"Albany Pushes Wind Turbines in Lake Erie": There Is No State Lake Erie Wind Project. The Turbines in His Photo Are on Land.

Energy / Utility Costs Source: Facebook Posts and Video (campaign page), Hamburg press conference with Bruce Blakeman and CAWTILE MISLEADING

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Why this matters

Utility bills in Western New York were brutal last winter, and the posts are right that families felt it. The question this entry answers is whether the two causes named in the posts, Albany “choking off” natural gas and Albany “pushing” wind turbines into Lake Erie, are what drove those bills.

On the record, there is no state Lake Erie wind project to oppose. New York’s own energy authority recommended against Great Lakes wind in 2022, the Governor’s office said again this week there are no plans, and the only live proposal is a downstate senator’s bill that has sat in committee since early 2025. The turbines in the posted photograph have stood on the old Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna since 2007.

On gas, the state approved a major new pipeline into New York City in November 2025, rolled back its own climate law in May 2026, and has not yet enforced the one building rule the posts could be referring to. The state’s regulator puts climate policy at 5 to 9.5 percent of an electric bill. The winter spike was the price of natural gas.

The claims

All three items are on the campaign page “Nick Langworthy,” following a press conference in Hamburg on Tuesday, August 18, 2026 with gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman and Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie (CAWTILE).

August 19, 12:59 PM, video caption:

“Families are getting crushed by sky high utility bills. We’re all paying the price for radical climate policies out of Albany that choke off natural gas. End the madness. Elect Bruce Blakeman. Together, we will expand energy choices to lower utility costs for all.”

Video audio (transcribed):

“Choking off the supply of natural gas has had a catastrophic effect on our energy bills. Homeowners, seniors on fixed income, small businesses, all have seen drastic heights in energy bills because of these extreme climate policies. That’s why the insanity needs to stop, and that’s why we need more like Bruce Blakeman as our next governor.”

August 19, 3:01 PM, sharing WBEN:

“Green Scam schemes crushes families and causes utility bills to soar.”

August 20, photo post:

“ICYMI: your family pays sky-high utility bills while Albany chokes off natural gas and pushes wind turbines in Lake Erie. This week, I stood strong with CAWTILE (Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie) to fight for affordable, reliable energy, consumer choice and protecting one of America’s greatest natural resources.”

Claim 1: “Albany pushes wind turbines in Lake Erie”

Verdict: NOT SUPPORTED

What the record showsSource
NYSERDA’s Great Lakes Wind Feasibility Study (December 2022) concluded “now is not the right time to prioritize Great Lakes Wind projects in Lake Erie or Lake Ontario,” finding it “significantly more costly” than alternatives and not a “cost-effective contribution” to climate goals.NYSERDA white paper
NYSERDA’s 2024 offshore wind solicitation required federal ocean leases; Great Lakes projects were not eligible. The solicitation was cancelled in February 2026 “due to federal actions disrupting the offshore wind market.”NYSERDA
Governor’s office, July 2025: “There are no plans to build offshore wind in the Great Lakes.” Governor’s office, August 18, 2026, responding to this event: no active plans; the Governor’s approach is “all-of-the-above.”WGRZ; WIVB
The only live proposal is S5498, a Westchester Democrat’s bill for a 200 MW pilot solicitation. It has been in the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee since February 2025, has no Assembly companion, and its predecessor died in committee.NY Senate
The 2019 private Diamond Offshore Wind concept for turbines off Hamburg never became a formal application.WBFO, WGRZ
The turbines in the August 20 photo are Steel Winds: 14 onshore turbines on the former Bethlehem Steel brownfield in Lackawanna and Hamburg, built in 2007 and 2012, now owned by Brookfield. Blakeman pointed at them during the event.WIVB; Buffalo News

In plain language: Albany’s energy authority said no to Lake Erie wind nearly four years ago. The Governor’s office said no again the day of the event. There is no state solicitation, no application, and no project. What exists is one stalled bill from a senator 300 miles away and a set of land-based turbines that predate the Climate Act by twelve years.

Langworthy’s own bill on the subject, H.R. 2133, the Lakes Before Turbines Act (March 2025), would end the federal tax credit for offshore wind in inland waters. CAWTILE’s website opposes “the proposed plan” without naming one.

