Executive Budget Proposal: Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation (TED), VII Part WW – Gas Bans
Governor Hochul’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2024 includes granting sweeping authority to The State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council (Code Council), an unelected body composed of Executive appointees, to gradually ban the use of natural gas and other fuels in the state of New York. This will artificially accelerate electrification of buildings by specific dates not tied to identified electric grid readiness despite serious concerns about the reliability of the electric grid articulated by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). Additionally, union leadership finds the provisions below particularly concerning for Western New York:
- The prohibition of the installation of gas equipment and buildings systems in new construction
- Starting Dec. 31, 2025, for new one-family homes, multi-family residential buildings of three stories or less
- Starting Dec. 31, 2028, for all multi-family residential and new commercial buildings
- The prohibition of the installations of gas space and water heating and related building systems when retrofitting
- Starting Jan. 1, 2030, for residential and multi-family buildings three stories or less
- Starting Jan. 1, 2035, for all multi-family and commercial buildings
- Requirement of certain building owners to submit energy benchmarking data annually to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) beginning May 1, 2025, the establishment of criteria for fines and compliance penalties resulting from the failure to meet benchmarking requirements and/or the failure to post energy grades, and public release of benchmarking data and compliance/non-compliance determinations.
Though the proposal includes several potential exemptions, they are at the discretion of the Code Council to grant or not, and the Code Council will periodically review and amend such exemptions as necessary leaving uncertainty for businesses and homeowners in planning for a safe, reliable, and affordable energy future.
The state should not limit consumer options without first demonstrating that there is a reliably working replacement in place. This is unsafe and unacceptable for the Western New York customers that National Fuel has been serving for more than100 years. Western New Yorkers are concerned with the dependence on a single energy system during extreme weather events in a region 40%-55% colder than downstate. The union shares those concerns and believes a smarter, safer, and more responsible plan exists for New York State to achieve a lower-carbon economy.
As New Yorkers continue to express their opposition to Governor Hochul’s gas bans, members of the NYS Senate and Assembly must reject her proposal and support a more realistic and responsible pathway forward without risking energy safety, reliability, and affordability.