Five years ago, New York City celebrated Earth Day in the Empire State by filing a climate lawsuit against major oil and gas companies, a Hail Mary attempt after the state was dealt three defeats prior to the 2021 filing.

Fast forward to today when the nationwide climate litigation campaign is stumbling along and affordability is top of mind for consumers, 2026 New York is running far away from its 2021 self. Instead, the state’s leaders are sounding the alarm about its self-inflicted affordability crisis and scrambling to retract the policies that caused the current dire situation. Most notably, Governor Kathy Hochul has recently been pursuing plans to roll back the state’s landmark 2019 climate law over affordability concerns.’

And yet Governor Hochul can’t seem to pick a side. It’s no secret that New York is facing an energy crisis – a fact the governor acknowledged in her budget rally earlier this month. But when asked for a statement on a recent lawsuit filed against the state over its ban on fracking, her administration made it clear that they still aren’t ready to own their share of the blame in driving up costs. As Politico reports:

“’We do not comment on pending litigation, but Governor Hochul’s opposition to fracking has been very clear,’ said Ken Lovett, a spokesperson for the governor.” (emphasis added).

So, which is it? Can the governor stay quiet about the state’s destructive fracking ban while pretending to care about affordability? If the state wants to see real improvement in its sky-high costs, its leaders could try producing energy instead of shifting the goalposts on aspirational climate targets.

Read more on EIDClimate.

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