Several New York and Pennsylvania House Republicans, led by Rep. Nick Langworthy, called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to end opposition to a proposed natural gas pipeline that would’ve run through parts of the Southern Tier and Western New York, according to a letter they sent Thursday.

Known as the Northern Access Pipeline, National Fuel Gas Co. proposed a decade ago to build a two-foot wide, 96-mile pipeline that would run through parts of Allegany, Cattaraugus and Erie counties, as well as one county in Pennsylvania, and carry natural gas to a variety of places in North America.

The number of clean energy jobs in New York state has reached a record high with 178,000 employees in the industry at the end of 2023, according to findings from the 2024 New York Clean Energy Industry Report.

That’s an increase of 7,700 from the year prior.

As New York leaders work to conserve 30% of the state’s land by 2030, conservationists are eyeing what could be a large piece of the puzzle, namely the 36,000-acre Whitney Park that's located in Adirondack Park.

Home to 46 high peaks, 2,800 lakes and ponds and more than 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, the Adirondack Park is one of a kind.

A cryptocurrency plant in Central New York can continue operating after a court rejected the state’s effort to shut down the facility, but the debate isn’t over and both sides consider the ruling a victory.

Environmental advocates have been railing against the Greenidge Generation facility for years, alleging the operation works against the state's goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The New York Power Authority is seeking public comment on a draft plan of their role in expanding the state’s renewable energy portfolio. It is part of the state’s work to meet ambitious climate goals and the expansion of NYPA’s authority was approved in last year’s state budget. The expansion gives NYPA, the largest state public power organization in the nation, the authority to plan and execute renewable projects.

Vennela Yadhati, vice president of renewable project development at NYPA, told Spectrum News 1 the draft plan identifies 40 projects that seek to move the needle.

A cryptocurrency plant in central New York can continue operating after a court rejected the state’s effort to shutter the facility over concerns about its climate impact.

The decision was hailed as a victory by Greenidge Generation, a large-scale crypto mine in the Finger Lakes region that has drawn the ire of environmental groups and watchdogs since it began mining bitcoin four years ago.

Former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin’s nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has fueled an already intense debate over how Trump’s second term will impact climate policy both at the state and federal level.

Environmental advocates like Judith Enck, former Region 2 EPA regional aministrator under President Barack Obama, are already concerned at the prospect of a Trump presidency and have expressed further concern with Zeldin’s nomination.

When you turn on your tap for a glass of water, you expect that water to be clean and safe to drink.

However, in some parts of New York and the country, lead pipes put children and adults alike at risk of serious health impacts.

New York is one year ahead of schedule for hitting some of its clean energy goals outlined in the 2019 state climate law, the state announced Thursday.

So far, 6 gigawatts of solar have been installed statewide.

Last week, U.S. Reps. Pat Ryan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a joint press conference in the Hudson Valley urging the Environmental Protection Agency to do more to compel General Electric (GE) to clean up pollution from the Hudson River.

The company legally dumped PCBs into the river over the course of 30 years when it was an economic force in upstate New York.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After nearly four long decades of cleanup and restoration of the Rochester Embayment, the area has finally been taken off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of “areas of concern" on the Great Lakes affected by historical contamination.

The waters have undergone a remarkable recovery.

As New York state grapples with record-breaking heatwaves and devastating floods, Siena College hosted the “Earth’s Cry, Humanity’s Call” symposium to address the pressing issue of climate change.

The event brought together global leaders, students and policymakers to discuss strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s performance on handling the state's climate crisis did not receive good marks from one climate action group.

Climate Can’t Wait, a collaborative of several climate groups, released a "report card” on the governor's progress Tuesday. They gave Hochul a "D-minus" for her performance so far.

More than $33 million has been allocated to help farmers address the impacts of climate change as part of New York’s Climate Resilient Farming grant program, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday.

