GistFest
"New Yorkers to Switch to Electric Heat Under New “Green” Policies"
Story by GistFest
24 NOVEMBER 2023
According to a new study, New York may begin forcing New Yorkers to use electricity for home heating instead of fuel by 2030.
This new policy may have little impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
However, New York residents could face high heating bills.
The state is pushing residents to buy expensive electrified heat pumps to phase out the use of natural gas, oil, and propane systems.
Consequently, residents are curious about how this new development came about, how it works, and its pros and cons.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s Plan
New York’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act calls for reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050.
Consequently, Governor Hochul plans to ban gas stoves in newly constructed homes in the Empire State by 2025.
However, Governor Hochul’s proposal sparked outrage from most Empire Staters.
In addition, the opposition leaders said Hochul’s plan was just about “accumulating power to control the lives of ordinary people.”
Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
According to an Empire Center report, compulsory electrification in New York will have little impact.
The study revealed that the global effect of mandatory costly electrification would be a reduction of less than 0.05 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Considering the little impact this policy has on the environment, New Yorkers worry the policies will drive more homeowners out of town.
New Yorker’s Reaction to the Proposal
Following Governor Kathy Hochul’s announcement, several Empire Staters took to social media to express their outrage.
While a few state residents loved the plan, most kicked against it.
Empire Center fellow James Hanley said that the Governor is acting without regard for consumer preference.
In addition, Hanley said that the Governor didn’t consider homeowner costs or other cost-effective means of reducing gas emissions.
“Homeowners Should Have a Say”
Aside from faulting Governor Hochul’s plan for its lack of consideration, Hanley says homeowners should have a say.
He argues that it should be up to homeowners to decide what they want in their homes.
“This is the fundamental problem at the heart of New York’s command-and-control attempt to restructure its economy to make what amounts to barely detectable reductions in global emissions,” Hanley said.
“Albany can ban things, but it can’t control how people replace them,” He added.
Governor Hochul’s Office Rebuttal
Following Hanley’s comments on Hochul’s plan, her office rebutted.
“Under the status quo, New York consumers are stuck with dramatic fluctuations on utility bills and sky-high costs after extreme weather events.” a rep for the Governor said.
The rep also said Governor Kathy Hochul plans to make the clean energy revolution affordable for New Yorkers.
In addition, the Governor’s representative revealed that she’s invested nearly $1.6 billion on energy affordability initiatives.
The Electrification Budget
While rebutting Hanley’s claims, Hochul’s office revealed that the current state budget includes $200 million.
This budget is to ease the high electric bills for 800,000 households whose family income is under $75,000.
In addition, Hochul’s office revealed that there is a separate $200 million fund.
This fund is to help 20,000 low-income families upgrade their homes by adding insulation or buying new energy-efficient appliances.
The Electrification Cost on Middle-Class Empire State Homeowners
Experts suggest that heat pump installation costs will be a burden even with state and federal subsidies.
According to research, installing a heat pump and weatherizing a home costs between $14,600 to $46,200.
Consequently, the electrification cost will take up about 20% to 70% of the middle-class homeowners.
On the contrary, the Governor insists that participating families will pay no more than 6% of their incomes on electricity.
The Statistics
According to reports, over six million residential units in New York use fuels for heating. In addition, over five million also use them for hot-water heating, and over four million use them for cooking.
While most homes use natural gas, more than 1.7 million New Yorkers reportedly use propane, heating oil, or kerosene for heat.
However, reports suggest over a million also use those fuels for hot water.
Experts Say the Heat Pumps Are Not Effective
The skyrocketing cost of electrification has aroused concerns.
However, experts are worried that electric heat, the city’s preference, doesn’t work as well as boilers that burn fossil fuels.
Bob Friedrich, board president of Glen Oaks Village in northeastern Queens, the city’s largest garden-apartment complex, warns that heat pumps for electrical systems “are only efficient for temperatures in the 30s and 40s.”
He added that below that, “they become less efficient to heat a home.”
The Real Estate Implications
Since real estate companies own rental apartment towers, they have a substantial revenue base.
Hence, the cost of heating might not be so much of a burden.
However, individual shareholders and owners will bear electric heating costs in Co-ops and Condos.
But do it, the city demands, or face enormous fines as high as $200 million.
Warren Schreiber, board president of Bay Terrace, said, “I’ve never had an issue that actually kept me awake at night.”
Effect on the State’s Electricity Grid
Aside from burning out the wallets of New Yorkers, the state’s compulsory electrification program will take a toll on the state’s electric grid.
Experts say heat pumps do not warm the air as much as fuel-fired furnaces.
Consequently, homeowners in colder areas may opt for more energy-intensive electric resistance furnaces.
Although these energy-intensive electric resistance furnaces have lower upfront costs, they cost more.
