The NY HEAT Act Was Pure Hubris and Wasn't Passed, But Like A Bad Dream, Its Supporters Will Be Back
Guest Post by Roger Caiazza of Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York.
Recently I posted two articles about the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition Act, or NY HEAT, legislation that was being considered by the New York legislature but did not pass in the legislative session. At the same time I posted the last article (13 May 2024) I sent the following to my NYS Assemblyman Al Stirpe: “I am opposed to the NY HEAT Act for the reasons in documented in this article: NY HEAT is not so hot.” This post describes the response I received on 11 July 2024.
NY HEAT Act Response
As noted I did a couple of articles about the HEAT act a couple of months ago. The first described Rich Ellenbogen’s response to Sane Energy Voice claims that NY HEAT Act should be enacted. The second article referenced additional op-eds that argue this legislation is not a good idea.
While I appreciate the fact that someone on Stipe’s staff responded to my note, the response was unsatisfactory. As is always the case, the amount of energy necessary to refute BS is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it. In the following I provide my annotated comments to the email received from Assemblyman Stirpe.
The first paragraph was the usual boilerplate response:
Thank you for reaching out to me with your concerns regarding the NY HEAT Act. I greatly value the feedback I receive from my constituents, as it plays a crucial role in my decision-making process.
The meat of the response addressed NY HEAT:
First, I want to address some misconceptions about the NY HEAT Act. The Act will not eliminate existing gas services; it will end subsidies for new gas hookups. Currently, when a new home is constructed, the first 100 feet of gas hookup is free for the homeowner, with the cost being distributed among all ratepayers. The NY HEAT Act aims to remove this subsidy to encourage home builders to consider alternative energy sources, such as geothermal systems. If a developer chooses a geothermal system for a neighborhood instead of gas, the monthly heating and cooling costs could be 40%-50% lower, benefiting both the environment and New York homeowners.
The suggestion that NY HEAT will not eliminate existing gas services is solely concerned with the new gas hookups is either deliberate misinformation or outstanding naiveté. Consider the following sections of NY HEAT with my highlights:
Section 5: Amends section 30 of the public service law. Removes a residential customer’s legal entitlement to utility gas services, while maintaining this entitlement for electric service.
Section 7: Amends section 31, subdivisions 1,3, and 4, of the public service law. Implements the policy established in section 5 with respect to applications for electric and gas services. Acknowledges gas service may be limited or discontinued to facilitate achievement of the CLCPA climate justice and emission reduction mandates.
Section 8: Amends section 12 of the transportation corporations law. Removes the entitlement of non-residential customers to utility gas service, but maintains it for electric service.
Section 9: Amends section 66, subdivision 2, of the public service law and creates a new subdivision 12-e. Grants the commission authority to order the curtailment or discontinuance of the use gas for any customer, group of customers, or section of the gas distribution system, where the commission has determined that such curtailment or discontinuance is reasonably required to implement state energy policy.
Section 11: Repeals section 66-b of the public service law. Removes the entitlement to continuation of gas service following the demolition and reconstruction of any structure owned by a customer.
I am not a lawyer, but this language seems clear to me that the legislation is intended to do more than just change new gas hookup requirements. The only possible excuse is that the legislation does not explicitly include language to eliminate existing gas service. However, it clearly provides the enabling legislation to make it possible for the State to shut down gas service to existing customers. The claim that NY HEAT is solely concerned with the 100 foot rule is incorrect.
The rationale to eliminate the subsidy for new hookups claims that: “If a developer chooses a geothermal system for a neighborhood instead of gas, the monthly heating and cooling costs could be 40%-50% lower, benefiting both the environment and New York homeowners.” My response to that is show me the numbers. I am not going to take the time to find alternate numbers. However, my understanding is that geothermal systems are expensive to install and the oft-repeated narrative that a neighborhood system would bring down costs is long on wishful thinking and short on real world examples.
The response from Stirpe went on to provide the narrative rationale for NY HEAT: Addressing the climate crisis is essential, as record-breaking temperatures and fossil fuel emissions significantly contribute to global warming. The NY HEAT Act did not pass during this session, but it is important to take measures for mitigating the impact of fossil fuels on our planet. We all want our kids and grandkids to exist in a livable world.
