By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, long an outspoken champion of solar and other renewable energies, took one look at the Environmental Protection Agency’s new plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and screamed, “Get my Press Spokesman on the phone right now!”
And just like that, Cuomo announced that New York had joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a group of 17 nations and Washington D.C. that are committed to eliminating coal from their electricity-generation and putting a moratorium on new coal plants that don’t have carbon-capture technology on them.
New York is the first U.S. state to join, although all the provinces of Canada (as well as the federal government of Canada) have already joined. The only other U.S. representative currently in the group is, somewhat ironically, Washington D.C., the epicenter of the pro-coal EPA policies that drove Cuomo to make his announcement.
In announcing the decision, Cuomo said:
The future of our environment, our economy and our children is at stake, and New York will not let President Trump take us backward. Today I am proud to announce that New York will join the Powering Past Coal Alliance to share our expertise and experience and continue to lead the fight against dirty and dangerous fossil fuels. With our bold mandate to close all coal-fired power plants by 2020 and our nation-leading commitment to renewables, we are already at the forefront of the clean energy revolution and we will not go back.
It is true that New York has come a long way in its clean-energy goals and its commitment to clean energy. With 16 other governors, Cuomo helped form the U.S. Climate Alliance, a group that has been working to promote clean energy as a way of protesting the U.S. decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. Under Cuomo, it has also set a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of getting 50% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2030, one of the most aggressive RPS’s in the Northeast.
New York’s decision to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance just goes to show how wrong-headed many leaders believe the new pro-coal policies of the EPA are. Look for other states to consider joining the Alliance now that New York had set the pace.