NEW YORK SETS AGGRESSIVE OFFSHORE WIND RFP SCHEDULE: NYSERDA will issue its request for proposals for both offshore wind and onshore renewables on Nov. 30, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday. The authority is setting up the extra-expedited schedule for offshore wind, with bids set to be due on Jan. 25, 2024, with awards announced by the end of February. That aligns New York’s solicitation with Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, which have open solicitations due at the end of January. They plan to coordinate awards to maximize potential economies of scale. The timing also gives a leg up to well-developed proposals, perhaps giving the best chance to developers who sought higher prices and were rebuffed to re-bid their projects. NYSERDA also laid out its policy to allow those projects — Eversource and Orsted’s Sunrise Wind, and Equinor and BP’s Empire Wind 1 and 2 and Beacon Wind — to bid into the next solicitation without canceling their contracts before submitting bids. — Marie J. French EV CHARGING SUBSIDIES INCREASED — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: Electric customers will be paying more to subsidize the installation of charging stations across New York as the state recalibrates its electric vehicle targets. The Public Service Commission approved a $1.2 billion budget for utility subsidies of electric charging stations on Thursday, an increase of about $500 million for the program first approved in 2020. The Department of Public Service staff also acknowledged the state is not expected to meet its longtime 850,000 zero-emission vehicle goal for 2025. New York’s ambitious climate targets enshrined in law require a large-scale adoption of electric vehicles. The availability of charging stations is seen as a major barrier to faster adoption by consumers who worry about where they’ll plug in on longer trips, so New York policymakers have been seeking to incentivize the buildout of that system. STEAM DECARBONIZATION EFFORTS APPROVED — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: The state’s utility regulator on Thursday approved higher rates for the steam system that serves the Empire State Building, United Nations and other iconic Manhattan buildings. The Public Service Commission’s approval of the first rate plan for Con Ed’s steam system since 2014 charts a path to reduce emissions and comply with the state’s climate law. Buildings that rely on the steam — currently produced with fossil fuels — are also looking to comply with New York City’s building emissions requirements. — Also at the meeting: The PSC got a report on utility diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and moved three transmission lines forward. GATEWAY GROWS UP: The Biden administration formally approved the bi-state Gateway Development Commission’s ability to receive federal money. That’s good, since the commission is expected to spend billions of federal dollars building new train tunnels beneath the Hudson River to connect the two states. The recognition, made earlier this week and announced by the commission on Thursday, marks adulthood for an agency that was created by the two states to build the tunnels. A previous tunnel plan was undone years ago by Chris Christie when he was governor of New Jersey. In the years since, the congressional delegations and governors of New York and New Jersey have worked to restart a tunnel project, which is needed to supplement an aging tunnel. “We look forward to working with the Gateway Development Commission to improve public transportation for America's communities,” the Federal Transit Administration’s acting regional director, Michael Culotta, wrote to the commission. — Ry Rivard AG TISH JAMES SUES PEPSI — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: New York Attorney General Tish James is testing a new legal strategy to fight plastic pollution in what could be a model to force companies to reduce single-use packaging. James announced a lawsuit against PepsiCo, the largest food and beverage company in North America, on Wednesday in Buffalo. The company is responsible for much of the plastic trash picked up by volunteers along waterways in Buffalo and has misleadingly told investors and consumers that it is working to reduce new plastic use, James said. “No company is too big to ensure that their products do not damage our environment and public health. All New Yorkers have a basic right to clean water, yet PepsiCo’s irresponsible packaging and marketing endanger Buffalo’s water supply, environment and public health,” James said in a statement. This is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit as states across the country struggle with how to tackle the growing amount of plastic packaging ending up in landfills. It could provide a pathway to force companies to take on more responsibility for the waste they generate and the impact that plastics have on the environment. DEAD BEARS: Last year, New Jersey hunters killed 114 black bears due to a “clearly erroneous” emergency rule approved by Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration, a state appeals court found. The hunt, which Murphy had gone back and forth on allowing, was reinstated last year after the state’s fish and game council and Department of Environmental Protection said the hunt was needed to remove the “imminent peril” posed by bears. The hunt was briefly halted and then restarted by a lower court that gave the state’s decision the green light. But a year and scores of dead bears later, the state appellate court found Murphy officials had approved an emergency rule using information they’d had months earlier and there was no justification for the rushed rule. The court’s decision has little effect, since the hunt happened and subsequent formal rulemaking is now in place to allow this year’s hunt. But the ruling could provide a warning to state agencies about the scope of their emergency powers. “They not only didn't follow the law but ignored the rules,” said Jeff Tittel, a long-time environmental activist who opposed the emergency rule. In a statement, the DEP said it “notes that this ruling does not affect the upcoming black bear hunt scheduled for December 2023, which will occur as scheduled in accordance with the Game Code and pursuant to the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy and related Game Code amendments adopted on a non-emergency basis and published in the October 2, 2023 New Jersey Register.” — Ry Rivard HUDSON RIVER CLEANUP BATTLE — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: The success of the cleanup of the nation’s largest Superfund site — the Hudson River — is under review, and advocates are pressing the federal government to find that more action is needed. The Environmental Protection Agency is undertaking a third five-year review of the effectiveness of General Electric’s dredging to remove toxic PCBs the company dumped in the river. The last review deferred a decision on whether the dredging had effectively protected human health, pending additional data. Hudson River advocates released their own review of the available sediment and fish sampling data on Tuesday. — DEC has shared additional data with EPA that both agencies are now reviewing. “DEC will continue to work with EPA to understand and develop the further actions that can be taken to address unacceptable levels of contamination that remain in the river and we will be here until the job is done and the public and environment is fully protected,” DEC spokesperson Cecilia Walsh said in a statement. NYPA SETS (PLACEHOLDER) RENEWABLE TARGET: The New York Power Authority is eyeing a 1 gigawatt target for new renewables, according to materials set to be reviewed by the board’s finance committee today. That figure is a placeholder for the financial plan, spokesperson Sue Craig said in a statement. “These placeholder estimates could go higher depending on state needs and resources,” she said. “As with all of NYPA’s large capital projects, those numbers will be refined as projects are finalized in scope.” NYPA is in the process of completing a public report on the conferral process with external groups and state partners of New York’s progress to meeting its 2030 renewable target of 70 percent. But the authority is also working on its financial plan for 2024 to 2027 and the authority’s 2024 budget. The presentation notes that under expanded authority, NYPA is considering 1 GW of new renewables or $1.5 billion of project costs. The authority continues to invest heavily in its existing hydropower assets and increasing its transmission rate base. — Marie J. French NEW LIPA BOARD: Gov. Kathy Hochul has finally made her own appointments to the Long Island Power Authority board, reshaping it at a pivotal moment as it mulls a more fully publicly operated system and plans for the energy transition. Hochul tapped former PSC Commissioner Tracey Edwards, who stepped down from the commission last month, to chair the LIPA board. Edwards is a senior vice president and New York Corporate Social Responsibility Officer at the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which is seeking to build a casino. She’s also a consultant, a regional director at the Long Island NAACP and a managing director at a school bus safety compliance company. Edwards also wore many hats when she was on the commission, reporting at least $250,000 in outside income while serving in the statutorily full time role and earning $170,000 in state salary in 2022 financial disclosures. She was first nominated to the PSC in 2019 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and was also previously a Verizon executive. — Marie J. French | 
