More on deindustrialization — New York version, this morning
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Can New York Democrats even DELAY the energy crisis their laws are creating?
NY Post:
Some Democrats in Albany may be starting to see the insanity of New York’s “climate action” laws — but will enough agree to even delay the suicide pact?
Gov. Kathy Hochul says she wants to “review all our options,” including making changes to the state’s disastrous 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act — which set budget-busting, pie-in-the-sky mandates to slash greenhouse-gas emissions.
Plus, some Assembly Democrats who once denied Hochul was banning gas stoves now admit that’s just what she’s doing — and demand she delay the ban.
Yet it’ll be tough to convince the progressives who dominate the Legislature to roll back the law, since global-warming hysteria remains the rule on the left, especially among the donor class and other college-educated whites.
….
Rising utility bills and the threat of blackouts are already becoming major issues in New York, and Hochul plans to make “affordability” the centerpiece of her 2026 reelection campaign.
“My job is to ensure we have enough power to keep the lights on, keep rates affordable and attract major economic development projects,” the gov griped after a judge last month ordered her Department of Environmental Conservation to issue rules to ensure the state meets the 2019 law’s emissions goals.
Meaning: She wants to override (or ignore: see below) the clear letter of the law, even if she doesn’t dare go so far as to call out these statutes’ stupidity.
“We plan to review all our options, including working with the Legislature to modify the CLCPA,” in order “to protect New Yorkers from higher costs.”
Under the law, New York must cut CO2 output by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050.
On the other hand, the law ordered that rules to achieve those goals be enacted by Jan. 1, 2024 — yet here we are nearly two years later, and they have yet to materialize.
(Yep: Hochul’s ignoring the law!)
Meanwhile, Assemblyman William Conrad (D-W.NY) reports the state’s no-gas mandate, which kicks in at the end of this year, has already hiked construction costs, threatening affordable-housing projects and raising the specter of winter blackouts.
Worse, the state Climate Action Plan mandates closing natural-gas power plants and replacing them with pricier, less reliable solar and offshore-wind installations (which are often failing to get off the ground).
Indeed: The New York Independent System Operator (which runs the electric grid) and even the New York Affordable Clean Power Alliance, a solar-industry group, warn that shifting to solar and wind poses dire threats to reliable power, particularly in the Hudson Valley, Long Island and the Big Apple.
How will Hochul prevent blackouts and keep costs down for New Yorkers when the power supply runs short? Especially, as the NYSIO points out, with growing electric demands from cryptocurrency, data mining and all the “green” mandates to shift to electric heat, cooking and cars?
The idea that New York can even build enough solar- and wind-power generation in time to meet those mandates was always fantasy, a charade to please climate activists — yet it’s what the law says the state must do.
As the legal deadlines get closer (or pass without the state doing what the law says it should), the truth grows ever more obvious: It’s not just unrealistic to make “net-zero carbon emissions” a top priority, it’s also expensive, risky and wrongheaded.
How many court orders can the governor defy?
Can she get the Legislature to change the laws and get the courts off her back?
Alas, pols like Hochul may only care about timing: The 2026 gas mandates kick in just as their reelection campaigns begin.
“Don’t bring things to a grinding halt,” suggests Assemblyman John McDonald (D-Rensselaer), just “slow down a little bit and put a temporary pause in there.”
Translation: Wait until after we’re safely reelected before socking New Yorkers with higher bills and blackouts.
…. As long as Democrats dominate, it’s hard to see New York having reliable electric power much longer, and just forget about it being affordable.
FWIW: The “better” alternative to the muslim communist currently in the lead in the NYC mayoral contest is Andrew Cuomo. If he won, how would Cuomo deal with the enegry crisis that’s about to descend on his city? No one seems to have asked him, but here’s what he did as governor to set the wrecking ball swinging: Blocked/vetoed two new natural gas pipelines, one LNG terminal, banned fracking, and banned the importation of gas from Pennsylvania’s fracking fields.
Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline: In May 2020, the Cuomo administration denied a permit for this pipeline, which would have supplied natural gas to Long Island and New York City.
Constitution pipeline: In 2016, New York's Department of Environmental Conservation denied a water-quality permit for this pipeline that would have transported gas from Pennsylvania to upstate New York and New England.
Port Ambrose LNG terminal: In 2015, Cuomo vetoed this project, which involved a deepwater port to receive liquified natural gas (LNG) from tankers, citing security risks and environmental concerns.
No natural gas, but also, thnaks to Cuomo and his fellow morons in the state legislature, no nuclear power either:
Ghost in the grid: Cuomo’s Indian Point shutdown haunts New York’s electric mix
The former governor's success in shutting down the downstate nuclear plant increased emissions and raised energy costs.
Cuomo fought for decades to shut the plant, located 25 miles north of New York City. He raised concerns about the safety of the aging facility and its proximity to the nation’s biggest population center, where an evacuation — if the worst happened — would be impossible.
But when Indian Point went offline, gas power filled the gap — pushing emissions up 22 percent between 2019 and 2022 and exposing consumers to costly price swings. Households and businesses paid as much as $300 million more for electricity in 2022 alone, according to a conservative-leaning think tank.
And the state’s and city’s climate goals became more challenging to achieve.
“The city is much more reliant on its in-city fossil generation in a way that didn’t have to happen the way it did,” said Dan Zarrilli, former chief climate policy adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio. “It was clear that natural gas was going to fill that gap.”
…. And with energy prices again top of mind for voters, affordability has become a defining issue in the 2025 mayoral race — particularly for working-class and outer borough neighborhoods hit hardest by high utility bills.
Fun, fun, fun.