| | | | |  | | By Marie J. French, Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Nick Reisman | | | With help from Shawn Ness
|  Actor Mark Ruffalo, who played the Hulk in Marvel's' "Avengers," is once again working with anti-fracking groups to put a stop to the drilling of gas wells in the Southern Tier. | Mike Coppola/Getty Images | The “big guy” is back — this time with green groups riled up over an early-stage pitch to drill thousands of gas wells in the Southern Tier. Mark Ruffalo, the actor who played the Hulk in the Avengers movies, is once again raging with anti-fracking environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers. They will join Ruffalo at a news conference this morning to announce support for a bill to ban using carbon dioxide to extract natural gas in New York. “The solution to the climate crisis is to stop emitting greenhouse gasses, not to use one greenhouse gas to help you extract another one from the ground,” Sen. Liz Krueger, who supports the bill (S8357/A8866), told Playbook. “We don't need this ridiculous idea damaging our land, our water and our people's health and offering more false solutions to the greatest challenge of our time." The powerful anti-fracking coalition — which got Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014 to ban hydraulic fracturing for natural gas — has been revived by a proposal that’s driven in part by President Joe Biden’s flagship clean energy subsidies. The Inflation Reduction Act included an increased tax credit for capturing carbon dioxide and locking it up underground. Southern Tier Solutions is a new company trying to get landowners in the region sitting atop the massive natural gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale — mainly Steuben, Chemung, Tioga, and Broome counties — to let them drill wells on their properties. The company wants to pump carbon dioxide into the ground to release the methane trapped in the shale formations. They would use the gas to fuel conventional combustion power plants, capture the carbon emissions from burning the methane and pump the carbon dioxide back into the ground to extract more gas and then store it, earning federal tax credits. This would provide a source of “carbon-free” power for New York without massive costs, suggested Southern Tier Solutions president Bryce Phillips. He said the company has had some discussions with the EPA but hasn’t applied for any permits yet. “If you find yourself scrambling for a lifeboat at the moment, which is carbon-free power, and one comes by, you might want to think before you tell him just to keep paddling,” Phillips said. “We're just offering a solution or an option. But, you know, ultimately, we're not going to cram it down your throat.” The vision involves thousands of gas wells across the Southern Tier, with royalties flowing to landowners who have looked over the border at their Pennsylvania neighbors where high-volume hydraulic fracturing has proliferated. Still, environmentalists including Ruffalo are trying to put back together their legislative superpowers to try to block the plan as they did with hydraulic fracturing — raising similar concerns about the risks to water sources. The bill is sponsored by area Democrats: Sen. Lea Webb and Assemblymember Anna Kelles. No word yet if Bruce Banner will be a co-sponsor. — Marie J. French IT’S FRIDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | A message from Amazon: Amazon invests billions of dollars in people, resources, and tools that support our selling partners at every stage of the process, from advertising to shipping. When Nadia started her small business Dumpling Daughter, she turned to Amazon to help with shipping. Fulfillment by Amazon costs 70% less on average than comparable two-day shipping options. Learn how Amazon innovates for sellers. | | | WHERE’S KATHY? Attending the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York Winter Conference in Manhattan and delivering remarks at the Park Avenue Synagogue. WHERE’S ERIC? Delivering remarks at former City Councilmember Paul Vallone’s funeral and meeting with CLACNY. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I just love coming out to trash-talk with Mayor Adams and Commissioner Tisch. In fact, we have been trash-talking all around this city.” — Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar at a city Department of Sanitation news conference.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | | 
GOP candidate Mazi Pilip is behind in the race for campaign cash, new records show. | Adam Gray/Getty Images | EDGE FOR $UOZZI: Democrat Tom Suozzi enters the final stretch of the high-stakes Long Island special election with an overwhelming cash advantage over GOP-backed Mazi Pilip, new filings showed late Thursday. The former representative has outraised the Nassau County legislator more than three to one, reporting $4.5 million to her $1.3 million, according to federal campaign finance reports. Suozzi had $2.2 million cash on hand as of mid-January compared to Pilip’s $630,000. Suozzi and Pilip are competing for the seat vacated by George Santos in Nassau County and Queens. Early voting begins Saturday for the Feb. 13 race that sets the tone for this crucial election year. Suozzi and aligned groups are raising and spending more, but Nassau County Republicans boast a formidable ground game that has helped them flip seats across Long Island in recent years. And Republicans nationally have an additional edge when it comes to seizing on migrant crisis backlash. The special election is the first proving ground for their strategy linking Democratic candidates to President Joe Biden’s border security policies, POLITICO reports. Pilip appeared Thursday night on “Hannity” and introduced herself to a national audience as “a mother, a fighter, a fresh voice, a non-career politician.” Suozzi, meanwhile, has been campaigning as a moderate able to work across the aisle. “I’ve proven that I’m willing to stand up to the extremists in my party, whereas my opponent is just parroting the things that the extremists in her party say,” he said Thursday in Glen Cove. — Emily Ngo
