Governor Hochul of New York state, along with former governor Andrew Cuomo, have opposed major proposals that would have connected Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale gas production to New England via New York. The cancelled projects include the Constitution pipeline and the Access Northeast enhancement to the existing Algonquin pipeline. The failure to increase pipeline capacity has resulted in predictable delivery bottlenecks and higher energy costs in New England states. Sharp price increases in recent years have led to noticeably higher monthly bills for heating and electricity. Electricity prices are affected because electricity generation also depends on natural gas. The scale of rate hikes has caught many in New England by surprise, often leaving families struggling to pay.

It should not have surprised anyone who was following the developments. New York and New England have both set ambitious decarbonization goals and together are part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which explains why New England states did not oppose New York state’s effort to throttle gas coming from Pennsylvania. Now the citizens of New England are paying the price for their prior wishful thinking (or should I say non-thinking) when the impactful policies were instituted.

Most people in the modern world are completely divorced from knowledge of where and how their electricity and gas are generated and transmitted to their homes. They feel secure that others in positions of authority have a good handle on all those matters, but close inspection will tell you that is not the case. The elected officials and their supporters in New York and New England are profoundly ignorant of physics, engineering, and economics. I always thought that it was axiomatic that no one would entrust someone with keeping their homes warm and lit if they had majored in gender and environmental studies in college, but I must be old-fashioned in that respect.

However, the saying “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop” applies to the situation in New England, New York, and the country in general. The path that we were recently on of subsidizing expensive renewable energy and restricting our use of abundant fossil fuels was unsustainable. In last year’s presidential election, a majority of the electorate came to that conclusion and soon the residents of New York, New England, and the other blue states will be forced to deal with reality too.

Image from Grok.