Cornell professor Robert Howarth advised New York state senators last week to downsize the state’s natural gas pipeline system and to repeal laws that easily connect gas to new homes.
The program will charge companies for carbon pollution and introduce a novel rebate initiative that promises to distribute $1 billion to New Yorkers. But environmentalists say its success will rest on how exactly the state designs the program, to ensure it doesn’t allow companies to essentially pay to pollute without meaningfully lowering emissions.