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Home My WebLink AboutMN-SCJC-2025-02-10 Sustainability & Climate Justice Commission Agenda Date Monday, February 10th, 2024 Time 5 pm Location City Hall Council Chambers Watch Online https://www.youtube.com/@CityofIthacaPublicMeetings Commission Member Attendees ☒ Scott Doyle ☒ Christine O'Malley ☒ David Kay ☒ Iris Packman – Virtual for partial ☒ Alexander Travis ☒ Aaron Fernando ☒ Siobhan Hull ☐ Nick Goldsmith ☒ Fernando de Aragon ☒ Kris Haines-Sharp - Common Council Liaison - Virtual ☐ Pierre Saint-Perez- Common Council Liaison ☒ Rebecca Evans – City of Ithaca Staff ☐ Savannah Vega – City of Ithaca Staff Agenda Item Timestamp 1. Call to Order: David Kay 00:00:48 The January meeting minutes were unanimously approved. Rebecca Evans shared a summary and the goals of the IGND, as well as an invitation to the Sciencenter “Science Connections” program on February 23rd from 2-3PM. 2. Public Comment 00:08:12 No public comment. 3. Announcements, Reports & Presentations 00:08:30 3.1 Funding Updates 00:08:30 Rebecca Evans, Director of Sustainability Update on several funding matters. This included: o Federal funding implications o The new administration has called out the “green new deal,” diversity/vulnerability/disadvantaged community/DEI initiatives, and green energy initiatives as something they specifically do not want to fund. This encompasses much of what the IGND does. o This means our two federal awards are currently frozen (1. workforce/energy auditing program and 2. green hydrogen project). Technically, our awards are not part of the Department of Energy (DOE) but are instead part of appropriations bills from previous years; the DOE just administers them. Some complexity on what part of the federal freeze has legal standing, but what might impact us is the review by DOE to see if our project contain any “banned” subjects. o Major impact on IGND budget if we do not have these programs – leaves the IGND with almost no funding. o Commission comments:  Can we reframe any of the projects to remove “problematic” terms? • ICSD energy audits will be going forward no matter what; money was coming from NYSERDA • City staff are exploring this but there will most likely still be a significant delay  Can the programs go forward with a significant delay? • City staff hope so, but it will impact aspects of the project (especially staff from outside orgs who were going to be paid with this money, and workforce development cohort members who were planning on participating in the program) • Many reasons to be concerned about project outcomes with this change, but City staff will do their best to still make a difference o Update on CJC survey o Within the hydrogen earmark there was money to support doing the CJC survey (50k). City staff are not confident that this money will ever be available, so it will shift how we might need to administer the survey. The CJC Survey Workgroup will come back to the Commission with new proposals in the future once we have more information. o Coalition for Green Capital Municipal Investment Fund Grant Application o City staff are planning on applying in collaboration with Tompkins County o Summary of funding process and selection process Small update on New York State funding – NYSERDA funding seems to be mostly safe from federal funding changes, but there are implications for IRA incentives/tax credits for upgrading facilities and charging stations. 3.2 Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Review 00:27:50 Rebecca Evans, Director of Sustainability CCA is approved by the PSC! Presentation on CCA (TGEN, locally) to refresh Commission members on what it is, the goals of the program, and how it will impact the City. This included: o What is CCA? o How does TGEN progress IGND goals? o What TGEN will do o What TGEN won’t do o TGEN structure: Basic Service vs. Basic Service + Distributed Energy Resources (DER) investment o Timeline and Progress o Commission comments: o Will this be more expensive for residents?  No, the City will not go forward with the program if it is more expensive for residents. o Some discussion about utility rate cases o Explanation of how the CCA administrator influences DER investment and their general role o Any consumer who is currently purchasing energy from an alternative energy supply company is not eligible for opt-out enrollment, as well as large energy consumers and individuals participating in programs like HEAP. 4. New Business: 00:52:50 4.1 Discussion: Reaffirming the City’s commitment to the Ithaca Green New Deal 00:52:50 Siohban Hull, Vice Co-Chair and Commission Members Siohban proposes a draft “Sustainability and Climate Justice Commission Recommendation for the Reaffirmation of the Ithaca Green New Deal” document to present to Council. Discussion followed on the need for this document, as well as comments on the language in the document and what should be included. Some concern about calling attention to Ithaca in the present political climate. Discussion outcomes (voting): • All commission members present are in favor of writing some sort of resolution. • All commission members present agree to the following timeline: All comments due on the document by end of the week by email, then Siobhan will go through them and make updates to the document. The document will be sent out again and commission members will come to an agreement on the contents via email and whether or not to send on to Council. Once that decision is made, the Commission members will submit the resolution to the Common Council agenda setting meeting on March 14th. 5. Meeting Wrap-up: David Kay 01:27:40 Next Meeting is scheduled for March 10th. Next Month: no suggestions for the agenda next month. Adjourned meeting at 1:28:00.