March 22, 2024
The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
Capitol Building
Executive Chamber
Albany, NY 12224
Hon. Carl E. Heastie
Speaker of the Assembly
932 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12248
Dear Governor Kathy Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie,
Twelve years ago, we saw Hurricane Sandy tear apart our homes, displacing thousands of New Yorkers and causing $19 billion worth of damage to New York City. In September, our roads were buried under inches of floodwater following severe, unpredictable rain. At the height of winter, snow melts as soon as it touches the ground. Meanwhile, while our skies turn orange, the fossil fuel industry continues to ramp up production and bring in record profits., Commuting home from school or work through flooded streets and traversing muddied train stations leaves our generation and our communities with one question: how much worse will it get?
It’s undeniable that these extreme weather events and disasters are the product of the climate crisis—something we’re directly subsidizing as New Yorkers.
New York State every year gives about $1.6 Billion in subsidies and tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry—an industry we know is responsible for 92% of climate crisis-causing emissions in the US, an industry we know has lied to our faces whilst expanding deadly fossil fuels, and an industry that right now is continuing to expand, despite any expansion being out of line with, not only the survival of our communities and of our generation but also the survival of humanity., Why are we as New Yorkers funding an industry that’s destroying our future and harming our communities? As UN Secretary-General António Guterres put it, “investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness,” so why are we doing it in New York?
Today, we’re writing to you as 183 groups representing large swaths of our communities, representing the young voters who turned out in record numbers to the polls in 2020, and representing the New York climate justice movement, calling on you, our leaders in Albany, to support inclusion of the Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act (S.3389/A.7949A (Krueger/Simon)) in the FY2024-25 State Budget.
This bill is critical to ending about $330 million of the fossil fuel tax breaks and subsidies we currently hand out in New York and allows us to directly reappropriate that money this year to what our communities need. We must stop funding the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our communities and climate goals, and instead choose to fund housing, education, renewable energy, and the many other needs we have this deficit budget year.
A majority of the bill was included this year in the Senate One-House budget proposal, now it’s time for the final budget to follow suit. Our planet, our communities, and our future cannot wait any longer.
Sincerely,
Fridays For Future NYC
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
The Climate Reality Project New York Chapters Coalition
Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI)
Alliance For A Greater New York (ALIGN)
Beyond Plastics
Big Reuse
Citizen Action of New York
Environmental Advocates NY
Food & Water Watch
Invest in Our New York
New York Communities for Change
NY Renews
NYS Council of Churches
NY Working Families Party
PSC-CUNY
Sunrise Movement NYC
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
350 Brooklyn
350NJ-Rockland
350NYC
Adelphi U. Environmental Action Coalition
Albany UU Green Sanctuary Team
All Our Energy
Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE)
Artists for Mutual Aid
Beacon Climate Action Now
Beloved Earth Community (of The Riverside Church, NYC)
Bethlehem Morning Voice Huddle
Bronx Climate Justice North
Bronx Jews for Climate Action
Bronx River – Sound Shore Audubon Society
Broome Tioga Green Party
Build a Better Planet
Campaign for Renewable Energy
Capital Region Interfaith Creation
Care Coalition
Center for Independence of the Disabled New York
Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
Church Women United in NYS
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Brooklyn
Citizens’ Climate Lobby NY
Clean Air Coalition Western NY Clean & Healthy NY
Climate & Resilience Education Task Force
Climate Families NYC
Climate Reality Project – Capital
Climate Reality Project – Finger
Climate Reality Project – Westchester County Chapter
Climate Reality Project – Western NY Chapter
Climate Reality Project Long Island Chapter
Climate Reality Project NYC
ClimateMama
Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline
Coalition for Outreach, Policy and Coordination
Coalition to Protect NY
Coastal Research & Education Society of Long Island, Inc
Color Brighton Green
Communities for Local Power Community Advocates for a Sustainable Environment
Community Advocates for a Sustainable Environment
Concerned Health Professionals of NY
Congregation Beth Shalom
Creation Collaborative of American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee Region
Deignan Institute for Earth and Spirit at Iona U.
Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society
Divest NY
Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition
Earth Day Initiative
Earthkeeper Health Resources
Elmirans and Friends Against Fracking
Empire State Indivisible
Environmental Justice Ministry of First Unitarian of Rochester
Erie County Green Party
Extinction Rebellion Mid Hudson/New Paltz
Extinction Rebellion Mid-Hudson
Extinction Rebellion NYC
Fellowship of the Sacred Earth
Food & Water Watch NY
For The Many
Forest Hills Green Team
Fossil Free Tompkins
FrackBustersNY
Fridays For Future Capital District NY
Fuerza Mundial Global
Gas Free Seneca
George Brown College Sustainability Team
Grassroots Enviro. Education
Greater Capital Region Ch. Clean Air Coalition of Greater
Green Education & Legal Fund
Green Ossining
Green Party of New York
Green Sanctuary UU Congregation of Binghamton
GreenFaith
HabitatMap
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
Indivisible Harlem
Indivisible New Rochelle
Jewish Climate Action Network NY Metro
Jewish Youth Climate Movement (JYCM)
Justice Environment
Long Island Progressive Coalition NY
Marine Biology Society
Mothers Out Front Tompkins
Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club
Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club
National Wildlife Federation
NE Organic Farming Association NY
New Paltz Interfaith Earth Action
New York Youth Climate Leaders
New Yorkers for Clean Power
North American Climate, Conservation & Environment (NACCE)
North Bronx Racial Justice
North Shore Audubon Society
North Star Fund
Northern Catskills Audubon Society, Inc.
No North Brooklyn Pipeline Alliance
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
NY Catholic Climate Movement
NY Climate Action Group
NY Climate Advocacy Project
NY Geothermal Energy Org.
NYCD16 Indivisible
NYPAN Greene
Occupyradio
People for a Healthy Environment
People of Albany United for Safe Energy
People’s Climate Movement NY
Physicians for Social Responsibility New York
Progressive Action Network
Progressive Schenectady
Protecting Our Waters
PSC Environmental Justice Working Group
Putnam Progressives
Ravena-Coeymans
Reinvent Albany
Residents Allied for the Future of Tioga (RAFT)
Riders Alliance
Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith
Riverside Salem UCC/DoC
Roctricity LLC
RootsAction.org
Sane Energy Project
Saratoga-Warren-Washington Progressive Action
Seatuck Environmental Association
Seneca Lake Guardian
Sheridan Hollow Alliance for Renewable Energy (SHARE)
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Rochester
Sisters of Charity Federation
Sisters of Charity of New York
Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt
Sisters of St. Joseph
Sixth Street Community Center
South Asian Fund for Education Scholarship and Training Inc (SAFEST)
South Bronx Unite
South Shore Audubon Society
Stand.earth
Stop Cricket Valley Energy
Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline
Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion
Sunrise Ithaca
Sunrise Westchester
SUNY Cortland Crochet Club
SUNY New Paltz Environmental Task Force
Sustainability Committee Kendal at Ithaca
Sustainable Finger Lakes
Sustainable Warwick
Target Majority NYC
The Alternative Center
The Fahari-Libertad
Third Act Upstate New York
Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona U.
TIAA-Divest!
TREEage
United for Action
Upper Green Side
Veterans for Climate Justice
Vote Solar
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Westchester for Change
Western NY Drilling Defense
Young Democratic Socialists of America Queensborough Community College Chapter
Zero Waste NYC Workshop
Click here or below to view the letter as a PDF.