Environmental advocates open to settling case over Climate Act
ALBANY —Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly pointed to an October ruling from a state Supreme Court justice as the reason energy costs will shoot up in the next five years if the state Legislature won’t agree to her desire to extend the greenhouse gas reduction deadlines of New York’s Climate Act. In October , state Supreme Court Justice Julian Schreibman ruled the Department of Environmental Conservation needed to follow a statutory mandate to put forth rules to ensure New York reaches its targets of achieving a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. New York Attorney General Letitia James appealed the case and it’s pending in the appellate division in Albany. The order by Schreibman, unless it’s overturned, won’t go into effect until the conclusion of that appeal. “A judge is telling us that we have to comply with this, even though we’re not ready for it, and if we do that, I can tell you as sure as I’m standing here, our (energy) costs will go up dramatic...