N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 75-0103: New York state climate action council

§ 75-0103. New York state climate action council.

1. There is hereby established the New York state climate action

council ("council") which shall consist of the following twenty-two

members:

a. the commissioners of transportation, health, economic development,

agriculture and markets, housing and community renewal, environmental

conservation, labor, the chairperson of the public service commission,

the presidents of the New York state energy research and development

authority; New York power authority; Long Island power authority; the

secretary of state, or their designees.

b. two non-agency expert members appointed by the governor;

c. three members to be appointed by the temporary president of the

senate;

d. three members to be appointed by the speaker of the assembly;

e. one member to be appointed by the minority leader of the senate;

and

f. one member to be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly.

2. The at large members shall include at all times individuals with

expertise in issues relating to climate change mitigation and/or

adaptation, such as environmental justice, labor, public health and

regulated industries.

3. Council members shall receive no compensation for their services

but shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in

the performance of their duties.

4. The co-chairpersons of the council shall be the commissioner of

environmental conservation and the president of the New York state

energy research and development authority or their designee.

5. Each member of the council shall be entitled to one vote. The

council's approval and adoption of the final scoping plan pursuant to

this section, and any subsequent interim updates thereto, shall require

a supermajority of the council. No action may be taken by the council

unless there is a quorum, which shall at all times be a majority of the

members of the council.

6. Any vacancies on the council shall be filled in the manner provided

for the initial appointment.

7. The council shall convene advisory panels requiring special

expertise and, at a minimum, shall establish advisory panels on

transportation, energy intensive and trade-exposed industries, land-use

and local government, energy efficiency and housing, power generation,

and agriculture and forestry. The purpose of the advisory panels shall

be to provide recommendations to the council on specific topics, in its

preparation of the scoping plan, and interim updates to the scoping

plan, and in fulfilling the council's ongoing duties.

a. Each advisory panel shall be chaired by the relevant agency head or

his or her designee. The council may convene and dissolve additional

advisory panels, in its sole discretion, and pursuant to the

requirements herein.

b. Advisory panels shall be comprised of no more than five voting

members. The council shall elect advisory panel members, and such

membership shall at all times represent individuals with direct

involvement or expertise in matters to be addressed by the advisory

panels pursuant to this section.

c. Advisory panels shall work directly with the council on the

preparation of the scoping plan pursuant to this section. Each advisory

panel shall coordinate with the environmental justice advisory group and

climate justice working group.

d. All agencies of the state or subdivisions thereof may, at the

request of any such advisory panel or the council, provide the advisory

panel with such facilities, assistance, and data as will enable advisory

panels to carry out their powers and duties.

8. The council shall convene a just transition working group. The

working group shall be chaired by the commissioner of labor and the

president of the New York state energy research and development

authority and shall consist of no less than thirteen, but no more than

seventeen members and shall include the commissioners of housing and

community renewal, the chair of the department of public service,

representatives of environmental justice communities and representatives

of labor organizations, clean energy developers and at least five

representatives of distinct energy-intensive industries. The just

transition working group shall:

a. advise the council on issues and opportunities for workforce

development and training related to energy efficiency measures,

renewable energy and other clean energy technologies, with specific

focus on training and workforce opportunities for disadvantaged

communities, and segments of the population that may be underrepresented

in the clean energy workforce such as veterans, women and formerly

incarcerated persons;

b. identify energy-intensive industries and related trades and

identify sector specific impacts of the state's current workforce and

avenues to maximize the skills and expertise of New York state workers

in the new energy economy;

c. identify sites of electric generating facilities that may be closed

as a result of a transition to a clean energy sector and the issues and

opportunities presented by reuse of those sites;

d. with respect to potential for greenhouse gas emission limits

developed by the department of environmental conservation pursuant to

this article, advise the council on the potential impacts of carbon

leakage risk on New York state industries and local host communities,

including the impact of any potential carbon reduction measures on the

competitiveness of New York state business and industry;

e. advise the council and conduct stakeholder outreach on any other

workforce matters directed by the council; and

f. at a time frame determined by the council, prepare and publish

recommendations to the council on how to address: issues and

opportunities related to the energy-intensive and trade-exposed

entities; workforce development for trade-exposed entities,

disadvantaged communities and underrepresented segments of the

population; measures to minimize the carbon leakage risk and minimize

anti-competitiveness impacts of any potential carbon policies and energy

sector mandates.

g. The just transition working group is hereby authorized and directed

to conduct a study of and report on:

i. The number of jobs created to counter climate change, which shall

include but not be limited to the energy sector, building sector,

transportation sector, and working lands sector;

ii. The projection of the inventory of jobs needed and the skills and

training required to meet the demand of jobs to counter climate change;

and

iii. Workforce disruption due to community transitions from a low

carbon economy.

9. The department and the New York state energy research and

development authority shall provide the council with such facilities,

assistance and data as will enable the council to carry out its powers

and duties. Additionally, all other agencies of the state or

subdivisions thereof may, at the request of the co-chairpersons, provide

the council with such facilities, assistance, and data as will enable

the council to carry out its powers and duties.

