Exclusive | EPA chief Lee Zeldin blasts NY green energy law as delusional and a catastrophe
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin slammed New York’s Climate Act, advanced by Gov.Kathy Hochul and New York Democrats, Sunday as “delusional” and a “left-wing recipe for an energy and economic catastrophe.”Zeldin’s barbs come after the Trump administration last week halted the Empire Wind Power project off the New York-New Jersey coast, a setback to the state’s effort to meet emission reduction mandates under its much-criticized green energy law.“New York’s lofty climate goals don’t come equipped with any feasible plan to actually achieve them.
The consequence is that the people who can least afford the economic pain are the ones who get targeted and harmed the most,” Zeldin told The Post.New York foolishly banned the “safe extraction” of natural gas, gas hookups on new building construction, and gas stoves, while pushing to eliminate the sale of gas-powered vehicles, and blocking new pipeline construction, he said.“This is a left-wing recipe for an energy and economic catastrophe.The idea that we can replace baseload forms of power with intermittent power like wind is simply delusional,” said the former Long Island congressman, a Republican who ran against Hochul for governor in 2022.Other mainstream energy experts agreed that New York has to rework the climate law to make it more practical, and less reliant on solar and wind energy, and to axe unattainable mandates to go carbon emissions free.Under the plan, New York must reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030 and have 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040.Rules require the Empire State to generate 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035, 6,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2025 and build 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030.John Howard, former interim chairman of the Public Service Commission, said it’s time to go back to the drawing board.“We can flap our arms.
It doesn’t mean we’re going to fly,” Howard said.“Let’s face real...