PLAINVIEW, N.Y.- WE Transport today announced the retirement of Bart Marksohn, Chairman Emeritus, who has been an integral leader of this family-owned company for over 50 years. Marksohn’s last day will be April 1, 2025.
“Bart’s contributions to WE Transport have been invaluable to the development and success of this business for decades,” said Judith Crawford, CEO of Beacon Mobility. “Throughout Bart’s lifetime career in transportation, he has channeled his passion for transportation to introduce new technologies, provide reliable transportation to schools and communities, and expand the company’s footprint from a Long Island based carrier to serve Connecticut and New York City. We extend our deepest gratitude to Bart and wish him the very best in retirement.”
“My parents founded WE Transport in the late 1950’s with one vehicle and the vision of providing safe and reliable transportation services to Long Island families with special needs children, and it has been a privilege to spend my career supporting our family founded business to reach new heights and serve a growing number of students and communities,” said Bart Marksohn, Chairman Emeritus of WE Transport. “It is the dedicated employees and strong community we have built over the years that makes this company special, and I have no doubt that our wonderful culture will continue to make a positive impact.”
Bart Marksohn, son of WE Transport’s founding partners Walter and Edie Marksohn, started helping with the growing family business at an early age. Instead of spending his weekend on sporting fields, Bart could be found in the maintenance shop working on vehicles. He started out changing brakes and tires and making vehicle repairs and worked his way up to be head mechanic. As the business grew, Bart transitioned into a different leadership role to oversee fleet management, banking, insurance, safety, contracts, bidding, customer liaison, and real estate.
Along with his brother, Jerry, they pursued cutting edge technologies to incorporate into the business, and in the early nineties WE Transport became the first school bus company to utilize GPS tracking technology. Bart oversaw significant expansions for WE Transport, including the introduction of motor coaches and growing the school transportation vehicle fleet by thirty percent in just one year in 2003 In 2010, WE Transport landed a contract with Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut to further diversify the business.
Bart Marksohn continued, “Bridgeport was a challenge which was handled by our family of employees with real excitement. We had to hire over 300 employees and be up and running in 60 days and we pulled it off. This positive experience encouraged us to expand into new markets in New York City and Westchester, where we hired over 350 employees and 100 employees respectively to successfully expand operations and create a positive customer experience.”
Marksohn has received both state and national recognitions for his contributions to the industry. As the President and Chief Financial Officer of WE Transport, he was recognized as the 2018 New York School Bus Contractor of the Year at the New York School Bus Contractors Association (NYSBCA) 64th Annual Convention alongside his colleague, Carmen Tomeo, Chief Executive Officer of WE Transport. In 2024, Marksohn was inducted into the National Student Transportation Association (NSTA) Hall of Fame in recognition of his “long-standing team efforts on behalf of the student transportation industry.”
About WE Transport: WE Transport, Inc. is a group of companies referred to as “The WE Transport Family of Companies.” There are five operational companies within the group, operated by the same management team and function as a single entity. WE Transport strives to serve our customers safely, efficiently and cost-effectively. From hiring and safety, operations maintenance, customer service to IT, each step of the way, working as a team, each department is dedicated to going above and beyond industry standards.
When Bart Marksohn was involved in the day-to-day operations of New York school bus contractor WE Transport, he and his sister Helena attended the viewing of one of their father’s longtime drivers who had died.
After arriving at the mortuary, the woman’s daughter approached Bart and Helena. She expressed gratitude they had taken the time to pay their respects and told them how important the Marksohn family was to her.
She shared that her father was abusive, and her mother took her young children and fled their home. Suddenly on her own, without a car and mouths to feed, she saw a job posting for a school bus driver. A particular draw was that the woman read she could drive the school bus home every night after her route.
The woman, her daughter continued, intended to drive a school bus for a month until she got back on her feet. She continued to drive for WE Transport co-founders Walter and Edith Marksohn for the next 35 years.
“My father always looked out for her and her family,” Bart recalled. “I didn’t even know this, but these are stories that I heard at my dad’s funeral, and my mom’s funeral. This one just really had a big effect on me because that’s who my parents were.”
