Sharing green energy benefits

Albany

About 35 percent of households in the state live in environmentally “disadvantaged communities” according to a draft plan that outlines how the benefits of shifting to green energy should be distributed.

A draft map of these communities, based on census tracts, was released this week by a subcommittee of the Climate Action Council, the group charged with creating a road map for switching from a fossil fuel-based economy to one based on renewables like solar and wind power.

Parts of Albany, Cohoes, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Troy as well as Ravena and Watervliet have been deemed disadvantaged communities according to the draft map. None are in Saratoga County.

The map culminates more than two years of planning and debates on what constitutes a disadvantaged community.

Essentially, neighborhoods with high poverty rates, high numbers of minority residents and areas with a history of being affected by pollution or threatened by natural disasters like floods fall into these categories.

Other factors used to define a disadvantaged community include disproportionate numbers of people with health problems like asthma or pulmonary disease.

A total of 45 indicators were used in defining these communities.

Going forward, these neighborhoods are supposed to get extra consideration in the shift toward green energy, with jobs, energy efficiency subsidies and other benefits flowing to them in order to make up for what planners said was a history of environmental injustice.

“This marks a significant milestone in New York’s efforts to advance climate justice,” state Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos said.

“As the state works to reach economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050, it must direct funds to reduce pollution and provide economic opportunity to those who need it most,” added Raya Salter, an environmental lawyer who served on the Climate Justice Working Group.

Climate justice, the idea that certain groups have been disproportionately harmed by pollution as well as climate change, is an important aspect of the Climate Action Council’s work. The group created a subcommittee to develop the criteria for choosing disadvantaged communities.

The efforts stem from the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, which calls for a carbon-free economy by 2050.

That law requires the state to invest or direct resources to help ensure that disadvantaged communities receive at least 35 percent of the benefits from spending on clean energy and energy efficiency programs.

Those benefits could come in a variety of ways, including job opportunities for people living in disadvantaged communities. Or they could come from enhanced energy-efficiency programs to subsidize insulating or weatherproofing homes.

“Our members will have to pay attention to these (census) maps when developing their programs,” remarked Anne Reynolds, executive director of the state Alliance for Clean Energy, an association of solar, wind and other renewable energy companies.

For instance, a company building an offshore wind project or solar farm, might offer job training in a disadvantaged community or purchase supplies from stores and companies located in those communities.

“It’s not absolutely clear what companies will have to do but it is clear that they will have to steer investment to these communities one way or another,” said Reynolds.

In the Capital Region, for example, the companies planning to build wind towers at an expanded Port of Albany might offer training or apprenticeships from residents of the nearby South End of Albany, which is lower income and has a high number of minority residents.

Parts of the South End also have been challenged by proximity to a rail siding and heavy truck traffic serving the port — yet another factor that helps define a disadvantaged community.

Other working class communities should benefit. “It is both encouraging and important to us the state is looking for opportunities and pathways … to make sure that communities like ours can take advantage of clean energy funding,” said Theresa Bourgeois director of operations for Cohoes. The city has recently been recognized for planning to put floating solar panels in a municipal reservoir. City officials hope the designation as a disadvantaged community will help fund the project.

The disadvantaged community concept is also being embraced by the Biden administration with similar considerations and goals playing a part in the president’s plans to combat climate change.

Those plans, though, were criticized last month as they excluded race as a factor in identifying disadvantaged communities, noted Salter.

Tax break concern

Barbara Heinzen, a Capital Region consultant and environmental activist, said she worries that the mantle of helping disadvantaged communities could become an excuse for handing out unneeded tax breaks to businesses.

“I’m skeptical,” said Heinzen.

The village of Ravena, for instance, is listed as a disadvantaged community in the draft map and it’s also the home to the Port of Coeymans.

The port will be constructing platforms for offshore wind turbines, but there is local opposition to the expansion plans there, due to traffic and other concerns.

Heinzen wonders if those concerns could be glossed over by the prospect of bringing jobs to the community.

Thursday marked the beginning of a 120-day public comment period for New Yorkers to provide feedback on the draft before the criteria are finalized.

New Yorkers can submit comments via the online public comment form at DACComments@dec.ny.gov and by mail to Attention: Draft DAC Comments, NYS DEC, Attn. Office of Environmental Justice, 625 Broadway, 14th Floor, Albany NY 12233. Information about the public hearings will be released soon.