"We need a longer runway" Hochul teases Climate Law change proposals coming this week

Town of Tonawanda, NY — Right now there are two letters in Governor Kathy Hochul’s mailbox, one from a majority of the State Senate Democrats asking her not to change the State’s Climate Law, another from Republicans advocating for the exact opposite.

This comes after a NYSERDA memo from February finally outlined the costs attached to the State reaching benchmarks mandated by the CLCPA, saying it will increase costs for residents.

Other reports have cast doubt on the State being able to comply with the Law at all, at least under the current timeframe. In recent months, Governor Hochul has said she’s looking at an ‘all of the above” climate approach, and now changes to that Climate Law appear to making their way into the budget negotiations.

On Monday, at an event in Erie County, the Governor was asked what changes she’s proposing.

“We’ll be announcing them this week. I think we need a longer runway, the timeline. Because we lost to a judge because advocates brought us to court when we were trying to make all this happen with a very unpredictable environment, we cannot meet [the timeline]. And so the judge is saying all the goals you’re supposed to meet would have to be met by 2030, 31. That’s not possible without prices going up. So we need a longer runway,” Hochul said.

After the NYSERDA memo was released, Vanessa Fajans-Turner, Executive Director, Environmental Advocates NY released this statement: “The figures leaked today don’t reflect reality. They don’t describe the policies our environmental agencies were building and that Gov. Hochul should be implementing — they’re a political tactic meant to scare legislators into giving her a way out of obeying the law. The Governor should know better.

“The administration has chosen to turn away from years of its own modeling and research, give in to fossil fuel interests, and follow the Trump Administration’s lead by denying the real costs of climate change. Weakening the CLCPA will not lower utility bills; it will deepen New York’s exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices, and leave us choking on emissions, saddled with expensive generating plants and gas pipelines, and unprepared for a secure energy future.”

Stay tuned for more details from the letters sent by the State Senate Majority and Minority members.