By locking out gas, New York governor Andrew Cuomo is locking in higher energy prices (and carbon dioxide emissions).
Thanks to the shale revolution, the United States is awash in natural gas. Since 2005, domestic gas production has nearly doubled, and American companies are now sending liquefied natural gas all over the world, including Chile and China. And pretty soon, U.S. liquid natural gas will be on its way to, of all places, Saudi Arabia.
But good luck getting that gas in Yonkers or New Rochelle.
Thanks to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s continuing blockade on new gas pipelines, New York consumers aren’t benefiting from this low-cost, low-carbon fuel. Instead, places such as Westchester County, along with parts of New England, are facing moratoriums on new gas hookups. In addition, earlier this month, with approval from Cuomo, New York legislators passed the Climate and Community Protection Act, which requires 70 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewables by 2030 and an 85 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. Transportation accounts for about one-third of that output.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the National Review Online
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Robert Bryce is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the new report, Out of Gas: New York’s Blocked Pipelines Will Hurt Northeast Consumers. Follow him on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in National Review Online