NY’s ‘green elephant’ local weather initiatives are collapsing below the load of . . . math
Nearly two dozen New York clean energy projects are likely to get scrapped because the financial math doesn’t add up — though the state powers that be don’t want to admit that it never did.
Officially, the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, aka NYSERDA, is simply refusing to renegotiate state contracts to build various wind and solar plants, likely leading its counterparties to pull out.
These companies want more cash because the projects’ costs have soared since the deals were inked — mainly because NYSERDA winked at unlikely early estimates with an expectation that it would OK more realistic numbers later on.
In at least one earlier round, it simply rebid the contracts to reflect true costs, but that game is up now that those costs are becoming undeniable, and consumers are already screaming at the electric rate hikes needed to cover the bills.
It’s all part of the con that is New York’s 2019 Climate Act, a scam that set insane goals for decarbonizing the state’s electricity grid and outlined imaginary steps to paint the transition as practical.
Green ideologues always figure deception is the best way to get governments started on such “reforms,” hoping they can then hector the politicians into keeping the scam going by concealing how exorbitant the costs really are.
Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo jumped on board as he eyed a presidential run; his successor, Kathy Hochul, declined to call out the lunacy until now, when she’s running for re-election as the economic pain starts to hit.
With NYSERDA under orders to quit wasting money, roughly 60% of large-scale wind- and solar-farm contracts have gotten tossed, with more to come.
With an eye on her left flank, Hochul is still fudging the facts, claiming only that “we need a longer runway” to meet the climate law’s goals.
In reality, she and the Legislature will soon enough have to choose between infuriating the greens and outraging the voters; the public should worry now that they’ll make the wrong choice once they’re past this November’s election.
On this front, Hochul’s GOP opponent, Nassau Exec Bruce Blakeman, has it right: Albany needs to call the whole thing off ASAP.
If Albany gets away with simply kicking the can, it’s likely to kick regular New Yorkers in the head after Election Day.