Bart Marksohn said the best lesson Walter and Edith — everyone called her Edie — taught him was the importance of compassion. It is the legacy of the company founded in 1959 to drive blind students to school on Long Island.
“There were no IEPs,” he noted.
WE Transport was sold July 2021 to Beacon Mobility and continues to operate it as a subsidiary.
Bart is the last Marksohn remaining at WE Transport, that is until the end of business Tuesday, when he retires from the company that has been his home since he was a boy, when he started helping with school bus maintenance. The Marksohn children learned the business from Walter each evening at the dinner table.
“It wasn’t about making money, it was really about life. It was really about people,” he continued. “And it was about the responsibility toward not just the people that you transport but the responsibility toward your family, meaning your employees, too.”
Bat Marksohn is flanked by Beacon Mobility CEO Judith and Chief Development Officer David Duke following a Hall of Fame induction July 23, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Bart Marksohn and his siblings also turned Walter’s compassion into a successful business, so much so that when Walter returned to work in the mid-1980s, he told his children they made more of a profit in two years than he ever had.
It took the first year of barely breaking even. But the following year, WE Transport turned “a nice six-figure profit,” Bart added.
“When we went into doing this, we survived the year, which was rather tough. I remember we really didn’t know what we were doing. It’s one thing to fix brakes, it’s another to talk to school districts and be awarded contracts and win bids,” he continued. “My dad came back in … and he looked around and he said, ‘You guys did in two, three years, what it took me a lifetime to grow.’ It was his way of saying, I’m very proud of my boys and, really from then on, because now he didn’t know what was going on, we just took over and he had to learn from us at that point.”
WE Transport was truly a family affair, with Bart first serving as president until the sale to Beacon Mobility and then was voted chairman by his family. Jerry served as the chief information officer and Helena as the corporate secretary. Steve left the day-to-day business in 1998 but remained an owner. Carmen Tomeo, the son of Charlie Tomeo, who brought Walter and Edie on as a subcontractor nearly 70 years ago, was the CEO until retiring at the end of last year.
The Marksohns also got involved in school bus manufacturing. Bart became a 50-50 owner of what would become Type A school bus body producer Trans Tech with John Corr of The Trans Group. Several of the younger Marksohn generation went on to work for the company. One of them created the logo.
“His input in building one of the best school vans was immeasurable,” Corr commented.
For all his efforts, the National School Transportation Association inducted Bart Marksohn into its Hall of Fame last summer. The New York School Bus Contractors Association named him Contractor of the Year in 2018. Of all the awards he’s received, he said the two hold particular meaning.
“It’s cliche, maybe, but to be recognized by your own peers, and certainly the ones within the state who know you the best, was really rewarding. And then to go to Nashville (the site of NSTA’s annual convention in July) and be recognized [across] the United States, not just in a state you know, was kind of the acme for me, the peak,” he added.
“The New York School Bus Contractors Association (NYSBCA) would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Bart Marksohn and Carmen Tomeo of WE Transport on their well-deserved retirements. Over the past 30 years, they have been dedicated, thoughtful leaders in our industry, each bringing valuable experience from large family-run businesses. Their unwavering commitment to ensuring the safest ride for students every day has left a lasting impact. Both Bart and Carmen were honored with NYSBCA’s highest distinction, the Contractor of the Year award, at our Annual Convention Awards dinner in 2018. On behalf of the NYSBCA’s executive team, board members, and colleagues in the school bus industry, we thank you for your contributions, leadership, and care for our profession. We wish you both all the best in the years ahead.”
~ Thomas W. Smith, NYSBCA Board President.
As for what’s next in retirement, Bart said he is cutting ties to the school bus industry.
“You’re either in or out, you know? And I’m out,” he explained. But there will still be a loose connection, as the Marksohn family own land in New York City that that it leases to school bus contractors, including 11 bus depots to Beacon Mobility.
“I can’t really get away from school buses because of the real estate, but it’s a different obligation,” he added.
