Advocates rally in Albany for stronger climate laws

ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — Advocates for stronger climate laws are calling out Governor Hochul for what they describe as a “retreat” on the state’s current climate goals.

Advocates at the Capitol in Albany say that in the new year, the governor must shift her focus to protecting New Yorkers from the fossil fuel industry. New York already has some of the toughest climate laws and green energy goals in the country.

However, some lawmakers say the Hochul administration’s shifting position on projects—like a gas-powered crypto mining facility in the Finger Lakes now getting approval—is a problem.

“I spent five years of my life fighting the Greenwich facility, crypto Ponzi mining, because it doesn’t produce any jobs, it uses all the energy upstate, it increases our energy bills, it destroys our environment and it doesn’t produce any jobs,” said Rep. Anna Kelles (D–Ithaca).

The approval of that gas-powered project is something Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado says he would change if he were elected governor. However, according to Politico, the Hochul administration’s approval for that facility requires the plant’s emissions to be reduced.