New York Doubles Down on Green Stupidity While Silently Conceding What's Obvious to Saner People
Roger Caiazza, the Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York whose posts I love to publish here, has another great one up here that I will summarize for the sake of emphasizing his one big message. That message is that New York State, being nothing if not politically correct, is engaged in an act of doubling down on the green energy stupidity that is ts Climate Act, while very quietly raising the possibility that it might all be wrong and require shifting of direction sooner rather than later.
Roger’s post is all about a Future Energy Economy Summit to “gather feedback on strategies to accelerate renewable energy deployment and explore the potential role of next generation clean energy technologies.” It’s one of those mushy descriptions intended to obscure, of course, which is the way most things are done by New York. The confab is supposed to take place this week and Roger will, I expect, provide some follow-up, but his suppositions about it are on the mark I think:
Never forget that the Climate Act has always been mostly about politics and much less about rational energy policy. I do not think that there is any question that this Summit is intended in part to gauge the reaction of favored political constituencies.
I have seen several notices from activist organizations calling for people to rally at the event against “false solutions” which I believe boils down to anything other than wind, solar, and energy storage. With nuclear being at the top of the worst example of a false solution.
In my opinion, the State must confront the possibility that the safety valve criteria in New York Public Service Law § 66-p(4) for unsafe and inadequate electric service, impairment of existing obligations and agreements, and unacceptable increase in arrear or service disconnections will be exceeded.
He also lists the several fairly obvious reasons New York needs to reconsider its politically correct but stupid strategy:
The Public Service Commission (PSC) Clean Energy Standard Biennial Review Report found that the 70% renewable energy goal will likely not be achieved until at least 2033.
The New York State Comptroller Office Climate Act Goals – Planning, Procurements, and Progress Tracking audit found that the PSC and NYSERDA implementation plans did not comprise all essential components, including “assessing risks to meeting goals and projecting costs.”
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) 2023-2042 System & Resource Outlook described issues that threaten reliability and resilience of the current and future electric system.
The Department of Public Service Proceeding 15-E-0302 may also be influencing the Governor and precipitating the need for the summit.
The Business Council of New York has cited those reports and gave other reasons why it is needed. As a result, the governor said the state’s climate goals are something she “would love to meet, but also the cost has gone up so much. I now have to step back and say, ‘What is the cost on the typical New York family?’ Just like I did with congestion pricing.”
Given this stiffening pushback to current policy, Roger is mildly hopeful. but also coldly realistic, about the prospects for the summit’s outcome.. We’re talking about New York, after all, the state once an “Empire” with still remaining vestiges of grandeur, demanding it be recognized as a leader and not the follower it is today. Here’s how he sees it:
The agenda for the meeting … has changed. The original first session “State of Technology” has been changed to “Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment in New York State,” …the title suggest[ing] no one is willing to concede that building as much renewable energy as possible as fast as possible without a plan or feasibility analysis might not be a good idea.
At the PSC Zero Emissions by 2040 Technical Conference last December there were sessions devoted to pandering to real “false solutions” for a future economy. Technology shills and activists subscribe to a dream that with enough energy conservation and “smart planning” the myriad problems identified by the organizations responsible for grid reliability can be ignored.
I fear that the Status of Next Generation Energy Technologies panel will include the same proposals without anyone on the panel providing contrary feedback. It is long past time for the Hochul Administration to support the concerns expressed by the PSC, NYISO and other organizations with reliability responsibilities and stop pretending that some of the cockamamie schemes suggested by irresponsible entities can provide meaningful future support.
The opening and luncheon keynote speakers will likely set the tone for the meeting. One hour is set aside for the welcome and keynote presentations. If that is nothing more than bragging about the “success” so far and excuses for the findings of the negative assessments, then I will have little hope for any meaningful results. The same holds for the luncheon speaker.
One of the issues raised by the analyses to date is that loads will increase due to electrification of everything and new “Large Consumers of Electricity.” The huge, proposed Micron chip fabrication plant is the prime example. What are the odds that representatives from those facilities will tell the truth that unless there is demonstrated path to success or an alternative backup plan that it would be madness to invest billions of dollars because there is no assurance of reliable, affordable electricity.
The last two sessions address nuclear energy projects. In my opinion, this is the primary driver of this Summit. The only jurisdictions that have significantly reduced their GHG emissions from the electric sector without relying on hydro or geo-thermal resources used nuclear.
However, nuclear is unacceptable to many of the activists who are the strongest supporters of the Climate Act. I have seen several pleas for people to come to rally against the false solutions. The meeting was held in Syracuse and that just happens to be the closest city to three operating nuclear reactors. I will be shocked if there aren’t visible signs of support from staff at those facilities.
There are some encouraging signs that people are catching on that no matter how you feel about doing something about climate change the reality is that New York’s plan is deeply flawed.
I am convinced that the plan will do more harm than good. The Energy Summit could be the start of a correction process that might reduce the inevitable increased risks to reliability, extraordinary price increases, and significant environmental impacts if there is no course correction. On the other hand, it could be another of tale from Macbeth “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
Roger has it correct. There’s a chance, but it is New York. Still, Hochul, like all politicians, wants things to brag about. She wants those investments in the State so she can claim them as her own successes. She’s doing this summit for a reason. Moreover, it seems likely she wants to throw bones to the green energy dogs precisely for the purpose of greasing the skids, if possible, for the nuclear she clearly needs. She’s also simultaneously avoided signing the legislature’s bill intended to kill by CO2. That can’t be a coincidence. We’ll see…
#Caiazza #NewYork #ClimateAct #Renewables #Climate #GreenEnergy #Nuclear
I read Roger’s stuff and Francis Menton, too. They never talk about the trillion dollars in batteries that’ll be necessary.