To Address the Climate Crisis, State Must Pass the NY HEAT Act
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
I am 18 years old, and like many folks my age, I am deeply concerned about the climate crisis. Last spring, I wrote to The Examiner to urge the New York State legislature to pass the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY HEAT) Act. The state Senate passed it last June, but the bill failed to come to a vote in the Assembly.
However, because of the hard work of grassroots organizers across the state, the NY HEAT Act is receiving much attention in the 2024 legislative season. In January, Gov. Hochul included many points of the bill in her executive budget, a big step for making the transitions proposed in the bill a reality.
The NY HEAT Act facilitates the state’s decarbonization goals as mandated by the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Chiefly, it curtails the growth of the gas distribution system and substitutes incentives for utilities to develop efficient heating solutions using renewable sources. Gov. Hochul has endorsed the parts of the bill that do that.
But I urge Gov. Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to include in the final budget the cap on consumers’ energy costs that was included in the original bill.
What New York makes into law becomes a model for other states to follow, and from there, helps the United States lead in climate solutions. Each step we take locally gives me hope that my generation will enjoy a livable world.
Jenna Cain
Thornwood
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