Griffo, Senate Republicans unveil energy package ensuring clean, affordable energy future for all New Yorkers

Joseph A. Griffo

August 29, 2024

New York State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-C-Rome, and members of the Senate Republican Conference today unveiled the “Creating Lasting Affordable Energy for New York” legislative package to ensure a clean, affordable energy future for all New Yorkers. 
These proposals come on the heels of the fifth anniversary of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) becoming law and the upcoming “Future Energy Economy Summit” in September. 
This summer, critics have cited the failure of the Administration to meet benchmarks enacted under the CLCPA. Since the CLCPA has been on the books, there has been nothing to show for it except frustrated ratepayers and taxpayers, business organizations and even climate advocacy groups.
The comprehensive legislative package announced today by Sen. Griffo and the Republican Conference will not only protect the environment but also the pockets of taxpayers. It offers solutions to delay the CLCPA mandate, while providing relief to taxpayers, ensuring the reliability of the grid and ensuring a diverse energy portfolio that will keep energy options affordable and accessible throughout New York State. 
Proposals included in the package would:
  • Delay the implementation of the CLCPA mandates by 10 years, giving the state time to develop a sustainable plan to build affordable, clean energy infrastructure and give state agencies more flexibility to adjust those time frames if the cost to New Yorkers is determined to be unaffordable while also considering the impact of the CLCPA’s compliance on reliable and affordable alternatives for heating and other services currently supplied by natural gas, including renewable natural gas and hydrogen;
  • Create the “Ratepayer Relief Act” to determine the true cost of CLCPA mandates and provide relief in that amount to ratepayers, as well as cut existing taxes that will save ratepayers more than $100 million;
  • Prevent the state from closing any power generation facility before new facilities come online and provide tax credits to homeowners for the purchase of backup power systems in the event of outages;
  • Study the feasibility of bringing Indian Point back online and expand investment into alternative energy options;
  • Encourage the use of solar by expanding the residential solar energy credit to give homeowners up to an additional five thousand dollars to install solar, provides a new solar STAR credit for communities that build small to midsize solar projects, and re-establishes local control over the siting of major renewable energy projects;
  • Establish a commission to evaluate the impact of grid electrification on the safety and reliability of heating systems in extreme winter weather incidents that cause power outages, and to develop strategies and best practices to maximize grid reliability during these events;
  • Provide relief via a tax credit to hydroelectric plants to offset relicensing costs, which can potentially put them out of business, to allow them to continue to be a source of clean, reliable power to New Yorkers;
  • Create the “Rural Energy Infrastructure Act of 2025” to provide a tax credit for individuals in underserved or unserved areas of the gas system to assist the buildout of natural gas infrastructure to help bring service to those areas; 
  • Prohibit the state from mandating the electrification of personal vehicles; and 
  • Establish the New York state hydrogen vehicle task force to examine another source of clean and affordable fuel.
“High taxes, onerous energy costs, burdensome regulations and problematic policies such as the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act have forced hardworking New Yorkers to flee the state at an alarming rate,” Sen. Griffo said. “We need a plan that helps struggling taxpayers, families, business owners and communities – not one that imposes unrealistic and unreasonable mandates that only make things more difficult for those who stay in the state. This commonsense package of legislation that the Senate Republican Conference has unveiled today, which includes a bill I have sponsored, will provide much-needed relief to taxpayers and ratepayers, improve the reliability of the grid and ensure that the state has a diversified energy portfolio. Approaches such as this can help us to stop the exodus and build a stronger and more affordable future for New York.”
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