“This program gives farmers the resources they need to mitigate their impact on the environment, prepare for and respond to whatever weather events the future holds and continue their critical work contributing to our local economies,” Hochul said in a statement.

The New York state Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission has issued two siting permits for two major renewable energy projects in upstate New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.

The sites are the Rich Road Solar Energy Center, in the town of Canton, in St. Lawrence County, and Prattsburgh Wind LLC, in Steuben County.

Gov. Kathy Hochul kicked off climate week in Midtown, saying she’s standing with the Biden administration for a multimillion-dollar investment to build up New York’s workforce training tied to offshore wind projects.

“As economies grow, in our country at least, the planet grew sicker and as a result we’re dealing with the effects right now,” she said at the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York headquarters Monday.

As climate week convenes in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering a bill to reconvene the state’s sea level rise task force. The task force would be in charge of updating data and making recommendations for how to best address the issue.

The task force was last convened back in 2007 and presented its report in 2010. Those pushing the bill stress that our understanding of climate change and the data available have changed drastically since, and so should the state's strategy.

In the five years since the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) was signed, the state’s energy picture has dimmed in multiple ways: The closure of Indian Point has led to more CO2 emissions. There is a greater reliance on fossil fuels downstate. The price for electricity has increased.

But with electricity needs increasing with the pending arrival of Micron, one trade union president is urging the state to build more capacity by broadening its definition of acceptable energy sources.

Nuclear energy is unique in a lot of ways. While it doesn’t emit greenhouse gasses, it is extractive since it relies on uranium mining. While nuclear waste is radioactive and must be carefully transported and stored, nuclear power is efficient and a greenhouse gas emissions-free alternative to oil and gas.

The state currently has three aging nuclear plants in Central New York, but they continue to produce 20% of New York’s energy.

Does New York’s climate plan need more nuclear energy? Nuclear New York answers that question with a resounding “yes."

With the state’s climate targets lagging at least three years behind, and its electricity needs increasing thanks to Artificial Intelligence; economic development projects like Micron; and crypto currency mining, there are stakeholders who feel investing further in nuclear power is the best way to meet the state’s energy goals within a reasonable timeline.

Economists with the state's nonpartisan fiscal watchdog continue to research legislation that would create a $75 billion fund to pay for climate change initiatives and related projects, and have questions about the impact on consumers and ethics of the bill.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will make a decision to sign or veto a proposal later this fall to require large fossil fuel companies to pay the state $3 billion a year for 25 years to fund the costs of climate change based on their share of emissions. Supporters of the legislation, called the Climate Change Superfund Act, say the fund would shift the cost of clean energy projects off taxpayers.

The state’s energy summit will continue on Thursday in Syracuse with panel discussions on next generation technologies and nuclear power, among other issues.

Protests are planned around the event by those groups who were not invited to participate: communities on the front lines of the climate crisis, including environmental justice organizations.

Gavin Donohue, president and CEO of the Independent Power Producers of New York (IPPNY), is hoping to hear that the Hochul administration will be investing more in workforce development to ensure that New York can quickly bring online any new energy technologies.

He spoke with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter about the issue from the governor’s energy summit in Syracuse.

Next week in Syracuse, Gov. Kathy Hochul will convene an energy summit to discuss the role of clean energy and discuss accelerating renewables, while also supporting economic development in New York.

As Capital Tonight has reported, the state is already three years behind its own timetable to meet the goals of its climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Over the course of the 32 meetings from early 2020 to late 2022, New York's Climate Action Council developed a scoping plan to meet the state's energy and emission reduction goals.

Phillips Lytle head of energy and sustainability Dennis Elsenbeck was one of only three members to vote against the final plan.

It’s been five years since New York’s landmark climate bill was passed by the New York state Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, mandates that 70% of the state’s electricity be generated by renewables by 2030, which is less than six years away.

