Mid-Atlantic: New York City

NYC parkside viewWith a population of 8.1 million people, New York is the largest city in the United States. Dependent on the flow of waters from the Catskills, New York is the archetype of urban life. Within this city we find a growing community of sustainability activists, educators and designers shaping New York's evolution in the new century. (See NYC Resources)

News

Wall-E Park

November 23, 2008. New York magazine featured an article on the transformation of Freshkills Landfill into a park.

'The Politics of Food: New York's Next Policy Challenge' Conference Video Available Online

November 21, 2008. Columbia Univsersity and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President have made avaiable online speeches and video of the conference held at Columbia, including those of Mayor Bloomberg and UN General Assembly President Father Miguel d'Estoto Brockmann.

New York City Host Committee Plans for 2009 UN Commission on Sustainable Development

November 21, 2008. The New York City host committee for next year's UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) held a planning session to prepare for the 2009 meetings on agriculture and rural development. Building on last year's successful schedule of events and tours organized as a City Farms Linkages Showcase, and a CitNet-sponsored panel on biofuels and food security, and the committee discussed plans for a similar set of events and activities for 2009. The preparatory CSD meeting will meet from February 23 to 27 and the two-week CSD session from May 4 to 15. Look at the planning website for organizing food-related CSD information and/or contact Thomas Forster. General information about the CSD is available at here.

Center for Climate Strategies Presents the Economic Benefits of Climate Action

November 18, 2008. The Center for Climate Strategies presented a new report on the economic benefits of climate action based on actual experience in a number of US states, including New York.

A Time for 'Green' Reconstruction

November 5 , 2008.With a decisive election victory for Barack Obama, and Democratic Party majorities in the US Congress and New York State, there is no question that change is coming.

Many environmentalists are excited by the new potential for progress regarding national and international policies on energy and climate change, but concerned that the global financial crisis will interfere with efforts to set a new course for climate protection and sustainable development. 

There will be no magic restoration of US housing prices or global financial markets. But there is hope for new US leadership on building an environmentally and socially sustainable economy. 

What can we expect from President Obama? His environmental plans include:

  • Cutting U.S. carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, through a cap-and-trade system that would auction off 100 percent of emissions permits, making polluters pay for the CO2 they emit. Revenue from auctioning emissions permits -- between $30 billion and $50 billion a year – used for developing and deploying clean energy technology, creating "green jobs," and helping low-income Americans afford higher energy bills.

  • 25 percent of U.S. electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025, and 30 percent of the federal government's electricity to come from renewables by 2020.

  • Investments of $150 billion over 10 years in R&D for renewables, biofuels, efficiency, "clean coal," and other clean technologies.

  • Improving energy efficiency in the U.S. 50 percent by 2030.

  • 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be used in the U.S. each year by 2022 and 60 billion gallons of biofuels to be used in the U.S. each year by 2030.

  • All new buildings in the U.S. to be carbon neutral by 2030.

  • Reducing U.S. oil consumption by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels a day, by 2030.

  • Raising fuel-economy standards for automobiles to 40 miles per gallon and light trucks to 32 mpg by 2020.

  • Phasing out incandescent light bulbs by 2014.

Can we do it….?  

World leaders are being called upon to formulate a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming by the end of 2009. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, decisive action is required in the US, historically the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions. But the economic crisis in the US will make politicians reluctant to adopt policies, such as a national cap-and-trade program, that will increase costs to consumers.  

Though not as obvious as the recent losses in asset values, climate change impacts present more overwhelming long-term threats. Climate expert James Hansen warned in a recent paper that: “Continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions, for just another decade, practically eliminates the possibility of near-term return of atmospheric composition beneath the tipping level for catastrophic effects.”

Support for critical environmental policies will have to be based on the promise for reconstruction and development based on a new “green economy."

Earth Institute event, "Kyoto Mechanisms: Key to Combating Climate Change?," available as webcast

October 9, 2008. Columbia University’s Earth Institute and its director Jeffrey Sachs hosted a discussion on the Kyoto Protocol and ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions with Yvo de Boer, head of the secretariat for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This event is available as a webcast.

Renewable Energy Tax Credits included in $700 Billion Federal Financial Bailout Package

October 3, 2008. The US House of Representatives finally passed the extension of federal renewable energy tax credits, tucked into the authorization for the $700 billion financial industry bailout package. The bill was quickly sent to the President’s desk and has been signed into law. It provides a one-year extension of the production tax credit for wind projects and a two-year extension of production incentives for geothermal and biomass, among others. In addition, it extends credits for residential and commercial solar projects for eight years. Other incentives include production of energy-efficient homes and buildings, plug-in vehicles, and biofuels. “Advanced” and “clean” coal projects are also included in some of the tax credit extensions.  

First Emission Permits Auctioned in the US’s Pioneer Greenhouse Emissions Trading Market

September 30, 2008. The Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) held the first auction of emission permits. The price of the permits was $3.07 per ton of CO2, above the floor price set for the scheme of $1.86 but below the $4 to $5 forward prices allowances had been trading for in exchange trading over the past month. The prices are well below those in the European Union emission trading system because the emission caps set for the region are higher than current emissions levels. The RGGI scheme covers carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generators only, requiring little in the way of reductions before 2015, then 2.5 per cent per year. The allowances were auctioned by six of the ten RGGI states: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. These states will receive the $38.5 million revenue to be used for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, and for electricity consumers. The next auction will be on December 17 and RGGI formally begins on January 1.

Sierra Club NYC Report Prepares City for Higher Fuel Costs  

September 2008. Building on New York City’s PlaNYC 2030, the Sierra Club NYC report, "Sustainable Energy Independence for NYC," considers higher fuel prices, and their impact on transportation, heating, shipping and food costs. Download the report or contact author Dan Miner, Sierra Club NYC Chair, at beyondoilnyc@yahoo.com.  The Sierra Club recommends the formation of a City Energy Volatility Task Force.

Google's proposal for reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels

Google Inc . released details of its proposed plan to drastically cut the countrys reliance on fossil fuels by 2030.  The proposal lays out plans to cut fossil fuel-based electricity generation by 88%, vehicle oil consumption by 38%, dependence on imported oil by 33%, electricity-sector CO2 emissions by 38%, and overall CO2 emissions by 48% from the current EIA baseline.  This would result in a cut of CO2 emissions in the use of 40% from today’s levels.  The plan calls for aggressive end-use energy efficiency measures to reach 33% less demand. It also outlines ways to replace all coal and oil electricity general and half of that from natural gas through investment and production of renewable electricity. In addition, it outlines plans to increase plug-in hybrid vehicle sales to 90% of all new car sales by 2030, increase CAFÉ standards to 45 mpg by 2030, and accelerate the turnover rate of the vehicle fleet from 19 to 13 years.

See CitNet's new Citizens Guide to Sustainable Energy

Cuomo Files Lawsuit to Force EPA to Control Warming Pollution from Big Oil Companies Google's Proposal for reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels
from a press release from the Office of Attorney General

August 25, 2008. New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to adopt regulations that control emissions of global warming pollution from oil refineries. Cuomo is leading a group of twelve states, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York in a suit that challenges the EPA's refusal to require new or renovated oil refineries to install technologies that control global warming pollution, in violation of the Clean Air Act.

Mayor Announces First Steps Towars Off-Shore Wind Farms and Other Renewable Energy Sources at Summit
from a press release from the Office of the Mayor

August 19, 2008. Mayor Bloomberg announced that the New York City Economic Development Corporation had released a Request for Expressions of Interest that will call for innovative ideas to help New York City develop sources of renewable energy, such as off-shore windfarms, wind turbines bridges and skyscrapers, tidal power, solar power and geothermal energy. Responses are due September 19.

"Such projects might, for example, be designed to draw power from the tides of the Hudson and East Rivers - something we're already doing on a pilot basis. They might call for dramatically increasing rooftop solar power production, which we've estimated could meet nearly 20 percent of the City's need for electricity. They could tap into geothermal energy. In fact, some private home and building owners have already drilled their own 'heat wells.' Or perhaps companies will want to put windfarms atop our bridges and skyscrapers, or use the enormous potential of powerful off-shore winds miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, where turbines could generate roughly twice the energy that land-based windfarms can. Windfarms located far off our shores, some evidence shows, could meet 10 percent of our city's electricity needs within a decade."

