1 1 Before the New York State
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1 1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE FINANCE AND ASSEMBLY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEES 2 ---------------------------------------------------- 3 JOINT LEGISLATIVE HEARING 4 In the Matter of the 2017-2018 EXECUTIVE BUDGET ON 5 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 6 ---------------------------------------------------- 7 Hearing Room B Legislative Office Building 8 Albany, New York 9 February 13, 2017 9:42 a.m. 10 11 PRESIDING: 12 Senator Catharine M. Young Chair, Senate Finance Committee 13 Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell, Jr. 14 Chair, Assembly Ways & Means Committee 15 PRESENT: 16 Senator Liz Krueger Senate Finance Committee (RM) 17 Assemblyman Robert Oaks 18 Assembly Ways & Means Committee (RM) 19 Senator Thomas F. O'Mara Chair, Senate Committee on 20 Environmental Conservation 21 Assemblyman Steve Englebright Chair, Assembly Committee on 22 Environmental Conservation 23 Senator Patricia A. Ritchie Chair, Senate Committee on Agriculture 24 2 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Environmental Conservation 2 2-13-17 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Assemblyman William Magee Chair, Assembly Committee on 5 Agriculture 6 Assemblyman Daniel J. O'Donnell Chair, Assembly Committee on 7 Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development 8 Assemblywoman Amy Paulin 9 Chair, Assembly Committee on Energy 10 Senator Diane J. Savino Vice Chair, Senate Finance Committee 11 Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry 12 Senator Elizabeth O'C. Little 13 Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy 14 Assemblyman Robert Carroll 15 Senator Pamela Helming 16 Senator Brad Hoylman 17 Assemblyman Phil Steck 18 Assemblyman Dan Stec 19 Assemblyman Peter D. Lopez 20 Senator Elaine Phillips 21 Assemblyman Steven Otis 22 Assemblywoman Addie Jenne 23 Assemblywoman Didi Barrett 24 3 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Environmental Conservation 2 2-13-17 3 PRESENT: (Continued) 4 Senator Todd Kaminsky 5 Assemblyman Brian P. Kavanagh 6 Senator Robert G. Ortt 7 Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner 8 Assemblyman Steven F. McLaughlin 9 Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. 10 Senator Timothy M. Kennedy 11 Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee 12 Assemblyman Sean Ryan 13 Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther 14 Senator Terrence P. Murphy 15 16 17 LIST OF SPEAKERS 18 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 19 Basil Seggos Acting Commissioner 20 NYS Department of Environmental Conservation 9 18 21 Rose Harvey 22 Commissioner NYS Office of Parks, Recreation 23 and Historic Preservation 208 217 24 4 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Environmental Conservation 2 2-13-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Richard A. Ball Commissioner 6 NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets 253 259 7 Audrey Zibelman 8 Chair NYS Public Service Commission 324 330 9 John B. Rhodes 10 President & CEO NYSERDA 389 396 11 Jeff Williams 12 Director of Public Policy New York Farm Bureau 434 440 13 Darren Suarez 14 Director of Government Affairs 15 The Business Council of NYS 446 456 16 David Haight 17 NYS Director American Farmland Trust 460 466 18 Jessica Ottney Mahar 19 Director of Policy The Nature Conservancy 20 in New York 469 21 Sasha Eisenstein Government Relations Manager 22 Audubon New York 476 23 24 5 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Environmental Conservation 2 2-13-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Adrienne Esposito Executive Director 6 Citizens Campaign for the Environment 480 489 7 Patrick McClellan 8 State Policy Director New York League of Conservation 9 Voters 493 10 James Meerdink Project Director 11 Parks & Trails New York 498 506 12 Joseph Brilling Executive Director 13 Washington County Sewer District -for- 14 New York Water Environment Association 508 518 15 Kevin Chlad 16 Director, Government Relations The Adirondack Council 519 17 Peter Bauer 18 Executive Director Protect the Adirondacks 525 19 Dan Shapley 20 Water Quality Program Dir. Riverkeeper 531 21 Andy Bicking 22 Director of Public Policy Scenic Hudson 539 23 24 6 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Environmental Conservation 2 2-13-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Erik Kulleseid Executive Director 6 Alliance for NYS Parks Senior Vice President 7 Open Space Institute 549 8 Drew Cavanagh Secretary and Director 9 Forest Rangers Superior Officers Association 10 John Burke Director 11 NYS EnCon Police Superior Officers Assn. 12 Manuel Vilar VP/CAO and Director 13 Police Park Sergeants Association 14 -for- Police Benevolent Assn. 15 of New York State 555 570 16 Mark Dunlea Chairperson 17 Green Education and Legal Fund 574 18 Blair Horner 19 Executive Director New York Public Interest 20 Research Group (NYPIRG) 583 21 David Hartman President 22 NYS Whitetail Management Coalition 592 597 23 24 7 1 2017-2018 Executive Budget Environmental Conservation 2 2-13-17 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS, Continued 4 STATEMENT QUESTIONS 5 Evelyn Powers Senior Manager 6 Interstate Environmental Commission 601 7 Robert Blais 8 Mayor Village of Lake George 9 David Decker Director 10 Lake George Watershed Coalition 615 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 8 1 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Good morning. I'm 2 Senator Catharine Young, chair of the State 3 Standing Committee on Finance. Welcome to 4 the New York State Legislature Joint Budget 5 Hearing on Environmental Conservation. 