Hochul and Trump talk congestion pricing, energy

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday offered a few details about her most recent one-on-one conversation with President Donald Trump. Although she couldn’t say whether she changed any hearts or minds, Hochul said she again hammered home the importance of keeping congestion pricing. 

Hochul traveled to Washington, D.C. on Friday for a meeting with Trump at the White House. Trump himself previewed what he wanted to talk about, with a focus on the long-stalled Constitution Pipeline in New York that would increase the supply of natural gas to New York and other northeast states. Officials in New York have blocked the project for years, and environmental activists heavily oppose it moving forward. “(Trump) certainly had that on his mind,” Hochul said of the pipeline at an unrelated press conference in Albany, “but I was talking about congestion pricing.”

The governor has made the case for congestion pricing to the president before, including shortly before his administration moved to rescind federal approval for the tolling scheme. But Hochul said she continued to present Trump with data about the program’s success so far. She said she couldn’t answer whether she ultimately made headway, but she reaffirmed her commitment to congestion pricing as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fights the federal government in court. “I said the cameras are staying on Friday,” Hochul said. 

Although she didn’t offer any hints about the pipeline or whether she may be considering a deal to move that project ahead in exchange for the administration backing off on its opposition to congestion pricing, Hochul did say she talked with Trump about other energy issues. “Certainly he has his objectives of finding more energy reserves,” she said. “I talked about my desire to have the offshore wind industry back online on Long Island.” The Trump administration has halted federal leasing for new offshore wind projects, imperiling the state’s clean energy goals that it's already lagging on.

Hochul said that she also spoke with the president about nuclear energy – particularly small modular reactors – hydropower and onshore wind . On nuclear, she specifically asked for Trump’s help with streamlining approval of the federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “I talked about, ‘Maybe you can look at that as an area to spring line efforts there to help us be able to have the power necessary for our innovation economy,’” Hochul said.