Reasons to Pause the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act

This page provides links to articles that conclude that a pause in the implementation of the New York Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act (Climate Act) is appropriate.  The intent is to provide a reference for future articles that come to the same conclusion.

Dispatchable Emissions Free Resources

Experts, including those that are responsible for electric system reliability, agree that a new category of generating resources called Dispatchable Emissions-Free Resources (DEFR) is necessary during periods of extended low wind and solar resource availability for the energy system envisioned by Climate Act proponents.  These resources are not currently available commercially.  A renewable-based electric system needs DEFR, the most likely DEFR solution is nuclear, but if you develop nuclear power then you don’t need renewables too.  That makes renewables a dead-end approach.  Clearly, the Climate Act should be paused until the most viable approach is chosen.

Affordability

New York passed the Climate Act nearly six years ago but there still isn’t a clear, transparent, and well documented description of the costs, emission reductions, realistic implementation schedules, and expected revenue streams for the strategies proposed to meet the Climate Act mandates.  Without that information no one outside of Administration insiders knows how much this will cost.

Implementation Program Delays

There have been delays with programs that are necessary to meet the Climate Act targets.  Those programs includes strategies that are intended to fund the control strategies like New York Cap-and-Invest Program (NYCI) and

Definition and Application of Safety Valve Provisions

New York Public Service Law  § 66-p (4). “Establishment of a renewable energy program” includes safety valve conditions for affordability and reliability that are directly related to the zero emissions resource.   § 66-p (4) states: “The commission may temporarily suspend or modify the obligations under such program provided that the commission, after conducting a hearing as provided in section twenty of this chapter, makes a finding that the program impedes the provision of safe and adequate electric service; the program is likely to impair existing obligations and agreements; and/or that there is a significant increase in arrears or service disconnections that the commission determines is related to the program”.  Until such time that criteria for these three § 66-p (4) requirements so that there is a clear test to suspend or modify obligations there should be an implementation pause.

Feasibility Analyses

This section describes articles about issues related to specific program components of the Climate Act net-zero transition.

Climate Act Target Status

The fact that it has become obvious that certain targets will not be met is another reason to pause the process to determine what is going on.

Various Reasons to Pause

  • December Reasons to Pause December 18, 2025: New York’s attempts to show the nation that a clean energy transition can be reliable, affordable, and achievable will never succeed, Austrailian wind data suggest that weather-dependent resources have reliability risks, and the environmental impacts being shoved down rural areas is unconscionable. 
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation April 16 2025: Trump state overreach Executive Order, EV mandates are failing, green energy jobs are not materializing, and there are major nuclear deployment challenges.
  • Wind Energy Reasons to Pause April 29, 2025: Wind curtailment costs, European experiences, turbine wakes decrease performance, wind lulls are challenging, eagle kills are unacceptable, France shutdown a wind farm for killing an eagle, but in the US laws to protect whales are being ignored.
  • Roger Pielke Jr on Climate Variability May 6, 2025: Climate variability complicates the assessment of any weather dependent resource to the point that it may not be possible to adequately assess a safety margin for weather-dependent resources.
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation June 1, 2025: David Turver explained the political implications of energy austerity, issues with hydrogen fuel cells, the Energy Bad Boys explained why the Arizona Public Service integrated resource plan will cost its ratepayers billions of dollars in unnecessary costs and undermine grid reliability, and the environ MENTAL blog had an article that described changes in the recent “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (1BBB) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that will have an immediate and substantial negative impact to New York’s renewable energy development plans. 
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation June 25, 2025: Robert Bryce shows why prices increase in Austrailia. Three reasons the science does not support a net-zero transition: Lindzen and Happer white paper explains the physics of climate change, Tselioudis et al found observational data that shows changes in cloud cover are responsible for much of the observed warming, and Judith Curry notes that funding, salary increases, and tenure are tied to agreeing with the ‘consensus.’
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation July 12, 2025: Ed Reid argues that a demonstration project proving feasibility is a necessary first step, Michael Shellenberger explains why the arguments that the transition is necessary is unduly influenced by media disinformation, and Tom Nelson describes various reasons why the rationale is imploding.
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation  July 15, 2025: Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling describe the relationship between retirements, demand growth and future outages, Brawl Street Journal describes German energy policy, Ed Reid lists questions raised by the blackout in Spain, and Robert Bryce eviscerates media energy policy credibility.
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation July 26, 2025: Dennis Higgins filing gives five reasons to pause, JohnS evaluates the status of the California “model approach” to zero emissions and finds it wanting, Watt-Logic provides technical background and explains how a single faulty solar inverter caused the blackout in Spain, New Zealand Energy describes the narrowly averted crisis there when wind dropped dramatically, and Rafe Champion argues that we can go no futher with existing solar, wind, and energy storage technology to the net-zero transition is impossible.
  • More Reasons to Pause Climate Act Implementation August 10, 2025: Interview with Steven Koonin emphasizes the importance of uncertainties and ISO-NE evaluation of wind and solar forecast results indicates that the challenge to balance generation and load on a near instantaneous basis in a system that depends on wind and solar is not going to be solved by weather forecasts. 
  • More reason to Pause Climate Act Implementation August 23, 2025: Institute for Energy Research article that describes the misleading nomenclature used by activists to describe clean and dirty energy, notes that Tisha Schuller says: “Get ready for an extinction burst of myth-making”, and references two Climate Discussion Nexus Newsletter items that address the root cause for the Climate Act transition.
  • Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate August 27, 2025: DOE draft review report contradicts the rationale for action described in the Draft Energy Plan.

Other Calls for a Pause

This section describes other calls for a pause in the implementation of net-zero initiatives.