"More than 100 years ago, a new statue standing tall in New York Harbor gave our nation its greatest symbol of freedom. In this century, that freedom is being undermined by dependence on foreign oil. So I think it would be a thing of beauty if, when Lady Liberty looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants, but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean windfarm...."When it comes to producing clean power, we're determined to make New York the No. 1 city in the nation."

There will be significant challenges in establishing energy alternatives for the city, including considerable time and expense, and new building and engineering requirements. However, the Mayor said "We also have to accept that a lot of alternative power projects now on the drawing boards won't produce their first kilowatts of electricity for many years. But we still have to reach into our own pockets now, or our children won't have the benefits 10 to 15 years in the future."

He also pointed out that New York is joining cities across the nation in working for new building code standards to dramatically increase energy efficiency in new homes and businesses.

Decoding the Code

Learn more about 'greening' the NYC building code, in a new report Decoding the Code commissioned by the Sallan Foundation and prepared by the CUNY Building Performance Lab.

Climate Change Adaptation Task Force and Panel on Climate Change set up by Mayor Bloomberg
from a press release from the Office of the Mayor

August 12, 2008. "We face two urgent challenges - both of which we're responding to as part of PlaNYC," said Mayor Bloomberg. "First, we have to shrink our carbon footprint to slow climate change. Second, we have to adapt to the environmental changes that are already beginning to take place; for example, raise critical infrastructure, like back-up generators, to higher ground in areas prone to flooding. Changes in the way we maintain and operate our infrastructure can help secure our City."

The Climate Change Adaptation Task Force was one of the 127 initiatives proposed in PlaNYC, the City's long-term sustainability plan. It is made up of City and State agencies, authorities and private companies that operate, maintain, or control critical infrastructure in New York City. It will create an inventory of existing infrastructure that may be at-risk from the effects of climate change; develop coordinated adaptation plans to secure these assets based on New York City-specific climate change projections; draft design guidelines for new infrastructure that take into account anticipated climate change impacts; and identify adaptation strategies for further study that are beyond the scope of individual stakeholders.

Advising the task force will be a New York City Panel on Climate Change, made up of leading experts from regional academic institutions and the legal, engineering, and insurance industries, chaired by Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig of the Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Dr. William Solecki of Hunter College's Institute for Sustainable Cities. The panel will develop a unified set of climate change projections for New York City; create a set of tools to help task force members identify at-risk infrastructure and develop adaptation strategies; write draft protection levels to guide the design of new infrastructure; and issue a technical report on the localized effects of climate change on New York City-similar to the IPCC's landmark 2007 report on global climate change. The Rockefeller Foundation's Climate Change Resilience program has awarded a $350,000 grant to fund the work of the Panel on Climate Change.

Other members of the advisory panel include:

Reginald Blake, New York City College of Technology, Professor of Physics
Malcolm Bowman, SUNY-Stony Brook, Professor of Physical Oceanography
Andrew Castaldi, Swiss Reinsurance America Corporation, Senior VP and Head of Catastrophe Perils in the Americas
Arthur DeGaetano, Cornell University, Director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center
Craig Faris, Director, Oliver Wyman
Vivien Gornitz, Columbia University Center for Climate Systems Research
Klaus Jacob, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Special Research Scientist
Alice LeBlanc, American International Group (AIG), Director, Office of Environment & Climate Change, Corporate Affairs
Valentine Lehr, P.E.Lehr Consulting International, Principal
Robin Leichenko, Rutgers University, Associate Professor and Graduate Director in the Department of Geography
Edna Sussman, Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP, Of Counsel
Gary Yohe, Wesleyan/UCS, Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics
Rae Zimmerman, New York University Professor of Planning and Public Administration/Director, Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems

30 US Cities, Including New York, to Measure Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Contact: Annie Strickler

August 11, 2008. ICLEI, an international local government alliance, and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) are joining forces with some of the United States’ largest cities to help them voluntarily report their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate change-relevant data. Cities will be able to use the project to learn from peers on climate change management and the project will shed light on the level of awareness and preparedness of the cities on this issue. It will also demonstrate to companies, investors and the general public how individual cities are dealing with the risks and opportunities climate change presents.

Each city will assemble comparable carbon emission data within their jurisdiction’s operations -- for instance, fire department, ambulance and police services, municipal buildings, waste transport and other services the cities provide or activities over which they exercise budgetary control. They will follow CDP systems to assess and disclose climate change-related risks and opportunities relating to the whole city. Cities will use the Local Government Operations Protocol – coauthored by ICLEI and the California Climate Action Registry, The Climate Registry, and the California Air Resources Board with input from expert stakeholders across the United States – which details the policy framework, calculation methodologies, and reporting guidance for quantifying GHG emissions from local government operations.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: “The City of New York joins the world’s leading corporations in providing a complete, accurate accounting of its carbon emissions, the strategies it is employing to mitigate those emissions, and the results of its efforts through the Carbon Disclosure Project and ICLEI. This partnership between the world’s major corporations and, increasingly, its cities, highlights the importance of the cooperative action needed to successfully counter climate change. Working together, and with the best data, we can manage this problem, and leave our children and grandchildren a healthier and more sustainable planet.”

Cities will submit their responses to CDP by October 31st 2008. All responses will be announced and published in the first ever CDP Cities Report and ICLEI Local Action Network Report in January 2009 respectively.

Interview with Ariella Maron, Mayor Bloomberg’s Deputy Director of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, on the Greening of NYC

August 8, 2008. Jacob Gordon of TreeHugger Radio interviews Ariella Maron about PlaNYC and the Greening of NYC.

The Sallan Foundation 'Snapshot': International Influences on City Sustainability Plans
by Gail  Karlsson

August 1, 2008. CitNet's Gail Karlsson outlines ways that UN activities have – over time – had an influence on local government actions in New York City.

New York featured in new World Bank Primer on Climate Resilient Cities

July 2008. The World Bank, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), has just completed a Primer for city managers in the East Asia region on the risks they face from climate change and other natural hazards and strategies to deal with these risks. Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change Impacts and Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East Asian Cities presents some unique exercises for cities to prioritize investments and actions based on a risk profile and creating a city information base. Global and regional examples from 20 cities undertaking sound practices in mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction are offered as practical lessons of experience -- these cover King County, New York City, Albuquerque, and Rockville in the U.S.; Makati, Dagupan, Navotas, and Albay in the Philippines; Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Thua Thien Hue, Hanoi, and Na Dinh, Vietnam; Jakarta, Indonesia; Dongtan, China; Bogota, Colombia; Vancouver, Canada; Milan and Venice, Italy; and London, UK.

In addition, The World Bank and its partners, including ICLEI, have announced a call for papers for the "5th Urban Research Symposium on Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda", June 28-30, 2009, Marseille, France.

Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Municipal Buildings and Operations by 30 Percent by 2017

On July 7, Mayor Bloomberg announced a long-term action plan to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the City's municipal buildings and operations by 30 percent by 2017, as promised in PlaNYC, cutting the City's annual output of greenhouse gases by nearly 1.7 million metric tons, and reducing peak demand for electricity by 220-megawatts. City government accounts for approximately 6.5 percent of New York City's total energy usage and 10 percent of its peak electricity demand. The projects in the long-term plan will be partially funded by an annual commitment of 10 percent of the City's energy budget, which in fiscal year 2009 will be $100 million. In total, the plan will require an estimated $2.3 billion investment over the next nine years, of which roughly $900 million has been committed by the City, and another $80 million was already spent in fiscal year 2008. Additional funding is being sought from external sources, including state and federal programs, private foundations and through energy performance contracts. The City is expected to break even on its investment in 2013.

The largest single opportunity for reductions, 57 percent of the total, is through upgrades to existing buildings, like firehouses, police precincts, sanitation garages, offices, and courthouses. Planned improvements include upgrading facility lighting, refrigeration units, boiler upgrades, office equipment, and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. There are other savings to be found in the way buildings are operated, including developing and implementing preventive practices in buildings that consume large amounts of energy. For example, leaking pipes, clogged steam traps, and inefficient air distribution, pumps, or fan systems will be systematically identified and repaired. The plan also includes retrocommissioning, a process that identifies the most wasteful inefficiencies that technicians can correct in a cost-effective manner.

