Governor Hochul’s Climate Betrayal
New York is becoming a polluter’s playground.
Last week, I marched with hundreds of New Yorkers who are fed up with Governor Hochul’s failure to deliver on climate justice.
New Yorkers have good reason to be outraged. The Hochul Administration is considering approving a new gas pipeline – one that New York regulators rejected in 2018, 2019, and 2020 – that would pollute our waters, exacerbate climate change, and lock our state into further dependence on fossil fuels for decades to come.
Now we know why this zombie project is back from the dead. On May 19, Governor Hochul announced that the Department of the Interior would drop its opposition to an offshore wind project near New York City. In that same statement, the governor pledged to “work with the [Trump] Administration and private entities on new energy projects.” Just 10 days later, the pipeline was back on the table. After a shortened public comment period, the project is now in the final stage of review.
President Trump demanded a climate ransom, and Governor Hochul paid it. New Yorkers must make it clear: we won’t be extorted, and we won’t let dirty deals decide our future.
What makes this ordeal even more outrageous is that the new pipeline clearly violates New York’s own laws. On paper, our state has one of the strongest climate laws in the country. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) will slash emissions and build out our clean-energy infrastructure.
But a law is only as strong as the governor responsible for enforcing it – and Governor Hochul is proving she’s not up to the task.
Right now, the law’s most powerful tool to cut emissions is gathering dust. In a landmark achievement for climate justice, the CLCPA required the state to publish cap-and-invest rules. Under the law’s cap-and-invest system, major emitters are charged for the pollution they produce, and the revenue is used to create jobs and fund projects that improve energy efficiency, strengthen climate defenses, protect public health, and keep energy costs affordable.
The law is clear: cap-and-invest rules must be finalized by January 1, 2024.
§ 75-0109. Promulgation Of Regulations To Achieve Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions. - No later than four years after the effective date of this article, the department shall […] promulgate rules and regulations to ensure compliance with the statewide emissions reduction limits.
We’re now halfway through 2025, and they still haven’t been published. There’s no draft and no timetable for their release. Right now, climate justice groups are suing the state just to get Governor Hochul to follow the law she’s sworn to uphold.
Meanwhile, we’re falling short of the CLCPA’s emission reduction mandate. Governor Hochul, herself, even admitted that we won’t reach 70% renewable electricity by 2030. While she’s stalling on clean energy, she’s quietly allowing more fossil fuel projects to move forward — including the expansion of the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline, which will pump even more fracked gas through New York for decades to come.
Every day Governor Hochul delays real action on climate, New Yorkers suffer. Every concession she makes to polluters locks New Yorkers into decades of dirty energy, poisoned water, and broken promises.
We need a leader who will enforce our climate laws, not gut them behind closed doors. And we need to send a clear message to the White House: New York is not for sale.
With love and gratitude,
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