New Yorkers Demand $200 Million For Public Renewables In Budget, Hochul Cuts 1.5 GW From NYPA Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, December 9, 2025

New Yorkers Demand $200 Million For Public Renewables In Budget, Hochul Cuts 1.5 GW From NYPA Plan

Albany, New York – The Public Power NY Coalition, which fought for and won the Build Public Renewables Act, is calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to include $200 million for public renewables in her executive budget proposal next year.

Said Public Power NY Campaigns Coordinator Alex Patterson: “New Yorkers are struggling to pay their utility bills. Building public renewables is the only solution that can deliver clean and affordable energy for New Yorkers. Governor Hochul has the opportunity to get the state back on track to meet our legally mandated climate goals and slash utility bills for those who need it most. Hochul must invest $200 million in public renewables in this year’s budget.”

The demand comes as Hochul’s New York Power Authority (NYPA) backtracked on its strategic plan to implement the BPRA, approving a 1.5 gigawatt(GW) cut to the amount of renewables it plans to build. A NYPA Vice President said future projects would only “trickle in.” New York needs to build 15 GW by 2030 to meet its legally mandated climate goals.

Said Michael Paulson, Associate Director at Sane Energy Project: “Once again Governor Hochul has decided to set fire to our climate, and stick New Yorkers with the bill. Instead of creating energy bill savings, new jobs, and a safer planet for our children, this plan update will raise bills, kill 2,500 jobs, and aid Trump’s war on the planet. If the Governor is serious about making New York more affordable, creating more good green jobs, and protecting our future from climate denial, she would direct NYPA to build the 15 GW we need to hit our targets by 2030, and maximize the remaining window for IRA federal funding.”

NYPA is led by controversial Republican Justin Driscoll who was handpicked by Kathy Hochul to lead the authority, and only appointed through a loophole after the State Senate refused to confirm him. A bill led by State Senator Julia Salazar to close the Driscoll loophole that was passed by the legislature this year has been delivered to the Governor’s desk to sign.

Under Driscoll’s leadership, NYPA originally proposed to build a paltry 3.3 GW, but following massive public outcry resulting in over 10,000 public comments from New Yorkers, amplified by elected officials like Zohran Mamdani, NYPA updated its draft plan this summer doubling the amount of public renewables to 7GW.

Now, Hochul is backtracking and cutting 1.5 GW from the plan, committing to only 5.4 GW. The cut in public renewables follows a series of actions by the Governor that go against climate science and law, and will also lead to higher, not lower energy bills.

A new report shows that top polluters from the fossil fuel industry have spent nearly $16 million lobbying Hochul against taking climate action. The damning report comes on the heels of the disturbing news that Hochul’s husband makes nearly $1 million a year at a law firm that represents the companies behind the widely opposed Williams NESE Pipeline and Greenidge Crypto Mine, that Hochul approved last month.

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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.