In addition, the widespread adoption of these furnaces will increase electricity demand.
The Future of Oil Distribution in the State
Since electrification seems like the way forward for New Yorkers, the future of oil in the state is bleak.
Whether homeowners choose heat pumps or electric resistance heaters, the future of oil and propane distribution firms appears dire.
In addition, propane furnaces will be out of the market between 2047 and 2050.
Similarly, oil furnaces would be extinct by 2056 and 2063.
Hence, reports suggest the home heating oil industry will also go out of business.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ne ... 840d&ei=35
CORRUPT AND INEPT GOVERNMENT
Re: CORRUPT AND INEPT GOVERNMENT
"Rensselaer County officials fight federal charges as trial looms - Three Rensselaer County officials facing federal criminal charges for voter fraud have filed pretrial motions challenging the government's case"
By Brendan J. Lyons, Albany, New York Times Union
April 18, 2024
TROY — Three Rensselaer County officials facing federal criminal charges for voter fraud have filed pretrial motions challenging the government’s case and seeking access to more of the evidence against them as their September trial date looms.
The pretrial motions reveal more details about the lengthy FBI investigation that focused on the actions of multiple Republican officials and had already led to the guilty pleas of former Troy Councilwoman Kimberly Ashe-McPherson and Jason T. Schofield, the county’s former Republican elections commissioner.
One of the motions, filed by Richard W. Crist, the county’s director of operations, contends the top count against him — conspiracy to violate constitutional rights — should be thrown out because he claims to have had no authority to hire or fire the employees who were reportedly intimidated to help gather absentee ballots in the 2021 election.
His attorney also argues that count should be dismissed because there was no federal election involved in the allegations.
The charges include allegations that the trio conspired to use their official positions to violate the constitutional rights of dozens of subordinate county employees to intimidate them into requesting and filing fraudulent absentee ballots in the 2021 election, when county Executive Steve McLaughlin, a former state Assemblyman, was seeking reelection.
In his motion to dismiss the top count against him, Crist contends he had no authority to hire or fire employees and therefore could not have acted “under color of law” to coerce anyone to commit a crime.
“I do not engage in direct supervision of any of Rensselaer County employees and do not have any authority to hire or fire anyone and lack authority to impose employee discipline,” Crist said in a declaration attached to his motion to dismiss the top charge.
The pretrial motions filed by Crist and codefendants James R. Gordon, director of the county’s Bureau of Central Services, and Leslie A. Wallace, a longtime political consultant and “assistant for constituent relations” in McLaughlin’s office, indicate the case is on course for trial in September and that there may be no plea bargain negotiations underway.
Crist’s motion was filed as he has joined in another motion with Wallace and Gordon that seeks to compel the government to turn over more of its evidence.
Federal prosecutors said they have already met their pretrial discovery obligations and will continue to do so.
In addition, Gordon is seeking to quash evidence against him that came from a mobile phone seized from a person whose name has been redacted in the court filings.
Wallace is also arguing that allegedly incriminating statements that she made to two FBI agents who confronted her outside her apartment in February 2022 should also be thrown out because she had repeatedly suggested they should speak to her attorney, former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel A. Abelove.
The motion by Wallace is scheduled to be the subject of a hearing next month at U.S. District Court in Albany.
In a response motion filed this week by the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany, assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett argued that Wallace’s “version of events is not credible” and is contradicted by the statements of the two FBI agents who interviewed her.
Wallace claims that just before 10 a.m. Feb. 3, 2022, it was raining heavily when two FBI agents knocked on her car window as she was leaving her apartment to go to work and asked her to step out of the vehicle.
They told her she was not in any trouble and just needed to ask her questions about the 2021 elections.
Her motion says she asked them if she needed an attorney and that they should speak with Abelove.
Wallace eventually told the agents to come inside her apartment and they interviewed her over the course of four hours.
At points, she contends, she cried as one of the special agents told her she was “implicated in this,” would go to prison and needed to answer their questions.
One of the charges against Wallace alleges that she lied to FBI agents.
The interview with Wallace took place the same morning that FBI agents seized mobile phones from Crist, Gordon and Sara J. McDermott, who also works for Rensselaer County.
McDermott has been described by county political insiders as a GOP operative but has not been accused of wrongdoing.
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent contradicts Wallace’s version of their confrontation outside her apartment and also the details of the subsequent interview that federal authorities say lasted more than five hours.
The motion filed by the Justice Department in response to Wallace’s motion asserts that initially she was not forthcoming with the FBI agents and “minimized her involvement and omitted information, requiring agents, in their questioning, to return to many events and conversations she had previously described, to make sure she was being truthful.”
“After Wallace told agents that she filled out approximately 150 to 200 absentee ballots of other voters Nov. 1, 2021, she asked agents if they thought she should get an attorney; they responded that they could not provide legal advice, and that the decision was hers to make,” the government’s motion states.
