DEC awards communities grants for projects to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, adapt to climate change

ALBANY, N.Y. — A number of communities statewide will use funding totaling $11.6 million to complete projects that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and help them adapt to the ongoing impacts of climate change.

Projects can include work to mitigate flood risk, relocating or retrofitting critical infrastructure, and increasing community resilience to extreme weather.

The funding comes from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Climate Smart Communities grants program.

“We continue to see increasingly extreme weather each year, and these grants help empower locally-driven, bold action to help meet New York’s ambitious climate goals while setting an example for other municipalities to follow,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a press release.

The grant program, established in 2016, is a competitive 50/50 matching grant program for municipalities. The program also supports the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act which requires New York to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 by 2050.

The 2022 Climate Smart Communities grant award recipients include:

Village of Pulaski will use $900,000 to build new sidewalk connecting a low-income senior apartment complex, a medical facility, 52 low-income apartments, the American Legion, a manufacturing facility, a mini-mart, a school, and a recreation center.

West Winfield was awarded $55,350 to create a comprehensive plan for the next 20 years that will further community development and define the village’s approach to land use as well as integrate concerns around sustainability and climate change.

City of Ithaca will more than $851,000 to expand the GO ITHACA transportation-demand management (TDM) program beyond downtown to service East Ithaca, South Hill, Northwest Ithaca, West Hill, The Flats, Lansing, Cayuga Heights, and Northeast Ithaca to help shift travel behavior from single-occupancy vehicles to public transportation.

Owego was awarded $125,000 to hire a technical-assistance contractor to reduce the village’s flood risk by participating in the Community Rating System, a voluntary incentive program that rewards communities for floodplain-management activities that exceed National Flood Insurance Program minimum requirements.

Town of Ulysses will use $55,404 to update its 2009 plan to identify community goals for economic development, recreation, agriculture, and housing while incorporating concepts of sustainability, climate change, and smart growth.