As preparations become finalized for New York's energy summit in Syracuse next week, Republican lawmakers are urging the state leaders and global experts who will participate to make a cost analysis of New York's clean energy goals and reliability of the electric grid part of the conversation.

Environmental experts, state agencies, power producers, labor groups and others will be part of the two-day Future Energy Economy Summit at the Syracuse Marriott Downtown hotel.

The Oneida Indian Nation has been awarded $12.8 million to install electric vehicle chargers, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

The Nation will have 52 direct current fast chargers put in at five different locations. The sites will be within one mile of Interstate 90, a designated Alternative Fuels Corridor, which currently has 16 fast chargers in two locations.

Animal and environmental rights groups want Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill into law that would increase the prevalence of wildlife crossings on New York roadways and reduce vehicle and animal collisions.

The Wildlife Crossings Act passed with wide bipartisan support this session with the intent of saving money — and saving lives.

At the very end of session in June, the New York state Legislature passed a consequential climate bill called the Climate Change Superfund Act. The bill is awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul's signature or veto, and it’s not clear at this point what she will do.

But a new report indicates that, over time, the law could save New Yorkers $825 billion in climate disaster expenses.

A bill passed late in the New York legislative session aims to create a state sustainability officer.

The role would be tied to the wide range of efforts underway to meet New York's ambitious climate goals, which state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Wednesday needs improved planning, monitoring and assessment.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- As the effort to tackle plastic pollution across the country and the globe continues to build, there are a lot of new products on the market.

Beyond Plastics President and former Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck said it comes with good and bad.

Federal environmental officials said Wednesday they need to collect more data from the Hudson River before they determine how well six years of dredging completed in 2015 to clean up the river is working.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft review on the cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from a 40-mile stretch of the river north of Albany. The EPA concluded that while overall PCB levels in water and fish are going down, the agency needs more data on fish to determine if the cleanup is meeting initial expectations.

New York’s climate law requires that the Public Service Commission (PSC) issue a progress report on how the state’s doing in its move toward clean energy.

By law, the state is supposed to meet a target of 70% renewables by 2030. While the report indicates that New York will not meet that goal, and the Hochul administration is considering moving the deadline to 2033, there is some optimism in New York.

With record-breaking heat comes the possibility of record-breaking energy usage. But Rich Dewey, president and CEO of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), told Capital Tonight that the grid is resilient, and that adequate resources are in place to accommodate the kind of demand we have experienced this week.

“We do tremendous planning to get ready for these types of events,” Dewey said of the extended heat wave.

In politics, a last-minute bombshell that drops before a November election is known as an "October surprise."

Here in Albany, just days before the end of the legislative session, Gov. Kathy Hochul dropped what one could call a June surprise as she announced an “indefinite pause” of the congestion pricing policy which was set to go into effect at the end of June in New York City.

New York is working to meet ambitious goals when it comes to reducing emissions — those goals being set forth in New York’s 2019 Climate Act. Meeting them requires continuous progress that climate activists say is not moving fast enough.

Those activists say they were disappointed right out of the gate when they heard Gov. Kathy Hochul's State of The State address in January, and while there were some wins, they remained disappointed as the halls of the state Capitol emptied at the end of session two weeks ago.

LOS ANGELES — May 2024 was the warmest May on record, marking the 12th straight monthly record high.

May was 1.52 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

One of the bills still up in the air this last week of session is the Climate Change Superfund Act.

The legislation would require oil and gas companies to pay into a fund to help the state offset the effects of climate change.

New York’s 25 municipal solid waste landfills “have a combined site life of between approximately 16 and 25 years,” according to the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Solid Waste Master Plan. Additionally, within the waste sector, methane leaking from these same landfills are the largest contributor of harmful emissions.

These are among the reasons cited by New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) executive director Blair Horner for the state Legislature to pass an update to the state’s 40-year-old Returnable Container Act, which was last expanded in 2009.

Environmental advocacy groups like We Act 4 Change are making passage of the NY HEAT Act their top priority as legislative session nears its close.

