It’s Wednesday, November 21, and NYC plans to cut its biggest source of pollution.
New York City, already a relatively sustainable town, could reach new green heights if a certain city lawmaker has his way.
Back in August, we reported on a Big Apple initiative to require tall buildings — especially luxury towers — to significantly cut down on energy usage. Keeping buildings warm and bright produces a ton of pollution — nearly 70 percent of NYC’s overall emissions. That draft legislation, which resulted from an agreement between affordable housing advocates and NYC’s powerful real estate lobby, would have cut emissions from luxury towers 40 to 60 percent by 2080.
But, behold, a new agreement is underway — and it’s even more ambitious. Queens Councilor Costa Constantinides, the same dude who spearheaded the first plan, will introduce a new bill next week that aims at moving the emissions reduction timeline wayyy up. He wants that 40 percent cut by 2030 — 50 years earlier. If it passes, the legislation will go into effect in 2020.
The proposed legislation lets a few big buildings off the hook, and that’s actually a good thing. The city’s rent-controlled units (or what’s left of them) are offered some protections, so landlords won’t have to shell out to retrofit their buildings. That means residents, many of them low-income, won’t have to deal with rent spikes.
According to HuffPost, Constantinides is confident his legislation will pass; he’s already got a co-sponsor in fellow Councilor Peter Koo. But Big Apple politics are as complicated and unpredictable as the city’s subway system. We’ll keep you posted on the future of this bill.
The Smog
Need-to-know basis
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For 14 years, Taylor Energy has quietly leaked up to l3.5 million barrels of oil off the coast of Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard has ordered the oil company to clean up the spill, which began when Hurricane Ivan sunk an oil production platform. As the site continues to spew between 300 and 700 barrels a day — much more than the government previously thought — it could overtake BP’s Deepwater Horizon as the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
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