“Wallace never requested an attorney during the interview, nor did she ever mention that Joel Abelove was her attorney, nor did she ever seek to end the interview, nor did she ever ask agents to leave her apartment.”
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent says Wallace offered the two agents something to drink, was never threatened with arrest and had the ability to use her laptop and mobile phone, which she used while they were there to make calls and to send text messages to others.
He said that Wallace “spent time explaining to us and showing us, and emailing me, text messages, emails and documents from her phone and her computer that she said would be helpful to our investigation.”
But he said that Wallace also minimized her involvement in any criminal acts and omitted key information.
The agent said that Abelove called their office the next day, confirmed that he was Wallace’s attorney and asserted that she would continue to cooperate and provide additional information.
Days later, Abelove and Wallace went to the FBI’s Albany office, where she took part in another lengthy interview.
She also signed consent forms allowing FBI agents to search her mobile phone, laptop computer and Gmail account, according to the agent’s affidavit.
“She also provided agents with a thumb drive with additional evidence, and turned over paperwork and notes related to absentee ballots and other matters,” the agent’s affidavit states.
It’s unclear what evidence was gleaned from Wallace’s electronic devices or the paperwork she turned over to the FBI.
There is no timetable for when the federal judge in the case may rule on the pretrial motions.
Crist is a former news reporter and longtime GOP political operative in Rensselaer County who has wielded enormous influence in local politics and for many years has been McLaughlin’s political confidant.
Wallace is a former Republican legislative aide in the state Assembly and Senate.
Gordon is a former Troy mayoral candidate and a member of the North Greenbush Town Board.
Their arrests were the result of a federal grand jury investigation that went on for more than a year and focused on allegations of widespread ballot fraud.
“Their conduct violated the constitutional rights of Rensselaer County voters to have their votes counted equally as compared to votes cast by other voters, and made it more likely that the defendants’ preferred candidates would win the election,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a release.
In addition to the single count civil rights conspiracy charge, Gordon was charged with one count of witness tampering and Wallace was charged with one count of making false statements.
Crist, Gordon and Wallace each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to violate constitutional rights.
Gordon faces up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted of witness tampering.
The charge against Wallace for making false statements carries a five-year maximum sentence.
Schofield pleaded guilty more than a year ago to 12 counts of unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections held in 2021.
He resigned before pleading guilty and has not been sentenced.
He testified before the grand jury that indicted Crist, Gordon and Wallace.
Ashe-McPherson pleaded guilty to a single felony count in which she admitted to fraudulently submitting absentee ballots in the 2021 primary and general elections as she sought reelection to the city council.
She is also awaiting sentencing.
McLaughlin, the highest-ranking county official, has not been implicated in the federal voter fraud case.
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 0headlines
By Brendan J. Lyons, Albany, New York Times Union
April 18, 2024
TROY — Three Rensselaer County officials facing federal criminal charges for voter fraud have filed pretrial motions challenging the government’s case and seeking access to more of the evidence against them as their September trial date looms.
The pretrial motions reveal more details about the lengthy FBI investigation that focused on the actions of multiple Republican officials and had already led to the guilty pleas of former Troy Councilwoman Kimberly Ashe-McPherson and Jason T. Schofield, the county’s former Republican elections commissioner.
One of the motions, filed by Richard W. Crist, the county’s director of operations, contends the top count against him — conspiracy to violate constitutional rights — should be thrown out because he claims to have had no authority to hire or fire the employees who were reportedly intimidated to help gather absentee ballots in the 2021 election.
His attorney also argues that count should be dismissed because there was no federal election involved in the allegations.
The charges include allegations that the trio conspired to use their official positions to violate the constitutional rights of dozens of subordinate county employees to intimidate them into requesting and filing fraudulent absentee ballots in the 2021 election, when county Executive Steve McLaughlin, a former state Assemblyman, was seeking reelection.
In his motion to dismiss the top count against him, Crist contends he had no authority to hire or fire employees and therefore could not have acted “under color of law” to coerce anyone to commit a crime.
“I do not engage in direct supervision of any of Rensselaer County employees and do not have any authority to hire or fire anyone and lack authority to impose employee discipline,” Crist said in a declaration attached to his motion to dismiss the top charge.
The pretrial motions filed by Crist and codefendants James R. Gordon, director of the county’s Bureau of Central Services, and Leslie A. Wallace, a longtime political consultant and “assistant for constituent relations” in McLaughlin’s office, indicate the case is on course for trial in September and that there may be no plea bargain negotiations underway.
Crist’s motion was filed as he has joined in another motion with Wallace and Gordon that seeks to compel the government to turn over more of its evidence.
Federal prosecutors said they have already met their pretrial discovery obligations and will continue to do so.
