NYSERDA seeks help promoting green switch
State authority wants to hire PR firm to champion energy plans
ALBANY — The state authority spearheading New York’s transition toward a green power grid and carbonfree economy wants to hire a public relations firm to help build a “positive narrative,” about its efforts to shift from fossil fuels like natural gas and petroleum to emissions-free energy such as solar and wind in the next few years.
NYSERDA, or the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, is offering $500,000 for a oneyear contract to help tout the group’s wide-ranging push to phase out gas cars in favor of electric vehicles, gas-heated homes in favor of electric heat and fossil-fuel power generation in favor of solar and wind.
The request for bids, which are due April 8, also wants publicists to address the “headwinds related to large scale land-based and offshore renewable energy project development including unprecedented inflation and potential project attrition from increasing costs and unforeseen supply chain issues,” as well as “concerns related to the cost and practicality of supporting building decarbonization.”
NYSERDA is a public authority, or a state organization, created to help find solutions to the oil shocks of the 1970s that started with the Middle East embargoes.
It has become the main organization through which policymakers are working to enact the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
That law calls for sharply reducing the use of greenhouse-gas-causing carbon fuels like natural gas and oil in favor of alternatives. Overall, the CLCPA calls for an 85 percent reduction of greenhouse gases below 1990 levels by 2050.
As a result, NYSERDA’S role in energy policy has grown far beyond research. It is responsible for choosing bidders to build multimillion dollar offshore wind turbines as well as solar farms. It also administers a raft of incentives for homeowners and others to adopt energy-saving measures like better insulation or highefficiency devices.
NYSERDA’S request to hire a public relations firm even though it already has a considerable in-house public relations staff, was first reported by the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative group that also operates a blog.
“It’s unprecedented,” Empire Center Director of Research Ken Girardin said of the solicitation. “It’s the fact that it’s to promote a specific law,” he said of why he believes the move is problematic.
He said NYSERDA is partially funded by utility bill surcharges and taxpayer sources.
Republican lawmakers, who have criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul’s position on green energy, such as her push toward electric school buses, also took aim at NYSERDA’S request.
“What this tells me is that there isn’t anyone inside of NYSERDA who believes the goal is achievable, so they have to hire spin doctors,” said western New York GOP Sen. George Borrello. “It’s kind of sad that they are spending taxpayer money to prop up a political narrative.”
The call for public relations help comes at a critical and challenging time for the state’s green agenda.
Lawmakers are considering a sweeping building electrification law that could be part of the state budget due on April 1.
And NYSERDA in the last several months had to quickly restart the bidding for offshore wind projects off the Long Island coast. That happened after wind developers who participated in an earlier bid canceled their contracts, saying they would need far more money to build their projects due to inflation.
The Public Service Commission, which had to approve the increases, said “no” citing, among other things, the rising cost to consumers that the more pricey projects would create.
Additionally, NYSERDA and planners from other state agencies, including the state Department of Environmental Conservation, are working to develop a “cap and trade” plan akin to a carbon tax to help fund the billions of dollars needed to build new solar and wind plants in the coming years.
Under this plan, businesses and other entities that emit carbon greenhouse gases would have to buy carbon credits which they could sell to others. The carbon limits would drop over time, forcing greenhouse gas emissions to decline. Meanwhile, proceeds from the credit sales would help subsidize new energy alternatives and ease the cost of the transition.
This type of plan hasn’t proved popular in other places. Voters in Washington state, for instance, have approved a public referendum for November to possibly undo that state’s cap and invest plan which was instituted two years ago.
Critics say it burdens families due to higher energy prices since the plan’s cost is ultimately passed to consumers.
While New York voters cannot initiate public referendums like in Washington or other states, elected lawmakers in the past have expressed worries about being blamed for policies that could, for instance, result in jumps at the gas pump or in home heating bills. Legislators in past discussions about a carbon tax or fee have said they wouldn’t approve policies that lead to sharp gas price increases.