Setting the Agenda: Energy and Environment

During his first four years in office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo delayed action on several major environmental issues—but that may change in coming weeks and months.

With New York’s residents and politicians sharply divided over high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the Cuomo administration has extended on multiple occasions a moratorium on the method of drilling for natural gas while continuing its review of the environmental and health impacts. Last month the governor said the state health department’s study would be due by the end of the year, although he has blown past such deadlines before.

At the same time, state lawmakers are again gearing up to push for a variety of bills of their own that would address hydrofracking, as the controversial process is often called, from a total ban to restrictions on how fracking waste is disposed. However, the Republicans’ success in securing an outright majority in the state Senate this fall could make it harder to pass new restrictions, given that there is strong support for fracking in their conference.

“Obviously an issue now that’s going to resonate even more than it did in the past is hydrofracking,” said state Sen. Tony Avella, a Democrat who was named vice chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee earlier this year. “I still have my legislation in there to ban it. I also have the moratorium bill which the Assembly passed, so that’s also a major consideration. It will be interesting to see what the Republican-controlled Senate now does on hydrofracking, and what the governor does. That’s going to be the top issue in terms of the environment.”

This past session lawmakers also sought to renew the state’s expiring brownfield program, which provides incentives to clean up toxic industrial sites in order to pave the way for new development. No compromise was reached in Albany, but the governor and lawmakers pledged to take the issue up again this coming year as the 2015 expiration date for the program looms.

“The other issue, and I don’t know how this relates to the Republican-controlled Senate, is the Child Safe Products Act, which I worked very hard on to get passed even though it wasn’t my bill,” Avella said. “We need to work very hard to get that passed.”

The legislation, which bans toxic chemicals in children’s toys, was held up in the state Senate in 2014 as Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos blocked it from coming to the floor for a vote. Environmental groups have identified it as a major priority but gained little traction with voters as they tried to make it an issue on the campaign trail.

While several environmental issues were set aside, the Cuomo administration has been proactive on the energy front during its first term. In 2011 the governor signed a new power plant siting law, and he has also created a $1 billion green bank, expanded incentives to develop solar power and launched an “Energy Highway” to upgrade the state’s aging transmission grid.

Most recently the administration began an ambitious effort to overhaul how the state produces its energy, aiming to rely more on renewable power such as wind and solar, and shifting from traditional power plants to more distributed generation. The plan, dubbed Renewing Energy Vision, is moving through the state’s Public Service Commission, but it is also spurring legislative action.

“I think whoever’s the chair is going to agree that we have to work on the shared renewables bill, which will help, particularly, the solar industry,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who has chaired the Assembly Energy Committee over the past two years. “We want to continue as we have in New York to promote and to grow our alternative energy markets.”

Paulin said that her other top legislative goal is to build on a pilot project in Westchester County that allows municipalities to come together to share contracting for power resources in order to lower prices and prioritize renewable energy.

“We’re playing with it, and we’re looking at it,” Paulin said. “I think it’s a fabulous concept.”

The Cuomo administration has spearheaded a number of initiatives, but some policy changes may depend on which state lawmakers get top committee assignments in Albany. State Sen. George Maziarz, the longtime chair of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, declined to run for re-election this year, and state Sen. Tom O’Mara, who supports hydrofracking, has been mentioned as a potential replacement.

There are also key vacancies on the environmental conservation committees in both houses after Assemblyman Bob Sweeney retired and state Sen. Mark Grisanti lost his re-election bid. Assembly Members Deborah Glick and Steve Englebright are two potential successors to Sweeney.

Even Paulin, the Assembly Energy Committee chair, said she is not yet sure whether she will be returning to the same role.

“I’m likely to have a conversation with [Sheldon Silver] about continuing after he’s elected Speaker, and I’ve certainly enjoyed being the committee chair,” she said.