Even some of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s key supporters are against her administration’s “Green New Deal”-inspired plan.
The climate proposal would be a “job-killing disaster” and saddle New Yorkers with “sky-high” utility bills, according to National Grid employees represented by the Hochul-backing Transport Workers Union.
The pitched climate plan — signed off by top members of Hochul’s cabinet — would bar new natural-gas service to existing and newly constructed buildings beginning in 2024 and ban gas appliances entirely by 2030.
The proposal, if enacted, would “wipe out thousands of good union jobs,” TWU Local 101 President Constance Bradley said in a statement.
Bradley’s union represents 1,600 Brooklyn and Queens-based employees of international utility giant National Grid.
“We want a green world, too, but not off the backs of blue-collar workers,” TWU International President John Samuelsen added to The Post on Tuesday, ahead of a union protest in Brooklyn.
The rally comes before a meeting of the state’s Climate Action Council, which drafted the plan to try to help meet the goals of the 2019 “Climate Act” pushed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The proposal still must undergo a public-comment period, and a final draft will then be released at the end of the year. The state’s Climate Action Council will vote on the final plan.
“The Democratic Party has to decide whether they’re for the working people or the elites,” said Samuelsen, a prominent supporter of both Hochul and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Hochul in October sided with socialist firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the environmental left and killed two proposed natural gas-powered projects in Queens and upstate Newburgh.
The TWU’s statement indicated its support for National Grid’s alternative fossil-fuel-reduction plan, which doesn’t phase out natural gas until 2050.
A spokesperson for state Department of Env🥂ironmental Commissioner Basil Seggos and the council defended the c♈limate plan and disputed the criticisms.
“The Just Transition Working Group released-Jobs Study, which shows that New York stands to see 10 jobs added in growing clean energy sectors for every job potentially displaced (such as those in conventional heating or fueling sectors) – a projected addition of 200,000 jobs by 2030 in every corner of the state. And taking action on climate will produce a net benefit to New York of $120 billion,” said Haley Viccaro, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s strategic communications director.
“The Draft Scoping Plan does not contain provisions that force a costly switch for customers, or to switch out a working stove or furnace. When an appliance reaches its end of service life and needs replacement, the recommendations in the Draft Scoping Plan would enable New Yorkers to replace their outdated fossil-fueled appliances with modern, non-polluting, energy efficient and cost saving appliances. NYSERDA [the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority] and other agencies offer programs to lower energy costs and support low-income users, with a strong focus on energy equity.”
