Excerpt:
By ADAM ATON
The cost of Democrats’ pivot to an energy affordability agenda appears to be climate action, particularly in blue states along the East Coast.
The states that had taken the biggest swings at cutting emissions during the Biden administration are stepping back from their old playbook. Now, they’re pulling money away from programs to save power and boost renewables to instead cut utility bill charges and offer energy rebates, my colleague Marie J. French and I report today.
The reversal comes in response to rising electricity prices as well as President Donald Trump’s decimation of renewable energy subsidies. Democratic governors — including more than a few on the ballot themselves this November — say their new focus on cutting energy costs is a political necessity ahead of the midterms.
“We can’t ask Rhode Island ratepayers to bear the brunt of Trump’s chaos in Washington,” Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) said recently. “There’s a new landscape, and we all need to realize that.”
Just a few years after signing his state’s aggressive climate legislation into law, McKee now is proposing to delay Rhode Island’s renewable energy standard, curb solar incentives and cap utilities’ energy efficiency spending.
It’s the same story up and down the East Coast. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is pushing to weaken her state’s signature climate law. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) is looking to use clean energy funding to offset rising bills. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) dropped his state’s bid to join the Northeast’s cap-and-trade system for electricity. And Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) backs legislation to cut ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs.
…
