The message to members of Southern Tier Tea Party Patriots at their Nov. 26 meeting at the Lakewood American Legion was that Gov. Cuomo and the Democrat-controlled legislature are hurting New York state.

“They are turning our state into the Second California,” the organization said. “Based upon junk, pseudoscience, Senate Bill S6599 (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) was passed and signed by Cuomo.”

Here is a partial list of what the bill stipulates: a climate action plan; establishing a state energy planning board; reducing greenhouse gas emission levels by 40% by 2030; producing 70% of electricity from renewable sources; reducing 100% of the electricity sector’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2040; hard caps set on greenhouse gas emissions from all sources by 2050; and creating a comprehensive regulatory program.

Marc Morano of CFACT and author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change,” stated: “Climategate pulls back the curtain on a scene of pettiness, turf protection, manipulation, defiance of freedom of information, lost or destroyed data and attempts to blacklist critics or skeptics of the global warming cause. Science has gone to bed with advocacy.”

In a letter to the president of Sahlen Packing in Buffalo, and viewed by members, Jeff Kwiatkowski, Energy Consultant for National Fuel, expressed alarm over this bill.

“Transforming an economy as large as New York’s into a net-zero emission model is no simple feat,” he said. “Some have suggested that these targets will be achieved through complete electrification of your homes, vehicles and businesses.”

Natural gas severely will be restricted. The impact on businesses and on the New York economy will be enormous. Large industrial companies cannot feasibly convert to all electricity. This will add to the droves who already have left the state.

In a presentation by Roy and Karen Harvey, they noted that Cuomo’s undermining of the natural gas sector is occurring at the same time the EPA announced pollutants are down 68%.