Inside New York’s Messy Push to Clean Up Concrete
If concrete production were a country, it would be the world’s third largest carbon emitter. New York legislators want to clean it up.
This story was published in partnership with Next City, a nonprofit news organization reporting on urban economic and environmental issues. Sign up for their newsletter here.
State lawmakers are set to introduce a sweeping proposal for a public takeover of Central Hudson, the region’s scandal-plagued gas and electric utility.
New Yorkers for Local Businesses has spent half a million dollars trying to kill a bill to help workers recover stolen wages. Almost all its backers appear to own McDonald’s franchises.
In New York, unemployment recipients can be found guilty of fraud even if they thought their information was true. The state demands repayment at the highest rate in the country.
The Assembly rejected legislation that would have sped up New York’s transition away from gas.
The Assembly and Senate want to beef up labor standards and farmland protections for clean energy projects. Developers say that would slow down the energy transition.
State investigators accused the gas utility of “sloppiness” in managing customer funds, but took a light touch in enforcement.