Hudson Valley Regional Council

Winter 2022 Newsletter

Dear HVRC Community,  

As the year begins, HVRC is excited to share updates from our economic development team, as well as a review of recent successes in the Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSP2), NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities (CEC) Program, and New York State’s Climate Smart Communities (CSC) Program. 2022 brings new opportunities to pursue sustainable economic development, clean energy improvements, and grant funding. HVRC is also glad to share materials that we created to aid communities in boosting economic development, protecting natural resources, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy cost-saving actions.  

Take a Broadband Survey

High-speed broadband access is vital in today’s economy, enabling easier access to medical care and government programs as well as enhanced opportunities for economic development.  As part of the State of the State on January 5th, Governor Hochul announced a $1 billion ConnectALL investment in New York’s broadband infrastructure. Funding will go towards a broadband assessment program and equity plan, three grant programs focused on capital investments to bolster Internet access, and efforts to ensure that all income-eligible New Yorkers can take advantage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Affordability Program broadband subsidy of $30 per month.

To bolster these efforts, the New York State Department of Public Service and ECC Technologies are conducting a survey of consumers on the status of broadband services availability and use at homes and businesses. All are encouraged to share their thoughts, even those that without broadband. Take the survey today here and distribute this survey to your contacts to help advance the adoption of high-speed broadband in your county and across New York State!  

HVRC’s Economic Development Administration team continues to survey business owners to learn how they are being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. From those conversations, some stories of success and resilience have emerged. The recent success of a stable in the Town of Crawford, Orange County, demonstrates a boom in outdoor, distanced activities. Since restrictions loosened, they have seen booming business for the last two summers, largely driven by camps needing a safe outdoor activity. In addition, a generator company in the Town of Somers, Westchester County, has seen significant growth. As the pandemic hit and more and more families were having to stay home, families saw the necessity for a backup generator and business has been thriving.  

Even in the success stories, however, there is still a lot to learn about the adversity companies face as they try to survive. The stable was closed for three months at the beginning of the pandemic. The generator company has seen supply chain issues disrupt its business and expects it to happen again in the future. HVRC’s EDA team would love to hear from your business about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and connect you to relevant resources for recovery. Business owners can fill out the COVID-19 Pandemic survey here, and can reach:  

• Jake Mitchell, who serves Dutchess, Putnam, and Ulster Counties at jmitchell@hudsonvalleyrc.org, 
• Caleb Fine, who serves Orange, Rockland, and Westchester Counties at cfine@hudsonvalleyrc.org, and 
• Pat Pomeroy, who serves Sullivan County at ppomeroy@hudsonvalleyrc.org with any questions.  

Applications for Free Technical Assistance for Municipalities on Drinking Water Source Protection Program (DWSP2)  

The New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Health (DOH) have announced a new initiative to assist municipalities with assessing and supporting drinking water source protection programs. The Drinking Water Source Protection Program is a state-run program created to assist municipalities with proactively protecting their drinking water sources. The goal is to help municipalities develop and implement their own unique drinking water source protection plan for the source(s) of their drinking water. In order to do so, the State is looking for communities to work with a technical assistance provider (TA provider), free of charge, to develop a DWSP2 Plan for their source of drinking water. TA providers will work with the community every step of the way, using the DWSP2 Framework, to develop a community specific DWSP2 Plan. As a result of this program, participating municipalities can use their newly developed DWSP2 plan to start implementing protection measures. More information.

Urban stormwater is a significant source of pollution. Since 2003, DEC has issued the MS4 general permit requiring MS4 operators to develop and implement a stormwater management program to help reduce polluted runoff from entering New York's waters.

The DEC has announced the availability of the draft renewal of the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4), and Fact Sheet for public comment.

View the January 12 Environmental Notice Bulletin for how and where to submit comments. The comment deadline is Friday, February 18, 2022.

