For many years, I have attempted to issue warnings, provide insight and disseminate information related to the expansion of green energy, such as how its financed, shifting regulations in New York and how your money is used in these expansion efforts. The crescendo of the green energy push was the passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019. The legislation was filled with fantastical goals and deadlines for eliminating fossil fuels. From my experience, people haven’t paid much attention to the future effects of the CLCPA. However, now that energy bills are being affected and green energy projects continue to encroach into communities across the state, more people are asking questions.
The CLCPA is under scrutiny, and some state leaders are reviewing options to make adjustments to the legislation. We should make the process easy and eradicate the legislation completely and work toward realistic energy policy. The future will consist of oil, coal, natural gas, small scale nuclear, fuel cell applications and a plethora of burgeoning technologies that are marketable, self-sustaining and allow a return on capital. The enormous public subsidies that currently make every green energy project viable, with your money, will not be necessary. When your money subsidizes a green energy project to the point it will not economically fail, private investment dollars fill in the remainder of the necessary investment thereby creating the largest corporate welfare program in our country’s history. Many publicly traded companies have brought and are bringing advanced energy applications to the market now and scaling up for future growth. We can embrace the new technologies, with an all the above energy mix and stop moving everything to an inadequate electric grid or face climbing energy costs and an energy delivery system full of unreliable and expensive sources.
Many state lawmakers have been working to move toward the elimination of local decision making regarding the placement of solar and other green energy projects in our communities. However, this goal was effectively accomplished through a NYS Court of Appeals decision.
The utility companies are very highly regulated by the state, and the companies extract money from your utility bill, which is then distributed to use for green energy projects. There are three of these charges within your monthly bill. Only one charge is broken out amongst the list of other charges in your bill. Currently, NYSERDA has a couple billion dollars in hand through these transfers from your utility bill and has spent many billions more on green energy projects.
It is past time to eradicate or completely halt the CLCPA and return the $ 2 billion in NYSERDA’s coffers to every customer paying the bill. A pause in the current policies will allow for a thoughtful, reasoned and pragmatic approach to future energy policy that will not make New York uncompetitive and unaffordable.
Clifton Park and Beyond 