Undermining New York’s Climate Law is Not an Affordability Solution

Contact: Seth Nelson

This morning, Governor Hochul announced she’d reached a budget deal with legislative leaders, an assertion Speaker Heastie immediately disputed. At a press conference this morning, Hochul told reporters she’d secured changes to the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and is already selling the expected rollbacks to the landmark climate law as an affordability win for New Yorkers. In response, Evergreen Action States Vice President Justin Balik released the following statement:

“We haven’t seen the final language yet, but the reports of where we are headed are deeply alarming. Undermining the law designed to rapidly deploy the cheapest, fastest-to-build sources of new power is not an affordability solution. New York’s dependence on a volatile gas market is what’s driving utility bills through the roof, and the last thing the governor and the legislature should do is rush to roll back the very policies that are poised to break that dependence in this budget. Fearmongering won’t protect New Yorkers from high energy bills. The path to lower bills runs through cheap, clean energy, not through doubling down on the dirty, expensive fossil fuels draining New Yorkers’ wallets.  

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