Guest Viewpoint: Hypocrisy in Albany: Sacrificing Green Space to "Save" It

I have spent years fighting for an all-of-the-above energy policy that protects both our environment and the pocketbooks of upstate New Yorkers. Yet the more I watch Albany's aggressive Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) in action, the clearer the hypocrisy becomes. We are forcing municipalities to sacrifice green space (in some cases, protected sanctuaries, in others, fertile farmland) all in the name of protecting green space. Solar and wind farms illustrate the contradiction perfectly. These projects consume enormous footprints across New York. Vast stretches of open land, productive farmland and ecologically sensitive areas are being converted into industrial-scale arrays. In the North Country, their actual contribution is minimal. During our long, snowy winters, solar generation often falls to just 5 to 10 percent of rated capacity. The power produced is intermittent and unreliable precisely when families and businesses need it most. Contrast that with natural gas wells in neighboring Pennsylvania. Farmers there routinely lease modest pads, which are a fraction of the land required by sprawling solar or wind developments. These wells generate exponentially more consistent, dispatchable power regardless of weather or season. Yet New York has effectively banned responsible natural gas extraction on state lands, citing water consumption and environmental impact. Meanwhile, ORES is strong-arming data center projects throughout the North Country. These data centers demand roughly 5 million gallons of water per day, compared to a typical well that uses roughly 5 million gallons of water over its entire lifespan. That is more water than entire towns consume daily. The double standard is impossible to defend. This flawed approach has already more than doubled the cost of energy for New Yorkers. It has jeopardized the stability of our electric grid through premature plant retirements and overreliance on intermittent sources. Unfunded mandates, such as the forced transition to electric school buses, are being dumped onto local school districts that must now either shatter the existing tax cap or begin cutting programs for our children; otherwise, they risk losing funding from the Department of Education over lack of compliance. Families have even been stripped of the basic liberty to decide how they heat their homes and cook their food. We are rapidly eating away the North Country's open spaces, productive farmland and ecologically sensitive areas for projects that deliver far less than promised. At the same time, we are paying to pipe in natural gas from out of state, the very resource we could responsibly develop here. It is long past time to abandon this contradictory path. New York must adopt a genuine all-of-the-above strategy that includes nuclear power and natural gas alongside renewables. Only then can we lower energy prices, strengthen grid reliability and preserve the fertile farmland, forests and habitats that define our region. The attack on responsible energy needs to end. A balanced approach will protect our environment while ensuring reliable and affordable energy for the people of this state. — An op-ed from the desk of Assemblyman Matt Simpson (R,C-Adirondack).

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Guest Viewpoint: Hypocrisy in Albany: Sacrificing Green Space to "Save" It

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