REBNY Statement on City Council Intro 2317

REBNY President James Whelan released the following statement on City Council Intro 2317:

“Developing sensible policies for reducing the use of fossil fuels such as natural gas in buildings is laudable, but requires serious planning and a data-driven approach to ensure they are achievable and will help reach our shared climate goals. Numerous advisory groups, including the City’s Local Law 97 Advisory Board and the State’s Climate Action Council, are working through this challenge right now and considering significantly different and more thoughtful approaches. This legislation ignores these ongoing substantive discussions and instead puts forward a fundamentally flawed proposal that would upend the lives of millions of residents across New York City and significantly increase costs for homeowners and renters. Further, this proposal will not effectively reduce carbon emissions because the city’s electricity will continue to be sourced almost entirely by fossil fuels when this proposal would be implemented as well as for several years thereafter.”

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