Addressing the climate crisis is essential, as record-breaking temperatures and fossil fuel emissions significantly contribute to global warming. The NY HEAT Act did not pass during this session, but it is important to take measures for mitigating the impact of fossil fuels on our planet. We all want our kids and grandkids to exist in a livable world.
It is a Sisyphean task to try to debunk the emotional “existential” climate crisis rationale and the climate porn argument that every record-breaking temperature is proof that the climate is changing due to fossil fuel emissions that significantly contribute to global warming. There are many attempts to address those claims amongst my articles on the Climate Act but I think it is impossible to change many minds on those claims.
Importantly however is my unaddressed concern is about New York’s role in this global problem. Using GHG emissions data from Our World In Data I looked at emissions in the last year with global data. In 2021, NYS GHG emissions (GWP-100) were 247 million metric tonnes (MMT). GHG emissions from China were 13,774 MMT and from India were 3,879 MMT.
The increase in emission from 2020 to 2021 were 498 MMT in China and 265 MMT in India. New York emissions will be supplanted by new emissions from China or India in less than one year. New York’s emissions are less than a half a percent of global emissions. This does not necessarily mean that we should not do something, but it does mean that NY HEAT is not going to make a bit of difference to climate change impacts.
I also want to address the last emotional argument: “We all want our kids and grandkids to exist in a livable world”. I agree that we should be worried about our children and grandchildren. On the other hand, I know that the societal cost of carbon benefits are based on contrived calculations and that New York’s Value of Carbon calculations project alleged impacts out to 2300.
The children and grandchildren argument changes when you understand that we are talking about the impacts today relative to those ten generations in the future. The emotional argument is less impactful when you consider the hubris involved with claims that we can predict or even imagine what the world will like 275 years in the future.
One final point about New York’s efforts to go to net-zero. My work indicates that New York’s Climate Act will do more harm than good. There are enormous challenges associated with the proposed energy plan that relies on wind and solar energy that have not been resolved and will undoubtedly affect reliability.
Because the proposed energy plan relies on intermittent and diffuse generating resources, the costs of just wind and solar capacity do not tell the whole story. When solutions are proposed for intermittent and diffuse wind and solar the costs involved skyrocket.
It is also not clear that when all the environmental impacts are considered that the proposed energy sources will not cause more environmental harm than the alleged impacts of climate change.
Discussion
I distribute a fortnightly summary of my recent posts to an email distribution. I think one of the recipients is the Assemblyman’s communications director. The last paragraph suggests that the Assemblyman is aware of my work:
Thank you for your advocacy and engagement on behalf of our community’s well-being. If you have any questions about this or other issues, please feel free to contact me.
I doubt that there is a constituent in his district that has a greater understanding of the Climate Act and its ramifications for the state and its residents than I do. If I was asked to provide the Assemblyman one question that needs to be addressed, it would be how much will it cost to meet the 2040 target for 100% carbon-free emissions.
The Hochul Administration claims that the costs of inaction are less than the cost of action. Does Assemblyman Stirpe know that claim only refers to the costs associated with the Climate Act itself? The baseline of “no-action” described in the Scoping Plan as “Business as usual plus implemented policies” includes the following programs:
Growth in housing units, population, commercial square footage, and GDP
Federal appliance standards
Economic fuel switching
New York State bioheat mandate
Estimate of New Efficiency, New York Energy Efficiency achieved by funded programs: HCR+NYPA, DPS (IOUs), LIPA, NYSERDA CEF (assumes market transformation maintains level of efficiency and electrification post-2025)
Funded building electrification (4% HP stock share by 2030)
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards
Zero-emission vehicle mandate (8% LDV ZEV stock share by 2030)
Clean Energy Standard (70×30), including technology carveouts: (6 GW of behind-the-meter solar by 2025, 3 GW of battery storage by 2030, 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035, 1.25 GW of Tier 4 renewables by 2030)
That means that the costs of all these programs that are required to meet the Climate Act mandate of 100% carbon-free emissions by 2040 are not included in the evaluation “proving” that the costs of inaction are more than the costs of action. Sadly that is not the only deceptive analysis or down right incorrect approach used to make the claim.
