Editorial: Chicken Littles all around

 If you listen to the people who are opposed to the gas stove ban and the Public Service Commission’s decision to deny higher wholesale rates to offshore wind projects, you might think that lives will be ruined — ruined! — by these policies.

 

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Here's another way of looking at it: Even more lives would be affected by not implementing the gas stove ban, or by allowing projects already under development to double their costs to $22 billion, an increase that would be borne by ratepayers.

 

The time is now for New York to transition away from fossil-fueled homes and businesses, and that includes the fuel that powers our many appliances. Opponents argue in a recently filed lawsuit that a federal provision regarding national energy efficiency standards preempts the state’s ban. That's absurd. How can standards addressing the effectiveness of a given appliance somehow apply to how that appliance is powered? But incredibly, a court in California agreed with a similar lawsuit in that state. We hope that New York courts, and a more enlightened higher court in California, see through this thinly veiled attempt to hang on to a past we can ill afford to maintain.

 

Remember what's at stake here: The years 2015-2022 were the eight warmest years on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, and 2023 has been a year of extremes with exceptional heat waves, scorching wildfires, torrential rains and devastating tropical cyclones — all fueled by ever-rising carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions.

Those emissions could be decreased by the projects affected by the recent PSC decision: four offshore wind efforts totaling 4.2 gigawatts of power, five land-based wind farms worth 7.5 gigawatts and 81 large solar arrays. These projects represent a massive infusion of green energy to help the state reach its goal of a power grid that is 100 percent free of fossil fuels by 2040.

 

The companies have contracts with the state for these projects totaling about $10 billion. The developers' proposed inflation adjustment denied by the PSC would have added $12 billion, bringing the total to $22 billion, all costs eventually borne by customers.

 

Now, of course, the companies say the projects are in jeopardy and on pause, meaning the jobs and work at the ports of Albany and Coeymans, and a potential East Greenbush port, are in the lurch.

 

It's regrettable that after bidding on state projects, these companies would now hold the state hostage. These contracts were awarded in good faith that they would be completed. But the companies have essentially said, “Pay us more or the project stalls.”

 

Even more outrageous: One of the companies involved is BP, the former British Petroleum  — a fossil-fuel company with every incentive to drag its feet on this transition.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Public Service Commission have stood up. They need to pressure these companies to keep their promises, and we need to support them  — because, guess what, the sky is falling. It’s not because of a gas stove ban or denied money. It’s because of the climate change these projects aim to abate.

 

Editorial: Chicken Littles all around (timesunion.com)

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