On January 18, 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) released her executive budget for fiscal year 2023.  Featured in the $216 billion proposal were various provisions to implement elements of the so-called “Green New Deal,” including billions of dollars for climate mitigation and renewable energy subsides.  If enacted, these proposals would be a bad deal for taxpayers.  It would drive up food and energy costs, fail to impact climate change or help the environment, and cost hardworking New Yorkers their jobs.

The proposed budget asks for the state legislature to increase the amount of money for the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act from $3 billion to $4 billion before the measure appears on the ballot in November 2022.  If voters adopt this measure, the money would be invested “in climate change mitigation projects that will reduce pollution and lower carbon emissions.”  

The executive budget also sets aside $400 million “to support critical projects that work to mitigate the effects of climate change” and another $12 million for the Climate Resilient Farms (CRF) program.  The CRF program utilizes grants to farms “to reduce the impact of agriculture on climate change.”  Under the governor’s plan, funding for the program will be directed toward efforts to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture.

In addition, Hochul’s proposed budget calls for the allocation of $500 million in expanded offshore wind production as part of a quest to establish the state as “the offshore wind capital of the country for years to come.”  This proposed development comes despite the uncertainty surrounding technology poses to wildlife and the livelihood of the fishermen who supply America’s seafood market.

Taken together, these programs threaten to drive up energy costs for all New Yorkers and invest taxpayer money in unproven technologies.  As Citizens Against Government Waste has written, despite claims that climate mitigation policies will create new jobs, Green New deal proposals “would destroy many industries within the United States.”  At the same time, moving to government-subsidized energy sources will increase energy prices (which are already skyrocketing) as more efficient methods like natural gas are driven out of the market by government mandate.  As a result, the low-income New Yorkers that Gov. Hochul claims she is helping will suffer the most under her plan.  

While it is not as devastating as the Green New Deal plan proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Hochul’s climate plan would be very harmful to residents of the Empire State.  Taxpayers should be aware of how this bad deal will impact their wallets and fail to achieve its objectives.