GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

    Jan. 24, 2026 Physics and reality are taking their revenge. And New Yorkers are paying the price. On Thursday,  the Public Service Commission approved Con Ed’s request  for a rate hike that will result in an additional $615 per year in gas and electricity costs for the average New York City resident by 2028. While bureaucrats are insisting that “law, not politics” is driving the cost increases, the truth is that over the past few years, New York’s Democratic politicians have made a series of disastrous energy decisions. Indeed, despite numerous warnings about the staggering costs that would result from closing the Indian Point nuclear power plant and attempting to force New York’s grid to run solely on weather-dependent sources of generation, they pushed forward with climate policies that are now showing up on consumers’ monthly bills. High utility costs are already mugging New Yorkers. Last month, the Institute for Energy Research and Always On Energy Research r...

  The U.S. wind industry is rapidly moving into a world where new projects cannot count on the longstanding federal tax credits that fueled three decades of growth.    Wind development is increasingly driven by state policy, corporate demand for quicker hookups and cost competitiveness rather than guaranteed federal support.   That transition is playing out now in Wyoming, where communities are weighing the economic promises of wind development against concerns about landscape, wildlife and property values.   A Jan. 8 special meeting of the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners in Douglas drew dozens of residents opposed to the Pronghorn H2 wind project, a 267-turbine development partially on state trust lands along the northern Laramie Range.    During hours of testimony, nobody spoke up in favor of the Pronghorn project.   Secretary of State Chuck Gray, the lone board member to vote against the Pronghorn lease when it was approved in April, t...

  Tech giants are sick of waiting around for electricity. But locking in future power means taking on more upfront risk.  The race to build up more AI data centers has created a strain on the existing power grid while also bottlenecking  the ambitious plans  of the world’s largest tech companies. AI systems consume far more energy than more typical servers and other computing gear, but new energy generation facilities don’t exactly go up overnight. As a result, companies better known for driving advertising clicks and social network likes are  now diving into the power business.   In a landmark deal, Google-parent  Alphabet  last month  agreed to buy  renewable energy developer Intersect Power for $4.75 billion, plus the assumption of debt. It was the first time a tech company brought an energy developer in-house. The deal was a surprise for the energy industry: “The market always thought [tech companies] would outsource because developm...

ALBANY — Although a federal judge ruled last week that Norwegian energy firm Equinor can resume construction on the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm off the coast of Long Island, the windfall of business opportunities local ports were supposed to enjoy from the $5 billion project appear to have dried up. Watch More   Empire Wind 1 is being built about 20 miles off the coast of Long Island by Equinor, which has a power-purchase agreement in place with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, to buy the power.   The Trump administration issued a stop-work order on the project in December. When a federal district court judge in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction against the government last week, Equinor said the project, which includes 54 wind turbines that are 884 feet tall, was 60 percent complete. The construction phase includes 4,000 workers. Originally, the Port of Albany and the Carver Cos.'  Port of Coeymans w...

  If 2025 was the year Governor Kathy Hochul  embraced “abundance”  as the solution to New York’s woes — above all, the rising cost of living — 2026 is her year to show that she was just getting started.   That is, at least, what Hochul vowed in her State of the State address on Tuesday, putting the promise to “build, build, build” at the center of her agenda. And it is increasingly her answer to the conundrum facing New York’s energy system: how to keep the lights on while meeting growing demand for electricity, keeping utility bills in check, and fighting climate change.   Nowhere is this clearer than with  nuclear energy, which she’s making her signature energy policy  as she seeks reelection. On Tuesday, the governor  announced efforts to build four gigawatts’ worth of new reactors in the state. Combined with the  one gigawatt  she tasked the state power authority with building last year , that would be slightly more than the en...