New Yorkers needed only to look outside this summer to know that the climate crisis is upon us. In just one month we were hit with heat wave after heat wave, saw our air choked with wildfire smoke, and watched our streets become lakes after flash floods. Our phones even lit up with tornado warnings.
Climate chaos is the new normal that corporate-funded leaders chose for us. Unless we act now, the crisis will only get worse. New York has the tool to build the livable future we deserve: public renewable energy. It’s time we use it.
Publicly-owned energy already exists in New York and across the country. Most of our upstate hydropower was built by the public sector and continues to provide some of the most affordable energy we use. Across the country, public power customers pay 14% less and have more reliable service. When we treat electricity as the essential public good that it actually is, it works better for everyone.
But instead of investing in public renewables, Gov. Hochul is moving New York in the wrong direction. After presiding over minimal climate progress since she took office, the governor spent this past legislative session fighting to delay New York’s climate goals. She claimed she’s doing this to protect affordability, but her decision is going to cost us exponentially more.
The fact is, the choices fueling environmental destruction are also fueling the affordability crisis. We know that oil and gas pollution drives costly hospital visits and higher mortality rates. We know it worsens the climate crisis, causing billions of dollars of flood and storm damages. When we cool our homes to survive fossil fuel heatwaves, our bills go up because we’re stuck on the most expensive and noxious form of energy: gas-powered peaker plants.
Instead of investing in the clean energy solutions we need to protect our communities, Hochul is doubling down on the causes of the crisis, approving new pipelines and calling for even more fossil fuel smokestacks in New York City. This is only going to make a bad situation worse.
This broken system is a choice. We can choose differently. I organized for years alongside everyday New Yorkers for public renewables, because we knew that climate change could only be countered by a vision free from fossil fuels.
In 2023 we passed the Build Public Renewables Act to empower the public sector to build the renewable energy that New York needs to lower costs, prevent blackouts, and transition off of fossil fuels. A publicly-run energy system will actually put New Yorkers’ needs first, and it can guarantee progress on affordability and the climate crisis at the same time.
The governor isn’t acting on this opportunity. Under her direction, the state has yet to break ground on a single renewable energy project. Meanwhile, our bills go up and our grid operator warns that without more power, New Yorkers can look forward to regular blackouts in the years ahead.
New Yorkers can’t afford to wait. When I head to Albany next year, I’m going to make sure that they don’t have to. Experts say New York needs at least 15 gigawatts of public renewables — enough to power more than 12 million homes — to keep our power grid stable and our bills under control. I’ll be fighting in the state Assembly to mandate that public renewables keep the lights on.
Lower bills, cleaner air, and a livable planet are all in our hands. We won’t let Big Oil billionaires stand in the way.
Sairitupac is the Democratic candidate for Assembly District 65 in Lower Manhattan.