Claim 2: “Albany chokes off natural gas”

Verdict: MISLEADING

The posts do not say which policy. The candidates are:

All-Electric Buildings Act (2023). Bars fossil-fuel equipment in most new buildings of seven stories or fewer, with a statutory date of January 1, 2026, and exemptions for manufacturing, hospitals, labs, farms, restaurants' commercial kitchens, and places where electric service is inadequate. In November 2025 the state agreed to suspend enforcement pending appeal. The Second Circuit upheld the law on June 30, 2026; the stay lifts October 28, 2026 unless plaintiffs seek Supreme Court review. As of the posts, the law has never been in force, and it applies only to new construction. No existing gas customer in NY-23 has had service restricted by it.

NY HEAT Act. Never enacted. Passed the Senate in 2023 and 2024, never the Assembly. The one piece that became law, signed December 19, 2025, repeals the “100-foot rule” so that new residential gas applicants pay their own hookup cost instead of spreading it across all ratepayers. It does not bar hookups.

Pipelines. Albany’s 2025–26 record runs the other way. On November 7, 2025, DEC approved the water-quality certification for Williams’ Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline, 0.4 billion cubic feet a day into New York City, which broke ground in April 2026. The Constitution pipeline is a live dispute: Williams withdrew its state application after three incomplete-application notices and asked FERC to deem the state’s authority waived; the state opposed that in January 2026 and the petition is pending.

Climate Act rollback. In the May 2026 budget, the Governor eliminated the statutory 40-percent-by-2030 emissions target, pushed the regulatory deadline to December 2028, and changed the accounting method. On March 18, 2026 she said high utility costs “are not because of” the Climate Act “because it’s not in effect yet.”

In plain language: the one gas restriction on the books has never taken effect and covers only new buildings. Albany approved a new gas pipeline into the state nine months ago and weakened its own climate law three months ago. “Choking off natural gas” does not describe the 2025–26 record.

Claim 3: “Sky-high utility bills” because of “radical climate policies”

Verdict: MISLEADING

Bills are high. New York’s residential electricity price in May 2026 was 29.93 cents per kWh, third-highest in the nation and 62 percent above the U.S. average (EIA data via Empire Center). The cause is the issue.

What the regulator and grid operator sayFigure
Climate Act costs in a 600 kWh residential bill, 2024 actual (DPS report to the PSC, September 2025)$8.78–$12.29/month, 5.2%–9.5% of the bill
NYSEG specifically$8.78 of $114.44, 7.7%
DPS 2025 forecast4.2%–7.2%, because total bills rose faster than climate costs
DPS on the cause of rising bills“Rising commodity prices and greater exposure to global commodity markets are driving an increase in supply costs”
NYISO average wholesale energy cost, January 2026 vs January 2025$201.89/MWh, +53%, driven by Winter Storm Fern; wholesale gas +81%
NYISO on the dominant driverNatural gas is “the most significant driver of wholesale electricity costs”
Supply cost on upstate bills, January 2026 vs January 2025 (WKTV)~17 cents/kWh vs ~10 cents, +80%
NYSEG’s rate request (June 2025)35% delivery increase; PSC’s temporary rates June 1, 2026: residential electric +0.2%, gas +1.7%; final decision pending

In plain language: the regulator’s own accounting puts climate policy at under a tenth of an electric bill. The winter spike that “crushed” families was the wholesale price of natural gas, the fuel the posts want more of. The delivery increase NYSEG asked for is the one item on the list the Energy Choice Act and more gas would not touch.

This is the third time this site has documented the same framing: the February 2026 Dunkirk appearance and the Energy Choice Act entry both rest on the same DPS figures (see Related).

Claim 4: “Championing an energy choice act in Washington” to “lower utility costs for all”

Verdict: MISSING CONTEXT

H.R. 3699 was reported by the Energy and Commerce Committee on a party-line vote in December 2025 and placed on the Union Calendar February 4, 2026. It has not had a floor vote. It preempts state and local restrictions on energy service by fuel type, which is to say it targets laws like the All-Electric Buildings Act that is not yet in force. It contains no provision on delivery rates, supply costs, or utility profits.