The Coney Island of Gregory Kiss's mind: An architect's futuristic dream of solar power realized
by Michael Tedder / Coney Island, New York, from In The Fray

July 6, 2008. Thanks to its solar cells, the Stillwell Terminal, one of the largest terminals in the world, is also one of the most energy-efficient.

How the City Has Reduced Soot
by Rich Kassel, from The Gotham Gazette

July 3, 2008. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently predicted that the downstate region of New York State (including all of the city, plus Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley) soon will meet the federal annual health standard for soot (a.k.a. fine particulate matter), for the first time ever. In 1998, the EPA adopted new standards that would cut diesel pollution from new engines by 40 percent, starting in 2004. (Thanks to a consent decree in litigation against the nation's engine makers, these cleaner engines hit the market in October 2002.) By 2000, the state agreed to clean up the Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses, with a comprehensive program to use a cleaner, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel; retire the oldest buses and replace them with the cleanest, new buses available; and to retrofit the remaining buses with advanced soot-busting filters. Today, the fleet emits 97 percent less particulate soot pollution than it did in 1995, when the Natural Resources Defense Council ran ads on the buses that read "Standing behind this bus could be more dangerous than standing in front of it."

New York State Legislative Update from State Senator Liz Krueger

Green buildings: The New York City inventory of greenhouse gas emissions found that 79% of CO2 emissions produced in the city came from buildings. The legislature passed three bills to address this issue: S5442, which requires state construction projects to comply with green building standards; S8134, which would provide grants for the construction of green homes; and S7553, which would provide a tax credit for the construction of green roofs.

Brownfields cleanup (S8717): This legislation will streamline the brownfields program and target state resources to projects that really need the tax credits for cleanup and redevelopment. This will help ensure that there is money for desperately needed cleanup in Buffalo and other old industrial cities, as well as in poorer communities here in NYC, as was originally intended by the legislature.

Smart Growth: Suburban sprawl contributes to global warming by reducing our inventory of undeveloped land and by forcing people to travel long distances in polluting autos. This session the legislature passed S8612 which establishes "smart growth" principles, and requires the state to take them into account in the environmental review process.

Net-metering - The legislature passed two bills (S7171 and S8481) to allow consumers to receive credit for solar or wind energy they produce that they send back into the energy grid. This helps the state meet its energy needs while encouraging the expansion of small-scale clean energy production.

The legislature once again failed to reach agreement on expansion of the bottle bill (S1592), and failed to move greenhouse gas limitations (S8100), which would have offered a more comprehensive approach to addressing global warming.

Vertical Farms in New York City?

June 22, 2008. A letter to The NY Times Magazine on the future of cities mentioned the work of Dickson Despommier at Columbia University on vertical farming. Dickson Despommier proposes to scale up the concept of indoor farming, so that a wide variety of produce can be grown in large enough quantities to sustain even the largest of cities without significantly relying on resources beyond the city limits. "It has been estimated that it will require approximately 300 square feet of intensively farmed indoor space to produce enough food to support a single individual living in an extraterrestrial environment (e.g., on a space station or a colony on the moon or Mars). Working within the framework of these calculations, one vertical farm with an architectural footprint of one square city block and rising up to 30 stories (approximately 3 million square feet) could provide enough nutrition (2,000 calories/day/person) to comfortably accommodate the needs of 10,000 people employing technologies currently available." Yields could be expanded considerably through additional research and developments in hydrobiology, engineering, architecture and design, waste management, and urban planning.

For more information, see articles by Dickson Despommier, Science magazine and Huffington Post.

New York State Legislation to Expand Net Metering

June 19, 2008. Governor Paterson announced an agreement with the NYS Legislature on landmark energy legislation that will authorize increased development of renewable energy by expanding the State's net metering law, which allows electricity customers with qualified renewable energy systems to sell excess electricity back to their local utility. By increasing market demand for renewable technologies, the bill will also attract renewable energy manufacturers and installers to New York State. Previously, the Governor’s Renewable Energy Task Force had identified New York’s net metering law limitations as a barrier to broader use of distributed renewable energy generation. The Governor noted that:  "...businesses with large roof areas present enormous opportunities for hosting solar energy facilities. If those kinds of resources are fully realized, it could relieve significant stress from our already over-burdened utility grid and improve our energy independence.”

The bill will significantly expand net metering in three areas of renewable energy – solar, wind and farm waste. The State’s solar net metering program will now be extended to businesses, The size of eligible solar PV systems will be increased to 25 kilowatts for residential customers and up to two megawatts or the customer’s peak load (whichever is less) for non-residential customers. The law will also increase the maximum amount of electricity that the utility would be required to buy back through net metering. The bill will authorize net metering for wind technology for all utility customer classes, including non-residential classes. Previously, the law authorized such systems for residential and farm operations only. The law will also allow non-residential wind electric generators to net meter up to the lesser of their peak load or two megawatts, and increase the maximum size of wind facilities for farm operations from 125 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts. Caps on net-metering enrollment in utility service territories will also be increased.

New York City Solar Summit

June 17, 2008. CUNY's Center for Sustainable Energy convened the 2nd annual NYC Solar Summit at the National Museum of the American Indian. Speakers included Congressman Maurice Hinchey, New York Times Columnist Andrew Revkin and New York City Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey said: “We need to create a solar energy-based industrial revolution....We are helping to lead this movement here in New York through the establishment of The Solar Energy Consortium — a new industry-driven, non-profit organization that provides leadership, organization, resources, and support for the establishment of a major solar energy industry cluster in New York.

The CUNY Center for Sustainable Energy in the Bronx, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, plus key stakeholders and New York City utilities have developed a strategy to support large-scale solar energy market growth in New York City. As a result, the U.S. Department of Energy named New York City as one of the initial 13 Solar America Cities. The Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are now helping to implement the NYC work plan, providing both financial and technical support.

However, speakers noted various obstacles to wider adoption of solar energy in New York City, including: high costs; silicon shortages; challenges presented by tall buildings; multiple levels of regulation, and inspection delays; limited availability of net metering; and Con Edison restrictions on connecting alternative power sources to the grid.

Fuel Cells at the World Trade Center

June 11, 2008. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) announced that it reached an agreement with UTC Power of South Windsor, Conn., that will make the redeveloped World Trade Center the site of one of the largest fuel cell installations in the world. The agreement, valued at $10.6 million, covers equipment purchases to provide heat and power for the new towers.The fuel cells, totaling 4.8 megawatts (mw) of generating capacity, will provide an on-site supplement to the renewable power and other clean energy the rebuilt World Trade Center will receive via power lines from off-site sources.

EPA Program to Protect Beaches and the New York/New Jersey Harbor

On June 4, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced an updated and expanded beach and harbor protection program to safeguard public health. EPA's initiatives include: a new rapid method for testing beach water for bacteria; a plan to spot and collect floating debris or oil slicks before they can wash up on area beaches; shellfish bed water quality monitoring; grants to states to help with their beach monitoring and public notification programs; and the development of pollution discharge budgets, called total maximum daily loads, for the New York/New Jersey Harbor and the New York Bight. Here's more information on EPA's diverse coastal water activities.

Shrinking the Carbon Footprint

May 29, 2008. A new Brookings Institution report "Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America" quantifies for the first time the amount and most significant sources of carbon emitted from highway transportation and residential energy consumption by the 100 largest metropolitan areas, for the years 2000 and 2005. Substantial variations exist among the "carbon footprints" of metro areas, due in part to their development patterns, rail transit, freight traffic, carbon content of electricity sources, electricity prices, and weather. Despite housing two-thirds of the nation's population and three-quarters of its economic activity, the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas emitted just 56 percent of U.S. carbon emissions from highway transportation and residential buildings in 2005. Therefore, the average metro resident in 2005
had a smaller carbon footprint (2.24 metric tons) than the average American (2.60 metric tons). The difference stems primarily from less car travel and electricity use. The report is a publication from the Brookings Institution project, Blueprint for American Prosperity.

Metro Area Profile: New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA

Trends. Metropolitan New York's per capita footprint from transportation and residential energy use increased 7.73 percent between 2000 and 2005. The average per capita footprint of the 100 largest metro areas and of the nation increased 1.1% and 2.2% during this time, respectively.   The transportation portion of New York's per capita footprint increased 12.5% between 2000 and 2005, compared to an increase of 2.4% in the 100 largest metro areas.   The residential portion of New York's per capita footprint increased 2.4% between 2000 and 2005, compared to a slight decrease of 0.7% in the 100 largest metro areas.