DEC programs collect monitoring data on rivers, streams, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters, evaluate these results, and report the water quality information to the public. The Waterbody Inventory/Priority Waterbodies List (WI/PWL) provides assessments of many New York State waters. WI/PWL fact sheets have been updated for all waterbodies that had monitoring conducted on them during 2011-2018. These fact sheets are available on the DECinfo Locator. Visit the WI/PWL webpage to learn how to access specific fact sheets.  

Comments on the DEC's water assessments are welcome via email. 

The DEC has posted a new Asset Management Guide (Guide) on its website to help POTW owners and operators develop asset management programs suited to each unique wastewater treatment system and the goals of the community. The Guide will help municipalities plan and budget for the capital improvements and management strategies necessary to run their POTWs as efficiently and economically as possible. 

The DEC and the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) are working together on a plan to put the Guide to practical use beginning this spring, help up to 50 municipalities develop and implement asset management programs, and provide feedback on ways the Guide might be improved. An asset management program includes inventories of collection and treatment system assets, the identification of projects and necessary budgets for capital improvements, and management strategies. The DEC and EFC will solicit volunteer municipalities across New York State to participate in the program. For more information, visit the EFC's Asset Management Program webpage.

2021 Overview

Congratulations to all the communities that have submitted actions to the Program, been designated a Clean Energy Community, and been awarded a grant!  

Clean Energy Communities Institute 

In August, HVRC launched the CEC Institute, a programming series in support of the NYSERDA CEC Program High Impact Actions. The Institute is available to all Mid-Hudson communities and is intended to provide counties, cities, towns, and villages with the tools to immediately participate in the CEC Program. If you missed it, materials and content for prior CEC Institute months, focused on Climate Smart Communities Certification, NYStretch Energy Code, Energy Code Enforcement Training, and PACE Financing are available on our CEC Institute webpage now.   

The just published January Institute on the Unified Solar Permit highlights three out of the dozens of Mid-Hudson municipalities that have adopted the Unified Solar Permit application. We thank them for sharing why they adopted the permit, challenges encountered, and how the solar permitting process has changed since adoption.    

Communities in the Mid-Hudson region are actively working on making their municipal landscaping equipment and landscaping equipment used in the community more environmentally friendly. The $5,000 Clean Energy Communities Designation and Community Campaign Action Grants have been particularly helpful for communities seeking to purchase equipment or create programming around sustainable landscaping. Eight communities have applied at least one of their CEC grants towards sustainable landscaping. Looking for more information about reducing emissions from landscaping equipment? Sustainable Westchester just hosted a great webinar – you can watch the recording here.

Did you know that a new report from the US Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that transit buses idle for an average of 3.7 of the 9 hours that a bus is in operation? The report is viewable here.  Fortunately, there are resources available to make heavy duty vehicles like transit buses cleaner:

• New York’s Truck Voucher Incentive Program helps New York fleet owners transition their medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to cleaner options like all-electric, hydrogen fuel cell electric, plug-in hybrid electric, conventional hybrid, compressed natural gas, and propane.
• Our partners at the Adirondack North Country Association recently put on a webinar about Electric School Buses, exploring funding and the technology. The recording of the webinar and additional materials are available here.
• Westchester County’s Executive Office is holding an Electric School Bus Webinar on January 27^th at 1:00 PM, with a number of valuable resources for school districts interested in electrifying transportation, with the Superintendent of the City of White Plains explaining how White Plains began the transition to all-electric school buses. To register for the event, click here. If you miss the event and want to listen in, email david@empirecleancities.org for a copy of the recording. 
• In addition, the Clean Fleets High Impact Action in the Clean Energy Communities Program allocates 300 points for purchased medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles. Transitioning to a clean fleet could help your community earn a CEC Designation Grant or Points-Based grant.  

