Another summer of heat, wildfires, polluted air, storms, and floods.  Another year that looks like it will be the hottest ever.  Another year of increasing climate-related dangers.

It also looks like one of the most profitable years for Big Oil.

A review of profit data shows Big Oil companies like Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron, have made an astounding$119 billion through the middle of this year, averaging $10 billion in profits each month.  From the beginning of 2021 through June 30, 2024, Big Oil’s profits were nearly a whopping $1 trillion – and have likely exceeded that amount as of today.

While these companies continue to rake in money hand over fist, the world suffers with the consequences.  It was, after all, the oil industry’s scientists that long knew of the mounting dangers from the burning of oil, coal, and gas.  Starting in the 1970s, scientists working for Exxon made “remarkably accurate projections of just how much burning fossil fuels would warm the planet.”  Yet for years, “the oil giant publicly cast doubt on climate science, and cautioned against any drastic move away from burning fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change.”  Yet instead of warning the world, those companies entered into a half-century campaign of deception designed to stymie environmental measures that could have minimized the risk.

A recent German government-backed study estimated that by the year 2050, the cost to the world from climate-related damage could be as much as $38 trillion, per year.  There can be no doubt that societies around the world will suffer both in human terms as well as financial.

Here in New York, the estimates of climate damages are staggering.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates that it will cost $52 billion just to protect NY Harbor.  On top of that, the state needs $75-$100 billion to protect Long Island, and $55 billion for climate costs across the rest of the state.  The state Comptroller has predicted that more than half of local governments’ costs will be attributable to the climate crisis.  Last year’s climate damages cost New Yorkers more than $2 billion and those costs will only go up.  By the middle of this century, New Yorkers may have to spend $10 billion annually to cover climate costs.  That’s less money for health care, education, and programs for the needy.

So, what to do?  The world’s expert climate scientists argue that ending reliance on oil, coal, and gas as quickly as possible is a must.  According to the world’s climate experts, renewables and energy efficiency are the unquestionable pillars of the decarbonization of energy, starting with the electricity sector, which must achieve net-zero emissions between 2045 and 2055 globally.  New York has adopted a climate law guided by experts, setting a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Notwithstanding that legal requirement, a lack of political will has undermined New York’s progress.  According to a recent study, despite the fact that New York’s law has been on the books for five years, “the state’s largest and most powerful agencies have failed to comply with the Climate Act and have not yet issued policies or guidance on implementation of the law.”

The opponents of the climate law have seized on the failure of the government to follow the law by contending that the law was too ambitious, despite its reliance on the best science.  They are arguing that the law must be weakened.  Instead, New York should double-down on meeting its climate goals, not turning its back on them.

When it comes to costs, there has been a lot of rhetoric, but so far too little action to help curb the rising impacts of meeting the climate goals on taxpayers.  Depending on what Governor Hochul does, that may soon change.

In the waning hours of the 2024 Legislative Session, the state Assembly passed the Climate Change Superfund Act by a vote of 92-49.  The Senate passed it 43-17 earlier in the session, for the second time.

The Climate Change Superfund Act is modeled on the existing State and Federal Superfund law (which requires polluters to fund toxic waste dump cleanups) by making Big Oil climate polluters financially responsible for the environmental damages that they have caused.  The top Big Oil companies will be required to pay a combined $3 billion annually, every year for 25 years.  These costs won’t fall back on consumers, according to economists and an analysis from the think tank Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law.

The Climate Change Superfund Act isn’t just necessary – it’s popular.  According to a poll from Data for Progress, a whopping 89% of New Yorkers support fossil fuel companies covering at least some of the cost for climate damages.  Over 400 community, environmental, labor, religious, and youth groups supported the legislation, and it is backed by the NYS Association of Counties, NY Conference of Mayors and 100 local New York elected officials.

New Yorkers can now see a trillion reasons why Big Oil should pay.  Time will tell if Governor Hochul sees it, too.

