Commentary: To make energy more affordable, double down on renewables

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Recent gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia show that voters are concerned about energy affordability. Here in New York, residents and small businesses alike are worried about their energy bills going up.

Their concerns are justified. The proliferation of data centers is likely to increase energy demand faster than new energy supply can connect to the grid. Entrenched fossil fuel interests, and the politicians they lobby, advocate for continued state support for our oil and gas infrastructure, urging us to keep old power plants open longer than necessary and to build new natural gas pipelines. They are also pushing to weaken New York’s signature climate change law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

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These same fossil fuel interests peddle a narrative that clean energy goals, and........

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