In addition, Gordon is seeking to quash evidence against him that came from a mobile phone seized from a person whose name has been redacted in the court filings.
Wallace is also arguing that allegedly incriminating statements that she made to two FBI agents who confronted her outside her apartment in February 2022 should also be thrown out because she had repeatedly suggested they should speak to her attorney, former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel A. Abelove.
The motion by Wallace is scheduled to be the subject of a hearing next month at U.S. District Court in Albany.
In a response motion filed this week by the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany, assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett argued that Wallace’s “version of events is not credible” and is contradicted by the statements of the two FBI agents who interviewed her.
Wallace claims that just before 10 a.m. Feb. 3, 2022, it was raining heavily when two FBI agents knocked on her car window as she was leaving her apartment to go to work and asked her to step out of the vehicle.
They told her she was not in any trouble and just needed to ask her questions about the 2021 elections.
Her motion says she asked them if she needed an attorney and that they should speak with Abelove.
Wallace eventually told the agents to come inside her apartment and they interviewed her over the course of four hours.
At points, she contends, she cried as one of the special agents told her she was “implicated in this,” would go to prison and needed to answer their questions.
One of the charges against Wallace alleges that she lied to FBI agents.
The interview with Wallace took place the same morning that FBI agents seized mobile phones from Crist, Gordon and Sara J. McDermott, who also works for Rensselaer County.
McDermott has been described by county political insiders as a GOP operative but has not been accused of wrongdoing.
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent contradicts Wallace’s version of their confrontation outside her apartment and also the details of the subsequent interview that federal authorities say lasted more than five hours.
The motion filed by the Justice Department in response to Wallace’s motion asserts that initially she was not forthcoming with the FBI agents and “minimized her involvement and omitted information, requiring agents, in their questioning, to return to many events and conversations she had previously described, to make sure she was being truthful.”
“After Wallace told agents that she filled out approximately 150 to 200 absentee ballots of other voters Nov. 1, 2021, she asked agents if they thought she should get an attorney; they responded that they could not provide legal advice, and that the decision was hers to make,” the government’s motion states.
“Wallace never requested an attorney during the interview, nor did she ever mention that Joel Abelove was her attorney, nor did she ever seek to end the interview, nor did she ever ask agents to leave her apartment.”
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent says Wallace offered the two agents something to drink, was never threatened with arrest and had the ability to use her laptop and mobile phone, which she used while they were there to make calls and to send text messages to others.
He said that Wallace “spent time explaining to us and showing us, and emailing me, text messages, emails and documents from her phone and her computer that she said would be helpful to our investigation.”
But he said that Wallace also minimized her involvement in any criminal acts and omitted key information.
The agent said that Abelove called their office the next day, confirmed that he was Wallace’s attorney and asserted that she would continue to cooperate and provide additional information.
Days later, Abelove and Wallace went to the FBI’s Albany office, where she took part in another lengthy interview.
She also signed consent forms allowing FBI agents to search her mobile phone, laptop computer and Gmail account, according to the agent’s affidavit.
“She also provided agents with a thumb drive with additional evidence, and turned over paperwork and notes related to absentee ballots and other matters,” the agent’s affidavit states.
It’s unclear what evidence was gleaned from Wallace’s electronic devices or the paperwork she turned over to the FBI.
There is no timetable for when the federal judge in the case may rule on the pretrial motions.
Crist is a former news reporter and longtime GOP political operative in Rensselaer County who has wielded enormous influence in local politics and for many years has been McLaughlin’s political confidant.
Wallace is a former Republican legislative aide in the state Assembly and Senate.
Gordon is a former Troy mayoral candidate and a member of the North Greenbush Town Board.
Their arrests were the result of a federal grand jury investigation that went on for more than a year and focused on allegations of widespread ballot fraud.
“Their conduct violated the constitutional rights of Rensselaer County voters to have their votes counted equally as compared to votes cast by other voters, and made it more likely that the defendants’ preferred candidates would win the election,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a release.
In addition to the single count civil rights conspiracy charge, Gordon was charged with one count of witness tampering and Wallace was charged with one count of making false statements.
Crist, Gordon and Wallace each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to violate constitutional rights.
Gordon faces up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted of witness tampering.
The charge against Wallace for making false statements carries a five-year maximum sentence.
Schofield pleaded guilty more than a year ago to 12 counts of unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections held in 2021.
He resigned before pleading guilty and has not been sentenced.
He testified before the grand jury that indicted Crist, Gordon and Wallace.
Ashe-McPherson pleaded guilty to a single felony count in which she admitted to fraudulently submitting absentee ballots in the 2021 primary and general elections as she sought reelection to the city council.
She is also awaiting sentencing.
McLaughlin, the highest-ranking county official, has not been implicated in the federal voter fraud case.
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 0headlines