The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
December 1, 2025
Dear Governor Hochul,
We the undersigned 175+ organizations represent hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who want to live in a state that is actively working to protect our health, economic well-being, and climate from the unprecedented attacks by the federal government.
You have the opportunity to advance energy affordability and a clean, healthy environment in New York by curtailing investments in gas infrastructure to reduce heating bills and expediting proven cost-effective investments in energy efficiency, weatherization, heat pumps, and solar.
Thank you for launching the $1 billion Sustainable Future Program in last year’s state budget. This program will directly benefit New Yorkers by making homes more energy-efficient, schools healthier and communities more resilient by driving investment in building upgrades that reduce energy consumption and shift to cleaner, cheaper renewable sources of heating.
In the coming months, we ask that you take the following urgent actions to continue the state’s progress:
- Sign A.8888/S.8417 to repeal the 100-foot rule and save New Yorkers $600 million annually in energy costs that go toward subsidizing gas expansion.
- Include in your executive budget proposal an amendment to the Public Service Law to update its obligation to serve gas to an obligation to serve fuel-agnostic heat to enable utilities to offer the most cost-effective solutions and avoid saddling energy customers with hundreds of billions of dollars of stranded assets.
- Commit to funding the critical Sustainable Future Program at more than $1 billion until the full implementation of the Clean Air Initiative, prioritizing such initiatives as Empower+, Thermal Energy Network projects, Clean Small Buildings program at HCR, and the Clean Green Schools program.
- Make energy affordability for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers a priority by investing $1 billion in EmPower+, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and the Green Affordable Pre-Electrification (GAP) Fund. These programs directly and sustainably reduce energy bills of our most vulnerable residents, reducing their reliance on other assistance programs.
- Reduce the energy costs of the 1.7 million home heating oil and propane customers by helping them install heat pumps, including a program to target LIPA customers, and direct the New York Green Bank to provide low-cost financing for such conversions to further increase savings.
- Support reduced electricity bills for New York households by increasing New York’s distributed solar installation goal to 20 gigawatts by 2035. Increase access to solar and address the federal Government’s rollback of renewables by increasing New York’s solar tax credit, modernizing it to include support for storage projects and making it refundable for low- and moderate-income households.
New York can be among the states showing the country that clean energy is affordable energy. In this historic moment, you can make people’s lives better by enacting policies that center immediately on impactful energy affordability measures, dramatically expediting investments that improve their homes and buildings, and avoiding costly investments in polluting gas infrastructure. With your leadership, these policies will result in lower energy bills, healthier communities, a thriving job market, and a cleaner, greener future for all.
Sincerely,
350Brooklyn
350NYC
64 Solar
718 Solar
Adirondack Community Action Programs, Inc.
Adirondack Voters for Change
ALIGN
Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE)
All Our Energy
American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY)
American Lung Association
Ampion, PBC
Association for Energy Affordability (AEA)
Atlantic Coast Conference Climate Justice Coalition
Bedford 2030
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Best Energy Power
Big Reuse
Bright Power
Brightcore Energy
Brooklyn SolarWorks
Buffalo Geothermal LLC
Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC)
Campaign for Renewable Energy
Capital Region Interfaith Creation Care Coalition (CRICCC)
Catholic Divestment Network
Catskill Mountainkeeper
Crauderueff Solar
Cayuga Climate Action
Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York (CIDNY)
Church Women United in New York State
Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls
Clean+Healthy
Climate Change and Environmental Alliances
Climate Crisis Working Group (IMV)
Climate Families NYC
Climate Reality Project New York State Chapters Coalition
Climate Solutions Accelerator
CNY Solidarity Coalition
Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline
Columbia Opportunities
Communities For Local Power
Community Action of Orleans and Genesee
Community Development Long Island (CDLI)
Community Preservation Corporation
Concerned Health Professionals of New York
Cortland County Community Action Program, Inc. (CAPCO)
Crown Heights Jewish Community Council
Delaware-Otsego Audubon Soc. (NY)
Don’t Waste New York
Dryden Solutions
Earthjustice
EarthKind Energy Consulting
Economic Opportunity Program, Inc of Chemung and Schuyler Counties
Egg Energy Systems, inc
Empire Clean Energy Supply
EmPower Solar
Environmental Advocates NY
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Justice Ministry of First Unitarian Church of Rochester
Fieldston Power
Finger Lakes Community Action
Food & Water Watch
For the Many
Fossil Free Tompkins
Frack Action
FrackBustersNY
Fridays for Future Capital District NY
Grassroots Environmental Education
Green Education and Legal Fund
Green Party of Onondaga County
GreeningUSA
Greenfaith
GreenSpark Solar
HabitatMap
Halco Home Solutions
HANAC, Inc
Housing Conservation Coordinators
Indivisible Harlem
Indivisible New Rochelle
JCEO WAP
Jewish Climate Action Network NYC
Kendall Sustainable Infrastructure
Kinetic Communities
LaMorte Electric Heating and Cooling
Lewis County Opportunities, Inc.
Living City Project
Long Island Progressive Coalition
Margert Community Corporation
Mid-Hudson Energy Transition
Mothers Out Front – NY
Mothers Out Front – Dutchess County
Mothers Out Front – Northern Westchester
Mothers Out Front- Westchester Rivertowns
Mothers Rebellion Tompkins
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Network for a Sustainable Tomorrow
New Yorkers for Clean Power (NYCP)
New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST)
New York Climate Action Group
New York Energy Democracy Alliance
New York Geothermal Energy Organization (NY-GEO)
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV)
New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN)
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
NY Renews Coalition, 400+ Organizations across NY
New York Solar Energy Industries Association
New York Solar Energy Society
New York State Weatherization Directors Association
New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management
Newburgh Clean Water Project
Niagara Community Action Program, Inc.
NOON – Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE)
Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY
Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC)
NYCD16/15 Indivisible
NYPAN Environmental Committee
PathStone
PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy)
Peace Action New York State
PEER: Progressive East End Reformers
PhRGD LLC
Physicians for Social Responsibility – New York
Pratt Center for Community Development
Progressive Schenectady
PUSH Buffalo
Putnam Progressives
RAICA Rochester Area Interfaith Climate Action
Regional Plan Association
Renewable Energy Long Island
Renewable Heat Now
Residents Allied for the Future of Tioga (RAFT)
Rewiring America
Rise and Resist
Rivers & Mountains GreenFaith
Roctricity LLC
St. Lawrence County C.D.P, Inc
Sane Energy Project
Seneca Lake Guardian
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Solar Energy Systems LLC
Solar One
Solar Liberty
Solar Simplified
Solarize Albany
Solitude Solar
South Country Unites, Brookhaven
Stoneleigh Housing, Inc.
Students for Climate Action
SUNY New Paltz Environmental Task Force
Sunkeeper Solar Electric LLC
Sunrise NYC
Supportive Services Corporation
Sustainable Putnam
Sustainable Westchester
Syracuse Cultural Workers
Syracuse Peace Council
Third Act NYC
Third Act Upstate New York
TIAA-Divest!
Tioga Opportunities, Inc.
Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative
Tulinde
Ulster County Community Action
United for Action
United For Clean Energy
Urban Green Council
Urban Jobs Task Force
Urbecon LLC
UU Congregation of Binghamton, Green Sanctuary
Village of Sleepy Hollow
Vote Solar
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Westchester Community Opportunity Program Inc.
Western NY Drilling Defense
Western New York Environmental Alliance