The price of oil and gas is rising and our energy future is as costly and insecure as ever. While affordability is this legislative session’s buzzword, life for the average New Yorker is anything but affordable. Utility bills are skyrocketing, quality groceries are nearly out of reach on many salaries, and as public health declines, health care costs have become exorbitant. The Catskill region, home to one of the Northeast’s most treasured natural landscapes and a critical watershed for millions of New Yorkers, is no exception — communities here face rising energy costs and climate-driven threats to the forests, waterways, agricultural lands, and rural economies that define our region.

New York State already has a very forward-thinking law that could make everyday living more affordable, improve health outcomes, and put dollars back into communities — especially those that need it most. The problem is that Governor Hochul has not embraced this plan and instead is working to weaken the law, while actively pursuing an energy future that is costly, polluting, and lines corporate pockets at New Yorker’s expense. New York’s landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, and the Climate Action Scoping Plan drafted to implement it, are two concrete tools that can lower energy costs, clean our air and water, and keep energy decisions in community hands rather than in the grip of the fossil fuel industry’s greed.

The Climate Act, which passed in 2019, sets legally binding targets to cut emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2050. It prioritizes investments in “disadvantaged communities”—those that are disproportionately burdened by or vulnerable to pollution, sea level rise, heat vulnerability, and other environmental harms. Forty-five percent (45%) of the census tracts in the Mid-Hudson Valley region are disadvantaged communities, a rate that is on-par with New York City. The law’s key funding mechanism, cap-and-invest, requires corporate polluters to pay for their pollution—and mandates that at least 35% of the resulting $6–$12 billion in annual revenue flow back to disadvantaged communities. Delaying implementation hasn’t lowered energy bills or eased the climate crisis. It’s made both worse.

While Governor Hochul delays cap-and-invest, families are struggling to pay their bills. And despite her claims of promoting affordability, she is pushing nuclear power, the most costly, dangerous and slowest-to-deploy of all our options. According to the Lazard 2025 Levelized Cost of Energy report, utility-scale solar and wind cost roughly $40 per megawatt-hour to generate while the cost of nuclear has doubled since 2011 to an average of $182 per megawatt-hour—more than four times the price. The timeline gap is just as stark: building a nuclear power plant typically spans five to ten years for construction following the time needed for regulatory approvals. A solar or wind farm can be permitted, built, and generating power in under two years.

Renewables aren’t just cheaper and faster, they’re a job engine. In the Mid-Hudson Valley region alone, nearly 3,500 jobs would be created each year to make and sustain the clean energy transition. These are good paying, union jobs without the asthma, cancer, and other health costs borne by workers and communities living near the fossil fuel industry.

New Yorkers need immediate relief and it is time to stop delaying and fully implement the Climate Act. Every year the catastrophes compound—superstorms, raging wildfires, record heat waves, drought—and our most vulnerable communities continue to pay the price. The cost of living rises, yet the average person’s quality of life declines. It’s time to say no to this status quo. It’s time for corporate polluters to pay their fair share so that disadvantaged communities–and all New Yorkers–can receive the relief and the resources they need and deserve.