FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, March 20, 2026
Contact: info@publicpowerny.org
Hochul to Children: Drop Dead
Echoing Trump’s EPA rollbacks, Hochul’s CLCPA cuts will lead to higher energy bills, more pollution and a doomed future for generations of New Yorkers
Albany, New York – Instead of providing real solutions to New York’s energy affordability crisis, Governor Kathy Hochul plans to take state budget negotiations hostage this year to roll back the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
A day after announcing yet another AI initiative and a month after gutting AI protections following a massive AI industry lobbying effort, Hochul is proposing to cook the books on the climate law by delaying deadlines and reducing emissions targets.
Hochul has unsuccessfully attempted to use budget negotiation in the past to weaken the CLCPA and faces growing pressure to deal with skyrocketing energy bills across the state. Hochul has failed to utilize the most powerful tool in the state’s toolbox, building affordable, publicly owned renewables, and her energy plan proposes “anti-affordability strategies” of more fracked gas and nuclear power.
Alex Patterson, Campaign Coordinator for Public Power NY, said: “After Trump’s EPA used fictional science to mandate climate denial, Kathy Hochul is attempting the same in New York. The truth is, Hochul is gutting our climate law so she can double down on gas during a historic cost spike, all to power AI datacenters that will drive up our bills even more. Cooking the books to make failure look like progress won’t prevent energy bill hikes for New Yorkers today or stop the next generation from living in the turmoil of climate collapse. Instead of an energy system that siphons money from New Yorkers’ pockets into her billionaire donors’ bank accounts, Hochul must fund the public renewables we need and deserve.”
Thousands of New Yorkers and elected officials, like Zohran Mamdani, have called on Hochul’s New York Power Authority (NYPA) to build the 15 gigawatt(GW) of public renewables necessary for the state to meet its legally mandated climate targets and lower energy bills. Instead of leading the nation, NYPA recently backtracked on its strategic plan to implement the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), approving a costly 1.5(GW) cut to the amount of renewables it plans to build.
New Yorkers and elected officials are demanding Hochul include $200 million for public renewables in her executive budget proposal, but Hochul’s 30 day amendments show she is more interested in catering to private utilities and fossil fuel companies. The CEO of NYPA, Justin Driscoll, recently testified at a budget hearing that “more funds, more equity” would result in “more projects” being built.
A newly introduced bill, the Public Power Democracy Act (S8610/A9456), introduced by Senator Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha would expand the NYPA board of trustees to 17 so it has the expertise necessary to meet its expanded role under the BRPA.
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Note to the editor:
About Public Power NY
As chronicled in the new book “Organize or Burn.” Public Power NY is a movement fighting to ensure New York effectively carries out the Build Public Renewables Act by building 15 Gigawatts of public renewables by 2030. Hailed as the first statewide Green New Deal law, BPRA was written by PPNY and passed in 2023 thanks to four years of organizing by a multiracial, multi-generational movement of climate and advocacy organizations, labor unions representing millions of New Yorkers and tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have taken action from upstate, downstate, and everywhere in between. With federal climate action off the table, BPRA has enabled NY to not just play defense against Trump, but lead the way the way FDR created NYPA to do.