![]() ![]() Texas is building long-distance transmission for wind farms. Connecticut has established a green bank. California has a cap-and-trade program for heat-trapping gases. State governments have stepped into the breach. These attributes and others make it exceedingly difficult to enact federal legislation sufficient in scale and ambition to respond to climate change. Incumbent interests have considerable power to block change. High levels of consensus are required before significant action can be taken. The US federal government was designed to move slowly. Although President Donald Trump and his appointees have sought to use the federal government to slow and in some cases reverse the transition to clean energy, problems predate President Trump and will continue after he leaves office. This dynamic is not solely the result of the Trump administration. With heat-trapping gases accumulating steadily in the atmosphere, climate disasters abounding and the US federal government unable or unwilling to mount an effective response, state governments are playing important roles in promoting clean energy and responding to climate change. ![]() INTRODUCTIONĪlmost 90 years ago, US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis described states as “laboratories of democracy.” Today, states are laboratories of clean energy. One of the authors, Richard Kauffman, played a central role in the development of those programs as New York State “Energy Czar” from 2013 to 2019 and continues to serve as Chair of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This commentary proposes four principles to guide state governments in spending limited funds to promote clean energy and discusses recent programs that applied those principles in New York State. For state governments to continue playing important roles in promoting clean energy, they will need to adopt strategies that leverage their limited funds. Tax revenues are plummeting and social service expenses increasing, leaving budget shortfalls projected to exceed $750 billion over the next three years. The COVID-19 pandemic is creating extraordinary financial challenges for state governments. ![]()
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