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New York Climate Action Council meets as it works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

 Electric cars charging at Albany International Airport.
Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
Electric cars charging at Albany International Airport.

Meeting this week, the New York State Climate Action Council looked into various issues including how "going green" is going to impact jobs.

A three-hour session Tuesday saw the 22-member committee evaluating the impact of a green economy, including what workforce disruption might occur as motor vehicles transition away from internal combustion engines.

Philip Jordan is the Vice President of BW Research and manages the firm's energy practice out of its eastern Massachusetts office.

"For every job displaced there, 10 new jobs being created under the scoping plan scenarios," Jordan said. "We're talking about a pretty long time horizon here of either, you know, 10, to 10 to 30 years, right. And so many people will be retiring, other people will be leaving for other reasons, there are voluntary separations that happen all the time. So really, what we're what we're estimating here, is that it's one worker loss for every seven current workers, that will be largely offset, or could be largely offset by retiring workers, and other job transitions. So that's sort of the goal here is to eliminate or reduce the number of people who would outright lose their job without a transition opportunity or hadn't done so voluntarily."

Jordan told the panel almost half of the jobs that would be lost as electric cars proliferate in conventional fueling stations, while gas stations with a convenience store inside would be less likely to shed employees.

"So, if you end up charging your vehicle at a place that looks just like a gas station today, and people still go in and buy lottery tickets and ice cream cones, then, you know, then we may see a lot less displacement there," Jordan said."But certainly what we'll see is the fueling stations, and then the conventional fueling industry, petroleum and natural gas as the bigger decliners."

Jordan says through 2040 the most new jobs will involve the distribution of electricity, solar and solar sub sectors, offshore wind and in the hydrogen and biomass segments.

The panel also considered decommissioning New York's antiquated natural gas infrastructure. Donna DeCarolis is president of National Fuel Gas Corporation, a natural gas distribution company based in Williamsville, near Buffalo. She thinks the idea of decommissioning is "highly extreme."

"I just don't feel like it's fair, you know, or responsible," said DeCarolis. So I guess I'm just, I just like to add that to the record, you know, the system, you know, when we talk about energy delivery, and making sure that it's going to hold up in cold weather, and during weather events, and we have this underground infrastructure that's providing heat to something like 60% of the state today, far more in the cold climates, I think we need to just carefully, carefully assess moves that we're suggesting, and the implications for consumers."

The committee is putting finishing touches on its draft scoping plan to achieve the state’s clean energy and climate agenda. It must approved before being released for public comment. That vote is expected December 20th.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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