Retirement won’t mean sailing around the world, but as a pilot he might fly around it. Emphasis on “might.” More realistically, he’ll make more trips to the Bahamas and his annual summer trek to Colorado.
“It’s beautiful out West to fly through mountain passes and valleys. It’s just spectacular, and some of it feels a little white knuckle,” he said. “And maybe I like that rush. I’ve always liked the rush of bid openings, to see if you won. So, I guess my flying through mountain valleys is my bid opening moments.”
From left: Bree Allen, former New York School Bus Contractor Association president, with Carmen Tomeo, NYSBCA board member Corey Muirhead, and Bart Marksohn after winning the 2018 Contractor of the Year.Bart Marksohn, pictured at a New York School Bus Contractor Association event in 2022.
Bullets struck a school bus while it was transporting students with special needs in the Bronx, New York, reported ABC 7.
The incident occurred on Friday just before 2:20 p.m. The minibus drove through gunfire and pulled up to an address located about half a mile away from where the shooting took place.
Jose Polanco, a coworker of the school bus driver, told local news reporters that the driver told him he kept driving because his first thought was to get the children somewhere safe.
The bus was reportedly struck at least three times. One bullet struck the back window and two struck the side of the bus. The bus was transporting half a dozen students with special needs. No one inside the bus was injured.
Police said four suspects, all wearing black, were shooting at each other and the school bus got caught in the crossfire.
The shooting took place near a playground, with a school just down the block. The name of the school was not reported, at this writing. Teachers said the shooting sent the school into lockdown, sheltering nervous students and staff in place for about 30 minutes past dismissal.
The suspects fled on foot. One was wearing white stripes and black plants. The investigation is ongoing.
A school bus driver is dead after a crash involving two school buses in New York.
The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office released a statement March 7 confirming the fatal crash between two Holland Patent School District school buses.
According to the statement, one of the school buses operated by Michael J. Page, 57, was transporting three students when he crossed the center line into the path of an oncoming school bus for the same district.
The second bus, operated by Jean C. Marsden, 58, was transporting two students in the second Holland Patent School District school bus.
Marsden was pronounced dead at the scene. The two students on her bus were transported to Wynn Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Page was also transported to the hospital for a foot injury, and the three students on his bus were all evaluated at the scene before being signed over to their parents.
The crash is still under investigation. But authorities indicated the weather conditions of wind-blown snow appeared to be a factor.
A pilot project in New York City will feature a school bus outfitted with surround cameras, near-miss AI analysis, and in-cab alerts to improve safety around the school bus.
The School Bus of the Future is inspired by last year’s Together for Safer Roads (TSR) Truck of the Future program but adapted and specialized for school buses operating in urban scenarios. TSR is a coalition of companies, city governments, and community stakeholders and partners on the pilot with contractor New York School Bus Umbrella Service (NYCSBUS) and telematics provider VisionTrack.
According to a press release, “TSR’s original Truck of the Future program sought to address the issue of blind zones in commercial trucks by installing Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Detection Systems on fleet vehicles, providing drivers with enhanced visibility and real-time feedback on potential near misses.”
The VRU technology, developed by VisionTrack, utilizes AI-powered cameras to detect pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists around the vehicle and was installed on trucks from the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, NYC Parks and an AB InBev’s subsidiary in Mexico City.
“We saw that the [Truck of the Future] was able to successfully reduce safety risks for commercial vehicles,” said Karunya Sabapathy, head of communications for NYCSBUS, adding that the goal for the pilot school bus project is to improve pedestrian safety and increase visibility for drivers.
The School Bus of the Future pilot program will evaluate speeding, harsh driving, VRU alerting, and video triggers to determine how these integrated systems are enhancing road safety.
“The program will also include managers and driver surveys to assess their view of the technology, any additional distractions created, and how best to roll out these systems in a high pedestrian and micromobility urban environments,” the press release adds.
Sabapathy said that because many city school buses transport students as required by their Individualized Education Program (IEP), utilizing these technologies on the school bus can greatly improve the safety of schoolchildren.
