HEASTIE: ASSEMBLY WANTS ‘ENVIRONMENTAL THINGS’: Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie spoke to reporters briefly on Thursday for the first time in several weeks and expressed skepticism about a climate measure that has passed the Senate for the second year in a row. The Climate Superfund measure would charge oil and gas companies for historical pollution from fossil fuels, raising $3 billion annually for 25 years. Proponents say that since the charge would be based on historic sales, not current revenues, companies wouldn’t be able to pass on costs to consumers because they’d risk being undercut on price by companies with lower historic emissions. Heastie said he agreed with the “polluters should pay” sentiment, but — as Assembly Energy Chair Didi Barrett has indicated in the past — he's not convinced consumers will escape increased costs if the measure becomes law. “One of the challenges we see is this belief that having polluters pay — and they should pay — but the concern is I’ve never in my life seen corporations choose the ratepayer over the stockholder,” Heastie said. “They’re not going to take less profit.” Heastie said he’d have to check on whether the Climate Superfund measure would move this session, but added, “We do want to do some environmental things.” On the NY HEAT Act and packaging reduction, he indicated that three-way conversations are ongoing. — Marie J. French NEW YORK ROLLS OUT ENERGY ASSISTANCE: New York is the first state to go live with federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act for energy efficiency projects for low-income residents. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm joined Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Chuck Schumer to highlight the new program in New York City on Thursday. “We're making real progress, something that's tangible. It's not out there talking about someday we're going to affect climate change,” Hochul said. “We're going to affect people's ability to adjust, adapt and lower their energy bills.” The Energy Department announced last month that the state was the first to get its application approved under the $8.8 billion federal program meant to help homeowners cut their energy costs and make their properties more energy efficient. New York is now launching the first phase of its $158 million home electrification and appliance rebates program and will do so through the state's existing EmPower+ program, which serves homeowners and renters with incomes below 80 percent of their area median. Single-family properties and multifamily properties of up to four units are eligible under the first phase, which will support the installation of air sealing, insulation, ventilation, heat pumps and other electric upgrades. Up to $14,000 is available in rebates per household, Granholm said. Hochul repeatedly praised President Joe Biden for supporting the program, saying, “This president is getting the job done." A previous iteration of EmPower+ had limited eligibility to 60 percent of state median income, which drew criticism as it shut out many low-income New York City residents. The state Legislature allocated $200 million in last year’s budget for the program and the program gets additional funding from utility ratepayers. The first tranche of federal funding for the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates is about $40 million. Future funding would unlock rebates for households making up to 150 percent of the area median income and for larger multifamily buildings. New York is also working on getting $159 million for Home Efficiency Rebates, which will provide eligible households up to $8,000 in additional rebates for measures that reduce energy usage by at least 20 percent. EmPower+ expended approximately $168 million to serve approximately 22,000 homes in 2023, with about 70 percent receiving weatherization improvements and 2 percent installing heat pumps, according to NYSERDA. The remaining homes got upgrades involving energy-efficient appliances, lighting, thermostats and heat pump water heaters. DOE also said Thursday that three more states — Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island — have applied to launch their own programs. This means 17 states have now applied for at least one of the home energy rebate programs funded by the law. — Marie J. French and Kelsey Tamborrino NEW YORK SENATE DEMOCRATS CONSIDER PACKAGING REDUCTION TWEAKS: Senate Democrats are considering a less aggressive measure to slash plastic and packaging waste, according to a draft copy of the bill reviewed by POLITICO. The Senate proposal would weaken the requirements to reduce plastic and other packaging material over the coming years, setting a target of only 30 percent reduction in 12 years compared with the current version mandating a 50 percent reduction. It may also include authority for the DEC to lower those requirements further. Switching from plastic to other materials would also count as a reduction. The rebranded extended producer responsibility bill (S4246) seeks to reduce the amount of packaging being used, increase recyclability and charge producers of consumer goods for the costs of disposing of packaging that mostly ends up in landfills. Broadly, the goal is to mandate producers of packaged consumer goods — think Amazon, Unilever, Procter & Gamble — to fund the recycling or disposal of what they sell. But the Senate and Assembly have not put the proposal to a vote. Senate Democrats will discuss the proposal on Wednesday afternoon. Sen. Pete Harckham, who chairs the Environmental Conservation Committee and sponsors the bill, declined to discuss specific changes but said they’ve been discussed internally and some had been shared with the Assembly. He said that input continues to be taken from lawmakers and interested parties. “It’s still live,” said Harckham. “It’s sausage-making time. If we can make the sausage by the end of next week we’ll have a bill. If we can’t, we won’t.” Lawmakers also proposed a delay