Powered by fossil fuel money, New York governor Kathy Hochul and state senator Kevin Parker tried hard to weaken the state’s climate law last week, especially its provisions on methane, as Julia Rock reported. Thanks to a well-organized and left-wing climate movement, they failed. But the episode was a public reminder of what New York socialists have known for a long time: Parker isn’t an ally to workers or the planet.

As part of the state budget talks, Governor Hochul and Senator Parker were trying to push a new way of measuring methane emissions, one favored by the fossil fuel industry. Methane is far more damaging to the planet and to human health than carbon, trapping eighty times more heat and warming the world at a much faster rate. It accounts for more than a third of global warming and contributes significantly to air pollution.

Even without considering its climate impact, the ozone created by methane kills about a million people every year, through asthma, lung and heart diseases, and neurological complications as well as everyday problems like headache, nausea, and dizziness. Methane decreases the amount of oxygen in the air, which means that the atmosphere is suffocating us.