Snapshot 2005. The average resident in metropolitan New York emitted 1.495 tons of carbon from highway transportation and residential energy in 2005 (rank 4th). This compares with 2.24 tons of carbon emitted by the average 100-metro resident and 2.60 tons of carbon emitted by the average American from transportation and residential energy.

From highway transportation. The average New York resident emitted 0.825 tons of carbon from highway transportation (rank 1st). The average 100-metro resident emitted 1.31 tons and the average American emitted 1.44 tons from highway transportation. The average New York resident emitted 0.664 tons from autos (rank 1st) and 0.161 tons from trucks (rank 7th), compared to 1.004 tons from autos and 0.305 tons from trucks from the average 100-metro resident. From residential energy use. The average New York resident emitted 0.670 tons of carbon from residential energy use (rank 18th). The average 100-metro resident emitted 0.925 tons and the average American emitted 1.16 tons of carbon from residential energy use.The average New York resident emitted 0.225 tons from electricity (rank 14th) and 0.445 tons from residential fuels (rank 70th). This compares to 0.611 tons from electricity and 0.314 tons from fuels from the average 100-metro resident.

A Plan to Increase Cycling

From the Gotham Gazette

May 27, 2008. In its recent "Sustainable Streets" plan, the NYC transportation department outlined its strategy to increase cycling throughout the five boroughs. In short, the department plans to create more - and better - cycling infrastructure to make biking safer. In the short run, that includes plans to build 200 new lane-miles of bike routes by 2009 and 15 miles of protected bike lanes by 2010 (see, e.g., the Ninth Avenue Bicycle Path). So far, 90 miles have been built, so the city seems to be on track. In the long run, the department expects to complete an 1,800-mile network of bike routes.

Of course, getting to work is only half the problem. Bike commuters need to store their bikes safely once they arrive. So, the department plans to install 37 bike parking shelters and 5,000 new "CityRacks" by 2011. It will also seek legislation to expand indoor bike parking and pass zoning changes to require that builders include bicycle parking in new construction.

Arguably, even parts of the Sustainable Street program aimed at other types of transportation will help make cycling safer and more pleasurable. Creating a network of bus-rapid transit lines, for example, will help reduce congestion - and create more road space for cyclists. ...Traffic calming and redesigned streets (for examples, check out Ninth Street and Lafayette Avenue) benefit cyclists as much as pedestrians. .... Implementing a program of weekend car-free streets and reducing car use in Central and Prospect Parks will help generate a more bike-friendly environment for cycling throughout the week.

In other words, from a cyclist's perspective, the Department of Transportation's strategic plan easily outstrips anything that has ever been proposed by a New York City agency before, and should help make New York City a more bike-friendly city.

Heated Debates on Biofuels at the UN

May 2008. Rapid expansion of industrial scale production of biofuels, spurred by concerns about climate change, led to heated debates at the recent session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 16) which considered agriculture, rural development and the current food crisis. European Union and US targets for biofuels have been blamed, at least in part, for dramatic increases in food prices - and food riots in poor countries around the world. Although EU members are working on developing sustainability criteria for biofuels production, there are many concerns about competition between food and fuel production, land and water pressures, forest degradation, and displacement of indigenous communities. Although there are contexts in which local, small scale production of biofuels can be a sustainable option, especially in poor countries where large segments of the rural population lack access to basic energy resources, it is not clear that sustainability criteria will be sufficient to overcome the negative impacts of larger scale biofuel production. There is also concern that putting so much emphasis on the sustainable production of biofuels detracts from the responsibility of richer countries to reduce their domestic greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate change disaster.

Fueling Disaster

A discussion on biofuels was also part of a Sunday May 11 event on City and Farm Linkages at Teachers College, Columbia University, in connection with CSD 16. Corrina Steward from Grassroots International presented a community food security perspective on 'agrofuels', warning that industrial agriculture systems are undermining food security, polluting the environment and exacting heavy costs on rural communities around the world. The world's poor - both consumers and producers - are the most vulnerable to a global market-driven food. Community food security advocates argue that expansion of industrial scale production of fuel from biomass sources will directly compete with community food, land and water resources.

At a May 9 CSD 16 panel discussion organized by the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development, Peter Mann from World Hunger Year described a disturbing cartoon in which a small, malnourished child is standing in a devastated landscape holding an ear of corn, and an overweight businessman is stretching out his hand to take the corn, saying "Sorry, I need this to fill my gas tank." He argued that greater demand for agrofuel crops such as sugar cane and soy is leading to low wages, dangerous conditions and increased child labor on corporate plantations, with emerging food and energy monopolies destroying small scale farming and local food production capacity.

Mayor Bloomberg signs legislation to make the City's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability permanent

May 6, 2008. The bill, Introductory Number 395-A, was sponsored by City Council Members Gennaro, Brewer, Foster, Gonzalez, James, Koppell, Mendez, Nelson, Seabrook, Weprin, Mark-Viverito, Lappin, McMahon, Liu, White, Recchia, Vallone, Vacca, Martinez, Gioia, Garodnick, Rivera, Monserrate, Comrie, Eugene, Sears, Mealy and Ignizio codifies into law the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.

The Mayor said:"Since our Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability introduced PlaNYC on Earth Day 2007, the City has launched more than ninety percent of the 127 initiatives laid out in the plan to make our City a greener, greater New York. Approximately seventy percent of PlaNYC initiatives can be accomplished by actions taken solely by my Administration.

"Introductory Number 395-A will ensure that future mayors continue what we have started by requiring an Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. The director of this office will have the power and duty to develop programs, policies and actions to further long term planning and sustainability citywide including the activities of public agencies and increasing public awareness and education regarding sustainability and sustainable practices.

"Establishing long-term planning and sustainability policy as a key mission of City government is an important part of ensuring that the goals and initiatives of PlaNYC endure beyond this Administration. Introductory Number 395-A will not only establish an Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability as a permanent feature of New York City government, but also ensure that future mayors not only report on the sustainability of the City and their progress on PlaNYC, but also that they issue regular updated long-term sustainability plans of their own." See the Mayor's full remarks.

See Nancy's Anderson's thoughts on a Board of Sustainability and Climate Change patterned on the City's Board of Health.

Heating New York With Biodiesel

April 21, 2008. The New York City Council is currently considering legislation (Int. No. 594) that would require heating oil used in the city to include biodiesel. One million households and thousands of businesses in New York City consume approximately 500 million gallons of high sulfur heating oil annually. Bioheat proponents claim that blending biodiesel with petroleum can reduce oil imports, improve air quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to Councilmember James F. Gennaro, who represents District 24 in Queens and chairs the City Council's Committee on Environmental Protection: "A 'B20 bioheat blend', which is 20 percent renewable biodiesel, significantly reduces carbon emissions and fine particulate matter, a major contributor to asthma and one reason why parts of New York City have some of the highest asthma rates in the United States. My bill would require this blend be used throughout New York City, in both commercial and residential properties, by 2013. Bioheat also reduces our dependence on foreign oil by displacing a significant amount of petroleum with a domestic product. Bioheat seamlessly replaces heating oil in all boilers, requires no expensive modifications and is available today through at least a half dozen companies in the New York Metropolitan Area." Environmental groups like Environmental Defense and the New York League of Conservation Voters have supported the bioheat mandate.

But Michael Heimbinder, Executive Director of the Brooklyn organization Habitat Map argues that in reality, a biodiesel mandate will increase heating oil costs by 15-30 cents a gallon, do little to improve air quality beyond what can be achieved with ultra low sulfur diesel, encourage environmentally destructive farming practices, have no impact on foreign oil consumption, drive up food prices, devour millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, and increase greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, Habitat Map recommends that the City Council should authorize an ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) heating oil mandate, arguing that ULSD will improve air quality in the city dramatically and reduce heating oil consumption without raising the cost of home heating or requiring government subsidies.

