NYC NOW - August 15, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

Police are currently investigating a crash that occurred last night between an MTA bus and a construction lift in Midtown Manhattan, which resulted in five injuries. Meanwhile, environmentalists express concern over a city plan allowing New Yorkers to dispose of yard waste in plastic bags. Despite another loss for the Yankees, fans have a bright spot to look forward to: Derek Jeter’s upcoming “Old Timers Day” appearance. Also, Governor Phil Murphy’s climate initiatives in New Jersey, including offshore wind and natural gas reductions, face strong opposition, potentially impacting wind power development along the East Coast. WNYC’s Nancy Solomon has more.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, August 15th. Here's the midday news from Lance Lucky. Police are investigating the cause of a crash between an MTA bus and a construction lift in Midtown Manhattan. Authorities say an M6 bus traveling on Madison Avenue near East 48th Street last night around 830 was struck by the arm of a construction lift, shattering windows, and sending glass into the seating area. Five people were taken to nearby hospitals with minor injuries, including the 56-year-old bus driver

and the 52-year-old construction lift operator. Some environmentalists say they're concerned about a city plan that will allow New Yorkers to put their yard waste out in plastic bags. Eric Goldstein, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, doesn't like the idea, but says it's good to make it easier for residents to comply with the rules. To get people into the habit of separate. their yard waste for collection. That makes sense as an initial approach to jumpstart participation in the program.

The new composting rules will require all residents to separate their leaves and branches from their trash. The mandate is already in effecting Queens and will be coming to the rest of the city over the next year. After last night's blowout loss to the Red Hot Braves, the Yankees are one loss away from being a 500 team and well on their way to missing the playoffs for the first. first time since 2016. Q. Former Yankee Captain Derek Jeter, the Hall of Fame shortstop will make Yankees fans feel better,

at least for one day. Jeter will make his first appearance at Yankees' Old Timers Day on Saturday, September 9th, and along with some former teammates, he'll participate in what could be an interesting Q&A session, depending on who's asking the questions, of course.

75 right now cloudy, all afternoon in humid highs in the lower 80s. On WIC, H. On WNYC, I'm David First. Governor Phil Murphy has prioritized fighting climate change in New Jersey, most notably by pushing offshore wind, electric vehicle charging stations, and reductions in the production and use of natural gas. But that's fueling a well-organized backlash,

one that could affect New Jersey's efforts to fight climate change, and that could have an impact on the development of wind power up and down the east coast. WNYC's Nancy Solomon joins us to explain. Hey, Nancy. Hi, David. According to European climate monitoring scientists, July was the hottest month on record ever. There have been frightening reports of ocean temperatures with the water off the coast of Florida reaching 100 degrees. Yet we're seeing mounting challenges to Phil Murphy's climate change agenda, as well as pushback nationally against what President Biden is doing.

Before we talk about that pushback, what are the key programs under debate? Well, ever since Murphy took office in 2018, he's been investing in state resources into kickstarting an offshore wind industry. The federal government licenses offshore wind projects, but Murphy went a step further to partner with the world's largest wind company to create a manufacturing plant and shipping terminal for windmills that he hopes will supply a variety of companies and projects up and down the East Coast. Under Murphy, New Jersey is also investing in electric vehicle charging stations, and there's also work towards reducing fossil fuel emissions. That one is a little bit more complicated. Well, Murphy has been criticized

by some communities and environmentalists for allowing new gas-fired power plants to go forward, right? Yeah, and for not stopping a natural gas shipping terminal to be built on the Delaware River in South Jersey. But, you know, overall, Murphy is heading toward reductions. He blocked a few pipeline projects. He moved up his emissions goals from 2050 to 2035. That's pretty significant. And that includes no new gas car sales after 2035, too. And the administration is enacting incentives to encourage consumers to buy electric heating and home appliances. Okay, here we go.

Electric stoves, right? Isn't there an effort to convince voters that they're coming for your gas stoves, that incentive program will soon become a ban? Yes. Republicans across New Jersey are telling people the incentive program will soon become a ban and they're rallying voters to defeat Democrats

in state legislative elections this November. Basically, it's a, from my cold dead hands, will you take away my gas stove? And it's not just in New Jersey. This is becoming a Republican talking point across the country. You know, it's very Fox Newsable, right? And here's a tape mashup I put together, which starts with former Fox host, Tucker Carlson. So you're a restaurant owner. This is not a luxury item to you.

This is core to your business. First of all, would you obey? They can't control the border. They can't keep planes flying, but by golly, you're not going to use gas to cook. Listen, I'm surprised anybody even needs a stove because I was told by Al Gore, the fish are coming out of the ocean fully cooked. I mean, I love my gas stove. Professional chefs cook on gas. Pizza ovens run on gas. This is going to take a real mindset shift. But I'm not going to be cooking on anything if a hurricane comes through and demolishes my house.

And let's be clear about this. no one, not Murphy, not Biden, not Kathy Hokele, is talking about taking away your gas stove that's already in your home. They're using incentives and New York will phase in a ban on gas stoves in new buildings between 2026 and 2029. But, you know, saying they want to ban gas stoves can quickly score political points. Okay, so what's going on with the opposition to offshore wind? The last time that you and I talked about this. It was pitched as a concern about whales washing up on East Coast beaches. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been very clear that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that whale deaths are caused by anything connected to wind power. And in fact, most of the

whale deaths can be attributed to boat strikes. And the boats that are working on wind power are the only ones out there that are actually required to have mammal lookouts on their bows. But the opposition to windmills at the Jersey shore, it's still growing, and it's really become a potent force. Very potent, so potent that the Washington Post had a story that opposition at the Jersey Shore, in particular in Ocean City, could topple efforts to build offshore wind up and down the whole East Coast. Yeah, we're seeing a bunch of pushback. The article detailed how a group at the Jersey Shore, which says it's opposed to industrialization of the ocean, has received support from a conservative group with ties to the oil and gas industry. But the problems facing offshore wind actually go beyond the opposition from beach residents. This week, the two top leaders of the New Jersey State Legislature, the Senate President and the Speaker of the Assembly, put out a joint statement saying they have concerns about the cause.

and impact on tourism at the shore. Are they listening to the fears of beach residents who say they're concerned about the potential visual impact of these wind farms? I think that's what appears to be happening. You know, and it's interesting that this group at the shore is getting traction from leaders of the Democratic majority in the legislature.

I mean, that's despite the fact that polling shows a vast majority of Democrats in New Jersey are very concerned about climate. climate change. Meanwhile, yeah, there are other problems going on with the, with building these wind farms. The cost of building them is escalating along with the cost of everything else these days, and that money has to come from somewhere, either consumers, states, the federal government, or wind companies who aren't going to build if they can't make money. Orsted, the world's largest wind energy producer, just pulled out of a project off the coast of Rhode Island because

of escalating costs. So where is all of this headed? Well, the group at the beach is challenging the projects in court, so we'll have to see where that goes. I think it's safe to say that the oil and gas industries are going to throw everything they have at slowing down wind energy and really anything that reduces oil and natural gas consumption. There are four additional proposed wind projects in New Jersey. There's also a big climate march planned for the UN and September. September to call for an end to fossil fuels. So maybe we're going to start to see some pushback to the anti-wind pushback. Okay, WNYC's Nancy Solomon. Thanks for the update. Thanks, David. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day,

for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. We'll be back this evening.