Environment: Here's what Gov. Kathy Hochul proposes in her budget

Gov. Kathy Hochul's budget proposed funding to address some of the consequences of global warming, while postponing sufficient action to curb greenhouse gasses, according to environmental advocates.

Hochul's budget would allocate $50 million for the Rapid Response Home Repair and Resilient Retrofits programs, which help low- and moderate-income homeowners prepare for and recover from flooding, and a new grant program to fund nature-based solutions such as living shorelines.

The governor also would dedicate $500 million for clean water infrastructure projects; $125 million over 10 years to the Superfund program; and $400 million for the Environmental Protection Fund, which can be used for projects related to climate change, agriculture, water protection and recreation.

Hochul said in her state of the state address last week that she was planning a "historic $1 billion investment to further the transition to a zero-emission economy."

But her 142-page budget made no mention of "cap and invest," the program she proposed two years ago as a central strategy for reducing fossil fuels emissions. Cap and invest would set limits on emissions and collect fees from polluters that would be used for renewable energy and other carbon reduction projects.

In her remarks at a press conference Tuesday, Hochul said the $1 billion was would “basically fund the projects if cap and invest were in place today, so we are really accelerating our growth toward a renewable clean energy environment.”

Environment groups said the delay in implementing the program would endanger mandated reductions in greenhouse gas emissions under the 2019 climate law.

"The costs of inaction on climate change are escalating before our eyes and [with] an incoming presidential administration bent on gutting the EPA, state environmental policy has never been more critical," Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.

Hochul also did not include the HEAT Act in the budget. The plan would cap heating bills for low-income people at 6% of income and end a rule that requires utilities to install new gas hookups, if it's within 100 feet of an existing main, at no cost to the building owner requesting it; instead existing customers pick up the bill. Environmentalists have argued the rule subsidizes fossil fuels and discourages the use of cleaner energy.