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Public Power Has Albany Rattled

It’s not every day that an ad hoc group of activists with more passion than funding gets this close to touching the levers of power. Especially on a climate issue. Especially in New York. This week in The River, staff writer Lissa Harris takes a closer look at the movement to pass the Build Public Renewables Act in New York, a state bill that almost went all the way in 2022.

Since the passage of New York's sweeping climate law in 2019, bills to translate the law's tough emissions targets into practical action have languished in Albany — even those aimed at carrying out policy recommendations that are coming directly from state climate planners. Build Public Renewables didn't pass this year, but it got close enough that state legislative leaders are paying attention. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has announced a special post-legislative-session hearing on the bill for July 28, a move climate advocates are calling "unprecedented."

The attention BPRA is getting might have a lot to do with the hard-hitting tactics of its most dedicated supporters, mostly volunteers from outside the more genteel world of climate and environment nonprofit work. Public power advocates are mounting primary challenges to Democratic incumbents, pressing legislators hard, and making a lot of noise. 

Read on for
more on Albany's hottest languishing climate bill — who's pushing it, what it would do, why it might not be a clear-cut win for reducing New York's emissions, and why its supporters think it would remake the relationship between energy and communities in New York. 
Read the story
Update from The River: Last week, we ran a deep dive by Liam Mayo on New York City's ambitious plan to shut down the Delaware Aqueduct for repairs in the fall, a project long in the works that will have ripple effects on communities across the city's upstate watershed as well as the 9.5 million people who drink city water. 

The Delaware Aqueduct is the longest tunnel in the world. It's also a vital tool for the city to move water around in its vast watershed, balancing the use of different reservoirs depending on conditions and water levels. Repairing it will take months. Timing is critical: If weather conditions are too dry, the city could have problems keeping water supply level with demand. If they are too wet, shutting down the tunnel could leave upstate areas near the reservoirs vulnerable to flooding.

Our coverage has proved to be timely. Yesterday, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection announced that they will delay the project until October of 2023, predicting that this year won't be the right combination of factors to start the project. Read on for more on how the project will touch communities all across the watershed, and how climate change is narrowing the window for action.
Read the story

In case you missed it...

Central Hudson Is Broken. Can New York Fix It?
Legislators are investigating. Advocates want to put utilities in public hands. People behind on their utility bills are in trouble. Regulators have a lot of power to act—if they choose to.

Read more »
The Round Goby Has Reached the Hudson. Will It Keep Going?
A destructive invasive fish has spread from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River. New York is trying to keep it from invading Lake Champlain too. Does the plan go far enough?

Read more »
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