Next week, Gov. Kathy Hochul will convene an energy summit with state officials and business leaders to discuss reaching New York’s self-mandated climate goals.

But some critics argue that Hochul could be gearing up to announce a pause of this major green energy policy — calling it a potential congestion pricing 2.0.

What You Need To Know

  • Some critics argue that Hochul could be gearing up to announce a pause of the state's landmark 2019 major green energy policy — calling it a potential congestion pricing 2.0

  • Hochul has been concerned with affordability, with congestion pricing, she argued paying $15 to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan is too much of a burden

  • Reports released this summer slammed the state for falling behind on its clean energy goals. One audit released by state Comptroller Tom Dinapoli’s office criticized the Hochul administration for poor planning

Environmentalists, like Liz Moran, worry she appears to be slow walking New York’s fast approaching climate goals.

“Unfortunately, we have seen a concerning pattern emerge from the governor when it comes to climate policies,” said Moran, a policy advocate at Earthjustice, an environmental law nonprofit that is also party to one of the lawsuits filed against the state to force congestion pricing to start.

Moran says she’s worried that benchmarks tied to the 2019 climate law could be next on Hochul’s list of pauses.

“The most recent example is congestion pricing. Just months prior to the governor announcing she was going to definitely delay it, she had been championing it.” Moran said.

Hochul has been concerned with affordability. With congestion pricing, she argued paying $15 to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan is too much of a burden.

“Just like I did with congestion pricing, what is the additional costs to live here?” Hochul said during a July 18 interview with the Albany Times Union. “And if you’re a family with three kids living in upstate New York and your source of energy is oil right now, even natural gas — what is the cost of that transition to you?”

Reports released this summer slammed the state for falling behind on its clean energy goals. One audit released by state Comptroller Tom Dinapoli’s office criticized the Hochul administration for poor planning.

Another independent analysis all but said: inadequate energy investments are setting New York up to fail.

“The issues around inflation, the war in Ukraine, all have had an impact on our energy business. At the same time, people got back to work, demand started to increase after covid,” said Gavin Donohue, president of the Independent Power Producers of New York, Inc. The group represents independent power producers. Donohue also sits on the state’s Climate Action Council.

“What surprised me is the governor and the Public Service Commission, which the governor controls, actually came out and finally set and the fact that they’re going to extend the statutory deadlines to 2033 to 2035, I think is a positive recognition of the hurdles we all have in this business,” Donohue said.

Donohue argues the state needs to conduct a cost analysis so consumers know what’s ahead.

“At the end of the day, the lights can’t go off, and it needs to be affordable. So I think this summit is part of that announcement to talk about the future and what we need to keep the lights on in this state,” he said.

But others say slowing down a transition to renewable energy would be more costly in the long run.

“I can open up the paper today or any day, and read you headlines of increased damage to the planet on an international level. I think yesterday, the articles were about how there are more heat-related deaths than anyone would have imagined throughout this country the day before,” Manhattan Democratic State Sen. Liz Krueger told NY1 in a Zoom interview.

Krueger says missing a deadline is OK with her, as long as the Hochul administration is serious about solving the climate crisis.

“The laws we wrote give government the flexibility to adjust as needed, but the assignment is not to slow things down,” she added. “We can’t slow down. Our priority has to be to move faster and get to the goals.”

The politician said next week’s summit needs to produce results.

“If the discussion is simply: the business world saying ’we can’t meet your targets’ and they walk out and change the targets, frankly that is the biggest mistake this administration can probably make,” she warned.

When reached for comment on Wednesday, the governor’s office pointed NY1 to Hochul’s prior comments where she said she is committed to reaching climate goals.