Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Case Board Report topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County climate advisory board details recent wins and sets priorities for state‑level engagement
Summary
The Climate and Sustainable Energy (CASE) advisory board reported on 2024 activities, including a successful challenge to NYSEG’s resiliency plan, state policy advocacy successes, and proposed working groups for 2025 focused on resilience, gas infrastructure and building electrification.
Irene Weiser, chair of the Tompkins County Climate and Sustainable Energy (CASE) advisory board, told the county’s PEAK Committee that CASE spent 2024 advising on local clean‑energy projects, critiquing utility planning and supporting state climate and energy policy.
Weiser highlighted CASE’s participation in the New York State Public Service Commission review of NYSEG’s resiliency plan; the group filed public comments and organized witnesses for a hearing, and Weiser said the commission rejected NYSEG’s submission and ordered a revision due in March 2025. “We critiqued NYSEG's plan, filed comments about how inadequate we thought it was,” she said.
CASE also supported local ’green facilities’ funding requests and backed statewide measures including the Climate Superfund Act and a state ban on certain CO2 fracking practices; Weiser reported those measures advanced in the Legislature. She noted a successful local push that influenced state policy requiring certain subsidized affordable housing projects to be all electric.
For 2025 CASE proposed several working groups to move from monthly informational meetings toward more active projects. Proposed topics include mobile‑home resiliency and energy efficiency, hazard mitigation and resiliency planning, and a county‑focused exercise with NYSEG to explore how gas infrastructure could be scaled back in targeted areas while ensuring reliability and sufficient electric capacity. Weiser said the CASE board plans to engage on the NYSEG rate case expected to be filed in May and on state policy developments.
Weiser invited county legislators to attend CASE meetings and noted that the board will host a March presentation from a statewide clean‑energy advocacy leader. She urged collaboration between CASE, county staff and municipal officials to advance practical local solutions in the absence of large new federal funding.
Ending: CASE Chair Weiser said the group will form working groups this year and offered to coordinate with PEAK members on specific issues and state advocacy.