For the current project, three school buses will be outfitted with the technology. Sabapathy noted that NYCBUS prides itself on being data-centric and using data to inform a lot of operating decisions.
“One of the unique features of the School Bus of the Future program is that it provides real-time data to drivers as well, so they’re able to use that data to inform their decisions,” she explained, adding that an intent is to identify trends and behaviors using the camera technology. “…We really want to closely analyze and see just how effective this technology is in cityscape programs.”
She said that the technology will be configured and modified to meet the needs of New York City. For instance, she said pedestrians are prevalent across all five boroughs, sometimes walking closely on the sidewalk or in the street itself.
“We have to uniquely configure the parameters of the AI detection to make sure that the bus is not constantly beeping,” she said, noting that the most useful use cases of the technology need to be considered. “We’re trying to figure out how to make this application useful and viable for this [urban] environment.”
A mother and her 10-year-old child were struck by a school bus in Greece, New York, reported WROC News.
The incident reportedly occurred on Monday evening around 4 p.m.
Police stated via the article that the child was riding the school bus home prior to being hit. Shortly after being dropped off and released to his parent at the bus stop, the driver reportedly did not see the mother and the child in the roadway and hit them with the bus.
According to the news report, both the mother and the child were hospitalized and treated for their injuries, which are believed to be minor.
None of the parties involved in the incident were identified in this writing and it is unclear which district the school bus belongs to. No charges are anticipated, though the investigation reportedly remains open.
With less than two years remaining before school districts in New York are required to purchase only electric school buses, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is open to delaying the mandate because of increasing challenges.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Hochul was asked by News10NBC if she is considering delaying the law she signed in April 2022.
“Absolutely,” Hochul responded. “We’ve been having many conversations about it. This is, aspirationally, we want this to happen. We also have to take into consideration that their circumstances have changed since this went into law.”
One of the circumstances she noted was the current inability of some school districts to acquire electric school buses, not to mention in 2027. She noted that already $500 million exists in a larger $4.2 billion environmental bond act to alleviate the costs of electric school buses and to help local school districts with the transition.
“This is not going to be a hard and fast rule because we have to deal with the realities that these school districts are facing,” she Hochul added.
There is already legislation, introduced on Jan. 24, that would alleviate some of the pressure. New York Senate Bill 3328 would authorize school districts to submit an opt-out waiver to the commissioner of education. Authorized districts would receive a permanent exemption from the mandate of zero-emission school buses. A bill died last year would have replaced the electric school bus mandate with a feasibility study.
The law already includes a one-time extension that would allow districts to be granted an additional two years to comply with the 2035 deadline of having fully electric fleets.
A child and an elderly person were hit by a school bus in Brooklyn, New York, while crossing the street, reported PIX 11 News.
The incident reportedly took place on Friday morning at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Buffalo Avenue in Crown Heights.
According to the news report, the 56-year-old bus driver was turning onto Buffalo Avenue when he struck the 79-year-old and 9-year-old, who were not identified at this writing. The pedestrians were crossing the street, but it was not disclosed if they were in a crosswalk or not.
Both the child and adult were rushed to a nearby hospital in unknown conditions, it is unclear if they are related. The driver reportedly stayed on the scene and no arrests were made at this time. The incident remains under investigation.
Melissa Yang, a student at Bethlehem Central Middle School was the winner of the 2023-2024 National School Bus Safety Poster Contest.
The theme this year was “Driving Safely into the Future”, and the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) released a statement on Oct. 22 expressing their thoughts on Yang’s artwork.
“Yang’s artwork skillfully captures this theme by creatively conveying an important message intended to motivate and educate the educational community. Yang emphasizes the importance of following school bus safety protocols to guarantee a thriving future for any school community. She also illustrates the past, highlighting a longstanding commitment to school bus safety over the years”
NAPT states that the poster contest is judged on safety impact, originality, artistic qualities and visual impact.
On Wednesday, Bethlehem Central School District released a statement announcing it will be participating in the 2025 NYAPT School Bus Safety Poster Contest.
