Reality is finally crashing New Yorks utopian green-energy party

An outspoken global actor in the grand theater of climate policy, New York has long insisted the transition to green energy would be cheap and straightforward. For years, state leaders have promised aggressive emissions cuts at little cost. Now, reality is crashing the party, and the state has been caught out in that fib. Facing a court-imposed Friday deadline, New York has effectively conceded that its green goals would pose “costs consumers simply cannot bear.” This admission exposes the gaps between lofty ambition and the harsh economic realities of rapid decarbonization. The state’s 2019 climate legislation made grand, sweeping promises.It demanded 70% renewable electricity and a 40% emissions cut from 1990 levels by 2030, escalating to a zero-emission power system by 2040 and net zero economy-wide by 2050.  Legislators, intoxicated by the myth that wind and solar are the “cheapest” energy sources, ignored warnings from analysts who pointed out that these intermittent power sources are only potentially cheap when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing.All other times, the costs escalate as you need an entire backup power system for reliability.The utopian law was passed, with the tough part — actual regulations — deferred until later, when presumably magical tech would materialize. As writer Francis Menton — who has closely followed this on his Manhattan Contrarian blog — has pointed out, six years into the 11 available to meet the 2030 mandate, New York gets less electricity from zero-carbon sources than it did in 2019. Environmental groups sued in March, dragging the state into court to enforce laws to achieve those targets.The Supreme Court ruled in October, ordering compliance by February 6, 2026.If the Department of Environmental Conservation blows past this deadline without taking action, the court could hold it in contempt, imposing fines or other penalties to force costly compliance.New York’s�...