EDITORIAL: State should share green funds with towns

It isn't often that a windfall of $40 million needs an asterisk. But it's true of the announcement that New York, for all its dysfunction, has won the largest single grant of federal stimulus money for the energy-efficient retrofitting of homes and businesses throughout the state.

The asterisk: The Town of Babylon, a national green-homes pioneer, pulled together a group of Long Island towns to make a separate application for some of the $450 million-plus in the Department of Energy's Retrofit Ramp-Up competition. The state's application succeeded; the towns' did not.

That's too bad, because Babylon has real experience in running a program to provide municipal funding to pay the costs of retrofitting. Those who participate get quick savings on energy costs and pay back the town over time, through their property tax bill. Other Long Island towns are emulating that.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), a strong advocate of energy efficiency, was instrumental in getting the state to apply in the first place. Now that New York has won $40 million, he's pushing for the towns to get a share. So, on Friday, he held a conference call with the towns and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, to begin working that out.

Now NYSERDA should follow through and remember Babylon, which already has an operational program - and the other Island towns that are getting there - and make sure some of this money goes to help them get even greener. hN