What did get a vote is H.R. 1, which Langworthy supported on July 3, 2025 (Roll Call 190). The law phased out federal wind and solar tax credits. Independent estimates of its household effect: Energy Innovation, about $170 per household per year by 2035, with retail electricity rates 9 to 18 percent higher; Rhodium Group, $78 to $192 per year by 2035; Princeton’s REPEAT project, about $165 per year by 2030. These are projections, not bills already paid, and they are cited here as the estimates that exist, not as settled fact. The Governor’s office, responding to the Hamburg event, pointed to “the playbook of Washington Republicans that has led to higher prices for home energy.”

Federal action also removed supply from New York’s grid in 2025–26: the January 2025 presidential memorandum withdrawing all offshore wind leasing (vacated by a federal court in December 2025) and the December 2025 stop-work orders on Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind (lifted by injunction in January 2026). NYSERDA cancelled its 2024 solicitation citing those actions.

The candidate at the podium: more gas, more data centers, no moratorium

The posts tell voters to “Elect Bruce Blakeman” to “lower utility costs for all.” Blakeman’s own energy positions, in his words, are relevant to whether that follows.

On July 14, 2026, the Governor signed Executive Order 62, a one-year pause on state environmental permits for new data centers over 50 megawatts, stating that “data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers.” Twenty-eight large data centers totaling roughly 9,682 MW sit in the NYISO interconnection queue. The Legislature had passed a similar one-year permitting pause (S10642/A11560) on June 4 by 44-16 and 102-39.

Blakeman’s response the next day (NY1, July 15): “The moratorium is crazy. She should have had it figured out by now.” He vowed to rescind it, said data centers keep New York competitive in “the great artificial intelligence race,” and said utility costs should be brought down by eliminating climate and electrification mandates instead: “This is a green energy scam. The fact of the matter is, we do not have enough energy to support going all electric.”

In Pembroke on March 30, 2026, he called for lifting New York’s fracking ban and eliminating the Climate Act. In Olean on June 12, with State Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski, he promised to “bring fracking back to New York, unleash our energy economy… and cut utility bills in half.”

In plain language: the one Albany action of 2026 explicitly framed as protecting ratepayers from new demand is the data center pause. The candidate the posts endorse would lift it, add the largest new electricity loads in the state’s queue, and supply them with the fuel whose price drove last winter’s bills. None of the three posts mentions data centers.

What is still unaddressed

Issue facing NY-23 ratepayersAddressed by the posts?
NYSEG’s pending 35% delivery rate requestNo
Natural gas commodity volatility, the dominant bill driver per DPS and NYISONo; the posts call for more gas
Which Lake Erie project the posts opposeNot identified
The All-Electric Buildings Act’s actual scope (new buildings only, not yet in force)No
Household cost estimates for H.R. 1’s credit repealNo
~9,700 MW of proposed data center load in the NYISO queue, and the candidate’s pledge to lift the permitting pauseNo

Questions this raises

  1. Which Lake Erie wind project are the posts referring to? NYSERDA, the Governor’s office, and the Senate calendar show none.
  2. The turbines in the August 20 photo are the Steel Winds project, onshore in Lackawanna and Hamburg since 2007. Does the campaign oppose those?
  3. DPS puts Climate Act costs at 7.7 percent of a NYSEG bill. What policy in the remaining 92 percent does the campaign propose to change?
  4. DEC approved the NESE gas pipeline in November 2025. How does that square with “choking off natural gas”?
  5. Three independent estimates project higher household energy costs from the law the Congressman voted for. Has he reviewed them?
  6. The candidate the posts endorse would rescind the data center permitting pause the Governor tied to utility bills. Does the Congressman support adding 9,700 MW of data center load to the grid his constituents pay for, and if so, what does he expect it to do to their bills?

Sources

The event and the posts

Lake Erie wind

Blakeman’s positions

Natural gas and climate law

Utility bills

Federal

Note: This entry documents publicly available information. The posts reviewed here appear on the campaign page, and the entry treats them as campaign statements. The household cost figures for H.R. 1 are third-party projections and are labeled as such.

Last updated: August 21, 2026