When it comes to implementing Ithaca’s Green New Deal, action often comes down to policy-making and funding. Although Ithaca’s model for a Green New Deal (GND) relies heavily on private equity, it can also benefit from state funding and support systems. One such source of funding is currently being fought for in the height of budget season; $15 billion dollars to go toward the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which could be used for statewide renewable energy infrastructure transformation. A portion of this money could also be used to fund Ithaca’s own GND.
One of the biggest advocates of securing $15 billion for the CLCPA is Anna Kelles, assemblymember of the 125th district of New York State. Kelles herself was born and raised in Tompkins County and has worked as a professor at both Ithaca College and Cornell University. She has also served on the Tompkins County Legislature where she was a staunch advocate for environmental policies, starting an initiative to block state permitting of a proposed trash incinerator on the shore of Cayuga Lake.
We interviewed Kelles on March 11th, days after she spoke at a climate justice rally in Albany, demanding $15 billion dollars for the CLCPA. During our conversation with her, she connected the climate demands in Albany to implementing Ithaca’s Green New Deal as well as Ithaca’s potential to serve as a roadmap for other municipalities to start their own decarbonization processes.
“The funding we receive is what will be invested in decarbonization and electrification of the state that will set the framework and context that will exist for the process for decarbonization in the city of Ithaca,” Kelles explained. “The model that it will establish for all cities is a critical roadmap in and of itself.”
Kelles also brought up the climate justice aspect of the Green New Deal, saying it was essential to make electrification and decarbonization accessible and available to all people regardless of income, race, or ethnicity.
“The push is not only for money but to do it in a way that is just and creates equity across the state and that is really foundational for the initiative or the Green New Deal,” she said. “It prioritizes prevailing wage jobs, creation of jobs and it prioritizes that the electrification process doesn’t exclude those who are least able to pay.”
Regardless of the $15 billion dollars being allocated to the CLCPA, Kelles said action needs to be taken immediately if Ithaca wanted to reach its decarbonization goals.
“We have to transition from rhetoric and interest into an actual plan,” she said. “2030 is coming really fast.”
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