New York State is taking proactive steps to help communities envision and plan for a clean energy powered future. To meet the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act), the NYSERDA Just Transition Program offers planning services to communities with fossil-fuel power plants so that local governments can formulate their clean energy future. NYSERDA authorized planning contractors will provide site reuse planning and technical support services to eligible applicants at no cost. Explore the Just Transition Program, its eligibility requirements, and the simple application process here. 

Newly Certified Climate Smart Communities 

Congratulations to the newly certified Climate Smart Communities in the Mid-Hudson region! Each of the below communities was certified in 2021. Is your municipality interested in joining this group in 2022? Please reach out to your HVRC CEC Coordinator to learn more and receive technical assistance, certification training, or certification application review. 

• Village of Ardsley
• Town of Gardiner
• Village of Irvington
• Town of New Castle
• Town of Philipstown
• City of Poughkeepsie
• Town of Poughkeepsie
• Town of Woodstock

New York State Polystyrene Ban   

Starting January 1, 2022, New York has banned polystyrene foam containers and packing peanuts. The statewide ban is one of the first in the country, though most New Yorkers live in communities where local bans already prohibited expanded polystyrene. According to the DEC, “Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a major contributor to environmental litter, causing negative impacts to wildlife, waterways, and natural resources. EPS foam is lightweight, breaks apart easily, and does not readily biodegrade, rendering it persistent in the environment and susceptible to becoming microplastic pollution.” Despite the recycling symbol on polystyrene containers, they are not readily recyclable in New York nor in the US. Anyone who sells or distributes prepared food or beverages cannot sell or distribute disposable containers that contain this foam. Also, no manufacturer or store will be allowed to sell the loose fill packaging, aka packing peanuts.   

As of January 1, 2022, the New York State Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling law requires all businesses and institutions that generate an average of two tons of wasted food or more per week to donate excess edible food and recycle all remaining food scraps if they are within 25 miles of an organics recycler (compost facility). Ulster County’s Food Waste Prevention and Recovery Act takes a phased-in approach, starting with requiring organics recycling for facilities that produce two tons of food waste per week in 2021, and eventually requiring recycling for facilities that produce half a ton of food waste per week by July 1, 2023. The DEC website provides a list of Designated Food Scraps Generators to which the NYS FDFSR law is applicable, and a variety of resources for organizations required or wishing to donate excess food or recycle food scraps. 

The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute can offer technical assistance resources to plan for food waste diversion, and also offers up to 44% reimbursement funding for equipment purchases for projects that divert food waste from landfills or incinerators to NYS businesses and nonprofits that generate, recycle, or haul less than 1 ton/week of food waste under the NYSP2I Food Waste Reduction and Diversion Reimbursement Program. Funding is available through May 2022.   

• Upcoming Webinar: February 1, 2022: The NYS Food Donation & Food Scraps Recycling Law Takes Effect – register here   
• Previous Webinar: September 28, 2021: Effective Steps to Launch a Food Scraps Diversion Program for Businesses – watch here. 

NYSDEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program Women in Science Winter Speaker Series 

• February 2, 2022: A Love Affair in STEM with Shihadah "Shay" Saleem.  Learn how a Black woman's love of marine science blossomed into a holistic passion for STEM education, empowerment, and community elevation for NYC youth. Register here. 

• February 16, 2022: Field-Based Learning Connects & Empowers Students from the Hudson to Greenland with Margie Turrin. Explore how youth on the Hudson and in Greenland are working to bring hands-on, inter-generational learning into their education. Register here.

Hudson River Valley Greenway Grants   

The Hudson River Valley Greenway Grant Program provides matching grants to Greenway Communities and Compact Communities. Greenway Communities are eligible to receive up to $10,000 to develop plans or projects consistent with the five Greenway criteria: natural and cultural resource protection, economic development, public access, regional planning, and heritage and environmental education. Higher amounts are awarded for intermunicipal projects.  The 2022 deadlines are February 4, May 6, September 2, and November 4.  

