March 1, 2022
By: Steve Levy
Our center does not deny that global temperatures are rising or that human activity is a major cause. So, we like the idea of transitioning to cleaner alternative energies over time. But how we get there, and at what pace, can mean the difference between a logical, gradual and sustainable journey to cleaner energy and an unrealistic sudden shut down of needed energy supplies. This can cripple our economy, make us dependent on our enemies, and cause huge increases to the average ratepayer’s electric bill.
Case in point: Con Ed is raising bills by an astonishing 25% to some customers, in large part to help meet the unrealistic goals set by New York leaders who called for a 100% reduction in carbon emissions by 2040. We applauded setting out a plan for a transition, but not an unrealistic one that may cause enormous financial dislocation.
For instance, when media outlets were publishing one glowing article after another on the proposed construction of offshore wind turbines, we simply asked: How much? The actual costs to ratepayers were rarely, if ever, discussed.
When needed gas pipelines were blocked by state leaders, we asked: What will replace this power and how much will it cost? Those figures never accompanied the sanctimonious press releases by these leaders claiming to be saving civilization from the horrors of natural gas. (How ironic since the revolutionary concept of hydro fracking natural gas led to more gas plants and fewer coal plants, which helped reduce US carbon emissions by 14% over a fifteen-year period.)
The attached editorial from the New York Post exposes the hypocrisy of elected officials railing against Con Ed for their rate hike, yet never acknowledging that it was the unrealistic policies of our officials blocking gas usage, exploration and transport that led to the huge rate shock about to hit ratepayers. https://nypost.com/2022/02/20/we-need-a-better-way-to-fight-climate-change/
It should not have come as a surprise. Our center warned how California, in its zeal to go zero carbon in too short a period, saw electric rates climb to a level 60% higher than other states (not to mention their black outs due to the still unreliable nature of alternatives). We warned how Germany’s elimination of nuclear energy and an overly ambitious green agenda led to their rates tripling (not to mention that they became dependent on an evil Russian government’s gas pipeline to keep German lights on).
Fossil fuels will eventually be replaced by wind, solar, hydro power, and other technologies that are just now in the developmental stage. But we are not there yet. A gradual and sensible transition will give us a cleaner planet and a sustainable economy. Acting too ambitiously, too soon, without factoring in costs, will exact extreme financial pain on those who can least afford it and plunge hundreds of millions of people around the world back into the poverty from which they escaped over the last twenty years.
Most folks I know were outraged to hear last month that a police official from a sleepy village in Nassau County was able to retire with a $1 million severance package. Unfortunately, few in Albany seem to care.
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