It is also becoming clear that those of us that have argued that NY HEAT is dangerous and represents something too far, too soon are right. I would be willing to provide briefings that support my concerns. The Public Service Commission recently released its Clean Energy Standard Biennial Review Report. That report admits that the 2030 goal for 70% renewable energy will not be met.
The New York State Comptroller Office released an audit of the NYSERDA and PSC implementation efforts for the Climate Act titled Climate Act Goals – Planning, Procurements, and Progress Tracking. It found that “the costs of transitioning to renewable energy are not known, nor have they been reasonably estimated.”
Concerns raised by the New York Independent System Operator in its Power Trends 2024 report include decreasing reliability margins, electrification of heating and transportation will increase loads and shift the maximum to winter, the ambitious schedule, and the need for a new category of electric resources that are not yet commercially available. The issues raised in these reports mean that the mandates in NY HEAT are premature.
Conclusion
It is long past due for the Hochul Administration to provide New Yorkers with the real costs. My Assemblyman has not looked at the Scoping Plan in enough detail to understand the shortcomings and dangers of the current path.
I think it would be prudent for New York to take a deep breath and pause implementation until questions about reliability, affordability, and environmental impacts are addressed openly and comprehensively. I would welcome the opportunity to explain why to him or anyone else.
#ClimateAct #NewYork #Climate #NYC #NYHEATact #NetZero #Risks #Hochul #ClimateReality
Roger Caiazza blogs on New York energy and environmental issues at Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York. This post represents his opinion alone and not the opinion of his previous employers or any other company with which he has been associated. Roger has followed the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (Climate Act) since it was first proposed, submitted comments on the Climate Act implementation plan, and has written over 400 articles about New York’s net-zero transition.
Do you want to live in the squalor and drudgery and misery of the pre-industrial age? HELL NO!
HANDS OFF MY GAS STOVE! I LOVE MY GAS STOVE! Ever try to cook on an electric stove - absolute nightmare!
Anyone with 2 brain cells would know that 'NET ZERO' is an utterly insane off the charts idiocy, an absolute mathematical, physical, statistical and practical impossibility that can never be achieved or exist in reality!
Can't say this often enough! CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN EVEN WORSE FRAUD THAN THE PLANSCAMDEMIC! SO-CALLED GREEN TECH IS A GIGANTIC SCAM! MINING AND MANUFACTURING 'GREEN' PRODUCTS NEEDS COAL, GAS AND OIL AND MINING RARE MINERALS IS MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY TOXIC AND DESTRUCTIVE THAN LEGACY PRODUCTS. SCREW YOUR DAMNED GREEN GRIFT AGENDA! https://climateviewer.com
It's always since the dawn of history, been about using knowledge for power and control by the psycho portion of the human population that learned how to manipulate 'normies' to obey them in their power-mad power trips.
In these modern times, this evil has become TECHNOCRACY, the vilest threat to the existence of all life on earth since forever!
EW! GROSS! HELL NO! https://www.technocracy.news
NOT MY BRAIN/MIND! NOT MY BODY! NO WAY, NO HOW, NOT PLAYING YOUR AI QUANTUM STUPID-ASS VIDEO GAMES! I AM LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD CREATING ART AND PERFORMANCES!
The more I learn about this stuff, the more sickened, nauseated and horrified I get, and I wonder what kind of inhuman psychopath loonies make this crap and want to use it!?
THIS IS PURE SATANIC EVIL! IT IS MEANT TO DESTROY BILLIONS OF YEARS OF CREATION IN THE ATTEMPT OF TOTAL SLAVERY CONTROL BY POWER-MAD PSYCHOS!
I DO NOT COMPLY! NEVER HAVE, NEVER WILL! May more and more wake up and resist and cultivate their health.
There is a fate worse than death - I would rather die than be a robotized slave of technocratic overlords! This is my hill to die on!