Posters may be submitted under five categories:
Division 1: Grades K-2
Division 2: Grades 3-5
Division 3: Grades 6-8
Division 4: Special Education
Division 5: CAD (Computer Aided Drawing)
Division 6: Driver, Monitor and Attendant
All posters must first be submitted to and judged by the Bethlehem Central Transportation Department. A winning poster will be chosen from each division and will then be entered into the State Contest and sent to the NYAPT office. The final day for submissions will be Feb. 17, 2025.
According to NYAPT the theme for the 2024-2025 contest will be “Safety First- Safety Always”. Posters judged and selected by each chapter for entry into the State Contest must be received by the NYAPT office on or before March 1, 2025.
Marlene Martin said she often reflects on the Wendy Tremayne quote, “Start even if you don’t know how.” To Martin, it means to be unafraid of the unknown. “Or let fear of making mistakes put you off from ever starting to learn,” she continued. “I love the energy that comes from discovering new skills. One day you will look back and be able to see how far you have come.”
Martin started her career in pupil transportation 18 years ago. When her daughter was attending kindergarten orientation at Greenwood Lake School District, the school bus driver reviewed the rules of the school bus ride and mentioned the need for more school bus drivers.
“With both my daughters officially enrolled in school, I felt excited to embark on the journey to become a school bus driver, as driving is something I have always been passionate about,” Martin said. “As a bonus, I also love kids, so this perfectly blended two of my interests.”
She started as a substitute bus monitor and driver and now 18 years later she’s the head bus driver. She added that her favorite of her job is the children that transportation is able to support and the co-workers that she gets to work with daily.
“We take the time to recognize each other, including monthly birthday celebrations, often with special themes,” she shared. “As part of our [district’s] Sunshine Committee, we also support each other when a co-worker undergoes surgery, loses a family member, or is just having a rough time. It’s so important to support fellow team members.”
Her daily job duties include answering phone calls from families, dispatching drivers and vehicles for daily routes and trips, routing as needed, and driving a route. She noted that she appreciates the opportunities for continues learning.
Ron MacKey, transportation supervisor for the district, wrote in his nomination that Martin was appointed to her current position about three years ago, during which time she also obtained her 19-A Examiner Certification and School Bus Driver Instructor. He said as an SBDI, she conducts New York State Education Department Pre-Service instruction for drivers and monitors and has been a guest instructor at local Board of Cooperative Educational Services hosted basic courses.
As a state-certified school bus driver instructor, Martin helps lead trainings for both drivers and monitors. She also attends professional development seminars annually to ensure compliance and renew her certification.
Each year, School Transportation News chooses 10 Rising Stars based on nominations submitted by school districts and companies around the industry. These individuals have shown exemplary commitment and dedication in the student transportation industry and continue to demonstrate innovation in their roles. This year’s Rising Stars are featured in the November magazine issue.
“Marlene actively seeks out opportunities to learn more about the transportation industry,” Mackey wrote. “This year, she attended the New York Association of Pupil Transportation conference in July as well as a pre-conference session on active shooters on the school bus.”
Mackey noted that Martin participates in the local NYAPT chapter (the Tri-County Transportation Supervisors Association) and volunteered to be on its scholarship committee. In 2017, she was chosen as “School Bus Driver of the Year” by the Tri-County Transportation Supervisors Association in two counties.
“As her supervisor, I am honored to have the opportunity to teach her about the industry and watch her become more committed and competent as a transportation professional,” Mackey said. “What impresses me most is the ease with which she has transitioned from bus driver to the role of head bus driver. She has made this transition, complete with the additional responsibilities associated with the role, while managing to maintain personal, yet professional relationships with the drivers and monitors in the department. Her friendly disposition is key to her success in dealing with drivers, parents, school administrators and colleagues in the area.”
Marlene Martin is recognized for her commitment to continued learning.
