Reuters couldn’t even be bothered to properly write up the revelation this week that New York State’s electricity supplies have collapsed over the last five years, putting residents at risk of exposure if the grid fails during “the hottest and coldest days of the year.” Instead, the news service provided its readers with a series of bullet points.
Readers are confronted with a litany of problems facing the citizens of the Empire State, only one of which — “prolonged cold spells” in recent years — is outside the control of policymakers.
“The retirement of fossil fuel-fired power plants in New York has outpaced the addition of comparable new electricity generation, resulting in a 1.5-gigawatt net decline in supplies since 2019,” Reuters reporters wrote, citing the state’s Independent Systems Operator (NYISO). But demand for power has increased even as on-demand generation capability has contracted. “That disparity is becoming a particular concern in the winter,” the litany continued, “with more buildings relying on electrical heat systems and when natural gas-fired power systems are more prone to freezing, NYISO said.”
Wait a second. So, the supply and demand dynamics in the electricity market aren’t the only problem here? Could it be that the enforced proscriptions on the use of fossil fuels like natural gas in commercial and residential structures is contributing to circumstances in which New York’s grid is pushed “near its limits, requiring frequent emergency actions,” as the NYISO confessed?
CBS News’ Albany affiliate, WRGB, explains. “New York is in the midst of a sweeping energy transition under the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA,” a January dispatch read. “Homes are switching to electric, electric vehicles are becoming more common, and overall electricity demand is rising — even as supply remains heavily dependent on natural gas.”
According to upstate-area taxpayer advocate Justin Wilcox, “restrictions on new natural gas pipeline development” are “driving up costs.” He argues “that limiting supply has contributed to higher prices during periods of peak demand.”
For a long time, Americans were assured that Democrats had not and would not wage a war on natural gas, even as the same people issuing those assurances told like-minded activists that it was good that Democrats were waging a war on natural gas.
New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul played this same duplicitous game. “No one is being required to get rid of their gas stove,” she barked at reporters in early 2023. “Not now, not ever.” Her indignation was manipulative. Just five months later, Hochul signed legislation ensuring that New York would be the first state in the nation to outright ban the combustion of fossil fuels in new buildings.
This, excuse the phrase, gaslighting persisted until the New York State Builders Association secured an injunction against the state’s 2023 ban on natural gas hookups in any new construction under seven stories, including private homes. But New York’s war on fossil fuels persists on a variety of other fronts. The costs that the state’s policies would impose on consumers were anticipated. Voters were warned. And now, the consequences of their heedlessness are coming home to roost.