Unrealistic “green energy” road map will tax and mandate WNY into oblivion
April 28, 2022 – BUFFALO, N.Y. – A 2019 law seeking to dramatically cut New York’s greenhouse gas emissions and impose a “green energy” grid will force far-reaching mandates on all individuals and businesses in New York State. This was all spelled out in a draft road map for green energy mandates discussed Wednesday at a public hearing in the Mason O. Damon Auditorium at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.
“If implemented, the draft climate plan at the center of Wednesday’s public comment hearing will trade the medical tyranny we’ve endured since 2020 for a new campaign of climate tyranny that will span the next several decades,” Erie County Libertarian Party Chair Duane Whitmer said. “For Western New Yorkers, this plan imposes severe mandates funded by homeowners and businesses. Homes built in 2024 and after will be banned from using natural gas energy systems. By 2030, that ban extends to existing homes. Guess what? More than 90% of Western New York homes are heated with natural gas. If Albany bureaucrats think homeowners should each shoulder tens of thousands of dollars in home update costs to fund Kathy Hochul’s green energy virtue signaling campaign, they’re wrong. This will be fought hard.”
The Hochul Regime’s so-called “climate plan” typifies the heavy-handed manner through which New York State Government seeks to control the behavior of residents. Rather than educate taxpayers on the issues and trust their intelligence to make the best decision, bureaucrats simply fashion a stick out of new mandates and taxes and use it to beat state residents into submission.
Following is just a sampling of the draconian mandates, taxes, missteps, and costs the Hochul Regime seeks to impose on state residents through its misguided “green energy” vanity project:
- A ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks in New York State by 2035 (supported by legislation already imposed by the Hochul Regime);
- A new tax on the purchase of conventional gasoline vehicles to subsidize the mandated purchase of electric vehicles;
- A ban on natural gas and other conventional energy systems in new residential construction by 2024;
- State-mandated “green energy” upgrades that could cost the owner of an older home more than $23,000, depending on the duct work and equipment needed;
- A cost to taxpayers of between $290 billion and $310 billion by 2050 to fund state government’s “green energy” vanity project;
- Elimination of a projected 22,000 jobs in less than a decade driven by the state ban on conventional vehicles, with a third of those lost jobs occurring in gas stations;
- High likelihood of rolling brownouts or other power disruptions from an electricity supply fully dependent on variable wind and solar energy that can’t keep pace with demand over the next 30 years;
- Further massive outmigration of New York residents to other states where a decades-long climate tyranny agenda is not being imposed;
- Usurpation of ‘green energy’ siting authority from localities to a central state board which knows nothing of local sensibilities; and
- A range of other unintended negative outcomes that always stem from the misguided taxes and mandates flowing from Albany.
The Erie County Libertarian Party certainly recognizes that climate change is an emergency issue for New York State, the entire nation, and the whole planet. However, we’re all kidding ourselves if we think the negative environmental impact of rare earth and lithium mining required for electric car batteries and electronics to realize the Hochul Regime’s “green energy future” won’t represent one step forward and three steps backward where halting climate change is concerned.
Let’s be real – the climate in New York State doesn’t exist inside some massive glass box. Emissions from other American states, bombing and toxic runoff from the Russia/Ukraine conflict, and the coal-fired powerplants constantly coming online to support the growth of the Communist Chinese artificial economy all cancel out clean energy steps taken by Albany bureaucrats and are actions that lie outside the control of New York State Government. Therefore, the Hochul Regime’s climate agenda represents little more than a public relations ploy allowing Albany’s political class to proudly proclaim they were the “first in the nation” to roll out another failed progressive initiative funded by stolen taxpayer wealth.
“The reality of New York State’s climate road map, as with most attempts to solve the climate issue, is that it is based on magical thinking,” Whitmer said. “Virtually all solutions referenced in its text are based on technologies that cannot scale due to resource and supply chain issues, or have yet to be invented. Let’s also not forget that the fossil fuel industry being villainized by state government has been bolstered for decades by those same government officials. How is it that we are now supposed to trust the same bureaucrats that helped cause the climate crisis with the solution? We shouldn’t. If we look at this issue like adults, we’re going to realize that government doesn’t have the brain power, public trust, or resources to solve the climate change crisis. Titans of the private sector – like Elon Musk – do. Perhaps instead of pearl-clutching over the fact that Musk outsmarted everyone and bought Twitter, the political class should get out of his way and let him solve the climate problem, because he’s probably the best hope we have on this one.”
The Erie County Libertarian Party is aggressively opposed to the NY Draft Climate Plan and will work with a range of business and community groups to oppose its implementation in the months and years ahead.
