Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's a debate that continues to catch a lot of attention from a number of elected leaders not only at the state level of government, but also at the local level in Western New York.
The proposed natural gas ban as part of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's state budget this year is going to garner even more discussion over the coming weeks, as Democratic-led Legislators in Albany make a push for eventually prohibiting the installation of equipment in homes and businesses that use natural gas. The proposed plan would also bans any supply, distribution, or delivery of fossil fuels for any purpose to new buildings.
The purpose of the proposal is an attempt to help make New York an environmentally greener state, while also relying less on the need for fossil fuels.
A large number of Republicans have attempted to push back hard on the proposal, including many in state government who are calling it a poorly thought out process that will have little-to-no impact on climate change.
Related
However, there may be more Democrats - especially from Western New York - who are hitting the pause button when it comes to their full support of the proposed plan.
Although he doesn't oppose a switch from natural gas to other forms of energy like electric or geothermal alternatives, State Sen. Sean Ryan admits there needs to be much more discussion before moving forward with any plans to push away from natural gas, especially for people's homes.
"We need to really look at places like Western New York, we need to make sure that our homes are insulated, and that we're using less energy by conserving energy," said Sen. Ryan during an appearance on WBEN on Thursday. "The idea of switching to electric power in Western New York is sort of fanciful, when you consider the fact that most houses in Western New York were built way before World War II and are not insulated. So if we just switched from gas power to electric, but we're still inefficiently burning a lot of fuel, whether it's from electricity or gas, we're just creating a system that perpetuates waste. Worse than that, it would just mean with poorly insulated houses, you're gonna have to build a lot more windmills or import a lot more electricity from Ohio that's probably generated by coal. So we're not really to the point yet of a holistic energy policy."
While it may be a different solution for different parts of the state, Sen. Ryan believes the answer for Western New York's energy alternative will be geothermal heating. Regardless of the fact, the senator acknowledges that nothing is going to happen too quickly in this process.
Related
Closer to home, some pushback on the natural gas ban is starting to come from more Democrats, including Buffalo Common Councilman Joe Golombek, who believes the reality of the proposed plan being able to work is a concern, especially if Buffalo and Western New York is devastated by another major winter storm.
"The last storm that we had in December, I had about 10 or 12 streets that lost electricity for anywhere from a couple of days to several days. I had people that were literally freezing in their houses. It's unacceptable, to be quite honest with you, for it to happen now," said Golombek, who represents the North District in the council. "And if we force everyone to go to electricity, all we're going to be doing is putting more stress on the grid, and I think we're going to have more problems like that. In that situation, it wouldn't be the politicians creating a problem for people."
Golombek's concerns with the proposal from New York State even reached the Common Council's session on Tuesday with a resolution brought up for discussion. A number of members of the Common Council - all Democratic - also spoke on the matter, bringing up not only their concerns with the proposal, but also other concerns constituents of their district.
While Golombek and other members of the Buffalo Common Council feel the proposal has its good intentions, it just has not been thought out well enough for State Legislators to push it through and into law.
"It's going to harm middle class people, working class people more than it does anybody else, because they're going to end up having to pay for this. Equity in your home is going to be slashed if you have gas and not electric. There's just all sorts of things that I don't think have been well thought out," Golombek said during a recent appearance on WBEN. "But that's not really a big surprise when you look at who runs Albany: The people from New York City."
So what does it all mean when more-and-more Democratic leaders, especially in Western New York, start to speak out in their own way on how the process is being handled with such a hot-button topic?
"It probably means that the proposal isn't exactly that popular," said Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University at Buffalo, Shawn Donahue. "I think we have to think about there's probably a lot of Western New Yorkers that have a gas stove, or probably like having their gas stoves, and they may be reaching out to their members of the Legislature and letting them know their opinion on it."
Donahue believes this proposal from New York State has been getting plenty of attention from people around the country, not just in New York, perhaps seeing this as more of a government overreach.
Much of the debate between the parties - primarily from Republicans - has already put discussions on the matter in a stalemate. While Democrats who support this plan feel a resolution can be reached, others want no part of coming to terms to make this work in any reasonable fashion.
If that happens to remain the case by the time the state budget is due on April 1, it may be very possible this proposal gets tabled and needing more time to come up with a better solution in the end.
"Democrats do have a substantial majority in both chambers of the Legislature, but the majority are not all from New York City. I think it'll be interesting to see if we start to see other Legislators from possibly in the city or the suburbs, or other parts of Upstate also come out opposed to this," Donahue points out. "I think it's something that you really have to doubt if the Governor is willing to have the entire budget go down just for this one proposal."
Donahue adds the question going forward in the coming days and week may lie in where some of the more moderate and pragmatic Democrats will come out on the issue.
More from our conversation with Donahue is available in the player below: