Polluters Spend Millions to Successfully Lobby Governor Hochul

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Polluters Spend Millions to Successfully Lobby Governor Hochul

Hochul’s new anti-affordability, pro-trump energy policy baffles New Yorkers, but is a gift to polluting, fossil fuel lobbyisTS

Albany, New York – A new report shows that top polluters from the fossil fuel industry have spent nearly $16 million lobbying Governor Kathy 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. The Governor’s approval of these projects is a flagrant violation of state climate law and will lead to even higher energy bills.

Hochul’s recent embrace of President Trump’s expensive energy policy has baffled New Yorkers who say her pro-fossil fuel decisions don’t add up, as New York passed the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA) in 2023, which authorizes the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to build and own enough renewable energy projects to meet the state’s climate mandates. NYPA needs to build 15GW of public renewables for the state to reach 70% renewable by 2030, a goal the Governor admits the state is not on track to meet because of the failures of the private market.

Said Public Power NY Campaigns Coordinator Alex Patterson: “It certainly seems like the price tag for getting a pro-fossil fuel agenda enacted is about $16 million in lobbying fees. Unfortunately, regular New Yorkers can’t afford this kind of lobbying, so we have to rely on organizing to build enough power to make Governor Hochul do the right thing. We’ve done it before, and we will do it again.”

Following massive public outcry resulting in over 10,000 public comments from New Yorkers, amplified by elected officials like Zohran Mamdani, NYPA updated its strategic plan to implement BPRA this summer, doubling the amount of projects it plans to build from a paltry 3.3 GW to 7GW. If NYPA can add almost 4GW of renewables in just six months, it can add enough to get the state to 15GW by 2030.

NYPA CEO Justin Driscoll has come under fire this week for using the authority’s $7.5 million private plane to press conferences and ribbon cuttings.

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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.