I have a landline and a wired laptop and a wired monitor screen, all the tech anyone should ever want or need. I never had and refuse to ever have one of those infernal mobile devices that are designed to enslave you.
My loathing of AI and all things NANO and digital knows no bounds!
SCREW THE FEAR FAKERY! NO TRUSTING THE WEF RULING CLASS EVER!
Reiterating for the sake of newbies and to support this post.
I have no fear of 'germs' or 'viruses'. One of the best places to go for reality: https://virustruth.net
I try to live without fear! Fear is the mind-killer!
PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS BY POWERFUL, WEALTHY CRIMINALS WITH EVIL INTENT CAN CAUSE ALL KINDS OF HAVOC! QUESTION EVERYTHING!
And these, the criminals behind the NAC and all the other schemes will use hypochondria hysteria and 'climate' hysteria to propagandize the gullible 'sheeple' into complying with TOTAL ENSLAVEMENT which is what this is really about!
A vast majority of so-called leaders and Public 'Serpents' around the world have been bribed, blackmailed/coerced into serving the interests of their technocratic New World Ordure parasite masters and not We the People.
GREED is behind every evil assailing us in the world!
The demonic despots of Davos at it again! They are behind everything bad! At it for decades and cronies like The Rothschilds and the Black Nobility and The Khazarian Mafia have been plotting planetary domination for centuries! ALL BECAUSE OF AVARICE!
We the People must try harder to live by The Golden Rule, doing so would solve most problems!
THEY can't get rid of the 'useless eaters' fast enough! Mistakes were not made, it was always malice aforethought.
AUTISM TSUNAMI/SADS/TURBO CANCER/BIZARRE TERMINAL ILLNESSES: More tragic victims of the ruling parasite genocidal enslavement agenda, sacrificed on the altar of psychopathic greed and hatred of humanity.
Migrant/Entrant Invasion/Infrastructure Attacks - all part of the destructive plot to achieve total slavery!
Apoplectic livid rage hardly describes the intensity of emotions I have had and am having over what these malignant globalists are perpetrating!
There is no noxious crime that the evildoers desiring to lord it over us won't commit to maintain their stranglehold on power. A groundswell critical mass resistance to their murderous enslavement plans is needed urgently!
Creative performing arts, fine arts and literary arts are the best part of being human and the thing the globalist predator technocrat megalomaniac total slavery control freaks most want to destroy.
Too many 'sheeple' are brainwashed to blindly obey authority figures on the media or in daily life in corrupt system ruled by control freak psychopaths who use propaganda lies to enslave their subjects and they are dumbed down to be obedient by 'education' institutions. Fortunately I was raised to question everything. This transcends party lines. We need a system that punishes psychopaths and rewards compassion and sharing, we need a system that actually follows The Constitution in reality.
Kudos to Thomas J Shepstone's heroic efforts and success in the struggle. We the People must always be aware of the existential threats lurking behind this fight!
How I stick my thumb in the eyes of the grotesque billionaire bastards pushing their enslavement agenda and how I embrace being fully human.
Fighting the globalist predator technocrat psychopath megalomaniac TOTAL SLAVERY AGENDA one performance at a time!
Amazing Amy: Eccentric Yoga Entertainer!
As an entertainer, I have been devastated and practically destroyed by the closure of all performance venues and then when they reopened, because MY BODY, MY CHOICE - being made a total untermenschen pariah outcast in NAZI NIGHTMARE LAWLESS 'SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS' JAB CROW APARTHEID/DISCRIMINATION/SEGREGATION HELL NYC WHERE THE MAD/DRUNK WITH POWER TYRANT POLS DOUBLE DOWN ON THEIR ILLEGAL MANDATES. I am trapped here with zero financial resources to leave or do anything else about this 'wish I were dead' endless misery life has become. The tragic irony is that my SPREAD THE YOGA LOVE performances are all about health, miraculously overcoming age (69) and injury to achieve feats of flexibility few can attain at any age. So BIG PHARMA who wants to addict every person on the planet to their toxic products hate people like me who prove that we do not need them if we eat healthy organic food and exercise daily!
https://www.reverbnation.com/artist/amazingamycontortionistuniqueyogadancer
I try and live and embody the creative performing artistic world and life I so fervently want existence to be about.
