Ossining Town Officials To Vote On Climate Action Plan

OSSINING, NY — The Ossining Town Board is expected to vote on a Climate Action Plan at a special meeting on Tuesday.

The town's Climate Smart Task Force, comprised of municipal officials and environmental volunteer community leaders, collaborated with the Hudson Valley Regional Council in the development of the plan and provided valuable feedback that resulted in the final draft.

"Scientists expect that with the current trends in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, Americans will experience more intense heat waves, droughts, rainstorms, floods, wildfires, and landslides in the future," the plan's writers wrote in the introduction. "Action is required at all levels, and local governments have a unique role to play in building low-carbon communities."

The plan — which you can read here — has been in the works for years. Officials want to implement actions that reduce emissions and also allow the Town to save money, help protect frontline communities, and generally improve health, economy, resilience and livability.

"The Town of Ossining has taken many steps over the years to mitigate and adapt to climate change," officials said in the executive summary. "In April 2024, the Town had completed enough mitigation measures to become a certified bronze level climate smart community. In 2024, the Town also completed its GHG emissions inventory and used the inventory to help draft a robust set of recommended strategies detailed in this Plan to help the Town reduce its overall GHG emissions and to help meet NY State’s ambitious emissions goals."

Some of the recommended actions include conducting an energy audit to pinpoint key inefficiencies, purchasing and installing solar panels and lights, installing heat pumps in at least one building, reducing energy usage in town buildings, transitioning to electric vehicles and lawn equipment, expanding yard waste programs, testing all outfalls from the Hudson River and looking into opening the beach in Ossining.

The climate action plan has four focus areas: energy, vehicle fleet, waste management, and natural resources.

• Energy: Policies and programs to reduce municipal energy usage, interfacing with local utility efforts.
• Vehicle Fleet: Policies and programs to reduce municipal vehicle fleet fuel usage, including transition to electric vehicles and other low-carbon fuel sources
• Waste Management: Policies and programs that reduce municipal waste and promote sustainable waste management of municipal resources
• Natural Resources: Policies and Programs that help the Town protect and manage their natural resources for community use

In its 2019 greenhouse gas emissions inventory, the town analyzed the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted from its government operations and found that transportation is the highest GHG emitting sector. Following that, employee commute was the second-highest sector for GHG emissions contributions. Other sectors were lower, but still significant contributors to the Town’s total emissions.

• WHERE: Municipal Building, 1st Floor Boardroom, 16 Croton Ave., Ossining, NY 10562
• WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 6