Going Forward
Martin said she looks forward to enhancing to her skills and continuing to learn and expand her knowledge on school transportation. She noted there are a lot of parts to the job that she does not interact with, such as financial management. “In New York, we have an upcoming EV bus mandate, which is going to be a major challenge,” she said, adding that they will need to learn “about electricity as a fuel, infrastructure and financing these changes, all while running a safe and efficient operation.”
Like other districts, Martin said another current challenge they face the shortage of bus drivers, especially substitute drivers. She noted that the issue complicates their efforts to ensure bus routes and trips are staffed.
“This year, we have temporarily displaced families residing outside their district, and it is crucial that we address their needs and ensure timely transportation to school,” she shared. “The calm may come before the storm, but the rebuilding comes afterward. It’s the long-term support after an emergency that’s most challenging.”
Outside of work, Martin enjoys nature, whether that consists of a walk, an early morning yoga class, lounging by the pool with a book, or going camping. Mackey added that Martin has also been a Girl Scout leader, community volunteer with the local food pantry and provides foster care for local animal shelters.
After the reelection of former President Donald Trump, clean energy advocates across the country are preparing for a White House that will no doubt pursue aggressive rollbacks of climate policies and further expand fossil-fuel production.
Now more than ever, states will need to step up and pursue climate efforts on their own to “ensure continued progress toward clean energy,” said Caroline Spears, executive director of the advocacy group Climate Cabinet.
Few states are as important as New York, which is large, Democrat-controlled — and already committed to ambitious clean energy goals. In 2019, the state passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which pledged to reach 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.
“New York State can continue to lead without federal support or federal oversight,” said Mandy DeRoche, deputy managing attorney at the advocacy group Earthjustice. “We’ll continue our progress regardless, and that will happen in every state no matter what.”
But so far, the Empire State is falling behind on its climate goals. Across a slew of initiatives under New York’s 2019 climate law, regulators are missing key rulemaking deadlines. According to a July report from the state, New York will likely miss its landmark clean energy target for 2030. Right now, it’s on track to get just 53 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by that date, far short of 70 percent.
The report mostly blamed external economic factors, including supply-chain disruptions and high interest rates that led to a spate of major renewable project cancellations. Another issue is skyrocketing energy demand, largely driven by new data centers for crypto mining and AI, as well as microchip manufacturing facilities and the rise in electric vehicles and appliances.
Environmental advocates argue that faltering political will contributes just as much, if not more, to the state’s lackluster progress. Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has expressed ambivalence over meeting looming clean energy targets.
“The costs have gone up so much I now have to say, ‘What is the cost on the typical New York family?’” Hochul said in a recent TV interview. “The goals are still worthy. But we have to think about the collateral damage of these decisions.”
Missing the 2030 deadline would jeopardize many of the state’s other climate goals, including achieving 100 percent zero-emissions energy by 2040 and shuttering “peaker” fossil-gas plants that disproportionately spew toxic pollutants into low-income communities and communities of color, in addition to emitting large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide.
But missing these goals is far from inevitable. From raising energy procurement targets to leaning on public power agencies, climate and legal experts say that there’s still plenty of ways New York can make good on its clean energy pledge.
“We’re not ready to say we can’t meet the 2030 goal,” said DeRoche. “Of course, there are obstacles, but the messaging and the approach from the state should be, ‘This is a statutory obligation, and we will do everything in our power to meet it.’”
How New York could get back on track
On some level, New York’s struggles come down to a straightforward problem: The state doesn’t have enough existing or upcoming renewable energy projects to meet its goals.
About 30 percent of the state’s electricity currently comes from renewable sources, mostly from upstate hydropower plants built many decades ago.
One bright spot is that New York has already outpaced its 6-gigawatt goal for rooftop and community solar — but its targets for utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage projects, which make up the bulk of its clean energy plan, remain well off-track.
To help solve this, DeRoche and her team at Earthjustice argue in public comments to state energy regulators that New York should vastly increase its renewable energy procurement targets, which set guidelines for how much clean power the state should purchase from private developers. State agencies have determined that they would need to purchase about 14,000 gigawatt hours each year for the next three years to meet the 2030 deadline, yet have recommended procuring only 5,600 gigawatt hours per year.
“The Draft Review provides no basis for setting the target so low,” her team wrote, arguing that state agencies should reevaluate how feasible it would be to procure a higher volume.
New clean energy construction should be prioritized in downstate New York, DeRoche adds, a region that houses most of the state’s population yet relies heavily on fossil fuels compared with the largely hydro- and nuclear-powered upstate areas. The state will also need to address transmission and interconnection backlogs that make it harder to connect new power generation to the grid. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed the RAPID Act to expedite that process for clean energy projects and transmission lines.
Some activists argue that the state itself should take a leading role to develop more clean energy.
Last year, an amendment to the state budget granted the New York Power Authority the ability to build, own, and operate renewable energy projects for the first time. Organizers at the grassroots coalition Public Power New York say that government leaders have yet to capitalize on the change, commonly referred to as the Build Public Renewables Act. In October, NYPA released its first strategic plan for developing renewable energy projects, proposing the installation of 3.5 gigawatts of new clean energy in the next several years.
“This is only the first tranche of NYPA renewables projects,” the report said, with potentially “further projects for consideration.”
Andrea Johnson, an organizer with the New York City chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, a member group of Public Power New York, called that number “measly.” Public Power New York is rallying for the authority to commit to 15 gigawatts of new clean power by 2030, an amount based on research commissioned by the group.
Expanding clean power at a faster rate would fulfill NYPA’s responsibilities under last year’s expanded authority, which calls on it to build projects when the state falls short on its climate mandates, Johnson said. “When the private sector fails — and the private sector is failing — the state needs to step in and actually fill the gap.”
Leveraging NYPA can also allow New York to meet its climate goals at a lower cost, Johnson said. As a nonprofit, public institution, NYPA can access more favorable financing. It also owns and builds transmission lines, allowing it to plan for both energy generation and distribution at the same time, she said. NYPA is also required to provide utility bill credits to low- and moderate-income households for any clean energy produced from its projects.
Beyond building more clean energy, the state should also take steps to ease growing power demand, including strengthening building efficiency standards and accelerating the installation of heat pumps, said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.
That includes addressing the rapid growth of crypto mining and AI electricity use and its effects on residents, said DeRoche. State officials noted that those rising energy demands have made it far more difficult to reach clean energy targets. But agencies have policy tools available to understand and reduce unabated growth — and they should start with making sure that discounted electricity rates for cryptocurrency and AI companies aren’t being subsidized by residents, DeRoche said.
Offshore wind’s uncertain future
Any effort to accelerate New York’s adoption of clean energy will need to grapple with challenges in the offshore wind sector, a cornerstone of the state’s strategy that is likely to face even more setbacks under the incoming Trump administration.
New York aims to install 9 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2035, but in the past four years, inflation, high interest rates, and supply-chain issues led developers to pull out of contracts in the state.
That challenging economic environment is now improving, however, according to Atin Jain, an offshore wind analyst at the energy consulting firm BloombergNEF. As inflation has started to ease and interest rates have begun to come down, “We have probably passed the worst of it,” Jain said. State officials have been quick to respond to the industry’s economic pressures, he added, expediting auctions to renegotiate previous agreements and adding language in contracts to allow for inflation adjustments.
Two new projects, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1, with 924 and 810 megawatts of capacity, respectively, are currently moving forward in New York. The 132-megawatt South Fork Wind farm went live in March off the coast of Long Island.
But Trump’s reelection casts a new uncertainty over the industry. Trump has vowed to stop offshore wind development “on day one” and to “terminate” the Inflation Reduction Act. If those declarations end up translating to real policy, then offshore wind, which relies heavily on federal tax credits and requires federal approval and permits to build and operate, could suffer — in New York and beyond.
Still, New York has enshrined a legal mandate to decarbonize its economy — meaning no matter the headwinds, the state has an obligation to follow through, DeRoche said.
“We hear from the governor that the CLCPA is the nation’s leading climate law,” said DeRoche. “Well, it’s only the nation’s leading climate law if we’re implementing it.”
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