first steps toward implementing measures recommended by a sweeping plan to slash emissions substantially in the coming decades — but fell short on some key items. The budget passed earlier this week includes a landmark law to ban fossil fuel combustion in most new buildings by 2029 with some exceptions. It invests $200 million to weatherize and decarbonize the homes of 20,000 low-income New York residents.

And it includes legislative buy-in for a sweeping cap-and-trade program similar to California’s program to place an economywide limit on emissions and auction off allowances to pollute, raising potentially billions in revenue to invest in clean energy programs. Lawmakers put down a marker that they’d help decide how to spend the money raised and set up a pathway to get payments to New York households to defray higher fuel costs from the plan.

“I think it’s a decent start,” said Assemblymember Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee. “Everybody always wants everything done all at once. It’s just not the way the world works. Obviously, we have other bills that are moving through the Legislature that are components of addressing the climate crisis.”

NYC TRANSMISSION LINE COMPLETE: A transmission line built by Con Edison that is expected to support the retirement of some New York City peaker power plants has been completed, the utility announced on Wednesday. “As we continue our efforts to combat climate change, upgrading New York’s transmission system to deliver clean energy across the state is a top priority,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.. “With this critical new transmission line, we are enhancing and upgrading New York City’s electric grid and enabling the continued development of renewable energy.”

The $275 million cost of the six-mile transmission line, and two other projects, will be recovered from Con Ed ratepayers. The total pricetag is about $800 million. Peakers in the city are being forced to close under new emissions standards developed by the Department of Environmental Conservation. An NRG plant in Astoria closed at the beginning of the month under the regulations, which will phase in over the coming years. Despite the new transmission projects, future peaker retirements may be delayed because of reliability issues identified by the New York Independent System Operator. — Marie J. French

TRANSIT SHORTFALLS — POLITICO’s Danielle Muoio Dunn and Ry Rivard: Public transit systems at the heart of major American cities were built around the 9-to-5 — and that old business of shepherding workers to downtown offices turned into their greatest weakness.

The riders transit agencies have catered to for decades are also the ones who abandoned their systems in droves, and some transportation officials are facing a difficult prospect: To win back straphangers, they must remake public transit to better serve everyone whose lives don’t revolve around traveling into a central business district.

BUDGET DETAILS — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: Enjoy this quick rundown of some details on the climate front. The New York budget includes an anemic version of a campaign backed by environmental groups and unions to decarbonize state buildings. The “Upgrade NY” campaign had pushed for more than $100 million in funding to support a mandate for all state buildings to have zero on-site emissions by 2040. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s negotiators balked at the price tag — and putting NYPA on the hook without reimbursement. The final budget deal includes $30 million in funding for 15 “decarbonization action plans” for the 15 highest-emitting state facilities, with a focus on thermal energy network options. The New York Power Authority would be tasked with those efforts and plans are due by Jan. 31, 2026.

INVEST BUT NO CAP: Lawmakers did not put any requirements around the cap on emissions that the Department of Environmental Conservation plans to implement through regulations to achieve the state’s climate targets. But they agreed to Hochul’s push for a portion of the money — about a third — to go to rebates for individuals (at least 30 percent of the funds raised) and businesses (up to 3 percent) to cushion the blow of higher fuel costs from pricing in the external costs of climate change.

LATOURETTE ON WHALES: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette gave a lengthy rebuttal about the unfounded connection between offshore wind development and whale deaths. During an exchange with Senate Republicans at a DEP budget hearing, LaTourette pushed back on Republican talking points calling for a halt to offshore wind development, which they say is necessary to figure out why whales have been washing up on New Jersey beaches. Republicans have, with no evidence other than coincidence, suggested offshore wind development work may be killing whales.

In the remarks, which are perhaps the firmest reply by Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration to Republican efforts to derail the administration’s clean energy plans, LaTourette argued the reasons whales are dying is a well-known but complex mixture of climate change, plastic pollution, changing prey patterns and busy East Coast shipping and fishing industries. “The reason we have not seen this in years past isn’t because there were no offshore survey vessels in the ocean,” he said. “It’s because our adverse climate experience in this state and around this planet is worsening at a horrifying pace.”

“So if we want to save the whales,” he said, “I have a couple of ideas.” Then he outlined a three-step plan that involves regulation of the plastics, shipping and fishing industries, which he called reasoned. “First,” LaTourette said, “let’s focus our energies on the maintenance of ship speeds so that we are able to identify the presence of marine mammals that could be harmed and alter course.”

“Second,” he said, “let’s not backtrack on plastics. Because if you were to pay attention to the necropsies of these mammals, you would find their bellies full of plastic because of practices in this state and country and all around the world. Our ocean is a plastics dumping ground. And the necropsies show us starving mammals who are chasing prey fish whose habitat is becoming altered because of climate change and causing them to get hit by ships. We can break that cycle.”

“We could also work, third, on our regulation of commercial fishing and recreational to avoid the entanglements,” he said, referring to another common cause of whale deaths.

The comments came the day before Republicans plan to hold their own hearing on whale deaths that is expected to center on offshore wind.

TRENTON WATER REPORT SOON: During his testimony to the Senate, LaTourette also said the DEP would release a report on Trenton Water Works in a matter of weeks. Last year, the state moved to tighten state oversight of Trenton’s water system, citing the “imminent and substantial endangerment” to more than 200,000 customers in and around the capital city. LaTourette said the state is also working on a plan to cure some of the problems there. Since stepping in to oversee the system, DEP has spent about $1.5 million, money which it has shouldered but will expect the city to pay back. The commissioner’s comments during an exchange with Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex), who represents areas adjacent to the city that rely on water from the system. — Ry Rivard

PEAKER RETIREMENT PLAY — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: The New York Power Authority will have broad new ability to build renewables and can compete for state contracts subsidized by ratepayers under an agreement in the state budget. The deal, reached over the weekend and expected to be included in the final budget set for approval this week, also moves up the date NYPA must plan to retire its fossil fuel plants by 2030 in a victory for advocates, according to details obtained by POLITICO. The authority had already aimed to decarbonize its power plants by 2035.

The new role for NYPA in building renewables is a significant victory for socialist organizers and environmental groups who pushed for publicly owned new solar and wind to play a significant role in the state’s transition off fossil fuels. Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced a more limited measure as part of her budget but did not include the earlier retirement date or strong labor standards that will be included in the final measure, according to officials familiar with the agreement. Retirement of NYPA’s downstate peaker plants, which are located in environmental justice communities that have been pushing for their closure, will be subject to a reliability review by the state’s independent grid operator. They could also still run to provide emergency services.

NEW YORK WATERFRONT POLICING PLAN — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: New York’s budget agreement would create a new regulatory agency in the executive branch to replace the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, a bistate police agency that New Jersey is exiting following a Supreme Court ruling last month.

The language, in one of the budget bills printed on Monday and expected to pass early this week, punts on one of the more vexing issues facing the two states, though, which is whether dockworkers licensed by New Jersey will automatically be allowed to work in New York. The budget said New York is “authorized to cooperate” with New Jersey, but does not require it. This could become an issue if the two states adopt different hiring standards. New Jersey is creating its own licensing system, to be managed by the New Jersey State Police, and is under pressure from the International Longshoremen’s Association and the shipping industry to license more workers. This could help staff up at the increasingly busy port — the New York and New Jersey container port is now the busiest in the country — but could also lead to trouble, since the Waterfront Commission was created in the 1950s to deal with kickback schemes known as the “shape up” that was enabled by a glut of dockworkers.