Climate Justice Campaign Manager Annie Carforo said the legislation aims to align state policy with climate goals already on the books.

Microplastics have now been found just about everywhere: every single human organ, in breast milk, in newborn babies, in clouds. According to the Guardian, microplastics have been found from deep in the Mariana Trench to the tip of Mount Everest.

It’s also suspected that they are causing problems with male fertility.

Livingston and Seneca counties will each receive $1.5 million in federal funding to clean up contaminated and toxic sites, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday.

The money comes from the federal Brownfields Assessment Grant through the Environmental Protection Agency and aims to clean up properties that have long plagued the region.

FLORIDA — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is reminding beachgoers to watch out for sea turtles and shorebirds this Memorial Day weekend.

Nesting season is underway at Florida beaches, and FWC is asking Floridians and visitors to help keep turtles and birds safe by giving them space, removing beach furniture and trash, keeping the shore clean and dark, and not to disturb nests.

The New York state Public Service Commission has adopted a Statewide Solar for All program that aims to spur development of solar and retail energy storage projects, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced Thursday.

Statewide Solar for All will combine the utility-managed Energy Affordability Program (EAP) and market-based community solar with the goal to deliver clean energy savings to low-income households.

New York state Assemblymember Anna Kelles has introduced legislation that serves as an alternative to the state’s emerging cap and trade system.

Cap and trade is a program used to help meet climate goals by capping pollution and then authorizing tradable allowances between companies, creating a new market.

Once again, the NY HEAT Act did not make the state budget. The bill is at the very top of environmentalists’ priorities.

The NY HEAT Act would align utility regulations with the state’s emissions reduction targets and remove a residential customer’s legal entitlement to utility gas services, but maintain the entitlement for electric service.

Renewable energy projects in New York have been taking more than three years to receive siting permits due to application delays, according to an audit released Thursday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office.

The audit of the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES), which was created in 2020, found permit applications were often delayed due to missing or insufficient documentation.

Climate activists view the New York state budget as the best chance for passage of the Climate Change Superfund Act.

The bill (S.2129A Krueger/A.3351A Dinowitz) would force oil companies to help pay for damages caused by the climate crisis — damages that environmental justice communities have been dealing with for decades, in some cases.

New York state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would exempt the burning of wood, used for cooking or heating buildings, from restrictions under the state’s 2019 climate law.

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) mandates the state lower greenhouse gas emissions to 40% of 1990 levels by 2030, and by 85% by 2050.

Members of the New York state Assembly on Tuesday urged the chamber’s speaker, Carl Heastie, and Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the NY HEAT Act, which aligns utility regulation with state climate justice and emission reduction targets, in the state budget.

Proponents of the measure say it is intended to limit costs to customers as New York state transitions away from natural gas while protecting them from predatory practices by capping utility costs at 6% of income for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers to prevent utility companies from hiking rates.

New York state Sen. Pete Harckham, the chairman of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, has proposed legislation that would create a new limit of tax credits for New Yorkers to go solar.

The proposal, which is currently in committee, would give New Yorkers who transition their residence to rooftop solar a maximum per-household tax credit of $10,000. Harckham joined Capital Tonight to discuss how the proposal would work.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week announced a comprehensive ban on asbestos. The move expands upon a 2016 law that dealt with the use of toxic chemicals in every-day products.

The known carcinogen has largely been phased out but is still used in some products.

New York state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos recently announced he’s stepping down from the job after eight and half years.

He is the longest serving commissioner in the agency’s history, and his introduction to the position was forged by a drinking water crisis in the village of Hoosick Falls.

The New York state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation aimed to make utility bills easier to pay for ratepayers, including the NY Heat Act, which aligns utility regulation with state climate justice and emission reduction targets.

The NY HEAT Act, which passed 40-22, had been approved by the state Senate last year but the Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul have yet to find agreement on all variables of the legislation. Hochul included key provisions in her 2025 state budget, but not the entire piece of legislation.

