Hundreds virtually attended a Department of Buildings hearing on Tuesday to weigh in on the fate of Local Law 97, which requires New York City’s biggest carbon polluters — buildings over 25,000 square feet — to reduce their emissions by 40% by the end of the decade and 80% by 2050.
The hearing effectively closed out the public comment period for a rule the Adams administration proposed in mid-September around enforcement of Local Law 97. The law is due to take effect Jan. 1, at which point buildings must lower their emissions.
Under the Getting 97 Done proposal, building owners can delay their energy changes and may be eligible for reduced fines for 2024 deadlines as long as they make so-called "good-faith efforts" toward compliance.
Tuesday’s testimony featured scientific experts, grassroots environmental organizations and several elected officials who said the draft regulations would weaken the climate law through loopholes for buying-out of compliance for wealthy landlords or offering a two-year extension to noncompliant buildings.
“We need full Local Law 97 implementation and enforcement, now with no loopholes, no delays,” said Alex Beauchamp, northeast region director for Food & Water Watch. “This is what New York City Council passed, and now it's the mayor's job to enforce the law.”
Among the proposal’s supporters were larger environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council, which said the enforcement rules are a path for buildings to reasonably achieve the ultimate goal of decarbonization. Joining the NRDC were other groups such as large low- and middle-income co-ops and nonprofit hospitals, which want more leeway in the law.
“I don't see it as a two-year delay, but as a way to lock in property owners' progress,” said Councilmember James Gennaro, who represents parts of Queens and chairs the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency and Waterfronts. “We want your carbon, not your money.”
A full page of the Department of Building's proposal outlines ways landlords can demonstrate “good-faith efforts’ to comply with Local Law 97, such as submitting a decarbonization plan that shows how their building will eventually reduce its emissions. Such a plan requires owners to have an independent energy audit and detail the necessary work along with a timeline and financing information.
On its website, the DOB estimates that 20-25% of buildings will go over their emissions caps in 2024 if they choose to do nothing to comply with the law. By the end of the decade, when the second compliance period begins, that number could jump up to 80%. Several City Councilmembers cited these figures during the hearing.
But DOB press secretary Andrew Rudansky emailed Gothamist after publication of this article to claim the 20% estimate is outdated and originated when the law passed in 2019. He stated newer benchmarks expect 11% of buildings will exceed their emissions caps in 2024. He also commented that the DOB is now aiming for large buildings to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, a stricter goal than the law’s 80% emissions reduction target.
Screenshot of Department of Buildings hearing on Oct. 24, 2023.
“Allowing exceptions is unfair to buildings who are in compliance,” said Jumaane Williams, the city's public advocate. “Having people wait out a law does not set a good precedent going forward.”
Most of the requirements for owners seeking an extension are no different from what a building in compliance would already be doing, such as submitting an annual building emissions report, complying with energy benchmarks outlined in Local Law 84 and installing lighting upgrades and submeters to adhere to Local Law 88. The obvious overlap prompted some environmental groups to question the necessity for a two-year delay for a law passed nearly four years ago.
“Somehow they're [DOB officials are] trying to create an entirely new system that fines don't help anybody,” Beauchamp said. “Well, they kind of do, because that's what forces building owners who might otherwise not follow the law, might otherwise not reduce their emissions to finally start doing it.”
Under the proposed enforcement plan, building owners who receive an extension must submit a decarbonization plan by May 1, 2025, the same deadline compliant building owners must submit their annual building emissions reports. There is no stated limit of how many extensions will be given or if every building owner can opt to wait an additional two years to comply as long as they can show “a good-faith effort.”
“We don’t have two years,” said Shravanthi Kanekal, resiliency planner for the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. “We're seeing worse and worse impacts of what's happening around us. I think two years could make a huge difference if we continue as a city to be emitting the amount of emissions that we are.”
Another criticism is the plan’s proposed use of Renewable Energy Credits, or RECs — the loophole some environmental groups are calling out. Instead of lowering carbon emissions, a landlord can opt to buy enough credits to offset most of their pollution on paper. There are currently no limits for RECs, except for building owners that choose to formally delay and submit a decarbonization plan.
The NYC Department of Buildings' sustainability team created this chart to illustrate the definition of good faith efforts.
New York City councilmembers and local advocacy groups expressed doubt over whether the DOB could handle the volume of oversight created by the enforcement plan, given the department is understaffed. The DOB will need to review applications for “good faith efforts” as well as the additional volume of paperwork generated by decarbonization reports.
According to a report the NYC Comptroller’s Office released last December, the department had a vacancy rate of approximately 23%, representing about 437 open full-time positions. Rudansky stated the DOB’s current vacancy rate is 13% or 236 open positions, which he described as “substantially similar” to rates seen prior to the pandemic.
“There's going to be a lot of work that's needed to be done by the department to ensure that thousands of these buildings are going to be in compliance and submit applications, review them all, and all of the necessary things that need to be done to implement as we come up on Jan 1, 2024,” Kanekal said.
In the latter half of the meeting, the testimony was dominated by students and teachers who called on Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Buildings to save their futures and fix the climate crisis .
“I am very concerned about my future,” said Ashley Sanchez, a New York City high school student who has asthma. “I demand Mayor Adams and the Department of Buildings fully enforce Local Law 97 and fix the delay program and put limits on renewable energy credits.”
After the hearing, the department will begin an internal review of the public comments. It expects to finalize and publish the rules by the end of this year.
This story was updated with a chart from the Department of Buildings and comments from the DOB press secretary.