Pharmaceuticals in our drinking water

April 3, 2008. The New York City Council's Committee on Environmental Protection held an oversight hearing on “Pharmaceuticals in Our Drinking Water”. On March 10, the Associated Press released a national investigative news story on the presence of a wide range of pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water supplies. Pharmaceutical products were detected in twenty-eight out of thirty-five watersheds tested, including New York City's. Officials in six of those twenty-eight metropolitan areas did not go on to test their drinking water supplies - including in New York City. Committee Chairman James Gennaro suggested legislation to require testing and develop a plan to filter the drugs from the water, if necessary. The DEP's March 10 statement noted that "New York City's drinking water is among the best in the world, and though nothing in the information we've seen presents a risk to this water supply, we understand and take very seriously public concerns about pharmaceuticals in drinking water and continue to closely monitor this emerging national issue, in cooperation with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene."

New York/New Jersey Harbor

April 3, 2008. The NY/NJ Harbor Consortium of the New York Academy of Sciences, a coalition of over 70 stakeholder organizations, unveiled its final report describing an innovative and collaborative process that brought scientists, government officials, businesses and community stakeholders together to identify hazardous pollution sources and recommend and implement actions to clean up the NY/NJ Harbor Watershed, Safe Harbor: Bringing People and Science Together to Improve the New York / New Jersey Harbor.” The project examined the causes of on-going pollution to the harbor and developed management strategies for five important contaminants: mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

One of the most interesting findings was that the 8500 dentists' offices in the watershed area were collectively responsible for a substantial amount of the mercury in the harbor water. The consortium worked with dental schools and associations to promote filtration and collection of mercury from amalgam fillings, and longer-term replacement of those fillings with different materials. New York State and New Jersey also responded with new rules for dentists offices. Mercury is neurologically toxic to humans, and eating too much fish with high mercury content is hazardous. Many people saw recent studies showing that tuna steaks and sushi have high mercury levels (much higher than canned tuna). Swordfish, striped bass and bluefish can also carry high levels of mercury contamination.    

The Good News About New York City's Water

by Steve Cohen, Executive Director, Columbia University’s Earth Institute

From the The New York Observer, March 27, 2008. "According to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s 2006 water supply report, 'the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has developed a $19.5 billion Capital Investment Strategy for the next decade, the majority of which will be used to upgrade and add to existing infrastructure and guarantee that we can fulfill our mandate of delivering quality drinking water to New York for years to come.' ... A majority of our water comes from west of the Hudson. The rest of our water comes from the Croton Watershed up in Westchester and Putnam counties. Currently the city is spending over $1 billion to build a water filtration plant under the Moshulu Golf Course in the Bronx to protect our water supplies that come from east of the Hudson. ...The city is working hard to protect the waters it doesn’t need to filter. According to the commissioner of New York's Department of Environmental Protection, Emily Lloyd: 'In order to preserve this remarkable asset, and prevent the need for an expensive filtration plant for the Catskill and Delaware water systems, the city enforces an array of environmental regulations designed to protect water quality while encouraging reasonable and responsible development in the watershed communities. It also invests in infrastructure—such as wastewater treatment facilities and septic systems—that shield the water supply, while working with its upstate partners to develop comprehensive land-use practices that curb pollution at the water’s source.' ...Most of New York City’s water supply is protected and filtered by the natural processes of upstate ecosystems. To environmental economists, nature’s work that protects our water is an “environmental service.” Because the price of a filtration plant is known, we can estimate the monetary value of the services provided to filter our water. This comes to $1 billion per year minus the $100 million or so we spend each year to protect the upstate ecosystems. This is $900 million a year of found money that we will lose if we don’t protect these fragile ecosystems."

2008 State of the Planet conference

Columbia University's Earth Institute hosted the 2008 State of the Planet conference March 27 and 28, with speeches by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and current UN officials, and a debate about the US role in solving the climate change problem. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, outlined a 10-step proposed plan for the next US President that included recommendations on: ending the Iraq war and the Bush tax cuts and spending the money saved on peacekeeping and economic development; establishing a cabinet level position for international sustainable development; sending climate envoys to China, the EU and other countries and investing in climate adaptation for poorer countries; holding a summit meeting on drylands, water risks and food insecurity; eliminating US subsidies for ethanol; re-establishing US contributions to the UN Population Fund; and embracing the Millennium Development Goals.  Videos of the speeches can be seen at www.stateoftheplanet.org

From the March 27, 2008 The Riverdale Press, editorial comments on the March 19 Annual Water Conference organized by the Bronx Council of Environmental Quality: “Stormwater Impacts: Upstate and Downstate – Exploring a Common Vision for the Drinking Water Watershed.” 
"...what happens at the beginning of the pipe that carries 90 percent of our drinking water to the city determines what comes out of the tap in our sinks. ...At both ends of the pipe, the consequences of missteps can be calamitous. In the Catskills...many who live in the watershed believe that restrictions on development to keep the city’s water pure are draining their livelihoods....Those of us who live in the vicinity of Van Cortlandt Park are all too aware of the flip side, of what happens when development isn’t restricted. We continue to bear the burden of construction of the plant that will filter water from the much smaller Croton system east of the Hudson. The cost of building a plant to filter Catskill water was estimated at $8 billion in 1997, when the city reached an agreement with landowners in the watershed that permitted it to avoid filtration. What the actual cost would be if a filtration plant had to be built in the future is anybody’s guess, but the scandalous cost overruns that have driven the price of the Van Cortlandt Park plant to close to $3 billion offer a frightening clue.

First Survey of New Yorkers on Climate Change Finds the Majority are Worried about Impacts

March 6, 2008. A new survey of New Yorkers finds that most are convinced global warming is happening now and more should be done by key leaders to help New York City deal with climate change. The survey is the first-ever study of New Yorkers’ opinions about global warming and was designed and funded by researchers at Columbia and Yale Universities, and led by the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia.

New Rules Clean Up Dirty Ships

Excerpt from article by Rich Kassel, NRDC, in Gotham Gazette's March 2008 environmental newsletter

"...Large ships are the last bastion of dirty diesels. They emit huge quantities of a pollutant that the Environmental Protection Agency regulates as "PM10." ...what most people would call "soot." ...On March 14, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced a strong new program that will dramatically clean up these engines in years to come. The plan, contained in a rule announced by agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, will cut soot pollution from new ship (and train) engines by 90 percent, starting in 2015....

"Here in the city, cleaner ships are already on the way. In February, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a new law passed by City Council that will reduce the pollution plume from the Staten Island Ferry right now. This creates a model that may one day clean up all of the ferries and water taxis operating in New York Harbor.

Federal report focuses on sea level rise from Montauk Point to North Carolina

A draft multiagency federal government report focuses on sea level rise in the area from Montauk Point on Long Island to Cape Lookout, N.C. Drafted by the United States Geological Survey, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Transportation, the report offers three estimates for sea-level rise by 2100: about 16 inches a century, a rate it said had already been exceeded; about two feet, an estimate many scientists regard as optimistic; and up to three feet, which the report says would be catastrophic for wetlands and other coastal features but that is "less than high estimates suggested by more recent publications."

April is Plant a MillionTreesNYC month

April is Plant a MillionTreesNYC month. Mayor Bloomberg wants to add one million new trees around the five boroughs within the next 10 years. You can identify a place for a free tree, plant one yourself, of help take care of the ones already planted.

Climate change expected to have significant impact on transportation infrastructure and operations in region

March 11, 2008. A study released by the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, identified coastal flooding - affecting highways, railroads and airport runways - as the most immediate potential impact of sea level rise caused by global warming. About 60,000 miles of coastal highways are already subject to periodic flooding. The academy panel called for policy makers to survey vulnerable areas - roads, bridges, marine ports, airports, pipelines - and begin work now on plans to protect, reinforce, move or replace them on safer ground. Those tasks could take years or decades and tens of billions of dollars, at least. The report noted that airports in many large coastal cities are built in tidal areas, often on fill, making them "particularly vulnerable." In the New York metropolitan area, Newark Liberty International Airport and La Guardia Airport are especially at risk. The study also urged transportation infrastructure officials to keep climate change effects in mind when planning future infrastructure projects, especially in low-lying coastal areas. The 218-page academy report is available at the National Academies web site.

Broadway East

March 7, 2008. From Ideal Bite's tip of the day, a new, mostly vegetarian restaurant, Broadway East, features local Hudson Valley and Long Island farm goods, and more than the food is sustainable: it also has biodegradable take-out containers, tabletops made of wood reclaimed from a NYC water tower, and a 240-ft "Green Wall" of plants.

Broadway East, 171 East Broadway, between Jefferson and Rutgers Streets (212-228-3100).

