• $1.4 Million in Climate Funding Coming to Highlands

  • Sep 27 2024
  • Length: 2 mins
  • Podcast

$1.4 Million in Climate Funding Coming to Highlands

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  • Summary

  • Beacon, Cold Spring, Philipstown receive grants
    Beacon, Cold Spring and Philipstown are set to receive nearly $1.4 million in funding to mitigate the effects of climate change.
    The money is part of the most recent round of funding from the Clean Energy Communities program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Philipstown will receive $580,000, Beacon $493,750 and Cold Spring $290,000. Beacon also has qualified for an additional $375,000 grant.
    Before the announcement, the largest grant given to a community by the Clean Energy Communities program was $10,000.
    "For a town this size, it's just mind-blowing," said Martha Upton, the Philipstown Climate Smart coordinator.
    The program acts in conjunction with Climate Smart Communities, an initiative in which municipalities receive points for taking steps to lower the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Philipstown and Cold Spring are both certified bronze in the Climate Smart initiative, while Beacon is silver. The more points a community earns, the better its chances of receiving state grants.
    The Philipstown funding will be used to install solar panels on the highway garage roof, implement energy efficiency upgrades in municipal buildings, install public networked electric vehicle chargers at Town Hall and the Recreation Center and purchase a Ford Lightning EV pickup and battery-powered landscaping equipment.
    Upton said that the Town Hall chargers have already been installed and the ones at the Recreation Center should be ready within a few weeks.
    Cold Spring also will purchase a Ford Lightning EV pickup and battery-powered landscaping equipment and install chargers at the wastewater plant near Mayor's Park. The rest of the funding will go toward a food scraps drop-off pilot program, LED lighting upgrades at the water plant and efficiency upgrades at Village Hall.
    Beacon's funding will go toward electric vehicles, a solar array and EV chargers.
    The timing of the funding is fortuitous because the City Council on Aug. 19 approved a six-year Climate Action Plan. "This will help us achieve our goals on time," said Faye Leone, Beacon's Climate Smart coordinator. "We're going to be ahead on some stuff, which is great."
    Although the communities were in competition with each other for the money, Leone noted that the grants benefit the region. "The more our neighboring communities can do, the better our air quality is," she said.
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