This opinion piece was originally published by the Providence Journal on 12/27/2025. For more information on the Center’s recent research and commentary on Rhode Island’s failing energy mandates, visit RIFreedom.org/Energy 

Senate Panel Must Amend the State’s Act on Climate

In 2025, lawmakers created a special Senate commission ‘to study and provide recommendations for potential changes’ to our state’s Act On Climate energy mandates. It was expected that this five-member Senate commission would meet regularly and include public comment, but Chairman Sam Zurier has not yet convened a meaningful hearing.

This is a vitally important issue. Families and businesses cannot afford the enormous risks that these mandates pose. This commission must act immediately to amend the Act On Climate.

Since the Act was passed in 2021, the landscape has dramatically shifted. Recent studies, major changes in federal policies, the advent of artificial intelligence, and the potential federal shutdown of Rhode Island’s major offshore wind projects all point to the reality that Rhode Island’s current Net Zero strategy cannot sufficiently meet the future energy needs of our state. Without affordable and reliable sources of energy, neither the people nor the businesses of Rhode Island can hope for a prosperous future.

Multiple recent reports credibly show that electricity prices are expected to soar to ‘staggering’ levels in the coming years – with the risk of ‘freezing in the dark’ blackout scenarios becoming increasingly likely under our current Net Zero approach.

Tragically, given our state’s efforts – years ago – to provide for a ‘sustainable’ future, it has become obvious – today – that policymakers have crafted an ‘unsustainable’ energy future.

Thus, it has become clearly evident that Rhode Island must follow the lead of other Northeast states, reverse course, and adopt realistic energy policies that serve the best interests of all Ocean Staters and abandon those policies that will only cause harm.

It is vital that our government signals to the people that it understands this problem and is willing to take action to alleviate these anticipated cost and physical dangers.

It should be the goal of Senator Zurier’s commission to initiate a valid cost-vs-benefit analysis of the various components of the Act on Climate – analysis that was not initially conducted – and make recommendations that put our state on a realistic path.

So, without completely rejecting the Act on Climate, there are at least three common-sense steps that Zurier’s commission should recommend to provide for affordable, abundant, and reliable energy sources, while ensuring that the General Assembly has time to act in the 2026 legislative session:

First, repeal Rhode Island’s electric vehicle mandate. As related federal subsidies and regulations have been eliminated, it will be impossible for our state to go this path alone.

Second, delay all Act On Climate milestones by at least 20 years, as it is not feasible to achieve most existing mandates, given current levels of technology.

Third, as three other states have already done, seek to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional consortium of states that artificially raises the price of electricity and limits supply for everyone in our state.

Rather than continuing with a flawed energy strategy that prioritizes reductions in carbon emissions – at great expense and severe risk to families and businesses – Rhode Islanders deserve a realistic new energy strategy that prioritizes abundant, reliable, clean, and affordable energy sources so that the people of our state can prosper in their personal and professional lives. Chairman Zurier, when you convene hearings, will your commission members mindlessly rubber-stamp such obviously risky energy policies, or will they consider the serious realities and dangers facing our state?

Mike Stenhouse is CEO for the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, a public policy think tank.