Public Renewables Only Solution in Governor Kathy Hochul’s Climate Budget Disaster

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 28, 2026

Public Renewables Only Solution in Governor Kathy Hochul’s Climate Budget Disaster

Hochul took budget negotiations hostage to deliver her Trump-like energy plan of expensive fracked gas and nuclear power, $100 million for renewables sole bright spot

Albany, New York – New York legislators approved a state budget last night that includes Governor Kathy Hochul’s devastating rollbacks to New York’s nation leading climate law. The budget has one bright spot: $100 million for public renewables.

Alex Patterson, Campaign Coordinator for Public Power NY, said: “Kathy Hochul has struck the one blow against New Yorkers that Donald Trump couldn’t: gutting a state law that would have lowered bills, saved Black and brown children from lung disease, and protected the planet for the next generation. Hochul’s decision to double down on gas just as Trump causes prices to skyrocket cements her vision of a state energy system designed to do nothing but enrich oil and gas CEOs, utility corporations, and AI datacenter billionaires, paid for with New Yorkers’ lungs, wallets, and futures.

The one saving grace for climate in this disastrous budget is the $100 million to build public renewables which is the only solution to lower energy bills, reduce pollution in our communities and create tens of thousands of good paying union jobs.”

Assemblymember Claire Valdez, said: “While Governor Kathy Hochul used this year’s budget to deliver for her fossil fuel billionaire donors, we fought to secure $100 million for public renewables for the people of New York. Building public renewables will not only lower energy bills for working-class New Yorkers, it will create thousands of good-paying, union jobs building the future we deserve.”

State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, said: “Earlier this year I proudly carried a budget letter with Assemblymember Valdez to fight for funding for public renewables. For too long our communities have lived in the shadows of polluting fossil fuel smokestacks that drive up asthma rates and energy bills. $100 million for public renewables is an investment in moving New York toward a green energy future that means cleaner air for our children to breathe, more affordable energy bills, and hope for future generations of New Yorkers who want to call New York City home.”

Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha, said: “The latest assault on the state’s climate laws, based on a misguided and reckless view on how affordability and the climate crisis are interlinked, is further proof that we need to stop putting all our hope in the private sector and start investing in the public sector. There’s nothing stopping New York from building our own publicly-owned renewables for public good, and it is in fact the most viable path forward. At a recent board meeting, NYPA’s CFO said last year’s state investment of $200m is allowing them to leverage up their borrowing capacity to get a lot more than they’d initially anticipated. Yesterday we voted to invest another $100m to let NYPA build more renewables. Next year, we must do more!”

Under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), New York must reach 70% renewable energy by 2030, and the state is perilously behind on meeting that mark. Thousands of New Yorkers and elected officials, like Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have called on Governor Kathy Hochul to build the 15 gigawatts (GW) of public renewables necessary to get back on track, but instead, Hochul plans to “cook the books” on the climate law while pushing an all of the above energy plan that doubles down on “anti-affordability strategies” of more fracked gas and nuclear power.

At their most recent meeting, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) Board of Trustees announced they are considering 5GW of new public renewables, after backtracking last year. NYPA leadership acknowledged the “heavy push” by the public for 15GW and the importance of $200 million in funding that was included in last year’s budget. NYPA CEO Justin Driscoll said, “We’re seeing more opportunities. We’re overall bullish on the role that NYPA will play.”

###

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.