This week, The Future Energy Economy Summit was held in Syracuse. The event was a long time coming: it’s the first step in New York State acknowledging that the climate policies of Andrew Cuomo and the anti-nuclear mysticism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and co. are incompatible with an electrified, reindustrializing, and clean future.
The delusions of a depopulated, deindustrialized New York State powered by sunshine and gentle breezes are slowly being replaced by reality: New Yorkers want good jobs, affordable energy and viewsheds that aren’t dotted with toxic solar panels and wind turbines.
That’s going to mean that natural gas infrastructure and extraction are not tomorrow’s stranded assets, but important investments in our future.
And it’s going to mean what was once unthinkable: that the Promethean fire of nuclear energy development, as dreamt of by presidents like John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower, will be unshackled from the tight grip of “no-growth” environmentalism, represented by dozens of groups who are, by their own logic, now climate deniers arguing against emissionless energy:
Homeowners and businesses are experiencing the first price shocks of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), and while utilities like Central Hudson and National Grid are the popular scapegoats for now, it won’t be long before the true underlying policies are identified and re-written.
Our recent analysis of “day-ahead” prices since 2017 found that New York communities that have emphasized intermittent renewables like solar and wind have the most expensive energy in the state, while communities in Western and Central New York that rely on nuclear and hydro have the cheapest energy in the state.
It’s not a question of state ownership vs. private monopoly; it’s a question of production and ideology. Does a prosperous future involve abundant, 24/7 energy, or energy that relies on the weather?
New York Energy Alliance was pleased to join Stop Energy Sprawl, Nuclear New York and New York Energy and Climate Advocates in a join statement calling for sensible energy policies before the conference. We also were featured in a Democrat & Chronicle article by journalist Thomas Zambito in the aftermath:
On the streets outside the Syracuse Marriot Thursday, anti-nuclear groups carrying signs reading “Nuclear No” held a rally to challenge Hochul’s newfound interest in nuclear power.
“Our Governor is wining and dining dirty energy snake oil salesmen when she should be doubling down on clean, renewable energy buildout — New Yorkers are having none of it,” said Laura Shindell, the state director of Food & Water Watch, one of the leaders in the 2014 effort to get the state to ban natural gas fracking. “Our climate future is at a crossroads, and Hochul is perilously close to taking a dangerous step in the wrong direction.”
Joining Shindell was Cornell University professor Robert Howarth. “She (Hochul) does unfortunately have this infatuation with nuclear power, this distant shining object that‘s way off there somehow that she thinks might help as part of the solution,” Howarth told the crowd. “We need to tell her she’s wrong.”
More than 150 groups opposed to nuclear power signed a letter urging Hochul to recommit to deploying wind and solar power to achieve the state’s climate goals.
They were countered by the New York Energy Alliance, which supports an all-of-the-above approach to solving the state’s energy issues, using nuclear power to complement natural gas and hydropower.
“The Governor is soft-launching the inevitable,” said Brian Wilson, a leader in the alliance. “The last 50 years of New York’s energy and environmental policies have been short-sighted and destructive for our state, and drastic changes are needed before she and the Democrats are left holding the bag. We cannot electrify everything and re-industrialize on solar panels and wind turbines. Professors and activists cannot keep the lights on, but nuclear, natural gas, and hydro can.”