Extreme weather is a health crisis and New York must act

Long Island is no stranger to extreme weather events — wildfires igniting more easily and affecting our air quality, dangerous flooding crippling communities and overwhelming our inadequate wastewater infrastructure, and our shoreline erosion continuing at a rapid pace.

Children born today will face two to seven times more extreme weather events than those born in 1960. These events, driven by the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, increase other types of air pollution from extreme heat and wildfires that compromise our clean air and water. Doctors and health experts are sounding the alarm: This is a public health emergency.

With our air quality declining, it’s our children who are paying the price, spending less time outside, getting less exercise and facing increasing rates of asthma, respiratory issues, and eczema. Many families are forced to stay indoors with air purifiers running, especially when air quality is especially poor.

Things aren’t better in our waters. Long Island Sound has long struggled with pollution from outdated septic systems and cesspools, and while water quality has improved over the last 30 years, worsening heavy rains threaten to reverse that progress. Increased rainfall caused by climate change is overwhelming outdated wastewater technology on Long Island, leading to nitrogen entering our waterways. This puts swimmers and boaters at risk of illness and increases the likelihood of toxic algal blooms — shutting down local beaches and hurting both recreation and local economies.

But New York has a powerful tool to fight back and reduce all pollution sources that are compromising our air and water: the Cap-and-Invest program. Cap-and-Invest makes polluters pay for the harmful greenhouse gases they produce, the funding from which will go directly to efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions — from improving our public transit to transitioning to clean heating for our homes and schools — all while helping families cover rising energy costs. By placing a cap on emissions, the program will also help combat climate change-fueled extreme weather that directly results in pollution in the Sound and our other waterways. Over time, Cap-and-Invest will reduce New Yorkers' exposure to rising levels of ozone from extreme heat events and particulate matter and other hazardous air pollutants that are produced by wildfires.

This program is ready to start improving the lives of New Yorkers — except it’s stuck waiting for the state to release the regulations needed to implement it. Two out of three key regulations still haven’t been made public, despite earlier commitments to move forward.

The longer we wait, the more our communities suffer. We need Gov. Kathy Hochul to lead. By releasing the full set of Cap-and-Invest regulations, she can help New Yorkers build a healthier future where they can continue to trust that their local air and water are clean.

This guest essay reflects the views of Dr. Charles E. Moon III, co-chair of the public policy and advocacy committee at the New York State American Academy of Pediatrics, and Ella McGrail, New York policy coordinator at Save the Sound.