There are several proposals on environmental wish lists this legislative session, including the NY HEAT Act, which advocates say will save New Yorkers money and move them off fossil fuels, as well as the Climate Change Superfund Act, which would make polluters pay for the cost of the climate transition.

“This is a very important budget for lawmakers and the governor to get right when it comes to environmental protections and addressing climate change,” Liz Moran, a policy advocate for Earthjustice, told Capital Tonight.

The New York state Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill that would expand the state's ban of the controversial drilling process to extract natural gas to include a newer practice that uses carbon dioxide to extract methane and circumvents the current policy.

Fracking was first prohibited in New York back in 2014 and then permanently banned in the 2021 state budget.

A collaboration of unions, climate advocates, building industry representatives and environmental groups is calling for New York to decarbonize state-owned college campuses as part of the state budget.

Known as UpgradeNY, the group wants union-led funding to build thermal energy networks at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Purchase to decarbonize heating and cooling on their campuses, the group said Thursday morning.

The State University of New York system will phase out the use of single-use plastics like bags, beverage bottles, food service products, utensils, plastic wrap and packaging films, SUNY Chancellor John King announced Tuesday.

The higher education system will work with the SustainChain public service platform to create a plastics-free solutions hub with access to resources on how to achieve the new requirement.

The giant meat producer JBS was accused of making misleading claims about its greenhouse gas emission goals to boost sales among environmentally conscious consumers in a lawsuit filed Wednesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The lawsuit filed in a state court in New York City alleges that the company claimed it will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 despite having no viable plan to meet that commitment. The lawsuit names as defendants JBS USA Food Company and JBS USA Food Company Holdings, the American subsidiary of the world-leading producer of beef products based in Brazil.

If you’ve ever purchased anything from Amazon, you’ve probably had to open a plastic bubble mailer and then a second or even third plastic wrapper to get at the thing you ordered.

It’s one reason why more than 300 advocates and elected officials converged on Albany Tuesday to push lawmakers to pass a bill to reduce packaging. Advocates argue that single-use plastic is one of the most serious issues facing the environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency is putting more than $20 million toward cleanup in the Ley Creek area of the Onondaga Lake Superfund Site.

U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand shared details from the funding on Tuesday.

New York state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos has decided to step down from the role, Spectrum News 1 learned Wednesday evening.

Seggos has led the DEC since October 2015, the longest tenure a commissioner has served in that department.

The cost of the doing nothing on climate will far outweigh the cost of a climate transition for New York, according to state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos, who addressed concerns on Capital Tonight.

“I just want to make sure viewers are clear. People are already paying for the impacts of climate change. That is a certainty. We spent $36 billion to recover from Superstorm Sandy,” Seggos said. “We see a $55 billion bill, potentially, if we don’t do the right things in New York, just on adaptation over the next 10 years.”

New York lawmakers met yet again within the marble walls of Albany's Legislative Office Building Wednesday to hear testimony on the state’s environmental conservation budget, with topics ranging from assistance for farmers to New York’s State Park system.

Some of the more heated exchanges we’ve seen at these hearings so far this session, however, were directed at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation. They're largely concerned with the attainability of New York’s climate goals.

Last July, storms dropped more than a month’s worth of rain in the Hudson Valley, washing away the road to West Point, and causing deadly flooding across the Northeast.

Just last month, coastal storms off the south shore of Long Island downed trees and utility lines and caused what some people have called the worst flooding since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and members of the Great Lakes Task Force introduced legislation that would extend a program that cleans up toxins, combats invasive species and protects watersheds of the Great Lakes, her office announced Wednesday.

A bipartisan bill would extend the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for another five years, through 2031, and increase annual funding levels from $475 million in 2026 to $500 million from 2027 to 2031.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Over the past few decades, New York state has invested attention and public resources into Plug Power, a company involved in the development and manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cells, a cleaner alternative to conventional batteries.

