On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul finally began to move cautiously toward reality regarding New York’s climate law.
In a lengthy opinion column, she laid out her proposal to delay for a decade the state’s strict greenhouse gas emissions rules, which are set by law to take effect in 2030 — pointing the finger at everything from COVID-19 to upstate nativism to President Donald Trump to justify waving the white flag.
But lawmakers in Albany didn’t have to impose such stringent carbon dioxide emissions targets to begin with.
Even in 2019, when the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was passed, New York was among the lowest in per capita carbon emissions of any state in the U.S., with 6% of its population but only 1% of its carbon dioxide emissions.
Imposing this law on New Yorkers is like imposing calorie restrictions on anorexics to solve America’s obesity problem.
To be sure, the climate law imposes severe restrictions on seeking to reduce gas emissions by 40% by 2030.
A New York State Energy Research and Development memo leaked this month predicted that its mandates would force gas prices to rise by $2.26 per gallon and make upstate households spend more than $4,000 a year on heating — just the tip of the iceberg of costs New Yorkers will have to bear.
All of this should have been discussed and accounted for in 2019.
But the actual climate bill barely mentioned the burdens it would impose — including practical considerations, such as whether the technology exists to power all of New York City without fossil fuels, as that must happen by 2040.
The intro to the “bill jacket” was filled with buzzwords about the Paris Agreement, the United Nations, and global weather.
Meanwhile, the bill itself essentially admitted that lawmakers had no idea how much their ordinances cost.
Yet Albany’s “vote first, ask questions later” mentality prevailed.
Now, seven years later, Hochul is imploring those lawmakers to postpone the election year — delaying climate change by a decade.
The Governor is right to point out that even with the proposed changes to the timeline, New York will still have one of the most ambitious climate plans in the country.
She suggests that reconsidering climate law is not a move against the planet, but a sensible practice in light of new data.
But in fact, although New York has spent $88.7 billion in the past five years to comply with climate law mandates, this spending has not moved.
Since 2019, New York’s carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation have risen, not fallen.
Despite the hype around renewable energy, wind and solar power make up about 5% of the Empire State’s electricity production: seven years after the climate law passed, New York still relies on fossil fuels.
The only thing the climate law did achieve was to deny licenses for newer, cleaner natural gas power plants.
This means that New York’s electricity is being generated using increasingly outdated technology and equipment, threatening failure and blackouts.
Even environmentalists should be concerned about the effects.
Instead, activists will push the story that New Yorkers are completely on board with their aggressive climate agenda — and $6 gas.
But residents actually prefer a sensible climate policy, not a radical one.
A Siena Research poll last year found that 61% of us – including 54% of Democrats – agree that “keeping energy costs affordable in New York is more important right now than reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”
A poll conducted by the Empire Center earlier showed that 60% of New Yorkers want the state to work on finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without increasing energy prices.
So, give Hochul some credit for taking a small step in the right direction.
But unfortunately, perhaps to sweeten the deal for leftists in the Legislature, her plans are coupled with a series of proposals that seem inspired by socialist systems, like sending “affordability monitors” to spy on energy companies and other nonsense.
The right thing to do is to repeal climate law entirely and create a better one.
Imagine Climate Law 2.0 that learns from the mistakes of the past seven years and builds on the truth about how high energy prices will impact New Yorkers and the local economy.
We can make this country an energy exporter, based on modern zero- and low-emission sources like nuclear power and natural gas.
Imagine that state law focused on building new power plants and providing cheap energy to consumers, rather than tearing down pipelines and imposing energy taxes.
Until that happens, easing New York’s self-imposed restrictions is the right thing to do.
Zilvinas Selinas is president of the Empire Center for Public Policy.