Ambitious New York climate bill dies in Senate

OREANDA-NEWS. June 21, 2016. A bill to slash greenhouse gas emissions in New York, potentially by creating only the second economy-wide cap-and-trade program in the US, died in the state Senate without a vote.

The ambitious legislation, which did not advance out of committee, would have required the state to achieve zero emissions by 2050 and to get half of its electricity from renewables by 2030. It would have effectively put into law and expanded on proposals supported by governor Andrew Cuomo (D).

The Assembly, which Democrats lead, had approved the bill, A10342 , earlier this month by a 96-43 vote. Environmentalists said the bill also had enough support to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, but it was not called up for a vote before the legislature ended its session over the weekend.

The offices of senator Diane Savino (D), the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, and Senate majority leader John Flanagan (R) did not respond to requests for comment.

The bill would have created a framework similar to that used by California, in which the legislature sets the overall policy goals and leaves it up to regulators to figure out the specific emissions reductions. It directed the Department of Environmental Conservation to draft a scoping plan that details the measures to be used to meet the overall emissions targets. These could include market-based measures such as cap-and-trade as well as performance-based measures, which may open the door to a low-carbon fuel standard to address transportation sector emissions.

Despite swift passage in the Assembly just over a week after it was first introduced, momentum for the bill slowed considerably in the Senate, particularly with a number of other issues taking up lawmakers' attention. Cuomo left the bill out of a list of priorities he asked lawmakers to work on in the final days of the session.

The bill would have been one of the most ambitious in the US, going well beyond what other states are considering or have put in place. California is working on the next phase of its climate efforts, which would target a 40pc cut in GHGs from 1990 levels by 2030 and 80pc by 2050. Oregon passed a bill last year requiring phase-out of coal by 2030, and Washington state plans to require power plants, refiners and other sources to cut emissions by about 1.7pc/yr out to 2035 to help the state cut overall emissions by 25pc from 1990 levels.

Despite the failure of the bill to pass this year, New York is poised to require additional GHG cuts from the power sector through its participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a nine-state cap-and-trade program. RGGI is in the middle of a program review to help the states prepare for the federal Clean Power Plan. That review will likely lead to lower CO2 limits for the region's power plants. In addition, state regulators are working on a 50pc by 2030 clean energy standard.