GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

  May 29, 2026     Francis Menton   New York State’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31, and thus there is a mandate that the budget for each year must be approved before April Fool’s Day. This year they blew right by that deadline. But today, 8+ weeks late, it appears that a new budget has been enacted for what they call “fiscal year” 2027, that is, April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027. Among several contentious issues that held up enactment of this year’s budget, probably the most contentious involved the provisions relating to energy and “climate.” Our climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 (CLCPA) had imposed absurd deadlines for eliminating fossil fuels from the energy system. Seven years in, Kathy Hochul, our lightweight Governor, had finally mustered just enough brain cells to recognize that disaster was approaching. But she faces big legislative majorities of her own Democratic Party committed to “climate action.” And of t...

  It’s a known fact that wind power sites across the U.S. eventually will reach the end of their lifecycles. So now what? The industry is coming upon an age where owners and operators must repower these sites by leveraging existing infrastructure to help meet the growing national demand for power. With more than 75,000 turbines across 45 states, many approaching 15-20 years of operation, wind repowering— upgrading existing wind farms with newer, more efficient technologies to increase energy production and extend operational life—is no longer a niche consideration. It is a central pillar of the wind industry’s future. Our country’s renewable energy repowering strategy is essential to the nation’s future clean energy ambitions and its evolving power demands. In recent years, there has been a downturn in greenfield wind project development due to supply chain challenges, changes in tax laws, and limited, new interconnection opportunities. Repowering, as a supportive and sustaining me...