By Assembly Member Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, represents the 113th Assembly District
Big goals require bold solutions.
Last year the state Legislature passed one of the most ambitious pieces of climate legislation in the nation, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. We set aspirational goals: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent; achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; and move to 100 percent clean power by 2040.
This is our generation’s moonshot. Now, how do we build the rocket that will get us to our goal?
Our path to success lies in unleashing the power of innovation and stimulating industry to innovate, develop and adopt cleaner fuels. The transportation sector is a particularly ripe target for this approach.
In New York, the transportation sector — not just cars, but buses, long-haul trucks and construction vehicles — is almost entirely reliant on petroleum-based fuels and has been identified as the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, contributing over 34 percent of the state’s annual emissions. The stakes for not addressing these transportation-related emissions are high. If we fail at this, these harmful emissions may adversely impact the state’s shoreline, our drinking water sources, the agriculture industry and wildlife diversity. These emissions pose a serious risk not only to the quality of our environment, but also to public health. That dirty tailpipe you sat behind on the Northway this morning spewing noxious diesel fumes? It’s increasing the concentration of ground-level ozone, which contributes to respiratory illnesses in children and the elderly and exacerbates pre-existing respiratory illnesses.
We can do something about this, and we should.