One big reason New York has become unaffordable, and suffers from the worst outmigration of any state, is the cost of energy.
Residents of New York are paying ridiculously high electricity bills thanks largely to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s politicized energy policy. This approach is led by the state’s moratorium on natural gas extraction, and a “50-by-30” renewable energy push that has taxpayers and energy consumers paying for huge subsidies to green energy, while the state rams wind mills and solar farms into communities that don’t want them.
New Yorkers are even forced to subsidize a bailout for nuclear power plants (that the operators wanted to close) through a hidden fee on their utility bills.
New York also has blocked natural gas pipelines from running through the state. According to “Pipelines and their Benefits to New York”, a report released by the Consumer Energy Alliance, “there is a significant economic impact… from the numerous denied, delayed and proposed pipeline projects in the state.”
“New York residents, on average, pay 44% more for electricity than other states, 26% more than neighboring Pennsylvania and 40% more than Ohio,” wrote Jim Willis, editor and publisher of Marcellus Drilling News. “In January of this year, New Yorkers (and New York utility companies) were briefly forced to pay a record high of $140.25 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for natural gas, as opposed to what everyone else was paying (an average of $3.08/Mcf)—which is 46 times as much!”
As appealing as renewable energy sounds, Jim Willis notes that “you can’t build windmills and solar farms fast enough to meet the demand for electricity and, by extension, natural gas.”
This argument is supported by the report when it mentions that “in New York, natural gas alone provides nearly 46% of the state’s electricity needs. As the state continues to rely more and more on natural gas and building or expanding gas-fired power plants, that number is expected to rise to 56% of New York’s electric needs.”
This terrible policymaking not only raises the price of electricity, but weakens the economy as well. “Natural gas is the foundational building block for the state’s manufacturing sector,” according to CEA’s report. “New York had over 194,400 jobs that were tied to energy-intensive companies and made up nearly 55 percent of the state’s manufacturing sector.”
It is time for New York politicians to lighten up and change the state’s approach on energy.