Among the savviest phrases in American politics is “controlling the narrative.” That means telling a story your way, before someone else tells it \u2014 and possibly tells it better \u2014 their way. Sometimes it even means spinning a policy narrative so that the public never hears of the underlying policy failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good example of that will occur this week with Governor Hochul\u2019s \u201cFuture Energy Economy Summit<\/u><\/a>.\u201d The Summit, being held in Syracuse, N.Y., is being advertised as an opportunity for policymakers to \u201cgather feedback on strategies to accelerate renewable energy deployment and explore the potential role of next generation clean energy technologies\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Summit comes on the heels of gathering criticisms of the Hochul Administration\u2019s implementation of New York\u2019s <\/a>Climate Law<\/u><\/a>. The Climate Law was approved five years ago and sets the state on a path toward \u201cnet zero\u201d greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of this Century. The \u201cnet zero\u201d goal is consistent with the <\/a>standard<\/u><\/a> set by the world\u2019s climate scientists who have warned that in order to avoid the worst consequences of global heating, all nations need to adhere to the net zero goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New York\u2019s law set interim goals designed to guide policymakers as benchmark steps to meet the goals advised by the world\u2019s climate experts. Those interim <\/a>goals<\/u><\/a> commit the state to generate 70 percent of its electricity from renewable power sources and achieve a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the Climate Law was passed the state then convened a panel of \u201cstakeholders\u201d to develop a detailed blueprint to meet those interim goals. The panel was chosen, and their work completed after a public hearing process and other ways to allow input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their blueprint, known as the \u201cScoping Plan,\u201d was <\/a>released<\/u><\/a> at the end of 2022. Among its findings was one that stated that unless measures were taken, New Yorkers faced a considerable <\/a>financial<\/u><\/a> risk from climate-change impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the ensuing five-year period, it has become clear that the state did not do enough to meet the law\u2019s requirements as well as the recommendations made in the Scoping Plan. <\/a>Reviews<\/u><\/a> of the state\u2019s efforts, both <\/a>inside<\/u><\/a> and <\/a>outside<\/u><\/a> state government, found that far too little was accomplished \u2014 largely due to an anemic response by the Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that it looks increasingly clear that the state will miss its first benchmark, the governor has organized the Energy Summit. In an apparent effort to help change the narrative for a policy failure, one key element of the Summit is to gather \u201cfurther input on technologies,\u201d such as \u201cadvanced nuclear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nuclear power has been an ongoing controversy since the <\/a>near-meltdown<\/u><\/a> at a Pennsylvania plant in the 1970s. Since then, the nation has had a near freeze on expanding its use. Here in New York, four ancient nuclear power <\/a>plants<\/u><\/a> are operating north of Syracuse and continuing to run due to multi-billion-dollar ratepayer <\/a>subsidies<\/u><\/a> \u2014 meaning all electric consumers are propping up these old plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The governor\u2019s mention of \u201cadvanced nuclear\u201d is the product of Congressional <\/a>legislation<\/u><\/a> approved by President Biden earlier this year. The <\/a>ADVANCE<\/u><\/a> Act, aims to further streamline permitting for new reactor designs, <\/a>change<\/u><\/a> the Nuclear Regulatory Commission\u2019s mission to not only protect public health and safety but also to protect the financial<\/em> health of the nuclear power industry, and promote deployment across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problems with constructing nuclear power plants are massive \u2014 given the legitimate safety concerns. Nuke plants have been <\/a>plagued<\/u><\/a> with construction delays, cost overruns<\/a>, taxpayer subsidies, dangerous risks<\/a> from uranium mining, and serious problems with the lack of long-term spent radioactive fuel storage capacity. To date, the only long-term spent radioactive fuel storage occurs on the <\/a>site<\/u><\/a> of the facility itself. So, each nuclear power plant location is also a radioactive waste site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, the new \u201cadvanced nuclear\u201d technology has problems. A project to build a first-of-a-kind small modular nuclear reactor power plant was <\/a>terminated<\/u><\/a> earlier this year. The project had the only<\/em> small modular nuclear reactor design certified for use in the United States. The company cited lack of consumer interest and cost increases as the main reasons. The story is the same <\/a>elsewhere<\/u><\/a>, as delays, huge cost overruns and the dropping cost of solar and wind power make \u201cnew wave\u201d nuclear power a questionable option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In New York, however, the mere advancement of the concept will change the narrative and force a public debate over nuclear power and divert attention from the state\u2019s failure to meet the Climate Law\u2019s 2030 goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n New York\u2019s science based goals are too important to get lost in the debate. New Yorkers should continue to hold the Hochul Administration\u2019s \u201cfeet to the fire\u201d and demand that it follows the law\u2019s mandates. There is too much at stake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Among the savviest phrases in American politics is “controlling the narrative.” That means telling a story your way, before someone else tells it \u2014 and possibly tells it better \u2014 their way. Sometimes it even means spinning a policy narrative so that the public never hears of the underlying policy failure. A good example of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3077,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076\/revisions\/3077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}