DUMBO Improvement District

A new neighborhood sustainability program - Smart Environmental Efforts in DUMBO (SEED) - plans to demonstrate the ease of environmental action on the most local level. Five initiatives will encourage public recycling, alternative modes of transportation, reduction of plastic consumption, greater energy efficiency and environmental education. Phase 1 - With the support of the New York City Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Sanitation (DSNY), recycling containers and bicycle racks have been placed within DUMBO's ten-block radius. Phase 1 also includes a partnership between DUMBO restaurateurs and the Doe Fund Inc. for the recycling of used cooking oil for conversion into bio-diesel fuel. Phase 2 - the Improvement District will distribute a green guide that provides information about environmental action that can be taken at home. To emphasize the ease and simplicity of small changes at home, the Improvement District will also distribute compact florescent light bulbs and canvas shopping bags with literature about the impact that individuals can make by switching to greener options, resulting in the reduction of energy use and consumption of plastic. Phase 3. From March 20th, International Earth Day, through April 22nd, Earth Day, the Improvement District will sponsor a series of environmental speakers and events.

"Big Foot: In measuring carbon emissions, it’s easy to confuse morality and science"

By Michael Spector in the New Yorker, Feb. 25, 2008. Excerpts:

"Paying attention to the emissions associated with what we eat makes obvious sense. It is certainly hard to justify importing bottled water from France, Finland, or Fiji to a place like New York, which has perhaps the cleanest tap water of any major American city. Yet, according to one recent study, factories throughout the world are burning eighteen million barrels of oil and consuming forty-one billion gallons of fresh water every day, solely to make bottled water that most people in the U.S. don’t need."

"The environmental burden imposed by importing apples from New Zealand to Northern Europe or New York can be lower than if the apples were raised fifty miles away. 'In New Zealand, they have more sunshine than in the U.K., which helps productivity,' Williams explained. That means the yield of New Zealand apples far exceeds the yield of those grown in northern climates, so the energy required for farmers to grow the crop is correspondingly lower. It also helps that the electricity in New Zealand is mostly generated by renewable sources, none of which emit large amounts of CO2."

Deep Green Living from Ideal Bite

Deep Green Living will give your home or business an eco assessment, show you how to save electricity and water (and lower your bills), replace harmful cleaning chemicals with eco-friendly alternatives, etc.  217 Grand St., #803 b/t Mott and Elizabeth Sts. (212-537-3881)

"Stair Tactic: Bruce Fowle designs buildings to get people moving" by Alec Appelbaum, from Metropolis Magazine, posted February 20, 2008

Bruce Fowle, who made his reputation by designing buildings that are nontoxic to people and the planet, now aims to prove that the spaces we inhabit can actively foster good health by encouraging movement. “I had no idea until recently how many regulatory agencies are working against the notion of fitness in buildings,” the architect says. ...” To counteract the unintended consequences of such safety regulations in three recent projects, Fowle has crafted sunlit staircases to be places where people will gravitate, both to circulate and to socialize. He envisions the stairs inside his buildings functioning the way the front stoop does in an urban neighborhood.

Eco-Earmarks

By Brendan Scott in the New York Post, Feb. 17, 2008.

Some of the $28 million in environmentally-themed earmarks local lawmakers packed into this year's federal spending bills:

  • $98,000 to build a solar-powered, affordable home for an emergency worker in Westchester
  • $295,000 to fund Bronx Community College's new Sustainable Energy Center
  • $3.2 million to expand power-generating water turbines under the East River
  • $2 million to help buiding an energy-efficient building for The New School's Sustainable Energy Center
  • $590,000 for a "green" visitor center at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  • $246,000 to build a leafy roof on a metal-fabrication plant in Red Hook
  • $164,000 to fund "green-collar" job-training programs for troubled youth in city schools
  • $1.5 million to fund a solar-power research center in upstate Kingston.

New York Mayor Bloomberg addresses the UN General Assembly about Climate Change

Feb. 11, 2008. New York's Mayor Bloomberg addressed the UN General Assembly, expressing his pleasure at having participated in the Climate Change Convention in Bali and saying that, between now and the planned Copenhagen meeting at the end of 2009, both developed and developing nations must resolve to change their policies - and that the world’s cities must be an important part of those changes. For effective results, he said targets for reducing carbon emissions must be imposed and the United States must take a leadership role in that area by imposing a carbon tax. “Serious carbon targets will not hamper growth and would make us all better off.”  He said the targets must be ambitious, but also achievable, adding that New York City had shown the way through its “Plan NYC”, which envisions reducing carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. The United States could do the same with zero cost, because of the efficiencies and opportunities involved. More than 700 cities in the United States are currently trying to meet the challenges of reducing urban pollution and challenging climate change, and enlisting private-sector companies in the cause as well.

For more about the UN and energy and climate change, please go to CitNet Energy and Climate Change News.

State of New York State and City

From Governor Spitzer's State of the State address on energy & environment

Jan. 9, 2008. "Infrastructure also means energy that is available at a competitive price. In order to lower the second highest energy costs in America, we must implement an aggressive conservation strategy led first and foremost by an effort to reduce the state’s own energy consumption. We must also add substantial clean generation capacity by passing a new Article X power plant siting law. We must encourage the PSC to effectuate the long-term contracts needed to build new power plants and re-power the old ones. And Lieutenant Governor Paterson will lead efforts to increase renewable energy production so the state can meet its goal of obtaining 25 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources. New York should also build on its existing regional compact to address climate change. I have already started speaking with other governors about the need to link and expand our climate change initiatives. This is something that can and must be achieved."

"One New York means a state where a child can breathe our air without triggering asthma, and swim and fish in our waters without getting sick. That is why we must expand the Environmental Protection Fund and revive our Department of Environmental Conservation."  

From Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City address

Jan. 17, 2008. "PlaNYC includes 127 proposals - many of them pioneering the latest technology to achieve our goals. This year, we'll work to increase our use of solar panels to continue greening government buildings and we'll join forces with the real estate industry to make new construction and old buildings greener.

"This is the single most important thing we can do to reduce our carbon footprint - but it's not the only thing. With the State's blessing, we'll also use technology to create a system of congestion pricing - something no other American city has done. It will help us achieve four critical, inter-connected goals: reducing traffic congestion; raising money for mass transit; improving our air quality; and fighting climate change."

Traffic

State Commission Approves a Plan for Congestion Pricing, from the New York Times, Feb. 1, 2008

Congestion Pricing Plan Is Panned in Albany, from the New York Times, Jan. 31, 2008

Statement of Mayor Bloomberg on Final Recommendation from Traffic Mitigation Commission

Jan. 31, 2008. "The plan that the Commission is recommending today meets our goals of reducing congestion, cutting carbon emissions and providing much needed funds to improve mass transit for millions of New Yorkers.  The Commission has done a thorough and thoughtful job.  They've taken testimony from hundreds of residents, community leaders and civic organizations.  They've held dozens of public meetings and have analyzed mountains of data.   Although the final recommendation varies from our original proposal, I accept it.  We will work with our partners in the Council and the State Legislature, and with Governor Spitzer, to make sure that we enact a proposal that meets our goals by March 31st.  New York cannot afford to walk away from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds and a guaranteed revenue stream for the MTA's capital plan - which is necessary if we're going to continue to grow and thrive - and we can't afford to do nothing about traffic choking congestion, which is costing our City billions and polluting our air."  

Thursday, January 31, Country-wide 'Focus the Nation Teach In' On Climate Change

 Participate at Columbia University 5:00 to 9:00 pm
Morningside Campus, International Affairs Building, Room 1501
Contact: Amanda McIntosh or call 212-854-8177

See Focus the Nation endorsements from Senator Barak Obama and Governor Arnold Schwarznegger.

Spitzer aims to cut costs of sewage plant improvements

From the Journal News, Jan. 31, 2008. Gov. Eliot Spitzer promised yesterday [Jan. 30, 2008] that the state would look to spare Sound shore residents the huge cost of improving four sewage treatment plants that empty into the Long Island Sound. Spitzer stopped short of promising any funds for the state-mandated project - which is estimated to cost as much as $573 million - but said his administration would work with Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano to find a way to reduce the burden on local taxpayers. Spitzer, who discussed the issue Tuesday with Spano and Deputy County Executive Larry Schwartz in Albany, said the state might hold off enforcing the mandate "for some period of time" to investigate less costly ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen that gets into the estuary. Westchester is under an order from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to cut the nitrogen its plants send into the Sound to 1,768 pounds a day from 4,552 pounds. The deadline is 2014. The financial burden of upgrading those plants would fall on the residents of four sewage districts that empty into the Sound - with 38,400 households and 6,800 businesses. Taxpayers in those districts would pay from $472 to $1,200 annually for the next 30 years to pay for the work. County officials, who unveiled the cost estimates last week, said they have explored cheaper ways of addressing the problem, but those alternatives have all been rejected by the DEC.

