Blakeman Vows to End ‘Green Energy Scam’ on Day One
By Hank Russell
A recent memo showed that clean energy mandates being pushed by Governor Kathy Hochul will raise prices on state residents as much as over $4,000.
In a copy obtained by Long Island Life & Politics, Doreen M. Harris, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), sent a memo to Director of State Operations Jackie Bray about the likely costs of complying with the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (CLCPA). According to Harris, these mandates could cost New York City residents an average of $2,340 and upstate New York residents between $4,152 and $4,280.
Harris added that utility costs could increase by as much as 46%, and delivery costs could shoot up by more than 60%.
“[T]he acceleration of clean energy development represented by the model as required to achieve the CLCPA’s targets is infeasible today,” Harris wrote. “In particular, ther is a lack of market capacity to deliver the volume of renewable energy, electric vehicle (EV) sales, heat pump and building shell developments, etc. that would be called for, and it os also difficult to envision how all actors in the State could adequately ramp p to spend the $28 billion that such a policy would generate annually quickly after program launch.”
Local elected officials were quick to react to NYSERDA’s findings, “The narrative is clear: New York’s energy mandates are rushed, unrealistic and unaffordable,” said Assemblyman Daniel Norber (R,C-Great Neck). “Now even NYSERDA is raising red flags. The governor and Albany Democrats cannot claim to care about affordability while pushing forward without reassessing their plan to eliminate energy choice for New Yorkers. It’s time to pause, reevaluate and ensure ratepayers’ concerns are at the center of any path forward.”
Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square), who recently introduced the “Lights On With Energy Relief (LOWER)” plan, said the NYSERDA memo is proof that “energy costs are climbing” and “we need to immediately move away from illogical and unrealistic mandates that simply do not match current market capacity. While the cost estimates from NYSERDA may have surprised some, it pales in comparison to the sticker shock energy consumers are feeling every month.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running against Hochul, said, if he is elected governor, he will stop the CLCPA and put an end to the governor’s “green energy scam.”
“This is a direct hit on utility bills, plain and simple,” Blakeman said. “Every month, families open their electric and heating bills and see the consequences of Hochul’s policies. Seniors on fixed incomes are forced to choose between heat and groceries. Small businesses are paying more just to keep their doors open. That is yet another tremendous failure from Kathy Hochul.”
Blakeman called the CLCPA “Albany deciding how you power your home and then charging you thousands more for it. And Kathy Hochul didn’t just support this insane law; she sold it to New Yorkers,” Blakeman said. “Hochul traveled the state touting it as the ‘gold standard’ for energy. What families and seniors got instead were skyrocketing utility bills they can’t afford and an energy system designed to fail our state.”
LILP reached out to Hochul for comment. Ken Lovett, Hochul’s senior communications advisor on energy and environment, referred this reporter to a transcript from a press conference in New York City on February 26. Hochul said she is “working hard” to “address people’s real concerns, yes about the climate, but also about … people’s energy costs.”
“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anybody that affordability, when it comes to energy costs, is a real issue right now, and the world has changed dramatically since 2019,” Hochul added. “I wish it hadn’t. I wish all the circumstances and metrics that were looked at back in 2019 had remained consistent.”
“Governor Hochul is fighting every single day to lower New Yorkers’ costs, cut their energy bills, and stand up to utility companies on behalf of New York families – Bruce Blakeman agrees with Trump on everything, even as he tries to kill critical energy projects to make power reliable and affordable for New York families,” said Hochul campaign cpokesperson Ryan Radulovacki.
Ra said Albany’s leadership needs to face the facts on the financial burdens caused by the CLCPA.
“I hope this is the needed wake-up call to end the mandates and implement a true all-of-the-above energy approach that prioritizes affordability, reliability and feasibility,” Ra said. “New Yorkers cannot afford to shoulder thousands of dollars in additional heating costs because Albany refuses to correct course. The state’s future energy policies must first prioritize what New Yorkers can afford, rather than what environmental extremists want.”