New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo presented a seven-point overview of government priorities in his State of the State address Monday, ranking the transition to a green economy number five after defeating the pandemic and meeting its associated challenges.

“We will launch the most aggressive green economy program in the country,” Cuomo said.

State officials last July announced New York’s largest-ever package of renewable energy solicitations, seeking a combined 4 GW of offshore wind, onshore wind and solar power. (See NY Announces 4 GW in Clean Energy RFPs.)

The governor promised in the coming days to give three separate and more detailed descriptions of his program for the state. The priorities include:

• defeating the coronavirus pandemic;
• increasing the pace of vaccinations;
• dealing with the short-term economic crisis;
• planning the economic resurgence;
• seizing the opportunity to make New York the leader in a green economy;
• capitalizing on the changes, i.e., with clean energy jobs; and
• addressing systemic injustices of inequity, racism and social abuse.

Green Energy Capital

“What will we make of this moment? Will we move forward, or will we move backward?” Cuomo said of the many challenges facing New York.

Climate change is the existential threat, he said.

“New York will be the green energy capital of the world,” Cuomo said. “We will not only construct renewable projects, we will develop manufacturing capacity, research and development expertise and state-of-the-art worker retraining, all here in New York, and we will do it this year.”

The day before, Cuomo announced a proposal to prohibit utility disconnections under any state of emergency and will propose legislation to ensure the availability of electric and other utility services to all New Yorkers. Utilities that fail to comply will be subject to penalties.

“In a year in which we dealt with an unprecedented pandemic, ferocious storms added insult to injury by knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers,” the governor said. “Utility companies provide essential services, and we need to make sure they continue to provide them, rain or shine. That’s why we’re proposing legislation to make sure that New Yorkers, especially those living in regions under states of emergency, have access to these critical services to provide for themselves and their families.” (See “Utilities Must ‘Show Cause’ on Isaias Response,” NYPSC OKs First Rate Increases Since COVID Outbreak.)

Economic Justice

Unlike other states, New York had no notice and no time to prepare for the spread of COVID-19, Cuomo said.

“As soon as we found out, the COVID enemy was already amongst us and had been coming for months,” he said. “We just saw the same federal negligence reenacted when it failed to test travelers from the U.K., where a new strain of the virus had been detected. The United States did nothing, even though 120 other countries had already acted.

“New Yorkers were called on to flatten the curve created by federal failure,” he continued. “New Yorkers cannot now be asked to pay the financial bill for federal incompetence. New Yorkers already paid too high a cost.”

The pandemic is a national crisis rather than a state or regional one, but the federal government delegated authority to the governors without providing the resources, he said.

“Washington passed the buck without passing the bucks,” Cuomo said. “And again in December, Congress failed this nation when it failed to pass state and local financing during the last legislative session. This is a national challenge; it is a war, and like every war before, it must be financed by Washington. If the federal government needs revenue, it should raise income taxes on the wealthy to finance the states’ resurgence from this national devastation. That is basic economic justice — and economic prudence.”