When New Yorkers head to the polls, their ballot will invite them to vote yes or no on a state measure to invest $4.2 billion in environmental and climate-related projects.
The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 would authorize the state to issue bonds up to that amount to finance projects intended to reduce flood risk and restore flood damage, preserve undeveloped land and promote recreation, mitigate climate change, improve water quality, and make infrastructure more resilient.
Bond issuances are the mechanism by which most governments borrow money — and this one is the largest of its kind in history in terms of actual dollars. It’s also the first environmental bond measure to make it on the ballot since 1996.
The legislation that authorized the ballot measure stipulates that the funds are to be used for design, planning, site acquisition, demolition, construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation work. Several statewide environmental organizations have backed the measure.
“As New York faces the realities of a changing climate including more extreme weather, severe flooding, and rising temperatures, adapting our communities and upgrading our infrastructure to become more resilient to climate impacts is increasingly critical,” read a statement from the New York League of Conservation Voters in support of the act.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo first introduced the bond act in 2020, but later withdrew it citing the fiscal uncertainties caused by the pandemic. It was passed along party lines after Cuomo re-introduced it in September 2021. All the Republicans in both chambers voted against it.
Gerard Kassar, chair of the New York State Conservative Party, urged voters to reject the measure. He called it a “tax increase” and criticized it as “a vague and amorphous ballot proposal that’s more about politics than it is about clear environmental goals.”
Voters have tended to favor environmental bond acts. Of the 11 that have been put to voters over the decades, just one has failed, according to the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government. The institute figures previous bond acts have generated $5.7 billion for environmental programs or projects — the present-day equivalent of $30 billion when adjusted for inflation.
Jeremy Moule is CITY's deputy editor.