| | CITY HALL: THE LATEST | | | | 
Former City Councilmember Paul Vallone, who served from 2014 to 2021, died on Jan. 27. He was 56. | John McCarten/NYC Council | VALLONE MOURNED: Former City Councilmember Paul Vallone will be laid to rest today in Queens, and those who served with him in government are still reeling from the news of his death. “His legacy will be that in a time of less-than-total civility in public life, he was a guy who was a friend to everybody,” Barry Grodenchik, who also represented Queens in the City Council, told Playbook. Vallone died last Sunday at the age of 56. He was a member of the City Council from 2014 to 2021 and worked afterward in the city Department of Veterans’ Services. He is remembered for promoting animal welfare and championing the Alley Pond Environmental Center, but mostly for being a good friend. “Paul was so kind,” former City Councilmember Mark Weprin told Playbook. “Nothing was more important to him than family. And the great thing about Paul is that he treated everybody like family.” — Emily Ngo MORE STRAW IN THE HAYSTACK?: Five people who contributed to Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign say they were reimbursed by business executives for the donations, in what appears to be strong evidence of illegal straw donations. That’s according to an investigation published Thursday by The City, Documented and The Guardian. And it’s just the latest instance uncovered by The City, in addition to the case charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in July of alleged straw donations to Adams’ campaign. Adams’ campaign hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, and the mayor himself repeated his team’s previous defense, that anybody who is making illegal donations tricked him too. “Everybody has to follow the rules. We instruct everyone to do so. We have a good compliance team,” Adams said Thursday, following an unrelated press event. In an odd wrinkle to the story, some of the donations were allegedly reimbursed by the owners of a hotel where Adams’ senior adviser Winnie Greco lived for months, even as it was under contract to shelter formerly incarcerated people. She declined to comment to Playbook as she entered City Hall on Thursday. — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — Fare evasion enforcement is concentrated on specific subway stations, like the Livonia Ave. L train. (Gothamist) — Adams’ administration has doled out nearly $17 million in contracts to outside vendors that are building his signature one-stop website for city services. (Crain’s New York) — NYPD response times have jumped to levels slower than has been seen in decades. (New York Post) — On Groundhog’s Day 10 years ago today, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped Staten Island Chuck, who later died. Emily Ngo was there. (Newsday)
| | | | A message from Amazon:   | | | | | NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY | | |  Gov. Kathy Hochul's executive budget would increase migrant spending by $500 million, a practice that is not sustainable, her budget director said. | Mary Altaffer/AP | MIGRANT BUDGET WOES: The state won’t be able to continue spending money in perpetuity to provide housing, aid and other resources to the thousands of migrants who have flowed into New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget director Blake Washington told reporters Thursday. A federal fix is needed, he said. “This is something that’s not sustainable for the state,” Washington told reporters. “It’s not sustainable for the city. It’s not fair for any state in the nation to have to deal with this.” The proposed $233 billion budget would grow migrant-related spending by $500 million to $2.4 billion. The money is being drawn from a surplus fund. But that’s a finite amount of cash and federal intervention is needed, Washington said. Hochul has pushed Congress to address immigration and border security policy in order to alleviate some of the burden on states who are hosting migrants. A deal remains elusive, for now. “I think all Americans are just clamoring for real immigration reform – one that’s fair for all parties,” Washington said. “That’s where the governor’s head has been.” — Nick Reisman ‘WHERE ARE THEY GOING?’: Dozens of SUNY Downstate employees and advocates gathered Thursday evening outside a town hall hosted by SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. to protest the medical center’s imminent closure. “This was done in an underhand manner. … We just found out about this two weeks ago and we did not have any input,” Shelly Anthony, administrator of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at SUNY Downstate, said at the protest. The teaching hospital, which faces an annual shortfall of $100 million and whose dilapidated main building is no longer viable, “will literally run out of cash by the summer,” King said earlier this month. He is working with Hochul to create a transformation plan for the center, but it would involve relocating some services – including outpatient care – to hospitals farther away. “Our patients have grown to love their physicians here,” said Althea Green, a now-retired nursing station clerk who worked at the medical center for 34 years and served as union president for 12. “Now, if they're going from the hospital, they will have to find other physicians, and they're not willing to do that. They're calling their doctors and saying, where are they going?” At the town hall, protesters attempted to enter but were locked out, with NYPD officers stationed outside. Inside, community members and employees demanded state support for the medical center, to which King replied: “I agree.” “I can't change what's happened over the last two decades, the lack of investment,” King said. “What I can do with the resources that are available is protect staff as best I can and maximize services to the community.” — Irie Sentner More from Albany: — The new State Police superintendent cleaned house on his first day on the job. (Times Union) — Republican state lawmakers urged Hochul to send the National Guard to the southern and northern borders of the U.S. (NY1) — The New York Cannabis Retail Association is saying that Hochul is on board with the conditional cannabis licensing program. (Times Union)
| | KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION | | | 
The League of Conservation Voters' Victory Fund is upping its spending on Tom Suozzi's campaign for the House. The group plans to spend $600,000 on a new canvassing program. | Cheriss May/Getty Images | GREEN MONEY FOR SUOZZI: The super PAC arm of the League of Conservation Voters is boosting its spending on Suozzi ahead of the special election. First in Playbook, the LCV Victory Fund plans to spend $600,000 on a paid canvassing program — up from the $350,000 the environmental org announced last month. The PAC has a goal of knocking on 56,000 doors. “At door after door, people in the district continue to tell us they are worried about climate disasters like flooding and want a representative who won’t be a part of the chaos caused by MAGA Republicans,” LCV Victory Fund Deputy National Field Director Erin Phillips said in a statement. Other green groups have also backed Suozzi, whose voting record earned him a 98 percent lifetime score from LCV. But the spending’s just a small fraction of the more than $15 million in TV ads already booked for the race. — Jeff Coltin FUNDRAISING RACE: Republican Alison Esposito’s House campaign raised $250,194 between Oct. 1 and the end of 2023 as she seeks to flip a key Hudson Valley seat. She has a cash-on-hand total of $198,093. Esposito, a former lieutenant governor candidate in 2022, joined the race on Oct. 10 Still, the fundraising totals put her Democratic opponent, Rep. Pat Ryan, at a clear advantage as he seeks a second term. Ryan’s campaign previously reported raising $761,394 in the final quarter of the year. His campaign trumpeted the $3.2 million raised over the course of the year, and announced that he is the top-raising battleground Democrat in the House. “The grassroots energy that powered Pat to two hugely consequential victories in 2022 is only getting stronger,” Ryan campaign treasurer Kevin Ralph said. — Nick Reisman More from Congress: — Why vulnerable House Republicans are still scrambling to fix a tax law (POLITICO) — Rep. Brian Higgins reflects on his time in Congress and his goal of making the city of Buffalo a better place. (State of Politics)
| | NEW YORK STATE OF MIND | | — A Putnam County man was arrested for painting squirrels. (Times Union) — Buffalo’s public school system’s well of money has run dry, in response, Hochul announced two new methods to fund the system. (Buffalo News) — The Federal Transit Administration has given the green light to a $10 billion rebuild to Port Authority. (Daily News)
| | | | A message from Amazon: Fellow is one of the many businesses turning to Amazon to help with shipping so they can focus on product innovation.
“Amazon lets us focus on growth instead of spending all our time shipping products,” said Madeline, Fellow’s senior global manager.
Learn how Amazon tools help sellers grow. | | | | | SOCIAL DATA | | Edited by Daniel Lippman MEDIAWATCH — Major layoffs at the Wall Street Journal’s D.C. bureau yesterday left the newsroom reeling, Daniel reports. WSJ editor Emma Tucker said in a memo to staff that the business team in the D.C. bureau and the U.S.-China team is closing. Affected employees were notified throughout the day and will be on the payroll until March 2, and then get severance according to the union contract that expired last year, two people said. A Journal union official said the group was “furious that these layoffs happened in the midst of contract negotiations.” “This is like dropping a neutron bomb on the newsroom,” said one of the reporters affected. In the memo, Tucker said that the paper is creating a Washington-based enterprise team and offered laid-off employees the chance to reapply to join the paper. But several of those affected by the layoffs that the new team will offer only a few positions although there are some other open roles in a newly-created New York-based economics team. An editor who was laid off tells Playbook: “If some of the best people in the business can't keep a job at Emma Tucker’s Wall Street Journal, I don’t know if I would have wanted to stay there anyway.” Among the journalists laid off, according to several of the employees and departure emails, were Brody Mullins, Jeanne Cummings, Ted Mann, Julie Bykowicz, Ryan Tracy, John McKinnon, Yuka Hayashi, Gabe Rubin, Amara Omeokwe, David Harrison, Daniel Nasaw, Emily Stephenson, Eric Morath, Mark Anderson, Miguel Gonzalez, Kate O’Keeffe, Andrew Ackerman, Peter Wonacott, Austen Hufford, Josh Zumbrun, Nell Henderson, Kristina Peterson, Harriet Torry, Jeffrey Sparshott, James Graff, Gwynn Guilford, Charles Hutzler and Troy McCullough. MAKING MOVES: Najy Kamal, formerly of the National Coffee Association, is joining GrubHub as a senior manager for policy communications. … Thalia Olaya has been hired as Suffolk County regional representative for Hochul. She most recently was a field organizer for the Suffolk County Democratic Committee and used to work for Assemblyman Fred Thiele. … Patrick Burke, formerly of Berlin Rosen, has joined GrubHub as an associate for policy communications. … Joe Sarcinella has joined the law firm Haynes and Boone, LLP as a transactional partner. He most recently was at Reed Smith. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Barry Diller … NBC’s Carrie Dann … The New Yorker’s Michael Luo … Teddy Downey of The Capitol Forum … (WAS THURSDAY): Julie Samuels, president and CEO of Tech:NYC … Steven N. Gelbs ... Jessica Tisch
| | YOUR NEW YORK NUMBER OF THE DAY | | | | $2.7 Billion The amount of money New York has received from opioid manufacturers, distributors and marketers in settlements, according to Attorney General Tish James. | | | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment