Breaking down the bond act

State collects feedback on how to spend $4.2 billion

By Gwendolyn Craig

State agencies are drafting criteria for spending from the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, as well as how to keep track of the funds. Staff are collecting feedback during listening sessions and through web-based surveys before releasing criteria for public comment.

Barbara Rice, executive director of the Adirondack Park Agency, led a virtual listening session on Wednesday evening. An in-person session in Saranac Lake was postponed due to community leaders handling the aftermath of severe flooding. Parts of the bond act are intended to fund flood resilience projects.

“To cancel a listening session because of severe weather says it all,” Rice said.

The state will reschedule the North Country session, but it is not clear when.

Get involved

To share project ideas with the state, go to ny.gov/programs/clean-water-clean-air-and-green-jobs-environmental-bond-act and click on “share initial project ideas.” To register for a listening session, go to: nysebatour.com/. To listen to a pre-recorded virtual session, go to: ny.gov/clean-water-clean-air-and-green-jobs-environmental-bond-act/listening-tour-resources.

Some eligibility requirements for bond act spending are already set. For example, a project can only be eligible for money derived from bond borrowing if it has a lifespan of at least 10 years. It also must create a tangible asset. Food, lodging and maintenance costs, for example, are ineligible.

For recreational projects in the Adirondacks, that could mean a few things. Katie Petronis, deputy commissioner of natural resources at the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said fee land acquisitions would qualify. Campgrounds, nature centers, fish hatcheries and other recreational infrastructure could also count. Trail work, however, is unclear.

“We’re still in the process of exploring exactly what that means for trails and the 10-year useful lifespan,” Petronis said. “We’re looking at different categories of trails, and which trails may or may not be bondable.”

A minimum of 35% of bond act funds must also benefit disadvantaged communities significantly harmed by climate change, Rice said. Keeseville, population 3,060, is the only community in the Adirondack Park on a state map of disadvantaged communities.

Bond funds may only go to municipalities or nonprofit organizations, state staff said.

A participant on Wednesday asked how state government would keep track of the dollars spent. In research conducted last year, the Adirondack Explorer found state agencies used different tracking methods when dispersing 1996 environmental bond act funds, the most recent environmental bond act New Yorkers authorized prior. The Explorer found millions have yet to be spent. When attempting to account for where the $1.75 billion went, the Explorer found most state agencies could not provide an itemized list. No audit had ever been done.

Suzanna Randall, chief resiliency officer at the DEC, said tracking the funds is something DEC is working on with partner agencies. She said it will be “a clear and transparent process.”