Ensuring New York’s energy grid is operating efficiently and effectively long into the future is a matter of the utmost urgency, especially during the coming weeks. Recently adopted legislation aims to make significant changes to the state’s energy sector, and many concerns accompany proposed action of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). As part of the environmental legislation, the state’s Climate Action Council (CAC) is scheduled to release a Final Scoping Plan on Dec. 19.

There are significant question marks surrounding initial drafts of the plan including how sustainable its expected reliance on renewable energy will be, how much it will cost taxpayers and what impact it will actually have on global greenhouse-gas emissions considering how [few emissions] New York already produces. These questions loom especially large as we have seen other states like California flounder through a rushed transition to renewable energy.

Policy analysts in New York have made some stark predictions about the draft plan. The Empire Center for Public Policy estimates energy deficits could create a supply shortage of as much as 10 percent by 2040. An energy shortage or blackout resulting from a strained energy grid could prove fatal during a bad summer heat wave or winter storm under those conditions.

To make matters more complicated, proponents of these drastic changes to our energy grid have also taken a strong stance against using nuclear power to supplement the renewable-energy sources they are advocating. This is extremely concerning, and confusing, as nuclear energy has proven to be more efficient than and as reliable as any other source of electricity generation. To that end, according to the United Nations, nuclear power has the smallest carbon footprint of any energy source. The UN Economic Commission of Europe determined on all counts — land consumption, material use, greenhouse-gas emissions, and toxicity — nuclear power has the lowest impact even when compared to wind and solar power.

The International Energy Agency has said the most cost-effective way to limit carbon emissions related to energy production is to refurbish existing nuclear plants. Further still, NYSERDA estimates that New York can save $8.7 billion if it extends the licenses of upstate New York reactors at Nine Mile Point, FitzPatrick, and Ginna.

Our Assembly Minority Conference remains committed to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment — both in New York and beyond. This, though, must be accomplished in an affordable, sustainable, and reasonable manner. Clean energy is an important part of the future, but without nuclear power to supplement it here in New York, we will be facing an unprecedented energy crisis as soon as the CLCPA takes full effect. This cannot be allowed to happen.                      

William (Will) A. Barclay, 53, Republican, is the New York Assembly minority leader and represents the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses all of Oswego County, as well as parts of Jefferson and Cayuga counties.

Dec. 7 [marked] Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, commemorating Japan’s surprise attack in 1941 on a U.S. naval base in Hawaii. [It was] also a time to step back and appreciate the remarkable transformation of the U.S.–Japan relationship: how we went from being sworn enemies to vital allies over a few decades.

For those who remember, Pearl Harbor was a signal event. As with John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the 9/11 attack for later generations, we can say where we were and how it felt.

I was a young boy, sitting with my parents on the front porch of our home in Evansville, Indiana, when we heard the news on a Sunday afternoon. I was too young to know what it meant, but I realized from my parents’ response that it was serious. They knew the U.S. was moving into a dangerous period and that it was likely we would enter a world war. I sensed their feelings, and I was worried because they were.

The attack followed a time of isolationist sentiment. The Great Depression and the memory of World War I left many Americans leery of getting dragged into the conflicts in Europe and Asia. Pearl Harbor changed that. In a 90-minute attack, Japanese fighters killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,143. Eighteen U.S. ships were sunk or run aground, including five battleships.

The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the famous speech in which he called Dec. 7 “a date which will live in infamy.” He called on Congress to declare war on Japan, and it did so. Within days, Germany and Italy joined Japan in declaring war on the United States. Over the next four years, nearly 300,000 Americans would die in World War II, along with tens of millions of people worldwide.

We rightly celebrate America’s patriotic response to the war effort, but not all our actions were exemplary. Over 100,000 Japanese Americans, many of them citizens, were forcibly relocated to internment camps. It’s disturbing to look back at the racist stereotypes used in wartime anti-Japanese propaganda. War can bring out the worst, as well as the best in people.

Eventually, the war in the Pacific ended with Japan’s surrender after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There followed a U.S.-led Allied occupation of Japan, which enacted military, political, and economic reforms. Japan’s postwar constitution did away with its right to wage war.

Japan’s subsequent social and economic recovery was remarkable. With help from the U.S. and other allies, Japan built itself into an international powerhouse. Its manufacturing and commercial growth were termed the “Japanese miracle.” Although its growth has slowed in recent years, Japan remains one of the world’s largest economies, ranking third or fourth by GDP.

Equally remarkable was Japan’s transition from an aggressive imperial power to a peaceful democratic nation. Arguably, the U.S. has no stronger or more reliable partner in the Asia Pacific region. We cooperate on development assistance, health, environmental protection, human rights, education, science, and technology. Japan supports the rules-based world order through the G7, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization.

The U.S.-Japan relationship is complex, and not everything has been smooth. We have competed in trade and manufacturing, and there have been protests over the 50,000 American troops that remain in Japan. But overall, as President Joe Biden said [in November] in a meeting with Japan’s prime minister, we have been united in addressing “real challenges,” such as China’s aggression and provocations by North Korea.

With so much conflict in the world, it’s heart-warming to consider what Japan has accomplished. It shows that it is possible, with encouragement and support, for a nation to transform itself into a modern, prosperous democracy and a contributing member of the world community.             

Lee Hamilton, 91, is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at the IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years (1965-1999), representing a district in south-central Indiana.