On Wednesday, November 13th and Thursday, November 14th, NYLCV staff joined 13 other state conservation voter groups for a Fall Lobby Day on Capitol Hill organized by the national LCV. NYLCV’s lobby team had the opportunity to meet with the following congressional offices; U.S. Senator Gillibrand, U.S. Senator Schumer, U.S. House Members Clarke, Zeldin, Maloney, Velazquez, Brindisi, Jeffries, Higgins, Meng, Suozzi, Espaillat, Tonko, Delgado, Rose, and Lowey.
On the agenda was permanent and full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and a suite of clean energy proposals ranging from tax credits for renewables to funding for electric school buses.
Since 1965, LWCF has provided New York with approximately $348.4 million in funding, benefiting over 1,200 projects across New York State. From Brooklyn to Buffalo, LWCF has provided recreational opportunities for all and protected our drinking water. Unfortunately, the federal funding under the LWCF from year to year has almost always fallen very short of the $900 million maximum allowed by law. We called on congressional members to sign onto letters calling for permanent and full funding for LWCF.
The 100% Clean Economy Act of 2019 puts us on a path to achieve a clean economy by no later than 2050. This bill would require net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide; switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and other clean sources of energy across all sectors of the economy; and cutting carbon pollution through plans developed by federal agencies. We called on members to become cosponsors of the bill if they were not already.
In order to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy by 2050, we called on members to continue to pass clean energy tax credits. We advocated expanding tax credits to include batteries and electricity storage programs, more eligibility for electric vehicles and extending the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar, wind, and other clean energy technologies.
We also advocated for the Clean School Bus Act. This act would provide $1 billion in funding over five years for transitioning from diesel school buses to electric school buses for communities across the U.S. with poor air quality. This would improve student and community health.
NYLCV had a very successful lobby day in D.C. and would like to thank all congressional members we had the opportunity to meet with and their staff for their work on environmental progress. NYLCV will continue to advocate for the environment through working with our elected officials.