The budget deal worsens New Yorkers’ pain over the state’s climate law

opinion

editorial

In charge of the Post Editorial Board

May 6, 2023 | 19:44

As part of last week’s budget deal, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature ordered the New York Power Authority to shut down all of its fossil fuel plants in just seven years, even though the gas plants supply almost half of the state’s electricity.

At the same time, they banned gas (for stoves and heating) from all new buildings by 2029, forcing them to be all-electric.

And by 2035, the only new cars sold here will also have to be purely electric.

Where do they think all the new juice needed will come from?

The NYPA shutdowns are just one small part of the state’s crazy energy plan, which only forced National Grid to push through 17 percent gas rate hikes, following Con Ed’s request to increase their gas charges 20% and 12% for electricity.

In fact, the law dictates that 70% of New York’s electricity must come from renewable energy by 2030, so other gas-fired plants too they must be closed or reduced.

Only 10 years later, all gas plants must close.

Meanwhile, building owners are scrambling to install (inadequate) heat pumps, motorists are being forced to use savings for electric vehicles, and residents are pouring potentially tens of thousands into renovating their houses

To deal with balloon juice needs, the plan imagines the state will suddenly magically increase renewable energy production.

However, solar and wind energy only represent 6% of the state’s juice; natural gas, 43%.

Hydro and nuclear plants pump the rest, but hydro is maxed out, and from nobody talking about new Empire State nuclear plants even as the few remaining ones age.

Therefore, renewables must grow from covering only 6% of the load to 50% in 2040, or 75% if nuclear plants are closed.

It’s all pure fantasy.

For starters, the push for all-electric buildings, etc., on top of natural growth in electricity demand, means (according to New York State’s Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s electricity market ) that the state needs to add 83 gigawatts of capacity, month compensate for the plants that close, in just 17 years.

However, about the past 23 years old, the Empire State has only added 12.9 GW in total – Most of it is powered by gas.

Oh, and Albany is for sure someone will invent some new technology to deal with energy shortages when time slows down or it stops generation of solar and wind energy.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers will become more and more cushioned in pursuit of this insanity.

The budget too it included a “cap-and-trade” tax on corporate emissions that will then be passed on to consumers.

Some experts put the total tab on a large amount half a billion dollars ($25,000 for each New Yorker; $100,000 for a family of four).

Last December, two brave members of the state’s Climate Council criticized the plan for failing to produce “an independent, transparent, unbiased and comprehensive consumer cost impact analysis”; energy bills”.

They called it “irresponsible” to prevent New Yorkers from “understanding the impact on their energy bills and the economy.”

Damn straight!

Conclusion: New York is determined to shut down fossil fuel power plants faster than it can possibly replace this generation capacity with renewable plants, i adding new electrical demands with its bans on gas heating and cooking, as well as gasoline-powered cars.

Month, New Yorkers will pay a huge (but unknown) fortune to build wind and solar plants i large amounts of new transmission lines.

And none of this will have a significant impact on slowing climate change, a problem that, UN experts admit, will only affect economic growth even if the entire world stops doing nothing more to combat it.

Is there a better definition of insanity?