Council member Robert Leary is sponsoring a resolution at Monday night’s Town Board meeting expressing opposition to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

The resolution reads:

WHEREAS, Governor Hochul supports the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which aims to generate 70 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent zero-emission electricity by 2040, and

WHEREAS, it is commonly recognized that such an urgent timetable to accommodate the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, will severely test and challenge the financial stability of every Lancaster, New York household, and

WHEREAS, it is widely held that the existing power grid serving Lancaster, New York will become overburdened, and unable to absorb the increased demands that will necessarily attend the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, and

WHEREAS, specifically noting the long-term power losses attending the ice storm of March 2-3, 1976, the Blizzard of 1977, the October Surprise Storm of 2006, the November, 2014 storm, and more recently the December 23-25, 2022, blizzard, the geographic area of Lancaster, New York, historically, has been gravely impacted by such severe weather, and contemporaneously required reliable, alternative sources of energy, and

WHEREAS, the provisions of Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act will drastically reduce such alternative sources, and

WHEREAS, it is the very strong position and opinion of the Town of Lancaster's Emergency Medical Services, Fire Department, and Police Department that such energy limitations in times of weather or other civil emergency, will overwhelm their collective capabilities, and therefore, will pose a very substantial threat to the lives and safety of each and every resident of the Town of Lancaster.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that by virtue of the foregoing, the Town Board of Town of Lancaster expresses to Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature, it’s very strong opposition to the enactment of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.