Sierra Club Condemns Rollbacks of Climate Law and SEQRA In Fiscal Year 2027 NY State Budget

Albany, NY -- New York lawmakers and the public were given their first look at the Transportation and Economic Development (TED) section of NY's $268.5 billion state budget, mere hours before voting, concluding a secretive and one-sided negotiation process that delayed the State's fiscal plan by nearly two months. Among the dozens of Article VII bills within the TED are provisions that dramatically weaken New York's landmark 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and language to exempt most housing construction from the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Both foundational environmental laws took years to enact, and were shaped by the input of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, significant case law, and deliberate, transparent legislative actions. Despite public outcry and initial resistance from the legislature, the governor used her significant leverage in negotiations to undermine both laws that she asserted could negatively contribute to future energy and housing affordability issues.

Gutting the CLCPA
Following the Climate Action Council's development of a comprehensive scoping plan to achieve the emission requirements of the CLCPA, the law required DEC to finalize implementing regulations by January 1, 2024. In 2025, after it was clear Governor Hochul had no intention of releasing any regulations, including a much anticipated cap and invest program that was to finance an affordable transition to a zero emissions future, with mandated emissions reductions from the state's worst polluters, Sierra Club and allies sued the state, and won. But instead of following a judicial order to release the regulations, Governor Hochul used the budget process to not only moot the court decision, but substantially weaken the law.

The provisions in the TED (part VV) significantly delay implementation of the law, pushing back the release of climate regulations by 5 years and forfeiting the billions of dollars for climate mitigation and ratepayer relief the state would have accrued through its 'cap and invest' climate program during this time. The changes to CLCPA also reduce the state's accountability to comply with the law by adding short-sighted and poorly defined qualifications around cost containment, feasibility and affordability that could prolong status quo reliance on volatile and expensive fossil fuels. The reforms also employ accounting gimmicks to paper over significant state climate emissions, changing the time frame over which methane emissions are measured to make its impacts seem less severe and ignoring out-of-state lifecycle emissions of fossil fuels used in NY. This gives a false impression of the true impact of our energy policies and allows for more pollution, contamination and expensive energy bills over time.

In response, Josh Berman, Senior Attorney with the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program said: "In enacting the Climate Act in 2019, New York recognized the critical need for bold leadership in addressing the harms that climate emissions are already causing to our communities and the strain that more extreme weather is having on energy affordability. Governor Hochul's rollback of the Climate Act is a deeply misguided act of cowardice, based on misinformation about the cost of climate action and delaying the very solutions that would reduce New York's costly over-reliance on expensive and deadly fossil fuels."

Undermining SEQRA
In an attempt to increase the rate of housing construction, the TED (Part R) amends the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to exempt almost all new housing, and ancillary mix-use development from environmental review, provided that the development is located on 'previously disturbed land'. But the governor's definition for 'previously disturbed' is overly broad and the other loose requirements for such exemptions could easily be abused by corner cutting developers who may not care about the environment or creating affordable homes. Now in its 51th year, SEQRA is meant to encourage thoughtful, informed, transparent decision-making in a way that lessens the environmental harm of projects and plans as they move forward. SEQRA compliance creates a process for the public, environmental and public health experts and regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders, to ensure accurate environmental impact analysis, consideration of project alternatives, and adoption of feasible mitigation measures for a project's significant impacts. Upstate communities are not prepared to accept the onslaught of new housing, up to 100 units at a time, that will no longer come with the benefit of an environmental review that ensures new housing is safe housing.

In response, Roger Downs, Conservation Director for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter said: "The Governor's proposal to exempt new housing projects from environmental review will create a new set of problems and costs that could undermine any 'affordability' the reforms seek to achieve. Without environmental review, new housing could be mired in wetlands, built on toxic contamination sites or decimate irreplaceable habitat, with little recourse for an impacted community to challenge. Environmental review is not the primary reason for housing delays, and negating the benefits of SEQRA will not bring us more affordable homes- only more hardship to our communities and the natural world."

The regressive legislative rollbacks in the 2026-27 budget are certain to reverse years of environmental progress in New York, with negative outcomes like the prolonged use of expensive fossil fuels, higher energy costs, degraded air quality, contaminated drinking water and unwanted community sprawl. The Sierra Club urges the Legislature to use the remainder of their time in Albany to pass meaningful legislation that helps fill the void created by these rollbacks. The Senate and Assembly must come to agreement on key legislation that advances the growth of renewable energy, pauses the rapid development of energy hungry AI and datacenters, addresses the scourge of PFAS contamination and reduces the emissions from landfills and garbage incinerators. Despite this bitter setback, the Sierra Club is committed to redoubling our efforts to help New York reestablish itself as a global climate leader and show that there is a truly an affordable pathway forward through renewable energy development, emissions reductions and climate justice.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.