The Town of Pine Plains has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to complete a government operations greenhouse gas inventory, state officials announced Jan. 2.
The funding, awarded through the DEC’s Climate Smart Communities grant program, will allow the town to establish an emissions baseline for municipal operations, addressing what state officials described as critical data gaps needed to guide future climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.
“DEC’s Climate Smart Communities grants support municipal investments to reduce pollution, protect the environment, and increase community resilience to climate impacts and severe weather,” DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said in a statement announcing more than $22 million in awards statewide. “DEC is proud of our partnerships with local governments taking the lead on climate adaptation and resilience statewide.”
Town Board member Jeanine Sisco said Pine Plains applied for $25,000 and was awarded $15,000, calling the grant an encouraging early outcome of the town’s 2025 decision to invest in professional grant-writing services. The Town Board signaled its intent to apply for the grant at its August 2025 meeting. The submission was prepared by Town Supervisor Brian Walsh and Sisco, in coordination with the town’s grant-writing firm, ChoiceWords.
Under the terms of the grant, the town will hire a third-party consultant to complete a greenhouse gas inventory of municipal operations, including fuel use by the Highway Department and energy consumption in town-owned buildings. Sisco said the inventory will help identify where operational changes may be needed.
“That will help us sort of understand what improvements we need to make — different directions we need to take — to become a little bit more of a climate-smart community,” she said.
The work is expected to support future climate planning while strengthening Pine Plains’ eligibility for additional state and federal grants. The funding will also support the town’s efforts to earn Climate Smart Communities certification, a state program that helps municipalities access resources, reduce emissions, and build climate resilience.
According to the DEC, the Climate Smart Communities program provides funding for municipalities to complete certification actions, reduce greenhouse gas emissions outside the power sector, undertake climate adaptation projects that address hazards exacerbated by climate change, and conduct engineering and feasibility studies for flood mitigation or for converting heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems to natural refrigerants.
Once the grant contract is finalized, Pine Plains will have up to five years to complete the project.