THE ISSUE:

The state wants to fuel Empire State Plaza with a plant in Sheridan Hollow that would burn natural gas.

THE STAKES:

New York should build a plant that embraces renewable energy.

Few things are as damaging to the fight against climate change as hypocrisy. Too often, well-meaning environmental advocates undermine their credibility by failing to match their words with actions.

They preach water as they drink wine, in other words.

And so it goes with the state of New York, which talks a good game about embracing renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels but has pushed a plan that would burn natural gas to provide power to Empire State Plaza.

The proposal by the New York Power Authority and the state Office of General Services would install natural-gas fueled turbines at a state heating and cooling plant on Sheridan Avenue. Power from the facility would create a "microgrid" to produce most of the power needed to fuel the 96-acre plaza complex.

To the dismay of environmentalists, there is no evidence NYPA actually considered using renewable energy sources at the plant. It was natural gas, all the way, even though Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently pledged to make New York's electric supply carbon free by 2040.

Of course, the main source of natural gas in the Northeast is hydrofracking — a practice Mr. Cuomo banned in 2014 because, he said, it is damaging to the environment and public health. The governor was right, given the considerable evidence that fracking contaminates water supplies.

But it makes little sense to ban fracking in New York only to decide that the heart of state government should be powered by fracked natural gas.

It is also hypocritical. If fracking is bad for the environment, why should Empire State Plaza be lit by fracked gas from, say, Pennsylvania?

Decades ago, the power plant site was home to a trash-burning incinerator that polluted the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood, often covering it in soot. It was environmental racism at work: The neighborhood is home to many African-American families. After a long fight, the state in 1994 agreed to shutter the incinerator.

Today, the neighborhood around the plant is changing for the better. Once-blighted blocks to the west are lined by new Habitat for Humanity housing. To the east, blocks close to North Pearl Street and downtown Albany are filling in with high-end housing. It all represents real progress for the neighborhood.

It is an exaggeration to claim, as some opponents of the project do, that the state's plan threatens to return Sheridan Hollow to the bad old days of the incinerator. The plant burns natural gas now, after all, and that doesn't seem to have discouraged investment.

But it would be best if a remade Sheridan Hollow was home to a power plant that embraced the energy sources and technologies of the future.

That means New York should light Empire State Plaza with a power plant that matches the Cuomo administration's renewable energy goals and its stance against fracking.

Hypocrisy is a luxury this warming planet can't afford.