Looks like he's written off the Green vote
“Governor McKee continues to pin the blame of escalating energy prices on the very tools that serve to protect Rhode Island ratepayers from volatile supply costs and rising delivery costs,” said Emily Koo, Rhode Island Program Director for Acadia Center. “It is a glaring omission to report the costs of clean energy while ignoring all of the cost savings, one of the primary reasons for undertaking the energy transition in the first place. I would be surprised if the local businesses featured at tomorrow/today’s event have not themselves leveraged energy efficiency and solar to lower their energy usage and stabilize their energy supply costs – these are best practices, and they benefit all ratepayers.”
Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee is
responding to the climate denialism and dangerous energy policies of the Trump
Administration not by pushing back against fossil fuels and
championing renewable energy, but by embracing the logic coming out of D.C. and
advancing policies that undermine Rhode Island’s historic 2021 Act on Climate legislation.
Rhode Islanders received a preview of Governor McKee’s new
direction (which is not, truthfully, all that new) in his FY2027 Budget
proposal. As Acadia Center [pointed
out in a
recent press release:
“At a moment when federal clean energy support is eroding, Rhode Island should be doubling down on the tools still firmly within the state’s control. Instead, Governor McKee’s FY 2027 budget sadly mirrors the short-sighted policies of the Trump Administration, cutting renewables and energy efficiency and delivering what would be a major blow to Rhode Island’s clean energy economy.”
Read Acadia Center’s analysis here: Acadia
Center responds to severe clean energy rollbacks in Governor McKee’s proposed
FY2027 budget
I expect the Governor’s budget proposals to be more thoroughly critiqued on Wednesday, when Acadia Center, Climate Action Rhode Island, Clean Water Action, and Green Energy Consumers Alliance present on the budget at the Rhode Island State House, but on Monday Governor McKee will be signing an executive order to effectuate changes in Rhode Island policy to better conform the state to the McKee/Trump energy future.
The specifics of the executive order have not been released
to me, but I expect it may include measures such as delaying the Renewable
Energy Standard to 2050, capping funding for energy efficiency programs, and/or
levying substantial fees on solar developers, among other possibilities.
Governor McKee will sign his executive order on Monday at 11:30 am, backed by
millionaire plastic-industry executives such as Christopher
Roy, CEO of Toray Plastics; Felix
Brockmeyer, CEO of igus; and Craig Pickell,
CEO of Bullard Abrasives.
Governor McKee, says the press release, “will be
joined by local business leaders to share the impact of escalating energy
prices and to sign an Executive Order to help lower those prices and improve
transparency. The Executive Order supports the Governor’s efforts to seek $1
billion in energy relief over the next five years while maintaining an
affordable path to climate goals… The event also marks the launch of the
Governor’s Affordability for All agenda tour, a statewide effort to promote the
tax relief and savings plan included in his FY27 budget proposal.”
The Governor has long hinted at conforming to President
Trump’s will. In a statement celebrating a court win that restarted work
on Revolution Wind after President Trump’s first attempt to
shut down the project, McKee spoke of expanding fossil fuels, saying, “Increasing
our energy supply options is essential to lowering long-term costs. That’s why
my administration supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes
offshore wind, nuclear power, natural gas, and hydropower. This approach
diversifies our energy portfolio and keeps our energy system reliable.”
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont characterized
conversations between Governor McKee, Trump’s Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright,
and himself as “doing everything we can to get not just wind power,
solar power, but also what we can do in terms of natural gas, what we can do in
terms of nuclear power.”
Governor McKee’s FY 2027 budget proposal is only that, a
proposal. The General Assembly will shape the final budget over a months-long
process. There is plenty of time to push your Snators and Representatives to do
the right thing and reject Governor McKee’s Trump-shaped energy policies. There
is also an election in the fall, where you can let Governor McKee know
precisely how you feel about his capitulation to President Trump.
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