New York Demands a Climate Sacrifice

 Gov. Kathy Hochul wants her Democratic Legislature to delay implementing New York’s far-reaching climate mandates because they’ll raise energy costs. The Democratic response: That is the point of the mandates so we’re not going to change them.

That’s more or less what Albany Democrats argue in a new friend-of-court brief that backs a lawsuit that seeks to compel Ms. Hochul to enforce the state’s 2019 climate law. That law requires the state to develop such policies as a cap-and-tax program to reduce its CO2 emissions 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.

The “Legislature knowingly enacted a statute that would require large-scale economic transformation, including substantial and uncertain costs,” the Democrats write. The law “directly acknowledges that the transition to a clean energy economy may impose costs and affect certain sectors more than others,” including job displacement in fossil fuels.

Ms. Hochul argues that Congress’s rollback of green-energy subsidies will make achieving the state’s climate goals more costly. She estimates that policies to achieve the emissions reductions required by the law would increase upstate New York utility bills by about $4,000 a year and gasoline prices by $2.23 a gallon.

But Democratic legislators say they knew the policies would squeeze average New Yorkers when they passed the law. Their legal brief cites statements by legislators of both parties in 2019 acknowledging the law’s burdens. One Democratic Senator had acknowledged the bill would “ask people to make sacrifices.” A Republican senator said it would be “bad for the economy” and result in “a loss of jobs,” “increased energy rates,” and “further hampering of New York’s economy.”

The Democrats say they dismissed such concerns because, well, climate change. One Democratic Senator in 2019 proclaimed that even if the law’s mandates bring “hard times,” “if we haven’t saved our planet, the rest is moot.” So please bow to the “transformation” that your political betters demand.

The reality is that any CO2 reductions New Yorkers make will have zero effect on global temperatures. China and India will more than make up the difference, which makes the purpose of the sacrifices moot. Then again, for today’s left, the pain and the ability to run the economy are the point.

New York Demands a Climate Sacrifice - WSJ