NYs Kathy Hochul to unveil cap and invest plan critics warn could send gas prices soaring 12 cents per gallon: Another reason to leave

It’s starting to feel like an Empire State war on drivers.Gov.Kathy Hochul is expected to announce an anti-pollution push in her State of the State speech Tuesday that critics warn may hike home-heating costs and send gas prices soaring by as much as 22 cents on the gallon.The sweeping “cap and invest” program — which comes on the heels of a new $9 congestion toll to enter Manhattan — aims to reduce carbon emissions by forcing oil companies to pay for greenhouse gases, a move that the industry giants are likely to pass onto consumers.“They have to raise the price of petroleum products.

I don’t know how raising the costs makes New York affordable,” said John Howard, a former member of the Public Service Commission, the state’s utility regulator.“It’s another reason to leave New York.”Proceeds from the plan would be used to fund green initiatives like electrifying buildings in the latest push by the administration against fossil fuel companies even as some worry it’s residents who will be caught in the crosshairs.Last month, Hochul approved a controversial law that will force oil, natural-gas and coal companies to fork over a staggering $75 billion to the state for carbon emissions and allegedly contributing to climate change.“Under Cap and Invest motorists could pay an extra 12 cents a gallon at the pump next year and 22 cents per gallon as soon as 2027,” an analysis by the group Upstate United claims.The increase at the pump, according to the analysis, would be $68.8 million in Suffolk County, $51.1 million in Nassau, $26.6 million in Westchester, $26.38 million in Erie, $22.7 million in Onondaga, $21.4 million in Monroe and $19.79 million in Albany.“Consumers would also pay more for home heating fuels including natural gas, propaneand oil,” the group added.The study said New York drivers currently pay the ninth highest gas prices in the country, and the cap and investment program would boost it into sixth place.The governor would ...