Nys 2100 Commission
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NYS 2100 COMMISSION Recommendations to Improve the Strength and Resilience of the Empire State’s Infrastructure Cover image: ©opsys Table of Contents 4 List of Commissioners 7 Foreword 9 Executive Summary 19 Background 29 Recommendations 31 Cross-Cutting 43 Transportation 79 Energy 111 Land Use 145 Insurance 159 Infrastructure Finance 171 Conclusion 173 References PAGE 3 NYS 2100 COMMISSION List of Commissioners Co-Chairs Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation Sylvia Lee, Water Manager, Skoll Global Threats Felix G. Rohatyn, Special Advisor to the Chairman and CEO, Joe Lhota, Chair and CEO, Metropolitan Transit Authority Lazard Frères & Co. LLC Miho Mazereeuw, Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Members Guy J.P. Nordenson, Partner, Guy Nordenson and Associates Richard Anderson, President, New York Building Congress Robert Puentes, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute Dan Arvizu, Director and CEO, U.S. Department of Energy’s Gil Quiniones, President and CEO, New York Power Authority National Renewal Energy Laboratory Jack Quinn, President, Erie Community College Walter Bell, Director and Former Chairman, Swiss Re America Holding Company Scott Rechler, Vice-Chair, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey James Brennan, Assemblymember, New York State Assembly Jonathan F.P. Rose, President, Jonathan Rose Companies Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor, Office of the Mayor, London, England Lisa Rosenblum, Executive Vice-President for Government and Public Affairs, Cablevision Lloyd Dixon, Senior Economist, RAND Corporation John Shinn, USW District 4 Director, United Steelworkers Mortimer L. Downey, Vice Chair, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Mark Tercek, President and CEO, The Nature Conservancy Clark W. Gellings, Fellow, Electric Power Research Institute Robert D. Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association J. Robert Hunter, Insurance Director, Consumer Federation of America Advisory Members Sudhakar Kesavan, Chair and CEO, ICF International Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary, United States Army Roy Kienitz, Former Under Secretary for Policy, United States Patricia Hoffman, Assistant Secretary, United States Department Department of Transportation of Energy Timothy Killeen, President, State University of New York Research John Porcari, Deputy Secretary, United States Department of Foundation Transportation PAGE 4 ©Mario Savoia PAGE 5 NYS 2100 COMMISSION ©Songquan Deng PAGE 6 Foreword by NYS 2100 Co-Chairs Judith Rodin, President, Rockefeller Foundation Felix Rohatyn, Senior Advisor to the Chairman, Lazard Superstorm Sandy produced countless stories of heartbreak, There is no doubt that building resilience will require investment, but but also of hope and resilience. First responders and emergency it will also reduce the economic damage and costs of responding to service personnel focused on rescue operations, even as their own future storms and events, while improving the everyday operations properties faced certain peril. New Yorkers opened their homes to of our critical systems. In a time of fiscal constraints, the positive friends and neighbors who were without heat and electricity long sign is that inexpensive policy changes will be as critical as the after the floodwaters receded. Families who lost nearly everything financial investments we make. Hard infrastructure improvements in the initial impacts and the blazes that broke out after the storm must be complemented by soft infrastructure and other resilience chose to look forward, vowing to pick up the pieces and return measures, for example, improving our institutional coordination, stronger than before. public communication, and rapid decision making abilities will make us better able to recover from the catastrophic effects of As New York continues to recover, we must also turn our attention natural disasters. In many respects, New York is ahead of the game to the future. We live in a world of increasing volatility, where in this regard. In recent storms, including Irene and Sandy, we have natural disasters that were once anticipated to occur every century successfully embraced the notion of “failing safely,” accepting the now strike with alarming regularity. Our response capabilities to inevitability of widespread disruptions and tucking in to protect our this new level of instability and the ability to bounce back stronger assets to the extent possible. must be developed and strengthened. Our efforts must be rooted in robust structural underpinnings as well as expanded operational We cannot prevent all future disasters from occurring, but we can capacities. Superstorm Sandy made the urgency of this undertaking