POUGHKEEPSIE – The State Department of Environmental Conservation and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority have designated Dutchess County as a Climate Smart Community.
The county legislature’s adoption of the Climate Smart pledge is the first step toward state certification in the program.
Legislator Rebecca Edwards said the designation follows work by the county’s
Environmental Management Council, which has completed many projects that
can contribute to certification in the program. The proposal was first
advanced last year by County Legislator Joel Tyner.
“They found that in a lot of our public works projects and things like that Dutchess has already been factoring these things in and we haven’t been really getting credit from the state because we haven’t been part of the Climate Smart program, but we have some points accumulated because of the good work people have done so we can kind of now take advantage of that in some grants and things that will be beneficial to taxpayers here,” Edwards said.
Counties pursing those goals have reaped considerable benefits. Ulster County has received $3.7 million in state grants since submitting its Climate Smart pledge.