in requirements to increase recycling or reuse of plastics and other materials. Producers would get to point to voluntary reductions in packaging used over the past 10 years — rather than just five years — to make less of an effort in the future. Other significant changes include some tweaks to the division of responsibility between the Department of Environmental Conservation and the “producer responsibility organizations.” While the DEC and an advisory council — which the Senate version adds labor representation — would still have some oversight, the organizations would get to set fees for various materials and set other standards. The influence of labor is also reflected in labor-peace agreement requirements for producer organizations. Unions representing sanitation workers had raised concerns about the lack of such protections if municipalities decided to defer recycling programs to the producer organizations. The Senate proposal also removes “carbon black” from the list of prohibited toxic substances. Business groups have said this is present in ink and thus any printed labels, pushing back on the proposed ban in the current bill. The Senate proposal has an “intentionally added” clause for the other listed toxic substances, giving the DEC a longer timeline to set standards for those even if they’re not intentionally added. And the proposal added an exemption to most of the provisions of the bill for non-profit organizations delivering medically tailored meals and containers used to ship hazardous materials. Business groups, including the American Chemistry Council which represents companies including plastic makers, have opposed the bill. They’ve raised concerns about the costs of the changes being passed on to consumers. But the concept has broad public support (according to recent polling), is backed by environmentalists and is included in the state’s climate plan. — Marie J. French NYPA EXPANDS ENERGY LAB: The New York Power Authority has relocated and expanded its testing platform for innovative grid technologies and modeling impacts with a “digital twin” of the state’s grid. NYPA moved the Advanced Grid Innovation Laboratory for Energy, or “AGILe,” from a small location in their White Plains offices to a 10,000 square foot space with offices and a newly built testing space at the gleaming, light-filled Zero Energy Nanotechnology building on the NY CREATES Albany campus. “It’s a hub designed for collaboration,” said NYPA president and CEO Justin Driscoll. “We think that the lab is going to be a great resource not only for the state but for the energy industry.” NYPA wants to raise the profile of the lab, which was established in 2017 and can test the capabilities of new technologies to support the electric system, with an option to hook up new inverters, batteries and electric vehicle chargers on-site to a substation mockup. The technologies can be tested to their limits, with their performance and impact on the electric grid modeled at a detailed level. The “digital twin” of the grid, which pulls real-time data but can also model various extreme weather or renewable deployment scenarios, goes nearly down to the residential voltage level. NYPA started it to model the bulk transmission system but has taken it down to an even more granular level. This allows potentially more detailed modeling of the impact of heat pump adoption or EV charging. AGILe’s growing capabilities and potential were lauded on Wednesday at a ceremonial ribbon-cutting by NYSERDA president and CEO Doreen Harris and Jessica Waldorf, interim head of the Office of Renewable Energy Siting within the Department of Public Service. NYSERDA has committed $8 million for competitive solicitations for projects that utilize AGILE’s data and resources. “So many models are static,” Harris said. Waldorf said the opportunity to test new technologies has been highlighted in the ongoing work of the Advanced Technology Working Group organized by DPS. More testing at NYPA’s lab could ensure utilities roll out more innovative, cost-saving technologies as the state strives to reach its renewable energy goals. — Marie J. French NATIONAL GRID FILES RATE HIKE — POLITICO’s Marie J. French: National Grid has proposed a rate hike plan for the utility’s upstate gas and electric customers, joining other companies seeking major increases after regulators suppressed costs during the pandemic. Grid has proposed a one-year increase in delivery of about 23 percent for residential electric customers and 29 percent for gas customers. That’s an estimated total bill increase of 15 percent, or $19 per month, for electricity and 20 percent, or $18, for gas. National Grid’s filing Tuesday kicks off a lengthy process with input from the state’s utility regulators, customer representatives, environmental advocates and other parties. Rate cases are a primary lever for implementing the state’s climate law — and also where some of the near-term costs of transitioning to a more electrified, lower emissions economy are showing up. NJ SETTLES WITH ORSTED — POLITICO’s Matt Friedman: New Jersey has agreed to accept about one-third of what the Murphy administration claimed was owed by Danish energy company Orsted after it canceled two projects off the shore. A press release Tuesday about the acceleration of the state’s offshore wind bidding schedule for other projects noted that the state and the Board of Public Utilities reached a settlement with Orsted in which they “have agreed to release claims against each other arising out of or related to the Ocean Wind Projects,” with the company paying the state $125 million. Following Orsted’s cancellation of its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects in late 2023 last fall, Murphy in an Oct. 31 statement said “my administration in partnership with legislative leadership insisted upon important protections that ensure New Jersey will receive $300 million to support the offshore wind sector should Orsted’s New Jersey projects fail to proceed.” | 