prevent failing catastrophically by embracing, practicing, and painfully clear. We also now possess a vastly deeper understanding improving a comprehensive resilience strategy. As New York and of our current vulnerabilities. We cannot just restore what was there our neighboring states continue to recover from the devastating before – we have to build back better and smarter. As Governor impacts of Superstorm Sandy, we have a narrow but distinct window Cuomo said, “It’s not going to be about tinkering on the edges. of opportunity to leverage the groundswell of consciousness. Many of these systems we know have not worked for many, many years.” Building a 21st century resilience strategy comes with significant economic opportunities. Newly conceived infrastructure While the response to Sandy continues, work needs to begin now investments will be rooted in rebuilding smarter while also creating on how we build back better – in a way that increases New York’s the jobs of tomorrow, including green jobs. The spirit of New agility when responding to future storms and other shocks. Building Yorkers is never more evident than when faced with crisis and the back better demands a focus on increased resilience: the ability of attendant challenges. Now is no different. The recommendations individuals, organizations, systems, and communities to bounce outlined in the following report provide the framework, but this back more strongly from stresses and shocks. Resilience means is only the beginning. Resilience requires frequent testing and creating diversity and redundancy in our systems and rewiring evaluation. Together, we can make a more vibrant and crisis-ready their interconnections, which enables their functioning even when New York State. individual parts fail. PAGE 7 NYS 2100 COMMISSION of Con Edison ©Photo courtesy PAGE 8 Executive Summary PAGE 9 NYS 2100 COMMISSION Introduction On November 15, 2012, Governor Andrew Cuomo convened We will never be able to perfectly predict or prevent all extreme the NYS2100 Commission in response to the recent, and events or eventualities. Therefore, we must conserve and develop unprecedented, severe weather events experienced by New York those systems that can most quickly respond to, and most effectively State and the surrounding region: most recently, Superstorm Sandy, rebound from, severe weather events and other emergencies. Hurricane Irene, and Tropical Storm Lee. The Governor asked the Building resilience will enable us to avoid unmanageable Commission to examine and evaluate key vulnerabilities in the impacts, while managing the risks that the future will no doubt State’s critical infrastructure systems, and to recommend actions present. Our capacity to deal with known risks, while establishing that should be taken to strengthen and improve the resilience of countermeasures to contend with unknowns, will be critical in this those systems. If done right, we have a tremendous opportunity not century. only to mitigate future damage and subsequent economic losses, but to invigorate New York’s economy with a robust green technology The Commission reviewed the vulnerabilities faced by the State’s sector and to enhance quality-of-life for all New Yorkers. infrastructure systems, and developed specific recommendations that can be implemented to increase New York’s resilience in The next century will be defined by the extent to which our five main areas: transportation, energy, land use, insurance, and communities are resilient to the direct and indirect impacts of infrastructure finance. These recommendations are aimed to: a rapidly changing climate and other long-term accelerators of change. We will never be able to predict or prevent all extreme • Identify immediate actions that should be taken to mitigate events. But we must not waste the lessons learned and opportunities or strengthen existing infrastructure systems – some of which afforded by these recent storms to chart a course for the State that suffered damage in the recent storms – to improve normal truly prepares our communities for future eventualities. Planning functioning and to withstand extreme weather more effectively for a more resilient tomorrow enables the State and its residents in the future; to take cost-effective actions and to make investments that will • Identify infrastructure projects that would, if realized over a benefit our communities today and far into the future. longer term, help to bring not only greater climate resilience but also other significant economic and quality of life benefits Governor Cuomo convened a diverse group of experts from to New York State’s communities; academia, business, the not-for-profit community, engineering, finance, real estate, and the federal government to advise him • Assess long-term options for the use of “hard” barriers and and the