Authored by Irina Slav via Oilprice.com,

The American Petroleum Institute has attacked New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for his energy agenda, which, API New York executive director Karen Moreau said in a statement, is hurting the most vulnerable members of society.

The statement comes in response to Governor Cuomo’s refusal to renew the air quality permit of the gas-fired Competitive Power Ventures Power Plant in the state.

“Governor Cuomo has sided with environmental extremists over New York’s most vulnerable: low-income families and seniors,” Moreau said. “Gov. Cuomo’s actions to close Indian Point coupled with efforts to stifle new clean natural gas power generation are creating a manufactured, needless energy crisis throughout New York and the northeast that will harm residents in the region – disproportionately hurting low-income and elderly residents who rely upon affordable electricity to heat, cool, and power their homes.”

The New York Governor is on a quest to put an end to fossil fuel and nuclear power use in the state, and this quest has already cost New Yorkers substantial increases in their utility bills.

A May report from the Consumer Energy Alliance found that New Yorkers pay some 44 percent more for electricity than their neighbors in Pennsylvania, which has abundant gas reserves and the pipelines to send this gas to New York. In January 2018, the Alliance said, “spot market prices in the New York City region jumped to a record high of $140.25 for natural gas, as compared to the average natural gas spot market price for New York in 2017 was $3.08. New Yorkers were subjected to prices that were $137 higher due to self-inflicted capacity constraints created by their own elected officials.”

Also in May, Governor Cuomo said all natural gas plants operating in New York will be eventually closed and that he will not approve any new gas-fired plant projects.