At a Westchester press conference, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called on state officials to liquidate New York’s Climate Investment Account and return roughly $2.4 billion that he says is just sitting in the pot to taxpayers. The Republican governor hopeful framed the move as a direct way to ease rising energy costs for households and small businesses, recasting a technical cap-and-invest budget account into an immediate affordability promise ahead of the 2026 race.
How the fund is meant to work
The Climate Investment Account was created as part of New York’s cap-and-invest framework and is intended to funnel most auction proceeds into projects that cut greenhouse gases, while a separate consumer account is meant to offset consumer costs. New York's cap-and-invest site lays out the allocation, with roughly 67% going to the Climate Investment Account and about 30% to a consumer account, and says the CIA is supposed to invest proceeds in decarbonization priorities, according to the New York Cap-and-Invest Program. The account sits inside the broader New York Climate Action Fund and is managed through NYSERDA and DEC planning processes.
Blakeman's pitch and the utility backdrop
Blakeman labeled the account a "green energy 'scam'" and said NYSERDA is "sitting on" about $2.4 billion that should be refunded, as reported by the New York Post. He tied the demand to rising bills and blamed the Hochul administration, pointing to recent Consolidated Edison filings and joint proposals that project multiyear rate impacts for customers. Consolidated Edison’s investor materials and SEC filings show the company has filed multiyear electric and gas rate plans with shaped bill impacts across 2026 to 2028, a point the campaign used to bolster its affordability argument, according to Consolidated Edison.
Legislative and regulatory constraints
Returning the money would not be automatic. State lawmakers have already introduced measures to force surplus or uncommitted funds back to ratepayers. Senate Bill S8461 would require uncommitted funds collected "on a bill-as-you-go basis" to be credited to customer accounts, according to the New York State Senate. At the same time, the Department of Environmental Conservation and NYSERDA have been developing an investment framework that prioritizes clean transportation, low-carbon buildings and benefits for disadvantaged communities, which means any wholesale liquidation could face legal and administrative hurdles, as outlined by NYSDEC.
Where this lands politically
For voters, the pitch is a clear affordability play. Sending money back or crediting bills is easy to explain even if the legal path is tangled. Blakeman's campaign has other uphill obstacles, as his bid was recently denied public matching funds, leaving him with few easy ways to scale up resources, according to Spectrum News. If the idea moves beyond campaign rhetoric, Albany would have to sort what counts as "uncommitted" money and whether cashing out climate investments would undercut long-term decarbonization plans.
