NRDC: Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget Lacks Essential Climate Policies

As part of her Executive Budget released this week , New York Governor Kathy Hochul did not include a promised cap-and-invest program or the NY HEAT Act, which the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) says would reduce greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions, limit potential costs for New Yorkers, and invest in programs that drive emission reductions and improve energy affordability, especially for disadvantaged communities.

In 2024 alone, ten extreme weather events cost New Yorkers more than a billion dollars, and the Executive Budget fails to take this into consideration, according to NRDC.

Richard Schrader, Director, New York Government Affairs at NRDC appeared on Radio Chatskill to discuss the lack of climate initiatives in the budget proposal.

Image: New York State responded to multiple severe weather-related emergencies and disasters throughout the past year. These included 32 tornadoes, five lake effect snow and winter weather events, eight days of extreme heat, an earthquake, flooding throughout the state caused by the remnants of Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Debby, another August flooding event in Suffolk County, a drought and fall wildfires that burned in the eastern part of the New York for several weeks. (Credit: Dave Lucas/WAMC/New York Public News Network)