On December 20th, Governor Kathy Hochul announced $30 million to incentivize decarbonization of single-family homes through an initiative called Building Better Homes. The initiative will be administered by NYSERDA, and the announcement made $5 million available under phase one of the program to support builders and developers with training, technical assistance, marketing support, and funding to build carbon-neutral single-family homes. Applications to become a program partner, with up to $250,000 available per partner, will be accessible until December 31, 2023.

The Return-To-Work Grant incentivizes employment growth by providing financial assistance to for-profit and non-profit businesses engaged in a tourism-related field. A total of $100 million in funding has been allocated to award grantees for increasing their average employment between January 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022. Grants will provide $5,000 for each net new full-time equivalent job added, and $2,500 for each net new part-time equivalent job added.  For more information on eligibility, click here. 

The Restaurant Resiliency Program sets aside $25 million to provide grants to restaurants that offer meals and other food-related items to New Yorkers within distressed or underrepresented communities. Restaurants will need to show the capacity to create meals aligning with MyPlate.gov standards, be up to date with licensing requirements, and have passed health inspections.  For more information, click here. 

The New York State COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program has $800 million in funding, designed to help small businesses that have had at least a 25% loss in year-to-year revenue in 2020 and expenses greater than income. The grant is designed to help pay down any debts incurred from March 1,  2020, to April 1, 2021, and can be used for utility costs, payroll costs, insurance costs, rent or mortgages, and more. To learn more information and apply, please visit the New York State Small Business Recovery website.  

The USDA Rural Energy Pilot Program offers financial assistance – up to 80% of project costs not to exceed $2 million – to rural communities to further develop renewable energy. Grant funds can be used to support: community energy planning and capacity building, community efficiency and weatherization, and installation of community-scale renewable energy technologies and systems. Eligible applicants are REPP partnerships, which may be comprised of non-profit entities, state and local entities, tribal entities, and municipalities or other bodies. Priority is given to distressed and high energy-burden communities. Letters of Intent are due on or before April 19, 2022, while completed applications are due July 18, 2022.

Round 1 of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Community Forest Conservation Grant Program makes $1,000,000 available for acquisition of community forests through fee title (purchase) or conservation easements. The grant program’s goal is to assist communities in the conservation of local forests to create opportunities for public access, help protect natural areas from development, and encourage sustainable management of forested lands. Properties to be acquired must be ten or more contiguous acres in size, have forests on at least 75% of the acreage, be accessible to the public, and provide public benefits such as recreation opportunities, flood mitigation, wildlife habitat, clean water, and forest products. Applicants will be able to request $50,000 to $300,000 and must provide a 10% cash match of the grant amount requested. This is a reimbursement grant. The deadline for application is 2:00 PM on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. A webinar about project eligibility and the application process will be held on Wednesday, February 2nd from 10am to 12pm. Click the link to join the meeting.

Hudson River Estuary Program GIS Mapping Webinars 

Ever wondered what the climate risks to your community are? This series of three webinars from the Hudson River Estuary Program explains in detail how to use three environmental justice mapping tools to visualize the risks associated with climate change for individual communities. 

1) The Hudson River Impact Decision Support System from Columbia University: This tool combines climate projections for sea level rise in the Hudson Valley River with the Social Vulnerability Index. It indicates which areas within Hudson River communities are most at risk of flooding and may need planning for resilient response.   

2) Neighborhoods at Risk: A tool developed by Headwaters Economics helps demonstrate climate change impacts on a community scale, and was designed to meet community planning needs, contribute to climate vulnerability assessments, and inform land use and policy decisions.  Neighborhoods at Risk helps demonstrate climate change impacts on a community scale, and was designed to meet community planning needs, contribute to climate vulnerability assessments, and inform land use and policy decisions.   

3) EJScreen: This tool unveiled by the EPA early in 2021 can help you identify which communities in your region are at risk of different pollutants, and visualize how those risks are often higher in areas where vulnerable populations are located.