New York’s system of health care — much like the rest of the nation’s — allows for hundreds of thousands to go without health coverage and many more living under the fear of financial ruin that comes from knowing your healthcare coverage is woefully inadequate. 

The threat of mounting medical costs is best understood by the growing medical debts in the nation.

A recent study showed that Americans owe at least $220 billion in medical debt. Approximately 14 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt and about 3 million people (1% of adults) owe medical debt of more than $10,000.

The consequences of inadequate coverage impact the nation.  As reported by Forbes, “Fully half of Americans now carry medical debt, up from 46% in 2020”

Under current New York law, hospitals that receive funding from the Indigent Care Pool (nearly every hospital in the state) are required to have a financial assistance policy and charge discounted prices to eligible patients. The state’s Indigent Care Pool distributes over $1 billion a year. Non-profit hospitals are also required by the IRS to screen patients for financial assistance before engaging in collection activities, such as selling a patients’ debt, reporting adverse information to credit agencies, or suing them.

Yet medical debts still plague too many New Yorkers.

A July 2023 study by the Urban Institute revealed that 740,000 New Yorkers faced medical debt and that it is disproportionately shouldered by people of color, low-income people and people who live in rural parts of New York State.

The Long Island newspaper, Newsday, recently reported that the Stony Brook University Hospital has been suing patients over medical debt. The report concluded that more than 950 cases have been filed against people believed to owe Stony Brook hospital money in the first half of 2024. Stony Brook University Hospital is the area’s only regional system suing for unpaid medical bills. Last year, the Stony Brook system accounted for 52% of all medical debt cases brought by the state’s more than 200 hospitals combined.

According to Newsday, other regional hospital systems — which are all nonprofits or government-run — have moved away from suing over unpaid bills and none currently file lawsuits against patients.

Legislation has been introduced in New York to stop the practice. The bill would protect New Yorkers who receive care from State-operated hospitals from medical debt lawsuits. There are five New York State-operated hospitals — SUNY Upstate (Syracuse), SUNY Downstate (Brooklyn), SUNY Stony Brook (Long Island), Roswell Park (Buffalo) and Helen Hayes (Rockland County). Together, they sue their patients at grossly disproportionate rates compared to other New York hospitals: they are responsible for three-quarters of all medical debt lawsuits filed in 2022. 

There is no economic rationale to support medical debt litigation. Again from Newsday:  In six months, the hospital’s lawsuits sought a total of $13.7 million, or about 0.8% of the $1.8 billion net patient revenue Stony Brook reported in 2021. Stony Brook received four judgments in 2022.

In addition, the total amount generated by Syracuse-based SUNY Upstate from suing patients for in one year was just $16 million. SUNY Upstate’s annual operating budget was $1.5 billion, indicating its life-ruining practice of suing its patients will do little to improve its bottom line.

Suing patients is expensive and will do little to offset the state-run hospitals’ stressed margins.  It does, however, torture those patients and their families who have both the trauma of recovering from a hospital procedure while contending with significant bills. 

The American health care system fails to deliver when it comes to the basic necessary coverage people need. Allowing hospitals to sue over payment disputes just adds another level of uncertainty to an already difficult system. Patients and families without adequate insurance have enough to deal with without facing financial ruin from hospital bill lawsuits. Hopefully, next year’s session will end this practice.

More frequent heat waves, bigger wildfires, rising sea levels, hotter temperatures are the unmistakable signs of climate change.  Last year was the hottest ever and earlier last month we had some of the hottest days in recorded history.

There are other collateral impacts from a changing climate that cause harm.  These include “harmful algal blooms,” which threaten drinking water supplies and the public’s health.

The blooms are a blue-green slimy substance that floats in water.  Harmful algal blooms aren’t your typical green surface ooze that you may see on the top of lake waters.  While ugly to look at when at the surface, a bloom can also be extremely dangerous, so much so that the state has a blanket policy warning to stay out of the water should there be evidence of one.

