By Nathaniel Russo
Governor Hochul, in conjunction with the DEC and NYSERDA, recently released the Extreme Heat Action Plan (EHAP), the next step in New York State’s attempt to address extreme heat resiliency and mitigation, especially in vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. As climate change progresses and extreme heat becomes more frequent and pronounced, EHAP aims to help communities adequately prepare and respond to the many devastating impacts. The plan lays out a roadmap for the entire New York State government to equitably address extreme heat, reduce vulnerability, and support local community adaptation. The EHAP was developed through collaborative community planning processes with local organizers and 29 state agencies, developing 49 initiatives.
EHAP is broken down into four tracks that address different issues across the state, the first one being Adaptation, Planning, and Management. This includes initiatives such as the development of regional community resilience networks as well as statewide extreme heat exposure maps and funding capital projects that mitigate extreme heat and UHI effect. These two projects will help communities adapt and deal with extreme heat by creating community networks, including resilience hubs and neighbor-to-neighbor networks. Additionally, these initiatives will help better determine at-risk, disadvantaged communities so resiliency projects can be targeted.
The next set of goals are related to Preparedness, Communication, and Workers Safety, including: Supporting development and implementation of regional and local heat emergency plans as well as expanding coverage of and improving access to cooling centers. These two initiatives aim to improve local responses in extreme heat emergencies by developing community plans and expanding cooling center access.
Track three of the EHAP focuses on the Built Environment, Infrastructure, and Managed Spaces. This includes policies such as the installation of renewable sources of power and backup storage at public housing, group homes, assisted living facilities, shelters, community centers, schools, libraries, and other community settings. This initiative would help New York State achieve its 2030 climate goals as well as reduce the impacts of extreme heat. Other policies include strengthening State building codes to account for extreme heat, funding facility improvements, thermal resilience, and decarbonization at educational institutions, and accelerating the transition of internal combustion bus and agency fleets to electric propulsion.
The final group of initiatives focus on Ecosystem-Based Adaptation. This includes accelerating the implementation and maintenance of ecosystem-based and green infrastructure solutions across the state to reduce extreme heat impacts, which plans to use green pilot projects across the state to demonstrate effective extreme heat resiliency. These projects can also help protect natural ecosystems across the state.
NYLCV’s will work to ensure these initiatives become a reality.