During Donald Trump’s first term, as the Republican president laid waste to environmental regulation, New York state fought back, passing ambitious climate goals in 2019 that laid the foundation for the state to pass the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) four years later, a framework for building publicly funded renewable energy led by democratic socialists.
This time is different. Trump’s back in office, doing far worse damage to environmental regulation than he did in his first term. But Governor Kathy Hochul is even less willing to meet the moment than her predecessor Andrew Cuomo.
Hochul just spent the last few weeks signaling that she might eviscerate the 2019 law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which had set a deadline of a 70 percent zero-emission grid by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040, a situation first reported by Politico. While the thirty-day budget amendments she submitted last Thursday do not scrap the 2019 law after all, she still may attempt to weaken it during the coming months of budget negotiations. In any case, the threat itself shows how little regard the governor shares for the growing grassroots desire for anti-oligarchic, pro-planet policy.
Hochul signaled this week that she would leave the CLCPA intact for now. Environmentalists breathed a sigh of relief — but only briefly. Alex Patterson of the campaign Public Power New York said in a statement, “Governor Hochul isn’t gutting New York’s climate law just yet, but she’s also not doing anything to reach the legally mandated targets of the CLCPA and deliver on her promise of energy affordability. Hochul’s energy plan doubling down on expensive fracked gas . . . will only send unaffordable bills even higher. Building affordable, public renewables is the only way to lower energy bills, reduce pollution, and ensure a livable New York.”
New York is far behind on the goals set out in the CLCPA, but that’s not a reason to scrap the law. Rather, it…
Auteur: Liza Featherstone
