Testimony Before the NYS Energy Planning Board, September 30, 2025, by Wendy Seligson, JCAN NYC co-director,
Hello, my name is Wendy Seligson. I am a resident of Riverdale in the Bronx. I am here representing the Jewish Climate Action Network NYC, of which I’m a co-director. Thank you for hosting this hearing.
Our members come from all denominations of the Jewish faith and also include those who identify as “just” Jewish. We are compelled by our faith to act in order to protect and preserve life, a doctrine in Hebrew known as “Pikuach Nefesh”. Our members are worried and we are not alone.
We are here today to ask you to invest more in clean energy. The State Energy Plan must include specific mechanisms to finance the clean energy transition while ensuring energy affordability, including through Cap and Invest. This is our future.
We are also here to ask you to make the New York State Energy Plan a much stronger, clearer roadmap for complying with New York’s 2019 climate law, the CLCPA, which we advocated for at that time. Among other things, the plan needs to:
Lay out strong interim targets for achieving the CLCPA. How can we meet our goals without clear, strong targets to achieve?
build on the 2022 Scoping Plan. We watched as the plan was created by experts with extensive public input. We need to use it more fully.
end gas expansion and ultimately New York’s dependence on expensive, outmoded fossil fuels
undertake permit reforms to unlock clean projects more quickly and affordably
We have no time to waste. Please make this plan one that leaves no doubt that it will protect life today and future generations. Thank you.