In 2019, New York lawmakers made a decisive move to counteract the first Trump administration’s vast rollbacks of environmental protections by enacting the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
The law set ambitious goals for curtailing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and provides strong protections for environmental justice communities. These are often Black and Brown neighborhoods that have long faced environmental racism, which has forced the people in these communities to endure a disproportionate burden from environmental hazards.
Now, before its requirements have even gone into effect, Gov. Hochul wants to weaken this historic legislation.
I’m writing to ask you to protect the CLCPA and prevent the law from being watered down or compromised.
Now Hochul wants to delay issuing these regulations until the end of 2030 and she wants to change the methodology used to count emissions in a way that makes targets easier to reach.
Allowing greenhouse gases to remain at levels higher than the law intended will directly and disproportionately harm Black and Brown communities on the front lines of climate change. And while the Governor’s has not proposed watering down the parts of the CLPCA that directly address environmental racism, any re-opening of the law to negotiation with the legislature puts these protections at risk.
Black and Brown New Yorkers in disadvantaged communities – who breathe in more than double their share of air pollution – need relief today and they need the CLPCA to protect them from further harm.
I’m counting on you to keep New York’s climate law intact and to ensure that Black and Brown New Yorkers do not become pawns in a backroom political deal.