They can stick their f*cking damned NANO, Digital IDs, AI, jabs and chips up their asses where the sun don't shine!
All manner of lies and propaganda spew forth from the upper echelons in governments worldwide who are completely intertwined with the global criminal ruling class that wants to commit the worst atrocities imaginable and suffer no consequences. And their corruption slithers down the chain of command creating petty tyrants everywhere.
We the People are facing HORRIFYING TECHNOCRATIC PSYCHOPATHY TO DESTROY HUMANITY AND ALL NATURAL LIFE!
It was NEVER about health! The Powers That Should Not Be were ALWAYS about they want you DEAD or a SLAVE! This is a painful truth to accept but we the people must wake up and fight back!
We must never lose sight of the larger picture of the vile malignance we are fighting against.
There is an insidious global ruling class plot to enslave all life on earth behind all the madness and suffering inflicted on We the People.
How to fight back against this TOTAL SLAVERY!
RESIST! DO NOT COMPLY! DITCH THE DAMNED 'SMART' PHONES AND THE DAMNED QR CODES AND GO BACK TO LANDLINES OR FLIP PHONES AND USE CASH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! INSIST ON CASH! CBDC IS TOTAL SLAVERY!
Other than getting rid of nuclear weapons which I support 100% the rest of the anti-nuclear peace movement and CLIMATE CRISIS propaganda is parroting UN utter GARBAGE, a complete surrender to the ENSLAVEMENT AGENDA by the diabolical despots of Davos - ruling class criminals who lust for total power and control and all of whom should be tried and jailed for life and their malign organizations dismantled: the UN, the WEF, the IMF, the WHO, the BIS, NATO, Blackrock, Vanguard, The Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, The Bilderbergers, the CFR et al.
There is an evil predator globalist technocratic elite agenda of eugenics/depopulation/genocide using bioweapon poison jabs, war, geoengineering, EMF radiation, starvation and economic collapse - THE GREAT RESET/AGENDA 2030/4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION to get rid of billions of 'useless eaters' and to use nano tech to turn the survivors into ROBOTIZED COMPLIANT SLAVES! WAKE UP AND RESIST! DO NOT COMPLY! These are psychopath megalomaniacs who want to play god by turning all life into digitized metaverse mechanistic synthetic biology to be manipulated by their AI algorithms. A more demonic sickening idea is nearly impossible to imagine!
APPALLED AND HORRIFIED AT INSANE TYRANNICAL PROTOCOLS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HEALTH AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH TOTALITARIAN CONTROL! REVERSE THIS NOW!
MAKE THE WORLD AND AMERICA 2019 (comparatively speaking), AND FREE AGAIN!
NO, I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE MORONIC SCARIANT SHMARIANT MONKEYSHINES! WAKE UP ALREADY!
TOTALLY CONDEMN BIDEN AND ALL OTHER POLS WHO HAVE NO POWER TO LAWLESSLY ACT LIKE AN EMPEROR OR DICTATOR AND DECREE JAB CROW 'SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS' FASCIST SEGREGATION/DISCRIMINATION/APARTHEID VIOLATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE NUREMBERG CODES AND EVERY CIVIL RIGHT IMAGINABLE.
NO GREEN NEW DEALS OR BUILD BACK BETTER FROM THE CRIMINAL TECHNOCRAT TYRANTS KLAUS SCHWAB AND HIS CRONIES FROM THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM.
STOP THE TERRIBLE TYRANNY OF THE TECHNOCRATS GLOBAL AGENDA OF TOTAL SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL USING THE VIRUS AS EXCUSE AND PROPAGANDA TOOL!
NO MUZZLING STIFLING MASK MANDATES! NO FORCED VACCINES! END TORTUROUS DEVASTATING LOCK DOWNS NOW! I WANT MY LIFE BACK.
Thank you for the details of the actual proposed law, which clearly are an attempt to eventually stop all gas service.