There is a disturbing trend in New York state to import more electricity to service the state’s power needs.

Exporting jobs and local tax revenues while importing power is not good policy. New York state energy independence is critical to security and economic stability. It preserves and grows jobs and New York has an excellent emission profile while maintaining a diverse fuel mix for power generation – all currently threatened by a number of factors.

The governor’s 2012 Energy Highway Blueprint advances a solution to a problem prevalent since the dawn of state deregulation. According to this study, “New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County account for more than half of the demand for electricity in the state and this demand is increasing; however, in times of peak demand and high prices, lower-cost and/or cleaner power available from upstate cannot reach these densely populated areas because of transmission bottlenecks.”

In spite of Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling for this investment to be expedited in existing rights of way, over three years later we are still waiting. Environmental obstructionists downstate have delayed transmission work, while earning themselves higher rates and greater emissions in the process.

Meanwhile, a recent study completed on the need for two Western New York power plants calls for upgrading transmission to import more power from Ontario to eliminate the need for a state power plant, local employer, and critical tax revenue source. Another Southern Tier power plant will no longer be needed for reliability the minute a major substation is completed at the border that will import power from Pennsylvania. The substation and associated transmission work falls into a $100 million cost to ratepayers and was approved and built in half the time state regulators have been stalling the Governor’s Energy Highway, while stress on upstate power generators is an epidemic!

Pennsylvania Power and Light just applied for interconnection of a major transmission line into Ramapo, N.Y., and a New Jersey import project into New York City cost the New York Power Authority an average of $70 million per year in losses. The massive 1,000 MW exclusive extension cord from Quebec to New York City has only financing to figure out to threaten more state power generation jobs and tax revenues.

While importing power and exporting jobs is enough of a travesty, imports from states like Pennsylvania must be an oversight by those concerned about greenhouse gas emissions. In a 2014 EPA statistic, state power sources generated 33 million tons of greenhouse gas, compared to 99 million tons from Pennsylvania. What’s worse, New York state boasts a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – or RGGI carbon tax, that – when not swept into the general budget, has supported investment to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Pennsylvania has no such carbon tax or investment program.

An apparent state greenhouse gas tracking loophole only counts emissions from in-state generation sources, not imports. This must change and perhaps it will stop the floodgate of exporting jobs – while – in many instances importing much higher emissions.

Environmentalists that are dancing on the graves of retiring state fossil plants while looking the other way at higher greenhouse gas emissions created by imports are hypocritical at best, or grossly ignorant and dangerous, given their growing influence on state energy policy. New York state may lose thousands of jobs including carbon free nuclear generation, and tens of millions of local tax revenues unless we act.

Ted Skerpon is president and business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97.