New York City to Clean Up Waterways by Greening Roadways and Roofs
City Council Adopts New Measure for Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan

From January 30 press release  from SWIM (Storm Water Infrastructure Matters), a coalition of more than 50 organizations dedicated to ensuring swimmable waters around New York City through natural, sustainable storm water management practices.

The New York City Council passed legislation to tackle the sewage overflow problem in the City's overburdened sewer system. The legislation advances the implementation of green design elements, which mimic nature's own filtering systems, into the City's existing streets, parks, and other public spaces and into existing and new development projects. By adopting 'green infrastructure' solutions, such as green roofs, permeable pavement, wetland restoration, and smarter design of street tree plantings, stormwater can be captured where it falls and used to green the city, instead of overwhelming sewers and flushing raw sewage directly into City waterways. The legislation, City Council Intro No. 630, ensures that New York City will follow through with the initiatives outlined in Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC 2030, by requiring the development of a city-wide Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan focusing on such measures. The mayor is expected to sign it into law.   ...

Currently, more than 27 billion gallons of raw sewage and polluted stormwater discharge out of 460 combined sewer overflows into New York Harbor each year. Although water quality in the harbor has improved significantly over the last few decades, most of the waterfront and its beaches are still unsafe for recreation after it rains. New York City's outmoded sewer system combines sewage from buildings with dirty stormwater from streets. As little as one-tenth of an inch of rain can overload the system, causing raw sewage to overflow into the harbor. The city's most recent plans for addressing this problem, submitted to the state Department of Environmental Conservation last year, would reduce these sewer overflows by only about 40% – leaving about 17 billion gallons still pouring into waterbodies around the city each year.

"Currently, there is no mechanism for alerting people who work or recreate on New York City's waterways to the time and place of sewer overflows," said Kate Zidar, Environmental Planner for Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. "While we work toward the long term goal of preventing CSOs altogether, this new law will ensure that the city keeps the public informed of sewage overflows to protect public health – and to make sure people know the importance of solving this problem."
CSOs and stormwater runoff not only make waters unsightly and unsafe for recreation after a rainfall due to the release of raw sewage, they also significantly harm aquatic ecosystems, by lowering dissolved oxygen levels, contaminating the food web, and persisting in sediments for the long term. Stormwater that enters the sewers carries litter, petrochemicals from roadways, pesticides fertilizers from landscaped areas, and even pet waste.

"This new law builds on Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC, which is already on the right track with plans to plant a million new trees, improve parks in every neighborhood, and provide tax incentives for green roofs," said Dr. Paul Mankiewicz, Executive Director of the Gaia Institute. "With widespread implementation of green infrastructure throughout the city, we could ultimately capture over a billion gallons of stormwater from a single storm, and plant enough vegetation to reverse the urban heat island and significantly decrease the air conditioning expenses and associated air pollution in New York City."

Setting Standards for Green Neighborhoods, by Tom Angotti in the Gotham Gazette, Jan. 9, 2008

EPA denied waiver allowing states to regulate car emissions

Excerpts from 12/21/07 Capitol Insider from the Environmental Advocates of New York:

By now you’ve heard that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency absurdly denied California's (and 17 other states’, including New York) waiver request to cut global warming pollution from cars. The decision is not only wrong-headed, it marks the only time the EPA has denied a waiver request under the Clean Air Act in the last 40 years. 

The EPA’s decision comes on the very same day that the European Union proposed binding cuts in car tailpipe emissions accompanied by a tiered penalty system that will be phased in beginning in 2012. And only a few days after leaders from around the world pledged to revive global efforts to reduce climate-altering pollution in Bali.

To put it simply, President Bush’s EPA administrator Stephen Johnson killed off a program designed by California and subsequently adopted by 17 other states, including New York. When implemented, it would have reduced emissions from one of the biggest contributors to global warming—automobile emissions.

Now, it’s bad enough that the feds aren’t really doing anything to address one of the greatest challenges (environmental, economic, health and otherwise, take your pick) threats of our time. But undercutting states’ efforts is too much.

Here in New York the Spitzer Administration and Attorney General Cuomo both announced that the state would move quickly to sue.

But the EPA is sending a frightening message—the feds don’t want anyone in the U.S. to take action to cut climate-altering pollution. The decision is particularly disheartening in light of this year’s landmark court rulings giving the EPA a “green light” to grant the states’ request. Back in April, the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant covered under the Clean Air Act and that the EPA had the authority to protect us from global warming. More recently, judges in Vermont and California ruled that states can pass laws under the Act to limit pollution from tailpipes, but left it to the EPA to grant a waiver allowing states to proceed. 

We can bide our time until a new, and more scientifically enlightened, administration is in place in 2009. But until then stay tuned to actions in New York.

Flawed federal Energy Bill passed

More from 12/21/07 Capitol Insider from the Environmental Advocates of New York:

Also this week, President Bush signed a watered-down energy bill that will raise fuel-economy standards while failing to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil industry, and cutting a $22 billion energy tax package that would have funded new and expanded incentives for renewable energy and efficiency. 

The President’s action could potentially derail investment in renewable energy technology in the U.S., as well as remove a source of revenue for the construction of wind turbine manufacturing plants and payments to farmers who site clean, safe wind turbines on their property, among other things. 

Environmental Advocates of New York is nothing short of pleased that the President signed into law an energy bill that will boost fuel-economy requirements for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. This is a big deal and the first such increase since 1975. However, the measure also cuts billions in tax incentives that have helped to grow the clean energy industry—one of the fastest growing and potentially most lucrative markets we have—and may signal its demise on our shores.

EPA administrator Stephen Johnson and his boss, President George Bush, deserve nothing short of coal in their stockings this year. Problem is—they’ll most likely think that’s a good thing.

PlaNYC - Greening NYC’s Building Codes

Report on the December 17 US Green Building Council meeting from correspondent RJ

“PlaNYC - Greening NYC’s Building Codes ” was the first in the USGBC-NY’s new “Sustainable Cities Dialogue” series, held at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium.

The key speaker was Dan Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding . The presentation was billed as his last official talk before he leaves the public sector at the end of December to become president of Bloomberg L.P. The evening’s other speaker was Patricia Lancaster, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings since 2002, who was responsible for the first overhaul of the city’s building codes in 40 years. Doctoroff described the way she accomplished this task as like “changing a tire with a car going at 60 mph.” The presentations were followed by a panel discussion with: William C. Rudin, President, Rudin Management; Ashok Gupta, Director of NRDC's Air and Energy Program; Nancy Clark, NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene; and Edward Ott, Exec. Director, NYC Central Labor Council. USGBC NY Executive Director Russell Unger was moderator.

Unger introduced Doctoroff as the person responsible for overseeing the largest affordable housing development of any city, and for bringing the environment to the top of the Bloomberg agenda. He singled Doctoroff out as the official who shepherded through the PlaNYC for greening the city and set a target of reducing the city's CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030.

Doctoroff referred to the 127 proposals that make up PlaNYC, including rezoning, tree planting, and increasing numbers of parks, but stressed that in order to address climate change we must “attack buildings head on", since 79% of the city's CO2 emissions come from buildings. He added that the air in buildings is “two to five times worse than outside”, and that green buildings are better for people's health, productivity and general sense of well being. He also observed that greening buildings is not only the right thing to do for the environment, but also makes financial sense for developers, home owners, and businesses, when “a cost increase of 1.5% will yield a 30% payback over time.”

Doctoroff stressed a three-prong approach to green building:

Carrots —with financial incentives for early adaptors;
Sticks —requirements in the new reformed building code;
Leading by example —reducing GHG by 30% in the next decade, while learning from and putting into practice successful green innovations and methods introduced in other cities around the world.