The heating planet drives the production of algal blooms.  Warmer temperatures prevent water from mixing, allowing algae to grow thicker and faster.  Algal blooms absorb sunlight, making water even warmer and promoting more blooms. 

While every algal bloom isn’t toxic – some algal species can produce both toxic and nontoxic blooms – toxic blooms can cause problems for swimmers and other recreational users in the form of rashes or allergic reactions.  People who swim in a bloom may experience health effects, including nausea, vomiting, headaches, respiratory problems, skin rash and other reactions.  There have also been reports nationwide of dogs and livestock dying shortly after swimming or wading in a bloom.

Heat alone doesn’t stimulate algal blooms.  As we know, climate changes have also caused stronger, more powerful storms, storms that release much more rainwater than in storms of the past.  Those incredible downpours swiftly flush whatever is sitting on the land directly into lakes, so instead of letting a natural filtration process take place, nutrients that would benefit the soil are washed into surface waters and wreak havoc in the water in the form of algal blooms.

The nutrients these blooms primarily rely on are phosphorus and nitrogen.  The algal blooms have increased due to a rise in nutrient runoff from sources such as soil erosion from fertilized agricultural areas and lawns, erosion from riverbanks, riverbeds, land clearing (deforestation), and sewage effluent.  All of these are the major sources of phosphorus and nitrogen entering waterways.  These nutrients coupled with warm, calm water is the recipe for an algal bloom.

Obviously, algal blooms pose a threat to recreational water bodies.  But they pose a greater danger to drinking water supplies.  Once these blooms are found in drinking water supplies, they are hard to treat.  The toxins released from algal blooms make it difficult for treatment facilities to remove them safely and efficiently. 

The City of Auburn, New York draws its drinking water from Owasco Lake.  Since 2016, more algal blooms have been identified and as a result, the water quality has only worsened.  Some 45,000 people on Owasco Lake rely on it as their source of drinking water and the rising threats from algal blooms endanger that supply.

Algal blooms are an increasing menace.  New York State has experienced a tenfold increase in the number of waterbodies experiencing a bloom over the past 10 years and $6 billion in mitigation expenses and lost economic value.  Last year, nearly 1,200 algal blooms were reported to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

While we all must do everything possible to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and aggressively embrace energy efficiency programs and alternative energy sources, due to the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere, the planet will continue to heat up.  There is not much that New York can do to reduce the damage that has already been done or immediately undo the sources of the current rising heat of the planet.  Of course, sticking to the science-based climate law and eliminating the state’s emission of greenhouse gases must be a top priority.

When it comes to minimizing the threat of algal blooms, New York policymakers can take action.  And, in fact, there is no shortage of such plans already developed. 

But when it comes to protecting surface waters and drinking water supplies, the state has to do a lot more to reduce the runoff from agriculture, landscaping and wastewater sources.  New York must be proactive about protecting drinking water supplies and recreational waters.  The costs for prevention are cheaper than the cost of remediation and illness.  That’s a lesson we’ve had to re-learn too many times – particularly when it comes to public health and environmental threats.

For individuals concerned about algal blooms, you can check out the New York lakes where algal blooms have been reported to the DEC on its website.  Those interested can review the entire listing of current algal bloom sitings at the DEC’s website.   

New York has a strong climate law based on the world’s best scientific recommendations.  The large size of New York’s economy makes it a global financial player.  Not being a nation, it is not a political player on the world stage.  As a result, New York’s ability to influence climate accords is limited (although it still has the ability to lead by example).  However, when it comes to attacking the algal bloom threat, the state controls how aggressively it protects drinking water supplies and New Yorkers’ health. 

As we all suffer through another summer of heat, torrential rains and increasing algal blooms, let’s make sure that candidates for state office are advancing their ideas on how the state can protect surface water supplies and how they can make a difference quickly.  There is little time to waste.