ALBANY – A group of municipal officials in Orange County are asking the state legislative leaders to consider revisions of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
While the law was passed in 2019, local officials did not foresee a pandemic the following year, followed by inflation, supply chain disruptions, nationwide federal tariffs, and Washington canceling “every tax credit, try, to revoke every permit, and do everything possible, both legal and illegal, to prevent the construction of renewable energy,” the officials wrote in a March 22 letter to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D, Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D, New York).
The letter is signed by Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano, Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey, Warwick Village Mayor Michael Newhard, and County Legislators Sparrow Tobin and Virginia Scott.
DeStefano said given the state of the economy, the law needs to be pushed back.
“We’re not supporting doing away with it, the law was well intentioned, but without moving back the date. We’re going to be in big-big trouble, especially in New York,” he said. “We support climate change, we acknowledge it, but at the same time we acknowledge the reality that our people cannot afford now let alone what will be coming if no action is taken.”
The local officials said an analysis by the New York Energy Research and Development Authority shows that by 2031, the impact of the law could drive up gas prices over $2.23 per gallon on top of current prices.
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