ICYMI: New Op-ed Shows How Rolling Back Climate Law Will Raise Energy Bills

ALBANY, NY (02/13/2026) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, New York local USA Today papers published an op-ed that explores Governor Hochul's outlandish claims that her climate commitments could negatively impact New York's energy grid. In the op-ed, Liz Moran, New York Policy Advocate at Earthjustice writes:

"Let's be clear: the lights won't go off in New York because of our climate law now, or ever. As the federal government slashes environmental protections, it's unacceptable for Hochul to use alarmist arguments that ring eerily similar to President Donald Trump's baseless claims of an American "energy emergency." Just as Trump wants to double down on fossil fuels, it appears Hochul is taking New York in that direction, too - and our bills will go up because of it."

Read the full op-ed here or below.

An all-of-the-above approach on energy will cost New Yorkers | Opinion

by Liz Moran

When Gov. Kathy Hochul took office five years ago, she inherited one of the strongest climate laws in the country. Now, she's making outlandish claims that she needs to walk back climate commitments because she "cannot let this state go dark."

Let's be clear: the lights won't go off in New York because of our climate law now, or ever. As the federal government slashes environmental protections, it's unacceptable for Hochul to use alarmist arguments that ring eerily similar to President Donald Trump's baseless claims of an American "energy emergency." Just as Trump wants to double down on fossil fuels, it appears Hochul is taking New York in that direction, too - and our bills will go up because of it.

Will all-of-the-above energy policy really pay off for NY?

Hochul says she's embracing an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy - which is a dog whistle that many elected officials use to appear open to renewable energy - while remaining largely focused on building more harmful fossil fuel infrastructure. To be fair, Hochul has stuck up for offshore wind farms as the Trump administration tries to kill them. But a few months ago, she greenlit the NESE fracked gas pipeline, which had previously been denied three times by the state because of its environmental impacts. And in the months before she approved the pipeline, she canceled multiple clean energy projects that could have lowered costs for New Yorkers.

Hochul's basis for her call for more gas stems from recent reports from our energy grid operator, the New York Independent System Operator, or NYISO, which make dire warnings about grid capacity and point to fossil fuels as the solution. The problem is that these reports are unnecessarily alarmist, and they rely on several flawed approaches.

Recently, when NYISO has forecasted that our energy grid could become unreliable, they've come to that conclusion by deliberately ignoring energy projects that are actively being built and set to come online as scheduled. They've also ignored the many resources our grid has to continue running during emergencies, including energy reserves and demand response programs where energy users scale back for a period of time. NYISO's own market monitor, which is tasked with assessing and evaluating NYISO, has pointed out that NYISO undercounted its resources for summer 2026 by around 1,400 MW - three times the "deficit" NYISO warned about.

It's incredibly important that New York's energy grid remains prepared for emergencies. But it's just as important that policymakers don't buy into a manufactured crisis based on flawed assumptions, and give New Yorkers the tab. When developers are given the greenlight to build new energy projects, whether they're actually needed or not, those costs get passed down to everyday people in their monthly utility bills. And when these new projects bring more gas, which NYISO has recommended without any explanation for why we need gas over modern renewable technology, it's an even bigger problem for our wallets. The high cost of gas is why so many New Yorkers are struggling to pay their bills, because the cost of gas is rising and the gas system is expensive to maintain. Some may think this cost is worth it, because the fossil fuel industry has done a great job peddling the narrative that fossil fuels are more reliable than renewables. That narrative is false.

Fossil fuels remain unreliable in New York

Even during extreme weather, fossil fuels are unreliable. In December 2022, Winter Storm Elliott resulted in power outages due to failing infrastructure. Gas supply was plentiful, but wells and pipes froze, and cold temperatures affected equipment atfossil fuel power plants. Similarly, the system struggles during heatwaves. Even NYISO admits that during the June 2025 heatwave, solar and wind outperformed fossil fuels.

Hochul has a choice: Continue acting on the federal government's false claims, weaponizing flawed data that tips the scales in favor of more fossil fuels and higher energy bills. Or, fight for a cleaner and more reliable energy grid that actually lowers New Yorkers' bills. It's an obvious choice.

Liz Moran is New York Policy Advocate at Earthjustice.