Not So Green After All

Guess what: When the state forced the Indian Point nuclear power plant to shutter in 2021, it caused New York City’s carbon emissions to go up.

Yes, canceling an emissions-free power source forced reliance on less-green sources to satisfy Gotham’s vast energy demand. Indian Point closed before the state’s solar and wind capacities had any hope of replacing the lost wattage. (They’re still waaaaay behind.) So natural-gas usage soared, along with carbon emissions. And New York City’s grid is now “dirtier” than Texas’ and the US average.

So much for the triumphalism around the Indian Point closure from local green fanatics, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (who effectively pulled the plug) and the usual complement of celebrities like Mark Ruffalo.

Kudos (of a sort) are due to The Guardian’s Oliver Milman, who managed to detect this obvious point through the customary leftist brain haze around climate issues.

(Side note: Why are lefty pubs so chronically late to the game on stuff like this? The carbon-free value of nuke plants, the farce that is plastics recycling, the damage done by school closures — it’s just a never-ending series of shameless oopsies for them.)

Sadly, Gov. Hochul is waging a war on natural gas (the cleanest carbon fuel) with huge disincentives in her budget plan and an earlier ban on gas hookups in new construction, all set to drive energy costs up, up and away.

Again and again, leftist climate policy proves itself to be founded on nothing more than patchouli-scented wishes and hempflavored dreams. And average New Yorkers keep on paying the increasingly steep price.