To The Editor:

As we look back on the national celebration of Earth Day on April 22 and forward to our Village’s Earth Day Celebration on May 4, I think it’s appropriate to reflect on the work being done by the Village of Croton to honor the classic adage about thinking globally and acting locally.

I’m very proud that our Village was designated a Clean Energy Community by the Department of Environmental Conservation. As a leader in clean energy, Croton-on-Hudson had already completed many High Impact Action items in its normal course of work prior to the announcement of the Clean Energy Community program, including:

• LED Street Lights – converted street lights to energy efficient LED technology;
• Solarize – offered a local solarize campaign to increase the number of solar rooftops;
• Unified Solar Permit – streamlined the approvals process for solar installations;
• Energize New York Finance – offered energy upgrade financing to businesses and non-profits.

Since then the Village has:

• Procured sustainable and cost saving electricity for residents and small businesses through Community Choice Aggregation;
• Acquired its first electric vehicle, with plans to replace other vehicles in our fleet with EVs through attrition;
• Enrolled in Sustainable Westchester’s Drive Electric program, giving the Village and residents access to discounts on EVs
• Launched another Solarize campaign that has added dozens of new solar energy systems to our community;
• Developed a Living Lighting Laboratory in the Municipal Building to demonstrate energy efficient lighting;

We have also applied for state funding for a pilot food composting program and for electric vehicle charging stations. In the case of the charging stations, we’ve already been awarded the grant and hope to have the EV charging stations added at the municipal building and train station in the next few months.

Many of these projects are grant-funded. In addition, they have the potential to produce long-term savings by reducing energy consumption and reducing the tipping fees for the disposal of solid waste.

The Board is committed to pursuing environmental progress in a manner that is also economically sound and that provides tangible benefits to our community.

Sincerely,

Brian Pugh, Mayor