KINGSTON, N.Y. \u2014 More than 110 elected officials from across the state, including several from Ulster and Dutchess counties, sent a letter to the state Legislature urging lawmakers to reject Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s proposed rollback of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).<\/p>\n
The letter, dated April 16 and signed by mayors, council members and county officials from across the state, comes amid Hochul\u2019s \u201clast-minute bid to force a rollback of climate regulations into the budget under the guise of \u2018affordability,’\u201d according to a news release from the New Yorkers for Clean Power.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast month, the governor revealed her plan to gut New York\u2019s Climate Law and maintain the fossil fuel status quo in the name of \u2018affordability\u2019 \u2013 even though New Yorkers\u2019 high energy bills are being caused by skyrocketing gas prices,\u201d the release said. \u201cAlready, 1 in 4 New Yorkers cannot afford their energy bills, and the Governor herself has admitted that gutting the CLCPA will do nothing to lower energy bills.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of investing in renewable energy to actually lower energy bills, the Governor is now trying to force state lawmakers to accept a proposal to change how the State accounts for methane so it appears our emissions have declined when they have not,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n
The matter is part of budget talks that have delayed the adoption of a 2026-2027 budget, which was originally due on April 1. That budget deadline has been extended several times since. Hochul is a Democrat. The state Legislature is controlled by her party.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer proposal would delay requirements to implement regulations under the law until December 31, 2030, pushing climate obligations and delaying renewable investments by years,\u201d the release stated.<\/p>\n
In the letter, local elected officials warn that weakening the CLCPA would undermine the state\u2019s progress on delivering affordable energy, writing, \u201cThe most straightforward argument for staying the course is economic.\u201d The letter continues, \u201cRenewable energy is affordable energy, and its costs continue to fall. Fossil fuel prices, by contrast, are volatile and subject to global disruption. \u2026 Every dollar we delay investing in clean energy is a dollar our residents will spend on increasingly expensive fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter stated, \u201cDelaying action does not reduce cost; it shifts it \u2013 to future taxpayers, to emergency responders, and to the most vulnerable residents in every community we serve,\u201d adding that any rollback will, \u201cdelay critical community investments, and leave our residents exposed to the mounting costs of both fossil fuel dependence and climate inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
The local signatories include\u00a0Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger; Ulster County Legislature Chairman Peter Criswell; Ulster County Legislators Joseph Donaldson, Greg McCollough and Ann Peters; Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck;\u00a0Dutchess County Legislators Lisa Kaul and Kristofer Munn;\u00a0Hurley Supervisor\u00a0Mike Boms; Woodstock Town Supervisor Anula Courtis; New Paltz Supervisor Tim Rogers; Village of New Paltz Mayor Alexandria Wojcik; Shandaken Deputy Supervisor Robert Drake;\u00a0New Paltz town Councilmember Kristin Brown; Rosendale Councilmember Marc Cassidy; Gardiner Councilmember Roberta Clements; Marbletown Councilmember Daisy B. Foote;\u00a0Kingston Common Council Majority Leader Michele Hirsch and city lawmakers Michael Tierney and Marissa Marvelli.<\/p>\n
\u201cClimate policy is local policy. The investments enabled by the CLCPA \u2014 and especially by the Cap and Invest program \u2014 directly benefit the people and places we represent,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n
New Yorkers for Clean Power said in the press release that,\u00a0\u201cThe Governor\u2019s push follows a series of contradictory and misleading excuses<\/a> for why she is seeking to renege on New York\u2019s climate commitments, all while trying to portray herself<\/a> as a climate champion. In recent weeks, she has pointed to a memo from her own administration that suggested enacting the CLCPA will lead to higher energy bills<\/a> \u2013 a claim that lawmakers in her own party have rejected.\u201d<\/p>\n In February, a memo by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority said that implementing the state\u2019s aggressive climate laws could cost the average Upstate household more than $4,100 annually.<\/a><\/p>\n Among the climate law mandates<\/a> are a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and 70% renewable energy generation by 2030; 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040; and 85% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n In a statement in March, Hochul said times have changed since the law was adopted.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much has radically changed since the Climate Act was enacted, necessitating common-sense adjustments that keep us on our path to a greener future in a way that is affordable for New Yorkers,\u201d said Houchul, who added that much of the climate change plan has been met.<\/p>\n Hochul\u2019s plan has already been met with opposition from Mid-Hudson Valley environmental groups<\/a> like Scenic Hudson and Catskill Mountainkeeper, along with local Democrats.<\/a><\/p>\n Republicans, meanwhile, have said Hochul\u2019s move is a recognition of the law\u2019s flaws.<\/p>\n Two regional state Republicans \u2014 Assemblymembers Brain Maher, R-Walden, and Chris Tague, R-Schoharie \u2014\u00a0 pointed to the NYSERDA memo as strong evidence against the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. \u201cThere seems to be no limit to how far Albany\u2019s left-wing leadership will go in the name of climate extremism,\u201d Tague has said. \u201cSince the CLCPA was pushed through in 2019, they\u2019ve been hell-bent on dismantling our reliable energy system without a shred of concern for the families who depend on it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KINGSTON, N.Y. \u2014 More than 110 elected officials from across the state, including several from Ulster and Dutchess…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19588,12051,8115,1984,85,267,9,11,10,49,51,50,12,4941],"class_list":{"0":"post-201341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-clcpa","9":"tag-climate-leadership-and-community-protection-act","10":"tag-dutchess-county","11":"tag-hochul","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-new-york-state","18":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","19":"tag-new-york-state-news","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-ulster-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}