On Friday, The American Thinker posted an article about the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), now in the New York state budget.
The article reports:
Ever hear of the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA)? Sounds great, doesn’t it? Yet, like “The Inflation Reduction Act” (the largest climate legislation in government history), its title has very little to do with its actual purpose. Its true objective is to empower the state (in this case New York) “to provide clean energy if the private sector fails to.”
Still sounds great! There is, however, one little catch: the private sector has until 2030 to provide clean energy. We all know that, given today’s technology, the private sector isn’t going to meet this requirement — which means that the second little catch will kick in: the moving of power utilities out of private hands into publicly owned facilities. In fact, BPRA, now in the New York state budget, is viewed as a massive challenge to fossil fuel hegemony and a major victory for public power. The BPRA requires and empowers the New York Power Authority (NYPA) “to rapidly build renewable energy infrastructure to meet the goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2030.”
Except for the 100% clean energy part, still sounds pretty good. But here’s where the act begins to cause concern. The BPRA is laying the foundation for a socialized electrical grid. This from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) themselves. “A socialist strategy would put unions, industrial expertise, and clean energy writ large at the center of the bill,” begins this article. “New York is moving closer to public ownership and operation of renewable power,” says this article.
The act requires that all state-owned properties that currently receive power from the NYPA utilize only renewable energy by 2030. It also requires municipally owned properties, including hospitals, schools, public housing, and public transit, to switch to renewable energy by 2035. The act calls for NYPA, which built six natural gas–fired “peaker plants” in 2001 to meet energy demands during peak times, such as the hottest days of summer and coldest days of winter, to phase them out.
The act further directs the NYPA (founded in 1931 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was designed to provide low-cost electricity across New York state) to plan, build, and operate renewable energy projects across the state to meet the ambitious timetable to decarbonize the grid mandated by the Climate Act of 2019.
Please follow the link to the article to read the details. The eventual outcome of this policy is the state telling you how much energy you are entitled to use. People who live alone will probably not get the energy allotment needed to heat a house and cook meals. They will have to make choices. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?