On August 6, 2009, NY Governor David Paterson issued an executive order calling for the preparation of a Climate Action Plan to be drafted by a newly appointed interagency Climate Action Council to be chaired by the Director of State Operations. The Governor announced that it shall be the goal of the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources within the state by 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050. The draft Climate Action Plan is to be prepared by September 30, 2010 for public comments. The Executive order specifically directs the Council to, among other things, inventory greenhouse gas emissions within the State; identify and assess short-term and long-term actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change across all economic sectors, including industry, transportation, agriculture, building construction and energy production; identify and analyze the anticipated reductions, and the economic implications thereof; and identify existing legal, regulatory and policy constraints to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, assessing the impacts of climate change, and adapting to climate change, and recommend ways to address any such constraints.
Although the Secretary of State is a member of the Council, presumably to represent among other interests, those of local governments, local government stakeholders are not part of the Council. The Council is, however, authorized to convene advisory councils, and hopefully one on the critical role of local governments, including land use planning and regulatory control, will be established.
Executive Order 24 can be accessed at: http://www.ny.gov/governor/executive_orders/exeorders/eo_24.html
For a paper on the importance of local governments in the climate change arena click here