Empire Center for Public Policy Research Director Ken Girardin said as the company has waited for its product to go mainstream it has needed help to remain liquid.

Two Democratic state lawmakers announced new legislation Monday aimed to help improve gathering information on harmful algal blooms (HABs) in New York's waterways.

Introduced by state Sen. Rachel May and Assemblymember Anna Kelles, the Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Prevention (HABMAP) Act would create a centralized resource for reporting and dealing with HABs, including potential and known causes, best practice interventions, expertise and funding resources. The data would enable the state to administer a grant program supporting data-driven best practices in preventing and mitigating harmful algal blooms.

Flooding has impacted a lot of communities across upstate New York at one time or another.

Whether it was record flooding in the Southern Tier in 2011, or more recently in the Hudson Valley, most of us can never feel too prepared.

The Finger Lakes are synonymous with upstate New York, but the health of Cayuga Lake is directly tied to a salt mine that sits beneath its shores.

For years, Cargill has faced criticism as it operated its salt mine beneath Cayuga Lake, one of the cornerstones of the Finger Lakes. Now, word of the company’s potential sale has united lawmakers and environmental advocates to protect the lake they call home.

Since 2019, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature have invested $500 million annually in clean water infrastructure, supporting drinking water and wastewater improvement as well as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) remediation, among other issues.

But in her executive budget this year, Hochul added only $250 million to the funding, which has environmentalists uneasy.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed several notable bills late in the year, including the Grieving Families Act.

But one vetoed bill that hasn’t received much attention is the Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act, sponsored by state Sen. Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Pat Fahy.

The Biden administration has awarded nearly $1 billion in new grants to add more than 2,700 electric and low-emissions school buses to the nation’s streets, officials announced Monday.

The buses will be purchased in 280 school districts serving 7 million students across 37 states.

Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration is investing heavily in a new technological process called “carbon capture, sequestration, and utilization," which, in theory, buries carbon dioxide.

A company called “Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions LLC” or more simply, Southern Tier Solutions, is in the process of asking landowners in Broome, Chemung and Tioga counties to lease over 100,000 acres to create test wells.

One of the ways New York state will be able to help pay for the climate transition is via a cap and invest program.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York state Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) released what they're calling a cap and invest “pre-proposal” for stakeholders.

This week, the city issued final rules that will govern enforcement of the Local Law 97, which sets a series of emission targets.

The goal is to reduce building emissions 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act into law on Wednesday, which aims to protect New Yorkers from the public health risk posed by lead pipes.

The legislation requires making information easily accessible to the public about the number and location of lead pipes so that state and federal resources can be secured and efficiently targeted to support local efforts to remove all lead pipes impacting New York’s drinking water.

An upgrade of transmission lines between Oneida County and Albany County, known as the Central East Energy Connect transmission project, has been completed, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

The $600 million 93-mile transmission line project, between Marcy and New Scotland, had 650 new steel transmission monopoles installed, and two new state-of-the-art transmission substations built at Gordon Road and in Princetown, both in Schenectady County. The upgrades aim to allow for increased power transfer capacity and more reliable transmission. They also relieve congestion and enable integration of more renewable energy into the state power grid.

One of the more than 100 bills waiting to be delivered to Gov. Kathy Hochul for her signature or veto is a bill known around the halls of Albany as “The Birds and the Bees Protection Act," which would ban the use of certain pesticides and seeds with a coating in the state of New York.

Capital Tonight spoke Thursday with Dan Raichel, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Jeff Williams, of the New York Farm Bureau.

As lawmakers and advocates start to prepare for the next New York legislative session, one of the people walking the state Capitol’s halls this January will be the new executive director of Environmental Advocates NY, Vanessa Fajans-Turner.

