HUDSON — Local elected officials and representatives from environmental groups will rally in Albany on Thursday to call on Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the climate change superfund in the 2024 state budget.
The demonstrators plan to deliver holiday letters, release a 2023 analysis of new climate costs they say are burdening New York state households and announce the results of a national poll on the climate superfund.
Among the speakers scheduled to deliver remarks at what has been dubbed the “Make Polluters Pay” news conference are Hudson 1st Ward Supervisor Claire Cousin, Hudson Mayoral Aide Michael Hofmann and Michael Richardson of Third Act Upstate New York.
The news conference will begin 11 a.m. on the third floor, near the doors of the Senate Chamber, of the state Capitol, where representatives of Elected Officials to Protect America from across the state, including the Capital Region and Hudson Valley, will urge Hochul to include the climate change superfund in the Executive Budget, Richardson said.
Representatives of a coalition of youth organizations will also deliver a letter to the governor urging support for the legislation, and numerous civic, environmental, labor, public health and religious organizations have sent additional letters of support.
The groups will release the 2023 “taxpayer tally” of New York state’s climate costs and describe the burden on taxpayers for climate repair, resilience and community protection projects and compare those figures to Big Oil’s corporate profits, Richardson said.
The speakers will release the results of a new national poll by Data for Progress on the climate superfund.
Other scheduled speakers are Albany County Legislator Merton Simpson, New York Public Interest Research Group Executive Director Blair Horner and Catherine Darcy, Sisters of Mercy executive director of Mission Integration.