Patricia Lancaster, Commissioner of the Department of Buildings, explained that 400 different groups came together after 9/11, sharing concerns about the outdated building code and making substantial voluntary contributions of time and ideas on architecture, design, construction and building use. The revised code is designed to improve the city's infrastructure, construction safety, structural standards, integrity of materials and protection of public health. However, though there are parts of the new code that encourage sustainability - such as calling for white or reflective roofs and green roofs, more efficient cooling and heating, water conservation with reuse of grey water, and more effective use of solar energy - Lancaster said that a genuinely 'green' code will come later. She added that updates to the code will occur in three-year cycles. 

In the discussion period, panelists focused on issues affecting older buildings, and the problems and costs of trying to make them green. William Rudin agreed that greening older buildings is a smart thing to do - for example, retrofitting windows, upgrading boilers, and changing light bulbs - but asked "how do you get tenants to cooperate in this?" He also pointed out that sometimes retrofitting green was extremely costly in older buildings. Ashok Gupta agreed that landlords' expenses in retrofitting buildings could be high, but emphasized the benefits to city residents and society as a whole, and the need for supportive public policies and incentives, such as funding facilities for energy efficiency improvements. Managers, owners and tenants can currently work together through various programs offered, for example, by NYSERDA. He also pointed out that a cap and trade system for greenhouse gas emissions could be a source of funding for retrofitting buildings, and that real estate owners could push for this. (Looking at the supply side for electricity rather than the demand side, he also stressed the importance of clean power generation for city buildings.) Nancy Clark noted out that earlier efforts to make buildings 'tight' in order to save energy led to health problems due to poor inside air quality, and despite the smoking ban, maintaining healthy indoor air quality remains one of the challenges of retrofitting. Edward Ott, speaking for the NYC Central Labor Council, commented that 'high performance' meant more to his constituency than 'green building', and warned against making changes in building and construction requirements that would be at the expense of working people. He also observed that “to retrofit buildings is a hundred year project”, but commended the Bloomberg administration for asking what it will be like to live in NYC in 25 years.

Bloomberg in Bali

After a trip to China and speeches in Shanghai and Beijing, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrived in Bali. He spoke for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Local Governments for Sustainability initiative. On Thursday, December 13, while James Connoughton from the White House Council on Environmental Quality defended the US delegation's refusal to embrace aggressive emission limitation targets, claiming they were premature, Bloomberg was in a nearby hotel arguing the opposite. "People everywhere recognize the time for discussion about whether global warming exists has passed," said Bloomberg, who has called for the implementation of a carbon tax. "Now it's time for action." And Bloomberg could point to the fact that over 700 U.S. cities have signed up to meet Kyoto Protocol-style carbon cuts, while California has mandated a 25% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020." Read more.

In his Bali speech, Bloomberg outlined New York City's plan to reduce global warming emissions by 30% by the year 2030. "We'll do that by working with our partners in State government to develop a pilot congestion pricing program. We'll create incentives to replace old, polluting power plants with new ones using cleaner-burning fuels. We'll plant one million new trees across our city in the next ten years. Just this week, we took steps to ensure that by the year 2012, our city's 13,000 taxicabs will be hybrid or hybrid-equivalents. That alone will cut New York City's carbon emissions by nearly half a percentage point, and save each cabdriver almost $5,000 a year in fuel costs."

In Beijing, Mayor Bloomberg announced an invitation to representatives from more than 20 of the world's major cities to come to New York next year for a two-day conference organized by New York City Global Partners. It will address common urban challenges, including reducing urban air pollution and curbing climate change, with input by experts from around the world in transportation, city planning, public health, and other disciplines.

UN Meeting on Climate Change

On September 24, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened an international meeting "The Future in Our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change." Attended by 150 countries, it was an historic event, the largest high-level gathering on climate change ever, with over 80 heads of state and government. The meeting was not intended for negotiations; instead it was to test the political will and commitment of leaders to respond to climate change. The S-G hoped to prepare the way for a strong binding emissions reduction agreement when negotiations begin in Bali in December on international action to follow the current Kyoto Protocol period that ends in 2012. The Kyoto Protocol was signed by the US (by Al Gore), but never ratified by the US Senate, and President Bush pronounced it 'dead' shortly after he took office. However, much work has been done at the state level since then. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke of what his state has done and is doing and encouraged world leaders to take action now. His presence and strong message underscored the absence of President Bush, who sent Condoleezza Rice in his place for the day. Bush only came for the dinner. However, France's President Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany's Chancellor Angelika Merkel stood side by side with the lesser-known presidents of tiny and poor countries, as each spoke of his or her own nation's experience with climate change, proposals for needed assistance, and reminders of the environmental debt due by the north to the south. Small island states and African countries clearly brought home the cost to them in human lives and environmental damage from global warming. Wrapping up the day, the Secretary-General declared: "Today I heard a clear call from world leaders for a breakthrough on climate change in Bali. And I now believe we have a major political commitment to achieving that." (From a report by CitNet correspondent R.C.)

Secretary-General's address to the High-Level Event on Climate Change
Secretary-General's Remarks Following the Dinner
Summary of the High-Level Event on Climate Change
Press conference by international environmental groups

President Bush holds climate change meeting in Washington

On September 27 and 28, President Bush held his own climate change meeting in Washington with leaders of the top climate-polluting countries, including the major industrialized countries plus India and China. The meeting was supposed to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but US officials still refused to consider mandatory targets, which other world leaders agree are necessary to prevent dangerous levels of global warming. Secretary of State Rice opened the meeting with an admission that "climate change is a real problem and that human beings are contributing to it", but insisted that "We must be committed to addressing climate change in a way that does not starve economies of the energy that they need to grow and that does not widen the already significant income gap between developed and developing nations." The US Council on Economic Quality Chairman, James Connaughton, added that "It is expected that emissions coming from the major emerging economies will exceed those of the major developed economies within this coming decade. The UN climate change coordinator, Yvo de Boer, said that while "further engagement" of developing countries is needed, "a response to climate change can only be successful if it entails industrialized countries continuing to take the lead in reducing emissions." President Bush emphasized achieving emissions reductions through increased use of advanced clean technologies and other voluntary steps to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. He also proposed the creation of a new international clean technology fund to help developing nations harness the power of clean energy technologies. Other leaders were concerned that the US was trying to undermine the UN negotiating process on future actions under the international UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which the US did ratify. US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement: "As the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, the United States must lead by example and take the necessary steps to reduce greenhouse gases. An effective initiative must be based on mandatory standards to protect our planet, not the voluntary goals and incremental approach supported by the Administration...I hope that his efforts will not be used to circumvent the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali."

White House fact sheet containing most major points from Bush speech
Rice and Connaughton's remarks
More information from the US Climate Action Network

Important Meetings on Climate Change and Energy in September

On September 24, 2007 there will be a high-level United Nations meeting on climate change in New York as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly.

On September 27-28, President Bush's meeting in Washington with leaders of the 'big polluters' - industrialized countries plus India and China. His proposals include more voluntary measures and additional subsidies for “clean coal” and nuclear energy.

Meetings Earlier in September

Environmental groups and other citizens organizations had their own meetings in NY and DC to discuss upcoming international meetings, pending national legislation, regional initiatives, and proposed action campaigns. 

September 5-7 at UN Headquarters in New York , at the annual international gathering of NGOs, the topic was " Climate Change: How It Impacts Us All ." The conference focused on the facilitation of individual action plans that address the growing concerns associated with climate change and its profound and decisive impact on human well-being. Even though many NGOs deal with issues that do not seem directly related to global warming or environmental issues, participants agreed that networking will be crucial to dealing with climate change. They adopted a Declaration to provide a framework for action and collaborative networking. The UN Secretary-General urged NGOs to work together to build grassroots support for a breakthrough climate agreement.


September 10-12, US Climate Action Network annual meeting in Washington US Climate Action brought together Washington lobbyists and state representatives belonging to the network for a briefing on energy and climate change bills, updates on regional activities, and planning for coordinated activities to support national legislation and binding action at the international level in preparation for the December meeting of the parties to the UN climate change treaty in Bali .

Interesting grassroots actions discussed at the meeting included:

The new One Sky campaign
Focus the Nation teach-ins at schools
National Wildlife Federation outreach


The Citizens Network for Sustainable Development (CitNet) is participating in local, national and international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, and is asking responsible citizens to: 

1. Inform and educate yourself about the impac