From CFACT

By David Wojick

The Net Zero Reality Coalition has published my research report on the looming devastation from New York’s Climate Act. It is here. 

The full title is:

“Severe Climate Act Impacts Threaten New York State

Massive price hikes and fuel shortages will hit unless the law is changed”

Here is the Executive Summary:

“The threat is stark. The Climate Act requires the administration to promulgate regulations that ‘ensure’ that the 2030 emissions reduction target is met. Governor Hochul has said her administration does not want to do so because the regulations are infeasible and ruinously expensive for New Yorkers. The court has ruled that either the law must be changed or the regulations must be issued. The ruling has been appealed, but the threat remains.

Clearly, the legislature must act on this threat. Our brief report outlines some of the most pressing issues lawmakers should consider. First and foremost is the fact that the regulatory mechanism includes rationing fuel use for transportation and heating. Such rationing is likely to create unacceptable shortages, including the possibility of homes running out of heat during winter months.

The so-called ‘cap and invest’ regulations also include taxing the rations. In practice, this means raising the cost of fuel so high that its use is sharply curtailed. This severe cost impact is also unacceptable.

The situation is unfortunately complicated by the fact that Governor Hochul has failed to disclose the proposed regulations and their detailed costs. As a result, neither the legislature nor the people of New York State have access to the basic facts needed to evaluate the policy. This, too, is unacceptable.”

The report then looks at several specific issues and analyzes some of the likely worst cases. By way of introduction, here is the table of contents:

“New York’s climate law must be changed to prevent near term severe impacts

The 2030 climate target is incredibly infeasible

There is no plan for electric power

Climate Act infeasibility is shown in the 2025 New York Energy Plan

New York’s climate law will ration fossil fuels and tax the rations

Motor fuel rationing chaos looms

Governor Hochul must disclose the “ruinous cost” of the Climate Act

Conclusions“

To date, the New York legislature has shown no public interest in this incredibly threatening issue.

There is, however, some major non-legislative action regarding another infeasible part of the Climate Act. The New York State Public Service Commission is taking comments on a petition to suspend or modify the 2030 renewable energy target. This also infeasible target is 70% of instate electricity production from renewables and New York produces about 90% of its electricity.

Commenting is an arcane process. Here are the instructions from the PSC announcement:

“Comments provided in response to this notice should reference “Case 15-E-0302.” Comments should be submitted electronically by going to http://www.dps.ny.gov, clicking on “File Search” (located under the heading “Commission Files”), entering “15-E-0302” in the “Search by Case Number” field, and then clicking on the “Post Comments” box located at the top of the page.”

As of this writing, there are almost 24,000 comments, and commenting is open until March 31. Clearly this is a big fight, perhaps a model for legislative action on the absurd 40% emissions reduction target that my report assesses.

Note that some of the report content previously appeared as interim CFACT research articles. This content has been significantly revised and augmented in the final report.

The New York State Climate Act situation is the nastiest policy mess I have ever seen. Stay tuned to CFACT as the New York climate fiasco plays out.

READ THE FULL REPORT