6 I'm joined by several of my 7 colleagues. We have Vice Chair Senator Diane 8 Savino, Senator Tim Kennedy, and Senator Todd 9 Kaminsky. 10 And I'd also like to welcome my 11 colleague, chairman of the Ways and Means 12 Committee, Assemblyman Denny Farrell. 13 CHAIRMAN FARRELL: Thank you, Senator. 14 We have been joined by Assemblyman 15 Steve Englebright, Assemblyman Robert 16 Carroll, Assemblyman Philip Steck, and 17 Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy. We've also been 18 joined by Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and 19 also Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh and 20 Assemblyman Jeff Aubry, and Assemblyman Oaks. 21 ASSEMBLYMAN OAKS: Thank you very 22 much, Chairman. We've also been joined by 23 Assemblyman Dan Stec and Assemblyman Pete 24 Lopez. 9 1 CHAIRWOMAN YOUNG: Thank you, 2 Assemblyman. 3 Pursuant to the State Constitution and 4 Legislative Law, the fiscal committees of the 5 State Legislature are authorized to hold 6 hearings on the Executive Budget. Today's 7 hearing will be limited to a discussion of 8 the Governor's proposed budget for the 9 Department of Environmental Conservation, the 10 Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic 11 Preservation, the Department of Agriculture 12 and Markets, and the New York State Energy 13 Research and Development Authority. 14 Following each presentation, there 15 will be some time allowed for questions of 16 the chairs of the fiscal committees and other 17 legislators. 18 First of all, I sincerely would like 19 to welcome Basil Seggos, commissioner of the 20 Department of Environmental Conservation. We 21 are so happy to have you here. And I'm glad 22 that you arranged for a break in the weather 23 so that we could all attend today. So 24 welcome, Commissioner. 10 1 COMMISSIONER SEGGOS: Thank you, 2 Chairwoman. It was not easy. 3 But good morning, Chairwoman Young, 4 Chairman Farrell, and members of the 5 legislative fiscal and environmental 6 conservation committees. 7 I'm Basil Seggos, commissioner of the 8 DEC. And here with me today are Julie Tighe, 9 who is our assistant commissioner for 10 intergovernmental affairs, as well as Jeff 11 Stefanko, who's deputy commissioner for 12 administration. So on behalf of DEC's nearly 13 3,000 employees, thank you for the 14 opportunity to discuss the Governor's 15 2017-2018 budget. 16 Governor Cuomo has established one of 17 the most aggressive environmental agendas in 18 the nation. The agenda recognizes that a 19 clean environment goes hand in hand with a 20 strong economy. Over the last six years, we 21 have worked tirelessly with you to cement New 22 York's leadership on environmental and clean 23 energy issues. This foundation will serve 24 the state well as we confront serious 11 1 questions about environmental protection in 2 Washington. New York must and will continue 3 to lead. 4 The Governor's 2017-2018 budget is his 5 most ambitious environmental budget yet. It 6 reflects the state's strong commitment to our 7 core conservation and public health 8 responsibilities, and demonstrates our intent 9 to tackle two of the most pressing threats of 10 our time -- climate change and drinking water 11 protection. 12 The time for debate about climate 13 change is over. Climate change is real, and 14 human activity is the principal cause. Last 15 year, I spoke to you about how 2015 was the 16 hottest year ever. 2016 just surpassed it. 17 In fact, the past 16 years are among the 17 18 warmest on record. The time for action on 19 climate is now, especially in the absence of 20 federal leadership. 21 New York has already set the most 22 aggressive climate goals in the country -- a 23 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas 24 emissions by 2030, and an 80 percent 12 1 reduction by 2050. And we intend to have 2 50 percent of our energy from renewables by 3 2030. Later today, NYSERDA will discuss how 4 we'll reach these goals through billions of 5 dollars of investment in clean energy, and 6 through programs like NY Sun, REV, and the 7 Clean Energy Standard. 8 This year, we're doubling down on 9 these goals. First, through RGGI, the 10 Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, we 11 propose to lower the cap on carbon emissions 12 from the power sector by 30 percent between 13 2020 and 2030. Second, DEC and other 14 agencies will implement a comprehensive plan 15 to control methane emissions. And finally, 16 DEC and NYSERDA are undertaking a landmark 17 study to determine how the state can secure 18 100 percent of our energy from renewable 19 sources.