Statement from Keith Brooks, Programs Director, Environmental Defence

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – We caution New York State against following Ontario down a high-cost, high-risk energy path that is failing to deliver near-term climate progress.

Ontario’s nuclear heavy plan relies on ramping up the use of fossil gas in the short and medium term and is not a climate solution. New nuclear projects, including Small Modular Reactors, will not come online for years, leaving Ontario increasingly dependent on gas plants to meet electricity demand until the mid-2040s at least — a trajectory that undermines emissions targets and worsens air pollution.

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) also remain unproven at commercial scale and come with significant cost and construction risks. In Ontario, nuclear megaprojects have driven long-term cost increases for ratepayers, with refurbishment and expansion costs stretching well into the 2030s. Doubling down on this approach risks locking in higher costs while delaying real climate action.

New York should not repeat Ontario’s mistake of sidelining the fastest, cheapest, and cleanest solutions available today. Energy efficiency, distributed renewable energy, and battery storage are proven technologies that can be deployed within years, strengthen grid reliability, and cut climate pollution far sooner than new nuclear.

These solutions are consistently identified as the lowest-cost way to meet growing electricity needs while protecting households from rising energy bills. They also support local jobs and community-level resilience, rather than concentrating risk in large, centralized projects. Canada’s clean-energy build-out represents hundreds of billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of thousands of job-years by 2035, and Ontario has the demand, workforce, and infrastructure to be a leader — if it chooses to unlock that potential.

We are urging New York and Ontario to prioritize truly climate-aligned energy strategies — ones that rapidly reduce fossil fuel use this decade by scaling affordable, distributed clean energy solutions that deliver emissions reductions now, not decades from now.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Tamara Latinovic, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca