Northeast States Set Big Climate Goals. Now Those Plans Are in Trouble.

Several years ago, in a burst of climate optimism, Democratic-led states across the Northeast adopted some of the world’s most ambitious policies to shift away from fossil fuels and cut planet-warming emissions.

But today, many of those states are scaling back or rethinking their climate plans as they miss emissions targets, struggle with soaring electricity bills and confront the Trump administration’s hostility to renewable energy.

Then Mr. Trump returned to office and sought to block offshore wind, a technology he detests. While four offshore wind projects are still under construction, it is unclear if more can be built. New York’s climate plan calls for 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035, enough to power 6 million homes. Currently, only 1,800 megawatts are set to come online.

“That was a huge setback,” said Kyle Murray, the director of state program implementation at Acadia Center, a clean energy advocacy group. “Offshore wind was the primary strategy that states like Massachusetts were going to pursue for its electricity future, and now it’s shut down.”

Environmentalists have opposed many of these changes, arguing that expensive natural gas is the biggest reason for high energy prices in the region, and the quicker utilities can get off gas, the better. That means doubling down on efficiency and conservation measures, solar power and batteries while investing less in extending gas pipelines to new homes, they say.

“We could cut all these clean energy programs now and save a little on bills, but we’re still going to be in a constant cycle of natural gas costs going up unless we figure out how to break the cycle,” said Mr. Murray of Acadia Center.

To read the full article from the New York Times, click here.