President Trump and Gov. Kathy Hochul met at the White House on Friday.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — As President Donald Trump continues to roll out his second term agenda a very interesting meeting took place Friday morning at the White House.
President Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul discussed various topics, including tariffs and energy.
While we don’t know exactly what was said between the two leaders Friday morning, Governor Hochul’s office did later put out only a statement.
“Governor Hochul and President Trump covered a broad range of topics in today’s meeting, including the redevelopment of Penn Station, congestion pricing, tariffs, and energy policy. While no formal agreements or decisions were reached, it was a productive conversation and we look forward to continuing the dialogue in the coming weeks,” it said.
The Oval Office exchange followed the “positive” Thursday afternoon tariffs meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Canadian leaders, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Earlier this week Ford paused his province’s 25 percent surcharge on Canadian electricity flowing to New York. He also made headlines for threatening to cutoff electricity to the United States for retaliation against U.S. tariffs.
And on “energy policy,” President Trump on Thursday brought up the idea of bringing back the plan for a 124-mile natural gas pipeline running between northeastern Pennsylvania, and then to a point near Albany for connections. The original project in New York State was blocked and then cancelled in 2020 because of a permitting dispute with the state.
President Trump said it would be discussed at his meeting with Hochul. Trump told reporters on Thursday that “New York’s held it up for years and years, and it will reduce the (cost of the) most expensive energy, almost in the world.”
He described it as “just a simple pipeline going through an area that wants it. An area that’s not a rich area. It’s actually a very poor area. It would create jobs and everything else.”
We cannot confirm the president’s projected per family energy cost savings of over $2,500 for homeowners in New York and New England as more natural gas would flow.
This concept of energy dominance and loosening the project permitting process was discussed earlier this month in northeastern Pennsylvania where, unlike New York State, natural gas drilling and fracking is allowed.
Former congressman and New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who is now Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, met with a local Republican congressman and Pennsylvania business leaders there on energy policies.
Zeldin said one of his goals as the new EPA Administrator is “to reduce the timeline it takes to get a (project) permit, to add more certainty to the process, to reduce the costs involved.”
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Scranton said he hope to change “the inability to harvest natural gas right in our own backyard which would lead to almost a billion dollar industry.”
But back in New York, Governor Hochul earlier this week ripped Zeldin’s planned environmental regulation reductions. Her statement read, “The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement that it intends to dismantle vital environmental safeguards is a direct threat to the health of New Yorkers and communities across the country.
“In response to this outrageous overreach by the federal government, I am directing the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to use its full authority to continue to protect New York’s natural resources and environment, and to block these acts wherever possible. I will also continue our work with Attorney General Letitia James to aggressively defend our state and our natural resources in court.
“The environmental movement began in New York with Republican Governor Theodore Roosevelt, bringing together New Yorkers across the ideological spectrum to ensure that current and future generations would have cleaner air and water. I recognize that sacred promise, and Administrator Zeldin — as a New Yorker, and particularly as a Long Islander where the entire region’s economy depends upon water quality — should know that as well.”
Of course more natural gas distribution would conflict with New York state’s 2019 climate action law and goals to cut usage of fossil fuels like natural gas with more planned electrification for heating and appliances in homes and businesses.
This could shape up to be perhaps a very heated debate and battle between federal and state energy policies.