REBATES ARRIVE: Some welcome news for environmental advocates worried about the fate of federal funding for clean energy priorities under President-elect Donald Trump: Energy-efficient appliance rebates are now live in New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced New York is the first state to launch the retailer rebates for low- and moderate-income customers. The Appliance Upgrade Program, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act and administered by NYSERDA, allows customers earning up to 150 percent of the state’s area median income to get rebates for energy-efficient heat pump clothes dryers or all-in-one washer-dryer units with a heat pump dryer. These types of dryers use 70 percent less energy than a conventional one, leading to electricity cost savings, according to the governor's office. NYSERDA plans to expand the program to other appliances in 2025 and add eligibility for owners of multi-family buildings. The maximum incentive for appliance purchase and installation is $840, with up to $2,500 for electrical wiring and $4,000 for panel upgrades. Eligible customers can get access to a code to use at participating locations through NYSERDA's MyEnergy portal. — Marie J. French CITY OF YES DEAL: New York City finally is on the cusp of a housing deal — and Gov. Kathy Hochul has emerged as a superhero who rescued a drawn-out mayor-council clash. In the 11th hour of negotiations, when it appeared the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams were stuck on funding for housing and infrastructure commitments, the governor swooped in with a fat $1 billion to free the Gotham housing deal from its final snags. Hochul — who has made solving New York’s housing shortage one of her priorities as governor — will provide the $1 billion of state funding to seal the City of Yes deal, making her the surprise piece to come out of a yearslong battle to reshape the city’s zoning code to accommodate more housing, a source close to the governor told Playbook. The City of Yes deal between City Hall and the Council, which is expected to pass the land use committee today and the full legislative body next month, limits the scope of key proposals, like one to eliminate parking requirements, our colleague Janaki Chadha reported Thursday in POLITICO Pro. ENERGY PLAN INPUT: Hochul allies at The Business Council of New York State are raising fresh alarm bells over the state’s planned transition to renewable forms of energy. The lobby group and a coalition of private-sector organizations have teamed up to urge Hochul to take a sober path toward the state’s energy generation. And in a recent letter to the governor, the groups called for an updated assessment of how the state plans to generate energy. “We need a detailed technical review that results in an updated state energy plan that considers the totality of issues — and that is driven by a pragmatic approach as opposed to extreme voices advocating unrealistic outcomes,” the organizations wrote. The business groups encouraged an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy, including the development of nuclear power. The governor next year will face ongoing pressure from private sector organizations that are increasingly concerned with the impact of clean energy benchmarks required under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. That measure has the sweeping potential to change how New Yorkers power their homes, businesses and transportation. — Nick Reisman NO SMOKING GUN ON TRAIN DELAYS — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: Amtrak and New Jersey Transit’s months-long whodunit after train delays in and out of New York City upended commutes this summer concluded Wednesday with something of a dunno. Instead of finding a single problem that caused the dizzying delays, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and railroad officials blamed aging infrastructure that will need billions of dollars to repair or replace. While the Biden administration has been forthcoming with such largesse, it’s not clear if President-elect Donald Trump or a Republican Congress will muster that kind of spending for rail projects in coming years. STATES TO PJM: YOU OWE US — POLITICO’s Catherine Morehouse: A coalition of state consumer agencies filed a complaint with the federal energy regulator this week seeking refunds from the nation’s largest power market, which they say overcharged ratepayers for electricity. The complaint filed by consumer protection agencies to FERC on Monday argues that PJM Interconnection’s market rules distorted supply and demand in its latest auction for power resources, which sent prices skyrocketing. NYPA INKS EARLY DEAL WITH ARMY: The New York Power Authority wants to help the state’s three Army bases reduce their energy usage with energy efficiency and even potential on-site clean energy projects. It’s a very early stage effort, but NYPA and the U.S. Army signed a brief memorandum of understanding cracking the door to collaboration — while making it clear no funding or final decisions have been made. The state’s Army bases are Fort Drum near Watertown, Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, and West Point. “The Power Authority is honored to partner with the U.S. Army to explore opportunities to make some of the nation’s most critical national security assets more energy resilient and energy efficient,” NYPA President and CEO Justin Driscoll said in a statement. Fort Drum used to have its own power source: a 60 megawatt biomass plant that got state support and a contract with the U.S. Army. ReEnergy, which owned the plant, pushed for New York to continue supporting the plant as a zero-emissions resource after a deal expired in May 2023 but biomass — burning wood — no longer qualified as renewable under the state’s climate law. Now, there’s talk of setting a nuclear plant there. The Army has issued a solicitation for “micro” advanced nuclear reactors to power bases but has not announced where they might be located. — Marie J. French DROUGHT GRIPS REGION — POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: State leaders on the Eastern Seaboard are scrambling to deal with something Western governors know all too well — drought and fire. Governors in New York and New Jersey have begun warning their residents to save water as an unusual drought grips the region. Even with some rain in the forecast this week, it likely won’t be enough to bring relief. A bleak picture is only worsening. Both states’ governors have alluded to long-term forecasts that suggest the winter ahead may be drier than normal too. It is nothing like California, where wildfires routinely destroy hundreds of thousands of acres a year. But raging fires — which prompted local evacuations this weekend and smoke wafting into New York City — have given residents and political leaders alike another taste of West Coast life in a warming climate. Last year, the region’s air was dangerously polluted by smoke from fires in Canada. PITCHING TRUMP ON TOLLS: MTA CEO Janno Lieber is taking another victory lap on congestion pricing — with hopes that he has a win that sticks. With the signoff from Gov. Kathy Hochul to implement congestion pricing (this time at $9), the transit agency’s board today approved the tolls, which it expects to begin collecting in early January — as long as the MTA can get federal approval before President Joe Biden leaves office. But, in interviews and press conferences, Lieber is also trying out an argument to placate President-elect Donald Trump, the latest congestion pricing foe and one with the power to blow up the plan if it hasn’t been fully implemented by the time he takes office. Lieber has rolled out a Trump-tailored argument at least three times in the past several days, appealing to the Republican as a New York City civic leader who owns office buildings filled with commuters who rely on MTA buses and trains. “He’s a New Yorker,” Lieber said Thursday, at the press conference where Hochul announced the reintroduction of the toll. “I think that there’s a real possibility, if he takes a hard look at the issue, he will, as a New Yorker, he will understand.” — Ry Rivard and Jason Beeferman
| 
