Senator Tom O’Mara is calling for a sweeping reassessment of New York’s climate agenda, warning that the state’s aggressive push for zero-emissions energy is threatening both grid reliability and economic stability.
In his weekly column, O’Mara criticized the state’s implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), enacted in 2019, and accused Albany Democrats of moving “too far, too fast” with mandates he called unrealistic and unaffordable.
Citing reports by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), O’Mara pointed to growing concerns that the state’s electric grid cannot meet demand under the current decarbonization timeline. NYISO’s 2022 “System & Resource Outlook” warned the grid must triple its generating capacity by 2042 to keep pace with mandates—requiring up to 130 gigawatts of new capacity, including an undefined resource category known as Dispatchable Emissions-Free Resources (DEFRs).
“That means that New York is currently going backwards, not forwards,” NYISO stated, noting that more energy capacity has been deactivated than added in recent years. Between 2017 and 2022, New York developed just 2.6 gigawatts of new power, while 4.8 gigawatts were shut down—enough to power over a million homes.
The senator also cited the Empire Center for Public Policy, which reported that electricity prices in New York are rising faster than the national average. Since 2019, the state has lost over 5,200 megawatts of power capacity while adding less than half that amount.
O’Mara argued that the financial burden of these policies is already falling on ratepayers, referencing “massive rate hikes being imposed by NYSEG, RG&E, and National Grid,” with worse likely to come. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg of how all of this will exacerbate the overall unaffordability crisis we have in this state,” he wrote.
In July, a report from Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration acknowledged that the timeline to achieve 70% renewable energy by 2030 and zero emissions by 2040 “isn’t realistic” with current technology. NYISO reiterated its reliability concerns, warning that “the state is at risk of blackouts without significant new generation coming online before the middle of the next decade.”
The state comptroller echoed those concerns in an audit that found the climate plan’s implementation flawed and its costs unknown.
Although O’Mara was hopeful that Hochul’s “Future Energy Economy Summit” last fall might mark a turning point, he said it has yet to spark the dramatic policy shift he believes is necessary. However, he acknowledged “a shift in short- and long-term thinking,” particularly around the role of nuclear power in meeting future electricity demand.
He emphasized the need for “dispatchable power” and called for investment in both small- and large-scale nuclear energy. “Every plausible option and opportunity to bolster both reliability and resource needs should be on the table,” NYISO President and CEO Rich Dewey said earlier this month.
O’Mara and the Senate Republican Conference have introduced proposals aimed at delaying the CLCPA mandates, prioritizing grid reliability, and diversifying the state’s energy sources. Their recommendations include expanded research into small nuclear reactors and reconsideration of natural gas as a bridge fuel.
“Until we begin, in earnest, a straightforward reassessment of the realities of the current CLCPA strategy,” O’Mara warned, the state’s policies will come “with a devastating price tag and consequences for ratepayers and taxpayers, businesses and industries, school districts, farmers, and entire local communities and economies.”
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