SENATE GOP UNVEILS ENERGY PACKAGE: ‘CREATING LASTING AFFORDABLE ENERGY FOR NY’

Albany, N.Y., August 23—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats) today joined Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt and members of the Senate Republican Conference to unveil the “Creating Lasting Affordable Energy for New York,” a comprehensive legislative package to ensure a clean, affordable energy future for all New Yorkers. 

Over the past few months, critics have cited the failure of the Hochul administration to meet benchmarks enacted under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). Since the CLCPA’s approval in 2019, O’Mara and his colleagues have consistently highlighted the failure of Governor Hochul and legislative Democrats to put forth a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the costs of implementing their plan under the prescribed timeline and questioned the affordability, feasibility, and reliability of the strategy for ratepayers and taxpayers, business organizations, and local economies.  

Senate Republicans said they are putting forward proposals to not only protect the environment, but also the pockets of taxpayers.

O’Mara said, "Since the CLCPA's approval in 2019, we've watched Albany Democrats move at world record speed to pile one unaffordable mandate on top of another unworkable mandate on top of the next unrealistic mandate desperately trying to inflict a zero-emissions economy on this entire state that will have zero impact on the climate. These actions will come with a devastating price tag and consequences for ratepayers and taxpayers, businesses and industries, school districts, farmers, and entire local economies. It has become clear that the current strategy is not realistic or achievable. It is not responsible or rational. There was no cost-benefit analysis, other than a "the sky is falling" proclamation. It lacks critical foresight, and it unreasonably risks energy grid reliability and affordability. The forthcoming reassessment and reexamination at least opens a long-overdue and desperately needed public discussion on the realities of the current strategy. Senate Republicans are putting forth a clean energy strategy that is focused on affordability, feasibility, and reliability."

Republican Leader Ortt said, “The Governor and the Legislature continue to make it more and more difficult for a family to remain in New York.  Every time the Legislature comes into session, New Yorkers pay more for basic necessities. This is exactly why New York is losing its population at the rate it is.  The only thing participants of Governor Hochul’s ‘Future Energy Economy Summit’ should be considering is how to reduce energy costs for New Yorkers, and they could do that by taking up these proposals.” 

The Senate GOP proposals come on the heels of the fifth anniversary of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act becoming law and the governor’s upcoming “Future Energy Economy Summit” in September. 

Senate Republicans' common sense package 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. 

“It’s ironic how five years after the implementation of the CLCPA, the billions of dollars spent, and the absolutely crushing utility hikes year after year, Governor Hochul just realized that now might be a good time to put some actual thought behind the Democrats’ energy policies. We welcome the Governor’s late arrival to the party and hope that she takes a look at the policies we have laid out here, as they will not only keep the lights on, but do so in a clean, affordable way that benefits all New Yorkers,” said Senator Mario Mattera, 2nd District, ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee.

“The evidence keeps mounting that CLCPA mandates are not only unworkable and unaffordable, but a very real threat to the reliability of our energy supply. If Democrats keep blindly pushing forward with this disastrous plan, even as experts raise numerous red flags, it will be a catastrophe for our economy, businesses, municipalities and already over-burdened New Yorkers. With a more balanced approach that ensures broader energy options and ratepayer relief, our plan is the desperately needed course correction that will prevent New York from going over the CLCPA cliff,” said Senator George Borrello, 57th District.

The Senate Republicans’ “Creating Lasting Affordable Energy for New York” legislative package includes proposals that would:

> Delay the implementation of the CLCPA mandates by ten 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.