Albany, N.Y., April 27-State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) is urging New Yorkers to make their voices heard during a public comment period ending on Friday, May 1 on a petition before the state Public Service Commission (PSC) “to evaluate whether to temporarily suspend or modify the obligations under the Renewable Energy Program established as part of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,” commonly known as the CLCPA. 

Over the past several years, O’Mara has helped lead the call for the state to fully revisit the mandates and timelines being implemented under the CLCPA.

The current petition before the PSC and subject to a public comment period until Friday was filed in early January by the Coalition for Safe and Reliable Energy, a broad coalition of associations, chambers of commerce, and groups representing businesses and industries throughout New York State including the Business Council of New York State, Manufacturers Alliance of New York, Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier, National Federation of Independent Businesses, New York State Builders Association, New York State Economic Development Council, and numerous others.

O’Mara, a member of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, said, “Are we finally facing a ‘back to the drawing board’ moment on the CLCPA timeline and other climate mandates? Are we about to undertake an honest, open, long-awaited, and desperately needed public discussion on the realities of where we’re headed? Will it be followed by meaningful action out of Albany? We should be and the PSC should immediately lead the way with a series of statewide public hearings, as called for by the Coalition for Safe and Reliable Energy, to reassess and reevaluate a public policy that, for the short- and long-term benefit of ratepayers, is not as focused as it needs to be on affordability, reliability, and sustainability. It’s critical to provide every opportunity for public input and New Yorkers still have a chance this week to send that message directly to the PSC.”

The Coalition for Safe and Reliable Energy petition calls on “the New York State Public Service Commission to hold a hearing pursuant to Public Service Law § 66-p (4) to evaluate whether to temporarily suspend or modify the obligations under the Renewable Energy Program established as part of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.”

The petition continues, “This Petition seeks Commission action authorized by the CLCPA. Recent evidence suggests that the Renewable Energy Program, and its associated renewable energy targets, may impede the provision of safe and adequate electric service and upset the necessary balance of reliable, economic and sustainable energy in New York State. This evidence justifies commencement of the hearing process in PSL § 66-p (4), which will allow the Commission to determine whether the temporary suspension or modification of the Renewable Energy Program obligations is necessary to ensure the continued provision of safe and adequate electric service. Further, the Coalition believes that any hearing held pursuant to PSL § 66-p (4) should examine the relationship between Renewable Energy Program costs and customer arrears.”

The public comment period is open until Friday. Comments can be submitted through the PSC website at: https://dps.ny.gov/event/comments-due-coalition-safe-and-reliable-energy-petition-temporarily-suspend-renewable-energy.

O’Mara highlighted suggested sample comments being offered by the “Pragmatic Environmentalist of New York” blog that can be found here: https://pragmaticenvironmentalistofnewyork.blog/2026/04/25/stop-energy-sprawl-call-for-action/.

O’Mara said that the convening of PSC hearings on an updated state energy plan could mark a potentially critical turning point for New York’s energy future. The need to rethink New York’s existing energy plan has been gaining momentum as doubts have steadily increased over the strategy first set in motion by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature’s majorities to impose radical and sweeping clean energy mandates following the CLCPA’s enactment in 2019, which O’Mara opposed. The state’s Climate Action Council (CAC), established through the CLCPA, issued its action report in December 2022, a year and four months after Governor Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York’s chief executive following Cuomo’s resignation.

From the outset, O’Mara and many legislative colleagues, as well as other independent watchdogs, have warned that the failure to put forth a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the costs of implementing far-reaching clean energy mandates under their prescribed timelines doomed the entire effort. They have continuously questioned the affordability, feasibility, and reliability of the strategy for ratepayers and taxpayers, business and industry, and local economies. 

Last week, the New York Independent Systems Operator (NYISO) released its annual Summer Realiability Assessment, which reported significant reliability risks to the state’s current energy grid and found that “the reliability margin under baseline summer conditions is 417 MW – the lowest margin in recent history.”

O’Mara said, “We have raised concerns for good reasons. The ‘Draft 2025 Energy Plan’ clearly acknowledged that the CLCPA timeline the state has been pushing at breakneck speed to achieve 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and zero emissions by 2040 isn’t realistic and can’t be met under the plan with current technologies as it stands. The key bottom line here is that a PSC hearing could mark the beginning of a vital realignment, one that heeds the widespread warnings over affordability, feasibility, and reliability that have long been voiced by our Senate and Assembly minority conferences, as well as by the New York Independent Systems Operator (NYSIO), State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the Coalition for Safe and Reliable Energy, the Empire Center for Public Policy, and other independent watchdogs. It is important for all New Yorkers who have shared our concerns to continue to share them now during this public comment process to ensure that their voices continue to be heard moving forward.”

He added that CLCPA timeline changes advanced by Hochul in her proposed 2026-27 Executive Budget, subject to final negotiations with the Democrat-led State Legislature, “are insufficient and merely kick the can down the road for a very short time without addressing the root causes of the skyrocketing and unaffordable cost of energy for ratepayers.”