O’Mara, Senate GOP keep pushing legislation to combat rising energy costs statewide

Albany, N.Y., February 25—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats) today joined his Senate Republican Conference colleagues to continue calling for a comprehensive legislative strategy to ensure a clean and affordable energy future for all New Yorkers.

The Senate GOP proposals come in response to skyrocketing rate increases across New York State and increasingly widespread concerns over the actual costs of the state’s implementation of the “Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA)” of 2019. 

O’Mara and his legislative colleagues are remaining focused on what is driving up utility costs, especially the reckless transition of the energy grid under the current timeline for implementing the CLCPA championed by Albany Democrats. The CLCPA has left companies scrambling to meet unrealistic emissions goals amid rapidly approaching deadlines. Over the past year critics, including State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, have cited the failure of the Hochul administration to meet CLCPA benchmarks. Since the Act’s approval in 2019, O’Mara and his colleagues have consistently highlighted the failure of the governor 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 protect the environment, local economies, and ratepayers and 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. It lacks critical foresight and it unreasonably risks energy grid reliability and affordability. The urgency remains for a thorough reassessment and reexamination, as well as a long-overdue and desperately needed public discussion on the realities of the current strategy. Senate Republicans will continue to put forth an energy strategy that is focused on affordability, feasibility, and reliability."

[Watch Senator O'Mara's opening remarks at today's news conference HERE]

Senator Mario R. Mattera, Ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee. said, “The time has come for New York State to accept reality and formulate a workable plan that avoids forcing an ideological and ill-conceived ban on New Yorkers. The mandates of the CLCPA are already negatively impacting our ratepayers and businesses with rate increases that will eventually cost our hardworking men and women their jobs. My bill will establish a ‘Cost Council’ which must give approval before CLCPA related regulations/codes go into effect. Our conference has been pushing common sense initiatives that will help us find a cleaner energy future without sacrificing or harming our residents and I urge the Democrats in our state to work with us for the betterment of all we jointly serve,” 

Senate Republicans said they are offering a more common-sense package to delay CLCPA mandates 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. Legislation being proposed includes:

-- S1927 (O’Mara) - Establishes the commission on reopening the Indian Point energy center. The ill-conceived closure of Indian Point resulted in a substantial amount of clean, reliable energy coming offline. With other states looking to reopen nuclear power plants, it makes sense for New York to do the same with Indian Point. Adds nuclear energy to the list of energy sources the State considers renewable energy systems;

-- S.1031 (Rolison) - Directs the Public Service Commission and the Comptroller to determine the cost of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates for each ratepayer and establishes a credit for ratepayers and businesses to cover those costs;

-- S.1167 (Mattera) - Repeals the All-Electric Buildings Act. The All-Electric Buildings Act prohibits gas, oil and propane equipment and building systems in new buildings beginning at the end of this year, a mandate that would drive up the costs of new construction;

-- S.1178 (Mattera) - Provides tax credits to build out gas infrastructure to rural areas where higher emitting fuel sources are typically used;

-- S.2712 (Stec) - Requires a cost analysis of the CLCPA and delays the emission mandates of the CLCPA for a decade;

-- S3652 (Ortt) - Prohibits electric vehicle mandates and provides consumers with the choice to select the vehicle of their choosing;

-- S.5436 (Griffo) - Prohibits the closure of power generation facilities (peaker plants) before equivalent renewable sources are brought online to ensure a reliable energy grid; and

-- S.5515 (Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick) - Requires the Public Service Commission to develop a formula to determine the portion of each residential ratepayer's utility bill that is attributed to the implementation of the CLCPA and requires utility companies to place such cost on monthly utility bills to provide cost transparency to customers.

Since last year, Senate Republicans have also championed a “Creating Lasting Affordable Energy for New York” strategy 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 actual 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.