Fajans-Turner joined Capital Tonight to discuss her new role and the upcoming session.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that aims to better combat aquatic invasive species, two Capital Region lawmakers said Friday.

The new legislation enables town boards to further address and combat invasive aquatic invertebrate species, as they are currently only able to address invasive plants under state law.

New York this week announced plans for development of 6.4 new gigawatts of renewable energy – something Gov. Kathy Hochul has called “the largest ever renewable energy investment by a state.”

Both on and offshore projects, including three new offshore wind farms, have been offered conditional contracts, which means they will enter the negotiation phase.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced what she called the largest state investment in renewable energy in United States history, conducting of three offshore wind projects and 22 land-based projects, her office said Tuesday.

The state will commit $300 million and attract an additional $668 million in private funding.

New York state lawmakers will hold a hearing Tuesday on reducing packaging.

State Senate Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Peter Harckham and Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Deborah Glick will take testimony aimed to steer legislative solutions to reduce the amount of waste brought on by packaging.

The New York state Legislature will hold a hearing Monday on potentially expanding the state's bottle deposit law.

State Assembly and Senate Environmental Conservation committee chairs Pete Harckham and Deborah Glick will take testimony to examine legislative solutions to increase the effectiveness of the Bottle Bill.

The cost of creating wind power could be going up.

Politico and other news organizations have reported that all New York state Energy Research and Development Authority-contracted wind project developers are asking the Public Service Commission (PSC) for “inflation adjustments."

Business groups from around New York state want to bring what they describe as a more “thoughtful and practical” approach to the climate transition, so they’re supporting several statewide information campaigns designed to educate the public.

According to Paul Zuber, the Business Council of New York State’s executive vice president, the campaign is supported by a diverse coalition of groups, including local chambers of commerce and transportation organizations.

New York has $165 million in funding available to support environmental upgrades to various transportation systems, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced Friday.

The funding can be used for projects that create new and enhance existing bicycle and pedestrian facilities, improve access to public transportation, create safe routes to schools, convert abandoned railway corridors to pedestrian trails and help reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

New York will make $100 million available for zero-emission public school buses as fleets transition to zero-emission vehicles, as required by the state's 2019 Climate Act, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office announced Thursday.

This is the first round of funding available for these buses under the $4.2 billion Environmental Bond Act that New York voters approved in 2022. There is a total of $500 million of Environmental Bond Act money available.

This week, business groups around the state are gearing up for a campaign that highlights the unintended costs of the state’s new climate law.

In response, New York Department of Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos told Capital Tonight that the costs of inaction are much higher.

New Yorkers generate about 4 1/2 pounds of trash daily, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. That’s about 15 million tons annually — or the weight of more than 41 Empire State buildings.

“We're not doing well at all," said Dawn Timm, environmental coordinator for Niagara County and chair of the New York Product Stewardship Council. "We haven't moved the needle on recycling in probably 20 years.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation aimed to make it easier to access geothermal heating and cooling systems in order to help reach the goals of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, her office announced Thursday.

The legislation hopes to reduce costs for the installation of geothermal wells, helping New York meet the state’s building decarbonization requirements. It changes how certain wells drilled deeper than 500 feet below the Earth’s surface are regulated. Currently, they are regulated under the same provisions that cover oil and gas mines and drilling. This legislation will create new provisions, streamlining regulation of geothermal boreholes while ensuring that all deep well locations throughout the state are adequately reviewed and that potential impacts from the drilling process are mitigated.

Something is wrong with Cayuga Lake.

Harmful Algal Blooms, or HABs, have been widespread there. While New York state is supposed to be doing assessments and comprehensive watershed cleanup of the blooms, it hasn’t been, according to Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, an independent environmental monitor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced the state has rolled out a roadmap for public schools to transition bus fleets to zero-emission vehicles, as required by the state's 2019 Climate Act.

The law bars school districts from purchasing additional buses that burn diesel starting in 2027 in preparation for a 2035 deadline.