2023 New York Laws › ENV - Environmental Conservation › Article 75 - Climate Change › 75-0109 - Promulgation of Regulations to Achieve Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions.

§ 75-0109. Promulgation  of  regulations to achieve statewide greenhouse
gas emissions reductions.
1. No later than four years after the effective date of this  article,
  the  department,  after  public  workshops  and  consultation  with  the
  council, the environmental  justice  advisory  group,  and  the  climate
  justice  working  group  established pursuant to section 75-0111 of this
  article, representatives of regulated entities, community organizations,
  environmental groups,  health  professionals,  labor  unions,  municipal
  corporations, trade associations and other stakeholders, shall, after no
  less  than  two  public  hearings,  promulgate  rules and regulations to
  ensure compliance with the statewide emissions reduction limits and work
  with other state agencies  and  authorities  to  promulgate  regulations
  required  by  section  eight  of the chapter of the laws of two thousand
  nineteen that added this article.
2. The regulations promulgated by  the  department  pursuant  to  this
  section shall:
a.  Ensure  that  the  aggregate  emissions  of  greenhouse gases from
  greenhouse gas emission sources will not exceed the statewide greenhouse
  gas emissions limits established in section 75-0107 of this article.
b.  Include  legally   enforceable   emissions   limits,   performance
  standards,  or  measures or other requirements to control emissions from
  greenhouse gas emission sources,  with  the  exception  of  agricultural
  emissions from livestock.
c.  Reflect,  in  substantial  part,  the findings of the scoping plan
  prepared pursuant to section 75-0103 of this article.
d. Include measures to reduce emissions from greenhouse  gas  emission
  sources  that  have  a  cumulatively  significant  impact  on  statewide
  greenhouse gas emissions, such as internal combustion vehicles that burn
  gasoline or diesel fuel and boilers or furnaces that burn oil or natural
  gas.
3. In promulgating these regulations, the department shall:
a. Design and implement all regulations in a manner that seeks  to  be
  equitable,  to  minimize costs and to maximize the total benefits to New
  York, and encourages early action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
b. Ensure that greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved are  real,
  permanent, quantifiable, verifiable, and enforceable by the department.
c. Ensure that activities undertaken to comply with the regulations do
  not  result  in  a  net  increase in co-pollutant emissions or otherwise
  disproportionately  burden  disadvantaged  communities   as   identified
  pursuant to section 75-0111 of this article.
d.  Prioritize  measures  to maximize net reductions of greenhouse gas
  emissions and co-pollutants in disadvantaged communities  as  identified
  pursuant  to  section 75-0111 of this article and encourage early action
  to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and co-pollutants.
e. Incorporate measures to minimize leakage.
4. a. The department may establish an alternative compliance mechanism
  to be used by sources subject to  greenhouse  gas  emissions  limits  to
  achieve net zero emissions.
b.  The  use  of  such  mechanism  shall  account for not greater than
  fifteen percent of statewide greenhouse gas  emissions  estimated  as  a
  percentage  of  nineteen ninety emissions pursuant to section 75-0105 of
  this article, provided that the use of  this  mechanism  must  offset  a
  quantity  greater  than  or  equal  to the greenhouse gases emitted. The
  offset of greenhouse gas emissions shall  not  result  in  disadvantaged
  communities  having  to  bear a disproportionate burden of environmental
  impacts.
c. The department shall verify that  greenhouse  gas  emission  offset
  projects  authorized  pursuant  to this subdivision represent greenhouse

  gas equivalent emission reductions  or  carbon  sequestration  that  are
  real, additional, verifiable, enforceable, and permanent.
d.  Any  greenhouse gas emissions offset project shall comply with all
  of the requirements of this subdivision.
e. The department shall establish an application process  that,  at  a
  minimum,  requires  a source to sufficiently demonstrate that compliance
  with  the  greenhouse  gas  emissions  limits  is  not   technologically
  feasible,  and  that  the  source  has  reduced emissions to the maximum
  extent practicable. After an initial four year  period,  the  department
  shall review the participation of a source in this mechanism, and make a
  determination  as  to  the  source's  continued  need for an alternative
  compliance, considering the extent to which the source is utilizing  the
  best available technology standards.
f.  Sources in the electric generation sector shall not be eligible to
  participate in such mechanism.
g. The following types of projects shall be prohibited:
i. waste-to-energy projects, including incineration and pyrolysis; and
ii. biofuels used for energy or transportation purposes.
h.  Any  greenhouse  gas  emission  offset  project  approved  by  the
  department shall:
i.  be  designed  to  provide a discernable benefit to the environment
  rather than to the source;
ii. be located in the  same  county,  and  within  twenty-five  linear
  miles, of the source of emissions, to the extent practicable;
iii.  enhance  the  conditions  of  the  ecosystem  or geographic area
  adversely affected; and
iv. substantially reduce or  prevent  the  generation  or  release  of
  pollutants through source reduction.
i.  A  greenhouse gas emission offset project shall not be approved by
  the department where the project:
i.  is  required  pursuant  to  any  local,  state  or  federal   law,
  regulation, or administrative or judicial order;
ii.  contains  measures  which the source would have undertaken anyway
  within the next five years;
iii. contributes to environmental research at a college or university;
  or
iv. is a study or assessment without a  commitment  to  implement  the
  results.
j.   In   approving  greenhouse  gas  emission  offset  projects,  the
  department shall prioritize projects that  maximize  public  health  and
  environmental   benefits  within  the  state  and  especially  localized
  benefits in  disadvantaged  communities,  defined  pursuant  to  section
  75-0111 of this article.
k.  The department shall establish a public registry of greenhouse gas
  emission offset projects approved pursuant to this subdivision.
l. Prior to the inclusion of any alternative compliance  mechanism  in
  the  regulations,  to  the  extent  feasible  and  in the furtherance of
  achieving the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit,  the  department
  shall do all of the following:
i. consult with the council, the environmental justice advisory group,
  and the climate justice working group;
ii.  consider  the  potential  for  direct,  indirect,  and cumulative
  emission impacts from this mechanism,  including  localized  impacts  in
  disadvantaged  communities  as identified pursuant to section 75-0111 of
  this article;
iii. design  the  alternative  compliance  mechanism  to  prevent  any
  increase in the emissions of co-pollutants; and
iv.  maximize  additional  environmental,  public health, and economic
  benefits for the state  and  for  disadvantaged  communities  identified
  pursuant to section 75-0111 of this article, as appropriate.