New York must lead the country in green jobs and renewable energy in order to move to carbon-based fuels in the decades ahead, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.
“It is more difficult than I said, and that is why so little has been done and so much said,” said Cuomo in the third part of his four-day agenda for the state of the state set this week.
Cuomo's energy policy is largely centered around four broad areas: building large renewable energy projects; Ending reliance on green technology from other countries in New York; Increase in transmission; and training a workforce to set up these projects.
Cuomo wants to create thousands of jobs, bring in wind and solar energy worth billions of dollars, and solve the annoying and long-standing puzzle of energy transmission from the state of New York to the metropolitan area.
The effort is designed to combat climate change and get the state out of an economic crisis that has flooded its finances amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This will help fuel the state's economic recovery from the pandemic while paving the way for the new green economy,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo wants to build wind turbines in the capital region and create 500 jobs. This equipment would, in turn, be used to build offshore wind farms. Overall, Cuomo expects the effort to create 17,000 jobs in New York and generate $ 26 billion in investments.
Cuomo also called for renewed efforts to bring energy from the North Country region to the New York City region – a longstanding and complex problem that has had no solution in decades.
“Candles can't power the future,” said Cuomo. “Bit by bit or random efforts will fail. We need a transforming green energy system.”
Cuomo announced earlier Tuesday that it would invest in the performing arts and rely on rapid COVID-19 tests to keep parts of the economy open in the new year as the pandemic continues and vaccine rollouts are delayed.
On Thursday, Cuomo is expected to announce its plans to strengthen New York's infrastructure.