Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay strongly criticized the recently passed Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. He contends that the energy goals are wildly unrealistic.
The new law calls for 70 percent – up from 50 percent – of the state’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources by the year 2030, and also aims to force New York into total carbon neutrality by 2040, which has been part of the governor’s Green New Deal agenda.
“While these proposals make for political-rally soundbites, they ignore major obstacles and actually risk harming the environment,” Barclay contends.
Millions of families and businesses are just starting to begin the years-long process of recovering from COVID-19’s economic devastation. State and local economies remain in peril and face tremendous uncertainty. But New York’s far-left politicians are determined to implement out-of-touch, costly environmental over-regulation that will be fatal to the state’s already fragile business environment,” the assemblyman said.
Barclay continued that he was not surprised that the act was passed without a fiscal-implication analysis.
The governor and his legislative allies have absolutely no idea the cost of what was signed into law. However, estimates touch close to $50 billion in capital costs for turbines needed to generate 9,000 megawatts of wind-borne electricity by the year 2035. An additional $4 billion per year would also be needed to cover operating costs and price subsidies – with most of the financial burden falling on ratepayers north of New York City,” he said.
“…New mandates risk putting New York at a substantial competitive disadvantage. Enormous capital costs will be needed by industry actors, and those that cannot comply will face being penalized into nonexistence. Others may simply choose to relocate to states with lower costs. New York’s outmigration problem will be exacerbated by manufacturers and businesses fleeing the state’s cumbersome regulations. The tax base will continue to dwindle, and jobs will continue to disappear.
Barclay continued, “For ratepayers, costs will soar from the influx of new capital expenses. And, there’s no assurance that weather-dependent wind and solar power will be reliable enough to even guarantee their energy needs will be met. California, for example, is experiencing rolling blackouts and an energy shortage as they try to rush the transition to unreliable wind and solar energy.
There are countless unknows associated with this misguided environmental legislation, but one thing is certain: The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act will make our climb to economic recovery impossible,” he concluded.