We have seen the destruction from Superstorm Sandy and heard the high cost estimates for essential repairs. Climate change may not have initiated the storm, but it contributed to its severity.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo even said climate change is bringing us "once-in-a-hundred-year storms" almost annually. What he didn't say was how ineffective some of his administration's policies have been regarding the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Consider the following:
In June 2011, The New York Times reported Gov. Cuomo "was determined" to shut down Indian Point nuclear plant, which supplies 25 percent of New York City and Westchester County's electrical power with negligible greenhouse emissions. A comparable coal plant would release about 21 million tons of carbon dioxide per year plus other toxins; a natural gas plant would release about 12 million tons plus methane leakage at hydrofracking well sites.
The Champlain Hudson Power Express, a $2.2 billion underground line that would bring 1,000 megawatts of clean power here from Canada, has gotten little support. Gov. Cuomo in his 2012 State of the State address didn't endorse the project, but he mentioned Quebec as a potential source of electricity. Obstructionists, including the power industry lobbyists, some unions and their emissaries on the Legislature's energy committees, have drowned out anyone else. The administration should have taken the initiative to plan for a second cable along the route.
A similar lack of support has been shown for a 100-megawatt hydroelectric plant on the Cohoes Falls and phasing-out of an antiquated 38-megawatt plant.
Candidate Cuomo supported the Great Lakes Off-Shore Wind project in 2009. When it needed support, the Cuomo administration claimed it was too expensive. Had realistic cost estimates been used, it would have been far more beneficial to the environment.
THOMAS J. DONOHUE
Donohue Energy Consulting
Niskayuna