PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Hayden Brockett, Founding Member of New York Clean Air Collective on Intro 2810 and Citizens Air Complaint Program
2:08:51
·
5 min
Hayden Brockett, a founding member of the New York Clean Air Collective, testified against Intro 2810 and in support of the Citizens Air Complaint Program (CACP). He expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts of Intro 2810 on air quality and the effectiveness of the CACP.
- Argued that Intro 2810 would disincentivize rental companies from addressing air pollution and electrifying their fleets
- Raised concerns about the lack of environmental review and budget impact study for Intro 2810
- Highlighted the success of the CACP and its importance in holding companies accountable for idling violations
- Emphasized the need for better compensation for DEP staff working on the CACP and concerns about increased administrative burden
Hayden Brockett
2:08:51
Alright.
2:08:51
Thank you, Chair.
2:08:52
Thank you, committee staff.
2:08:54
I'm as we were talking about water, I'm here to talk about the air, and thank you so much for all that you do on behalf of our environment and our clean air and clean water.
2:09:02
My name, as you know, is Hayden Brockett.
2:09:04
I'm a founding member of the New York Clean Air Collective.
2:09:07
I'm a father and a husband who live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and participate in the Citizens Air Complaint Program, the CACP.
2:09:16
I took time off from work today to testify, in support of that program, which is the most successful citizen environmental program in the world, and which is, of course, impacted by intro 2810.
2:09:28
Today, I agree with the DEP's concerns about intro 2810.
2:09:33
I just note that the current program is working.
2:09:36
The citizens of New York and DEP, I know you'd like to call it civilian enforcement,
Jim Gennaro
2:09:41
here at General.
2:09:42
Right.
2:09:42
This is, yeah.
Hayden Brockett
2:09:42
But but we everyone we're inclusive.
2:09:45
Anyone, who lives in New York or doesn't live in New York can participate in the program.
2:09:48
And together with the DEP, we are working together to get big companies that include Ryder, Budget, and Enterprise to stop polluting our city.
2:09:58
We need to keep the pressure on these companies to electrify, and idling fines are doing exactly what they're supposed to do, that is hold big companies accountable.
2:10:08
So my concerns are that, to my knowledge, there's been no environmental review of intro 2810.
2:10:14
As, the deputy commissioner Rush correctly raised in his testimony, intro 2810 will clearly affect the environment, and by disincentivizing rental companies like Ryder from addressing air pollution.
2:10:27
As we all know, the state environmental quality review act requires an environmental impact statement for all government activities and at minimum, the council must conduct such a review and we would request hold a hearing to consider what that review shows before passage of the bill.
2:10:43
Furthermore, I'm not aware of any study of intro 28 ten's effects on the city's budget.
2:10:48
As the DEP correctly noted, passing the fines to lessees will cause leasing companies to lose their incentive to electrify or install anti idling technology.
Jim Gennaro
2:10:58
Thank you.
2:10:59
That will increase Please continue.
2:11:01
Yeah.
2:11:01
Yeah.
2:11:01
Please continue.
Hayden Brockett
2:11:02
Thank you, sir.
2:11:03
That will increase pollution, which will definitely affect the city's budget, by increasing health care costs, asthma attacks and deaths and so we believe there must be a thorough review of intro 2810's budget effects And, chair, just to address your concern about fairness, obviously, the Avis Enterprise, Budget, and Ryder, are companies, and they deserve a fair hearing.
2:11:26
We the reality is that these companies, however, own the trucks that are polluting our city, then they rent them for profit.
2:11:33
They have a responsibility for putting that pollution into our city, and they need to modify their behavior and their equipment by electrifying their fleets and ensuring that their trucks cannot illegally idle in the city.
2:11:43
They own that equipment.
2:11:44
They are more than capable of recouping their fees from their lessees.
2:11:48
And so my question thinking about this bill, I understand it's sort of common sense, but why would we put the burden on the city agencies to track down payments from those lessees?
2:11:57
The companies own the trucks.
2:11:59
They can do that work, or better yet, they can modify their behavior and not get any idling fee fines at all.
2:12:06
So while I am concerned about intro 2810's effects on the CACP, I'm grateful today for your work, chairman Genero, on behalf of our air and water.
2:12:13
You and your staff are dedicated, I know, to fixing the poor air quality that we suffer from in New York, which obviously was hurt by the, the wildfires.
2:12:21
But even without the wildfires, poor air quality kills 3,000 New Yorkers a year.
2:12:27
And I'm a I just wanna put in a plug that I'm really grateful for the DEP's, staff, the front line reviewers who administer the the program.
2:12:36
They do hard jobs and they need to be fairly compensated.
2:12:40
And just one final thing about 2810, we're already in a place with the program that it's it's so successful that if you submit a complaint today, it's not gonna get a hearing for another 18 months up to maybe we're we're approaching 2 years, and that's
Jim Gennaro
2:12:55
What's that now, Sark?
2:12:55
Could you say that Sir,
Hayden Brockett
2:12:56
we're at this point right now that if a citizen goes out in the street and observes a a truck idling and records it and submits to DEP today, DEP, because of its resource constraints, will not be able to review that complaint.
2:13:09
It can take up to 6 months to review the complaint, and then they'll set the hearing date out another 18 months.
2:13:14
So as a result, it's not fair to companies.
2:13:17
They deserve their day in court, and it's not fair to the citizens who won't, you know, obviously get their, won't see the impact of their of their work for about 2 years.
2:13:28
And the reason I'm bringing that up, Chair, is that 2810 is going to bring an additional administrative burden to the DEP because it requires them to set up a new rule, and then it requires the DEP to take the information that comes from the companies and then go track down, well, hey, Joe Blow, or maybe, you know, someone from out of state or out of the country rented our truck.
2:13:49
Now the DEP has to go or the Department of Finance has to go chase those, an oath has to go track those down.
2:13:56
And so that extra step, while I understand it makes common sense, when you think about it from the impact on our limited resources at the DEP, it's going to mean that there's gonna be more work for the people.
2:14:06
And I only bring that up because the folks who do the review are not paid a lot of money.
2:14:12
And they need to be paid more.
2:14:13
They need to be fairly compensated.
2:14:15
And you and I have talked about this.
2:14:16
The city brings in $50,000,000 as a result of this program, but none of that goes to DEP.
2:14:21
And I know that's not something that you control or that even that, Commissioner Agarwal controls, but that reality is I just would hesitate to wanna put more administrative burden on, the folks who are already working really hard to make this program work.
2:14:35
So thank you so much for your for your time, Chair Gennaro, and for holding this hearing.
Jim Gennaro
2:14:40
Yeah.
