The move puts New York’s clean energy plans in doubt.
The move puts New York’s clean energy plans in doubt. ·  View in browser
NEWSLETTER
 
President Trump’s executive order could throw a major wrench in New York’s climate agenda, since the state — like many of its East Coast peers — is counting on the projects to meet its climate targets. Photos: Angelino Santos / Getty; Gage Skidmore / Flickr; whitehouse.gov | Illustration: Leor Stylar
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to halt all new approvals for offshore wind, which New York is counting on to meet climate law targets.
By Colin Kinniburgh

Donald Trump wasn’t kidding.

He told supporters on the campaign trail that he would halt offshore wind projects on “day one” of his second term. On Monday, the new president issued an executive order doing just that.

The order suspended new federal leases, permits, and other approvals for wind projects, and targeted the large offshore installations that the federal government has the most authority over. The move could throw a major wrench in New York’s climate agenda, since the state — like many of its East Coast peers — is counting on the projects to meet its climate targets.

Recent Stories

 
 
At the end of 2023, more than $389,000 in fire relief funding raised by the Bronx Community Foundation remained unspent. Photos: Office of Mayor Eric Adams
The Bronx Community Foundation spent almost none of the funds it raised for victims of the 2022 Twin Parks apartment fire.
By Sam Mellins

When a devastating fire ripped through the Twin Parks apartment complex in the Bronx three years ago, leaving 17 dead and dozens injured and homeless, the Bronx Community Foundation sprang into action.

By the end of the day, the organization, which was founded in 2017 to support social services nonprofits in the Bronx, had started a fundraising drive for the fire’s victims. The foundation said it was “working with community members, partners and local elected officials to mobilize resources as quickly as possible.” Both Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul’s offices promoted the foundation’s effort, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Two years later, internal financial audits show, almost all of that money was still sitting in the bank.

 
Initial reporting on the State of the State book, based on the advance copy, noted the one-year deadline for regulations on greenhouse gas reporting. It was easy to miss that it had since been removed. Photo: Governor Kathy Hochul / Illustration: New York Focus
The change was among a handful of eleventh-hour tweaks to Hochul’s policy briefing book.
By Colin Kinniburgh

When Governor Kathy Hochul’s office sent reporters an advance copy of her 2025 policy agenda before her State of the State address on Tuesday, it contained surprisingly few details on what was expected to be the centerpiece of her climate agenda: a carbon pricing program known as cap and invest. The brief, vague mention of the program implied that she was shelving it, in a major setback for climate action.

There was one concrete commitment left to hang onto. The governor said her agencies would release a portion of the rules to structure the program by the end of the year.

A few hours later, though, when the final version of the book was published online, that self-imposed deadline had disappeared. The document said only that regulators would “take steps forward” on the regulations “over the coming months.”

 

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Staying Focused is compiled and written by Alex Arriaga
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