Dear Editor,

Your January 18 story, “Hochul budget would boost school aid, offer tax relief,”  reported very important aspects of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recently submitted state budget. It did not, however, include the most crucial aspect: climate.

Gov. Hochul’s budget also includes $4 billion for the “Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act” and $500 million to develop the state’s offshore wind supply chains and port infrastructure.

These are crucial investments, but they are not enough.

To more thoroughly address the climate crisis, New York needs to include in its 2022 budget $15 billion to support workers and communities as we transition away from fossil fuels. This figure will include initiatives to retrofit homes — helping people stay warm more inexpensively — and is key to the goal of expanding renewable heat throughout our state.

We also need 40 percent of the state’s climate funding to be put towards disadvantaged communities, as promised in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

Ted Millar

Milton, N.Y.