10. The council shall consult with the climate justice working group

established in section 75-0111 of this article, the department of state

utility intervention unit, and the federally designated electric bulk

system operator.

11. The council shall on or before two years of the effective date of

this article, prepare and approve a scoping plan outlining the

recommendations for attaining the statewide greenhouse gas emissions

limits in accordance with the schedule established in section 75-0107 of

this article, and for the reduction of emissions beyond eighty-five

percent, net zero emissions in all sectors of the economy, which shall

inform the state energy planning board's adoption of a state energy plan

in accordance with section 6-104 of the energy law. The first state

energy plan issued subsequent to completion of the scoping plan required

by this section shall incorporate the recommendations of the council.

12. The draft scoping plan shall be developed in consultation with the

environmental justice advisory group, and the climate justice working

group established pursuant to section 75-0111 of this article and other

stakeholders.

a. The council shall hold at least six regional public comment

hearings on the draft scoping plan, including three meetings in the

upstate region and three meetings in the downstate region, and shall

allow at least one hundred twenty days for the submission of public

comment.

b. The council shall provide meaningful opportunities for public

comment from all segments of the population that will be impacted by the

plan, including persons living in disadvantaged communities as

identified pursuant to section 75-0111 of this article.

c. On or before three years of the effective date of this article, the

council shall submit the final scoping plan to the governor, the speaker

of the assembly and the temporary president of the senate and post such

plan on its website.

13. The scoping plan shall identify and make recommendations on

regulatory measures and other state actions that will ensure the

attainment of the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits established

pursuant to section 75-0107 of this article. The measures and actions

considered in such scoping plan shall at a minimum include:

a. Performance-based standards for sources of greenhouse gas

emissions, including but not limited to sources in the transportation,

building, industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors.

b. Measures to reduce emissions from the electricity sector by

displacing fossil-fuel fired electricity with renewable electricity or

energy efficiency.

c. Land-use and transportation planning measures aimed at reducing

greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.

d. Measures to achieve long-term carbon sequestration and/or promote

best management practices in land use, agriculture and forestry.

e. Measures to achieve six gigawatts of distributed solar energy

capacity installed in the state by two thousand twenty-five, nine

gigawatts of offshore wind capacity installed by two thousand

thirty-five, a statewide energy efficiency goal of one hundred

eighty-five trillion British thermal units energy reduction from the two

thousand twenty-five forecast; and three gigawatts of statewide energy

storage capacity by two thousand thirty.

f. Measures to promote the beneficial electrification of personal and

freight transport and other strategies to reduce greenhouse gas

emissions from the transportation sector.

g. Measures to achieve reductions in energy use in existing

residential or commercial buildings, including the beneficial

electrification of water and space heating in buildings, establishing

appliance efficiency standards, strengthening building energy codes,

requiring annual building energy benchmarking, disclosing energy

efficiency in home sales, and expanding the ability of state facilities

to utilize performance contracting.

h. Recommendations to aid in the transition of the state workforce and

the rapidly emerging clean energy industry.

i. Measures to achieve healthy forests that support clean air and

water, biodiversity, and sequester carbon.

j. Measures to limit the use of chemicals, substances or products that

contribute to global climate change when released to the atmosphere, but

are not intended for end-use combustion.

k. Mechanisms to limit emission leakage as defined in subdivision

eleven of section 75-0101 of this article.

l. Verifiable, enforceable and voluntary emissions reduction measures.

14. In developing such plan the council shall:

a. Consider all relevant information pertaining to greenhouse gas

emissions reduction programs in states in the United States Climate

Alliance, as well as other states, regions, localities, and nations.

b. Evaluate, using the best available economic models, emission

estimation techniques and other scientific methods, the total potential

costs and potential economic and non-economic benefits of the plan for

reducing greenhouse gases, and make such evaluation publicly available.

In conducting this evaluation, the council shall quantify:

i. The economic and social benefits of greenhouse gas emissions

reductions, taking into account the value of carbon, established by the

department pursuant to section 75-0113 of this article, any other tools

that the council deems useful and pertinent for this analysis, and any

environmental, economic and public health co-benefits (such as the

reduction of co-pollutants and the diversification of energy sources);

and

ii. The costs of implementing proposed emissions reduction measures,

and the emissions reductions that the council anticipates achieving

through these measures.

c. Take into account the relative contribution of each source or

source category to statewide greenhouse gas emissions, and the potential

for adverse effects on small businesses, and recommend a de minimis

threshold of greenhouse gas emissions below which emission reduction

requirements will not apply.

d. Identify measures to maximize reductions of both greenhouse gas

emissions and co-pollutants in disadvantaged communities as identified

pursuant to section 75-0111 of this article.

15. The council shall update its plan toward achieving the statewide

greenhouse gas emissions limits and shall make such updates available to

the governor, the speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of

the senate and post such updates on its website. The first update shall

occur in two thousand twenty-eight with subsequent updates due every six

years thereafter.

16. The council shall identify existing climate change mitigation and

adaptation efforts at the federal, state, and local levels and may make

recommendations regarding how such policies may improve the state's

efforts.

17. The council shall maintain a website that includes public access

to the scoping plan and greenhouse gas limit information.