News last week that the state will pause enforcement of its All-Electric Buildings Act was cheered by many.

Those cheers are warranted and, unfortunately, likely only temporary.

Reducing emissions is a laudable goal. It’s good for all of us and for future generations if we emit less carbon dioxide into the environment. We should want to be more environmentally friendly in the cars we drive, the homes we live in and the power that we use.

The problem is New York pursues those goals in the most ham-handed ways possible. The All-Electric Buildings Act is no different.

Forcing more users onto an increasingly crowded electric grid is a recipe for disaster, especially when there is a ready supply of natural gas ready to be tapped to help fill our heating needs until the state’s electricity infrastructure is truly ready for an all-electric power grid. Driving up construction and heating costs at a time when New York is an increasingly unaffordable place to live makes no sense. The state’s Jan. 1, 2026, start date for the All-Electric Building’s Act might as well have been pulled out of thin air since it doesn’t line up with real-world factors like the readiness of the state power grid or the state’s ever increasing electricity costs driven in large part by other state renewable energy mandates. And, at a time when more housing is needed, the All-Electric Buildings Act is likely to increase homebuilding costs.

But the foolishness of the program isn’t the reason why the mandate is being postponed. This delay is court-driven, according to published reports by the Syracuse Post-Standard, agreed to by the state Attorney General’s office suspending implementation of the All-Electric Buildings Act for 120 days, though the suspension remains in effect if the case ends up being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

So no one on the right should be acting as if state officials had a sudden outbreak of common sense over an ill-timed law. And, for environmental advocates, let’s lay off the alarmism. This delay is more about judicial efficiency than it is about an outbreak of common sense in Albany. The All-Electric Building Act is still coming unless it is found unconstitutional – and that would be when the outbreak of common sense actually happens.