Climate change is unavoidable. It’s here. The greater Cortland area will see more precipitation, greater flooding risks, overwhelmed storm drains, crop damage, soil erosion and runoff.
New York’s $4.2 billion 2022 Environmental Bond Act is premised not on preventing climate change, but coping with it. Its funding is meant to reinforce municipal, industrial and environmental agriculture to weather the coming weather.
Over the last century, average winter temperatures have increased almost 3 degrees in Cortland County and Central New York. Warmer winters bring more precipitation and fewer days below freezing, reports the state Department of Environmental Conservation, even as it brings droughts to other parts of the country – like the Midwest.
While Kansas faces a potential dust-bowl, now is the time to use the Environmental Bond Act to protect one of Cortland County’s greatest natural resources: water, said county Legislator Beau Harbin (D-Cortland), chair of the Agriculture, Planning and Environment Committee.
“We want to preserve our water quality,” Harbin said. “It's a tremendous resource that sometimes we take a little bit for granted here in Cortland, but if we look across the rest of the U.S., Central New York really has an abundance of water. But we need to protect that water.”
ENVIRONMENTAL BOND ACT
The state’s Clean Water, Clean Air, Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act can help provide the necessary tools to protect Cortland’s resources, and cope with climate change, Harbin said.
“The overall goal of that bond act is to help sustain Cortland County and New York state as it goes through climate change,” Harbin said.
The act, passed in November, provides $4.2 billion in state funding for environmental projects to help communities adapt to climate change, improve weather resilient infrastructure and create jobs that help the environment.
The funding is split into four categories:
•Up to $1.5 billion to climate change mitigation.
•At least $1.1 billion to protect communities from flood risks.
•At least $650 million to water quality improvement and resilient infrastructure projects.
•Up to $650 million for improving access to nature and protecting it.
Also built into the funding is an additional $300 million to be used across any of the four categories.
“Climate change is occurring,” Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-Red Hook), who has talked about the need to cope with it, rather than prevent it, said Wednesday. “We have to use all the tools at our disposal to intervene.”
At least 35% of the funding, with a goal of 40%, will go toward disadvantaged communities, based on census blocks. Three of Cortland’s four census blocks are considered disadvantaged, with their population vulnerability ranging from worse than 54% of the state to 71%, the DEC reports, based on their proximity to brownfields and industrial sites, as well as climate risks, like extreme heat projections and threat of flood.
LOCAL CONCERNS
Warmer winters have a ripple effect. Not only does it increase precipitation, it increases deer and tick populations, and extends the agricultural growing season – which can encourage invasive species, weed growth and crop diseases, the DEC reports.
“One of our biggest struggles right now is our tree population,” said Cortland Mayor Scott Steve. “We have a bunch of aging ashes, which are these big, beautiful trees – and they have some disease.”
Funding from the Environmental Bond Act could help remove and replace those trees, however, applying for grant funding can sometimes be difficult.
“We have tried a couple of different applications, I don’t know exactly what they are, in just about every grant realm to try to get some of that to happen,” Steve said. “You have to pay for some of them. For this one grant, you had to pay thousands just to apply. For some, we have to have full, blown out drawings or blueprints, if you will, for what you're planning.”
John Cooney Jr., executive director of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley Inc., said on the organization’s website that he’s worried about accessing bond act funds.
“Our largest concern regarding this great opportunity is in the mechanics of how government agencies and local municipalities will access public monies to build out the many projects the funding can be used for,” Cooney said. “We need to keep the process simple and attainable.”
Only 12% had been used of a $5 billion state appropriation to local governments for water and sewer projects from 2015, shows a 2022 study by a Newburgh-based nonprofit, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress – which provides research, planning and educational training throughout the Hudson Valley region.
For Cortland, part of the problem in applying for the funds is that the county doesn’t have a dedicated grant writer, Harbin said. Until the position is filled, the department heads are in charge of their own grant-writing.
“These sorts of things are also why we've been pushing really hard and actively trying to recruit a grant writer for our planning department,” Harbin said. “A grant writer would help us with combining these opportunities, like the Environmental Bond Act, with projects at the county level, but also at the municipal level to help our local municipalities.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
At least $500 million from the bond act will help fund zero-emission school buses and other infrastructure, which dovetails with a state requirement that all school districts begin buying zero-emission buses by 2027. The goal is to have an all-electric bus fleet by 2035 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050.
Cortland Enlarged City School District maintenance staff is in early training stages for dealing with electric vehicles, but voters in the Marathon Central School District defeated a plan earlier this summer to accept a grant to buy three such buses, with recharging infrastructure.
An electric bus is nearly three times the cost of a diesel bus: $400,000 compared to $135,000.
Another $400 million will go toward green-building projects to increase energy efficiency or renewable energy facilities at state-owned buildings and public schools.
Although the county hasn’t looked at applying for grant funds from the Environmental Bond Act yet, Harbin said he hopes to before the year is over, adding that it provides an opportunity for collaboration.
“This is potentially a good opportunity, where we continue to work with the Soil and Water Conservation District,” Harbin said. “They do great things, like helping us with preventing erosion and keeping our quality of water high, particularly as it flows down towards the Chesapeake.”
“There’s a lot in the Environmental Bond Act that are potential areas that could come to pass,” Harbin added. “Certainly, renewable energy, water quality and smart growth over time all adhere to the overall goal of the bond act.”
