The leaked New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) memo initially reported by City & State indicates the Hochul administration is ready to push back on the state Legislature’s unwillingness to address the implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
Gov. Kathy Hochul hasn’t been specific, at least publicly, about all the actions she wants the Legislature to take, but she has discussed the need to change the accounting formula for carbon emissions, something the NYSERDA memo mentions in its first paragraph:
“If fully implemented with regulations to meet the 2030 targets, CLCPA’s original design—differing accounting standards from the internationally-accepted approach and inflexible near-term targets—would combine to yield high costs to New York households and businesses,” the memo says. “Addressing this cost escalation is essential to deliver a policy that supports affordability and economic competitiveness and is necessary to ensure continued progress on decarbonization policy.”
But Robert Howarth, a professor at Cornell University and one of the 22 members of the New York State Climate Action Council, told Capital Tonight that the NYSERDA memo only considers one side of the Cap & Invest “ledger,” and therefore, its calculations are skewed.
“The way they’re estimating the costs is to look at the Cap & Invest fee that the Climate Action Council recommended as a funding mechanism, but those funds are supposed to be spent to deal with our energy situation and lower costs,” Howarth told Capital Tonight.
Howarth also argues that the reasons for the high utility costs many New Yorkers are currently seeing are more about gas exports than about the state’s transition to renewables.
“The reason natural gas prices are going up is that the U.S. is now the world’s largest exporter of gas as liquid natural gas (LNG),” Howarth said. “A decade ago there was no exporting of LNG from the U.S.; It was illegal. Now we’re the biggest exporter in the world.”
It’s an analysis that the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) agrees with. According to a NYISO brief, there are multiple reasons electricity prices have risen over the past year including the high cost of natural gas.
“According to recent data by the [U.S. Energy Information Administration], in the first half of 2025, natural gas prices averaged $3.66/MMBtu – a 67% increase over 2024. The EIA forecasts that prices will peak at $4.60/MMBtu in January 2026 due to increased winter demand and rising LNG exports,” the NYISO brief said.
Other reasons for our higher than usual energy bills: After years of under investment, utilities are upgrading transmission infrastructure; additionally, there has been increased demand for electricity from data centers and other new technologies, including electric cars and heat pumps.
In other words, according to Howarth, no matter what kind of energy is being pumped through New York state’s aging transmission lines, renewable or not, consumer costs are going up.
But business groups across the state, including the Business Council, are breathing a sigh of relief after asking for hard numbers around the implementation of the CLCPA for years. Here’s a portion of BCNYS’ statement:
“For a variety of factors, including some beyond New York’s control, the CLCPA’s GHG emission reductions, renewable energy mandates, and timetables are proving unachievable. Adjusting the state’s energy and climate law does not mean abandoning the state’s commitment to act on climate change.”
Indeed, the governor has repeatedly stated that she is not against the transition to renewables; in fact, she is supportive of it but argues that the circumstances around implementing the state’s 2019 climate law have changed.
“When I look at the fact that our offshore wind was part of the equation when we tried to get to meet our goals here and they pulled the plug on. And it’s only back — and I talked to the secretaries who are involved in this in the White House a couple of days ago, they said, “Oh, Empire Wind went back on, so what are you complaining about?” Hochul said Thursday in New York City when asked about the CLCPA. “I said, ‘It went back on because I beat you in court,’ I said don’t make it so difficult for me. Why do I have to go to court and win in court to do something that’ll power half a million homes in Brooklyn this year? I’m counting on that energy.”
But any negotiation with the state Legislature on slowing down the implementation of the CLCPA will be difficult. In a statement, state Senate Environmental Conservation Chairman Pete Harckham said, in part:
“It is time to finally reject the false equivalents put forth by the oil and gas industry. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) recently reported that the main driver of high utility costs is natural gas, not renewables.
Yes, we can address climate change, reduce costs for ratepayers, increase energy generation and resilience and create tens of thousands of good paying jobs in the process. What we need is the political courage to do so.”