Mineola, NY – Dozens of advocates and concerned residents rallied at the Executive Building in Mineola today, urging Long Island state legislators to defend New York State’s landmark climate law from Governor Hochul’s stated intention to weaken it. The law, the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, one of the strongest climate laws in the country, requires New York to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. Hocuul has stated on numerous recent occasions that she intends to roll back key provisions of the law as part of the next fiscal year state budget, currently being debated.

Organizations participating in the rally included Food & Water Watch, All Our Energy, NYPIRG, New York Communities for Change, the Long Island Progressive Coalition, the Sierra Club, the Religious Action Center, Transition Town Port Washington, the Green Party of Nassau County and the South Shore Audubon Society

“Governor Hochul’s attempt to bully the legislature into decimating New York’s landmark climate law is disgraceful. The governor has made it abundantly clear for years now that she stands with polluters over everyday New Yorkers. We are here today urging our Long Island leaders to stand strong and reject this and any future attack on our essential climate law,” said Eric Weltman, senior New York organizer at Food & Water Watch, the lead organization behind the rally.

Hochul’s recent track record on climate and energy issues includes approving costly, polluting fracked-gas pipelines, fumbling efforts to build renewable power, and failing to implement clean energy laws.

“Governor Hochul, by demanding rollbacks to the CLCPA you are playing politics with our future.” said Joe Sackman, Executive Director of Long Island Progressive Coalition. “Manipulating the data to say we don’t need to act now is simply a lie. Governor Hochul, the CLCPA is the law, and you are not above the law. Just because your big donors and the Trump regime are willing to throw our future away, we are not. It’s time to do what is right. No rollbacks on New York’s climate law. Don’t play politics with our lives. Follow the law, fund the CLCPA, invest in a just renewable economy.”

“Over the years, New York has led the country on many environmental issues that have resulted in laws that protect New Yorkers and our state’s life-giving resources. The seminal climate law that we now have doesn’t need to be weakened. On the contrary, we should embrace this well advised, science-based effort and move to implement it quickly as our climate crisis deepens. Governor Hochul, you are playing with fire, quite literally,” said Patti Wood, Executive Director, Grassroots Environmental Education.

“New York legislators must continue supporting the state’s signature climate law, the CLCPA. Bowing to climate change denial and espousing climate action delayism, as Governor Hochul is doing, are not viable options for our state, nation, and planet. We are experiencing a climate emergency, and the mandated goals of the CLCPA must be maintained — and reached on time!” said Jim Brown, Chair, Green Party of Nassau County.

“While we subsidize these expensive, dirty energy systems which harm our climate and our bills raise by the double digits ($64 per month for gas customers this year), the Governor chooses to propagate it with the fallacious claim that this will somehow achieve our climate goals. But unlike fossil gas, renewable energy is currently our most affordable and resilient option, not to mention quick to deploy. The Governor must comply with climate law without any further delay,” said Maheen Sayeed, Communications Associate, All Our Energy.

“As reported in the journal Science, one-third of our birds, or 3 billion birds, have disappeared since 1970 due to the ravages of development, habitat loss, and climate change. A recent study by Audubon, Survival by Degrees determined that 2/3 of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction from global temperature rise in coming decades. Birds are indicators of the health of our environment and truly the canaries in our coal mine as we face similar threats. New York communities are facing the impacts of climate change, from flooding along Lake Ontario to more intense storms battering Long Island. Abandoning the CLCPA would mean locking in decades of more fossil fuels, putting us behind on meeting our climate goals and further harming our climate and public health,” said Brien Weiner, Conservation Co-Chair, South Shore Audubon Society.