New Indications That New York Should Reconsider Its Burdensome Clean Energy Mandates

The New York Affordable Clean Power Alliance, speaking for the wind and solar sectors, has finally come clean with a warning about the dangers of Albany’s strategy to phase out fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s aides discreetly delayed the costly Climate Plan until after her next election — signaling that this reckless approach must end immediately.

Instead, state leaders persist in their pretense, imposing billions of unnecessary costs on utility companies and taxpayers.

The Alliance’s recent report emphasizes that the state’s “ambitious renewables targets” jeopardize “maintaining reliability” — a euphemism for potential blackouts during peak electricity demand.

This could be particularly problematic during freezing winter months if the state succeeds in pushing citizens to rely solely on electric heating.

The reckless Climate Action Plan is mandating the shutdown of dependable natural gas plants, all while failing to replace them with sufficient (costly and less reliable) solar and offshore wind projects.

As the Alliance acknowledges, renewables are inherently less dependable: “Renewables depend on weather conditions, complicating real-time supply and demand balance.”

Additionally, Hochul’s Department of Environmental Conservation has declared that it will not implement the “cap and invest” program — which entails higher taxes on carbon fuels — until 2027.

By then, she will have either secured or lost her next, likely final, election.

However, New Yorkers are already bearing the burden of this initiative through double-digit increases in utility rates.

Hochul pretends that these climate mandates aren’t the cause and has instructed the Public Service Commission to examine executive compensation and bonuses at Con Edison and other utilities, but she is fully aware of the reality.

New York will fall significantly short of its “mandatory” goal to cut gas emissions by 40% by 2030, let alone reach 100% zero-carbon-emission electricity by 2040. Nevertheless, the state will impose unnecessary expenses until it acknowledges this truth.

It is utterly shameful that state leaders are willing to impose these damaging costs on their constituents merely to maintain their own image.