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Dear Speaker Heastie, Governor Cuomo, and Chairman Zebrowski

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Dear Speaker Heastie, Governor Cuomo, and Chairman Zebrowski Dear Speaker Heastie, Governor Cuomo, and Chairman Zebrowski, The New York Youth Climate Leaders and the undersigned organizations call on the New York State legislature and Governor Cuomo to identify and eliminate all nonessential fossil fuel subsidies. We commend the recent passage of S2649C and call for the passage of its Assembly counterpart, A257C. This act requires the governor to publicly disclose all fossil fuel tax expenditures and installs a sunset date five years from passage for these subsidies, except on a case-by-case basis for those the state legislature deems essential. Properly accounting for how much these expenditures cost our State and phasing out nonessential subsidies is both critical to the financial health of our state and indispensable in the fight against climate change. In the middle of an unprecedented fiscal shortfall, unnecessary subsidies are harmful to the people of New York State. While some subsidies are necessary to the health of the New York economy, subsidizing industries that damage our future and our climate is fiscally and morally irresponsible. When draconian cuts are being made to essential public services such as Medicaid and education, spending more than 1.5 billion dollars every year on the fossil fuel industry is an outrageous and unconscionable waste of money. That money could be better used to help cover the budget shortfalls New York State is experiencing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Spending hard-earned tax dollars on these unnecessary subsidies will cause people to miss out on the basic services that they rely on every day. Ending nonessential subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, the main driver of the climate crisis, is an important step towards combating climate change. But in order to eliminate fossil fuel tax expenditures, we must first understand the source and magnitude of each expenditure. A257C requires the Governor to identify all fossil fuel related tax expenditures and their effects on New York in his annual tax expenditure report provided to the legislature. This bill will improve the transparency of fossil fuel subsidies and provide us with the information necessary to eliminate harmful expenditures. We call on the Assembly Government Operations Committee to vote in favor of the bill and Speaker Heastie to bring it to the floor for a vote. With the passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019, New York established ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and committed itself to a transition to renewable energy. Putting tax dollars into an industry without a future is poor policy, a waste of public money, and contradictory to the goals of the CLCPA. It’s time to review these subsidies and ensure that the industry isn’t getting free money from New York taxpayers. We hope that the Assembly will recognize the necessity of reviewing where our tax dollars go and ensuring that they are well spent. Passing A257C and ending unnecessary fossil fuel related tax expenditures is both a moral and financial imperative for every resident of New York State. Signed, New York Youth Climate Leaders 350.org 350Brooklyn 350NJ-Rockland 350NYC Action Corps NYC All Our Energy Alliance for a Green Economy Aytzim: Ecological Judaism Barbara Kidney for Assembly District 101 Beacon Environmental Justice Beloved Earth Community of The Riverside Church Big Reuse Brightest Brighton High School Climate Club Broome Tioga Green Party Calhoun Sustainability Club Catholic Divestment Network Catskill Mountainkeeper CD17Indivisible Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary Center For Popular Democracy Citizen Action of New York Citizens' Climate Lobby, Canandaigua Chapter Citizens' Climate Lobby, Columbia County Chapter Citizens Climate Lobby, Mid Hudson South Chapter Citizens' Climate Lobby NY Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Rochester Chapter Citizens' Environmental Coalition Clean Air Action Network Clean Energy Technology Resources, LLC Climate Change Awareness & Action Climate Reality Project Coastal Research & Education Society of Long Island, Inc. Colorbrightongreen.org ColorPenfieldGreen Community Advocates for a Sustainable Environment Concerned Residents of Oxford Congregation Beth Shalom Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC Daughters of Charity-St. Louise Province Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society (DOAS) Divest NY Coalition Drawdown New York City Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC) Dutchess County Progressive Action Alliance EcoKingston Empire State Indivisible Environmental Advocates NY Environmental Studies Summer Youth Institute Extinction Rebellion Youth Rockland FFF NY Capital Region First Unitarian Church of Rochester Foodscraps360.com, LLC Fossil Free Tompkins Four Harbors Audubon Society Fusion Climate Club Gas Free Seneca Girl Up at Brighton Granny Peace Brigade, NYC Grassroots Action NY Green Education and Legal Fund Green Party of Nassau County GreeningUSA Group for the East End HabitatMap HealthyPlanet Heat Smart Otsego Heat/Cool Smart Brooklyn HF-L Eco Geeks HF-L Green Team HK DEMS Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. Hudson Valley Green Party Indivisible 518: Justice for All Indivisible Harlem Indivisible Nation BK Indivisible New Rochelle Jeremy Cooney for Senate District 56 Joe Sackman for Assembly District 15 Judson Memorial Church Kinetic Communities Consulting Long Island Activists Long Island Greenways and Healthy Trails Long Island Progressive Coalition Maza Bit, LLC Meddling Kids Movement Mid Hudson Chapter, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Mid Hudson Valley Chapter, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Mother's Out Front Chemung County Mothers Out Front Dutchess County Mothers Out Front Tompkins Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club National Network Opposed to Militarization of Youth New Paltz Climate Action Coalition New York Communities for Change New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) New Yorkers for Clean Power Newtown Creek Alliance North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE) North Forkers for the Common Good - NYPAN Affiliate North Star Fund Northeast Organic Farming Association -- New York Nuclear Information and Resource Service NY Buddhist Climate Action Network NY Climate Advocacy Project NY Climate Reality Chapters Coalition NY State Council of Churches NY-GEO NYC Department of Education Youth Leadership Council NYC Friends of Clearwater NYCD16 Indivisible NYPAN Enviro NYPAN Eviro Committee NYPAN Greene Mondaire Jones for Congress Otsego 2000, Inc. Otsego County Conservation Association Pace Energy and Climate Center Partnership for the Public Good PAUSE - People of Albany United for Safe Energy Peace Action New York State Penfield High School Environmental Club People for a Healthy Environment Peoples Climate Movement - NY Pratt Disaster Resilience Network Putnam Progressives Queens Climate Project Renewable Energy Long Island Renewable Heat Now Residents Allied for the Future of Tioga (RAFT) Robin Wilt, Town Board Member of Brighton Rochester People's Climate Coalition Rochester Youth Climate Leaders Rockland Citizens Action Network Roctricity RootsAction.org Sanford-Oquaga Area Concerned Citizens (S-OACC) Save the Pine Bush School Of The Arts Green Crew Seneca Lake Guardian Showing Up for Racial Justice - NYC Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Sisters of Charity Federation Sixth Street Community Center Social Justice Team of the UU Congregation of Saratoga Springs Solstice Initiative, Inc. South Shore Audubon Society Start: Empowerment Stop New York Fracked Gas Pipeline Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion StopCricketValley.org Students for Climate Action Sunrise Movement Rockville Centre Hub Sunrise Movement New Canaan Hub Sunrise SBU Sunrise Westchester Sustainable Otsego The Climate Reality Project New York State Coalition of Chapters The Praxis Project The Whaling Museum TIAA-Divest! from Climate Destruction Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative Town of Kirkland Democratic Committee Tricounty NY Transition UNCAGED United Climate Action Network (UCAN) United for Action United University Professions/AFT Local 2190 Uptown Progressive Action, a NYPAN chapter Urban League of Rochester, Inc. Urbecon LLC UU Congregation of Binghamton, Green Sanctuary Village Independent Democrats Vote Solar WESPAC Foundation, Inc. Western New York Youth Climate Council WNYCOSH WriteRochester .
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