Tom O'Mara

Representing the 58th Senate District in NY's Southern Tier/Finger Lakes region - Counties of Allegany, Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga and Yates.

[The Evening Tribune @HornellTribune]

How to vote early in Allegany County in the 2026 General Election https://t.co/D5Q7JfUYf2

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

🚨”Operation Safe Stop reminds motorists that when a school bus activates its red lights and stop arm, traffic must stop to allow children to board or exit safely.” ⬇️
https://t.co/lk4IjT0Hml

[The Evening Tribune @HornellTribune]

Dates, times, places to vote early in Steuben County in 2026 election https://t.co/zTHHWdAFlo

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

Congratulations again to everyone at CMoG, 75 years 💪! ⬇️
https://t.co/H0JwdcNPoa

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

Look forward to joining all of you at Chemung County S.C.O.P.E. next Wednesday! ⬇️

[Firefighters Association of the State of New York @FASNY]

Know someone who goes above and beyond? The 2027 FASNY Awards honor excellence in firefighting, EMS, education, mentoring and more. Nominate a deserving individual by March 15, 2027, at https://t.co/PupOcdVZG1. #FASNYAwards #VolunteerFirefighter @thefirenews @fireengineering

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

Thank you @MACNY_MfgAssoc for your continued confidence, support, and leadership as we keep working to revitalize the manufacturing foundation so vital to New York State’s future, and the future of so many local communities and economies.

[MACNY @MACNY_MfgAssoc]

MIPAC, the political action arm of MACNY, The Manufacturers Association, has announced its bipartisan candidate endorsements for the 2026 General Election.

View the full list here:
https://t.co/VsXd1iv0uS

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

“To have this continued and to see it grow throughout my lifetime…It's an amazing institution. It's a world-renowned institution." 👏⬇️
https://t.co/KISkPJ2Mei via @wenytv

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

Great to join colleagues @PhilPalmesano, @Friend4Assembly and @JoeSempo to help commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Corning Museum of Glass!

Read more: https://t.co/m1xifrk3pn

[NYS Senate Republicans @nysenategop]

School is back in session, and that means school buses are back on the road! This week, we promote ways to keep our children and bus drivers safe. Pay attention to the drivers hand signals before crossing the street to board, and remember, cars must ALWAYS STOP for school buses!

[PPACCentral @PPACcentral]

Allegany County's Fall Pill Drop is this Saturday, 10am to 2pm. The Pill Drop is completely anonymous and confidential. All collected medications are incinerated making them harmless to the environment and people. #585prevention @SenatorOMara @SenatorBorrello

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

🚨Following a longstanding effort by @FASNY and legislators, including myself, across the board, an important victory for the future of volunteer emergency services! ⬇️

https://t.co/8ob3xL94bX

[Firefighters Association of the State of New York @FASNY]

Recruiting volunteers matters. Keeping them engaged matters just as much. The FASNY Recruitment & Retention Roadmap’s Burnout Self-Check Worksheet helps firefighters recognize burnout and know when to seek support. Get the resources: https://t.co/Ne3qSNyyZB #Volunteerfirefighter

[NYS Senate Republicans @nysenategop]

Today is National Mammography Day, a great day to schedule your annual screening and encourage your friends and loved ones to do the same. Early detection saves lives.❤️

[NYS Senate Republicans @nysenategop]

We will #SaveNewYork by giving all New Yorkers a personal income tax cut, a three-year freeze on property taxes and cap property taxes on homeowners over the age of 70. Through the repeal of the green scam and electric vehicle mandates, utility and energy prices will drop💡⛽ 👇

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

🚨Read more from @nysenategop’s recent energy roundtable: https://t.co/BzZYe8PMga

[NYS Senate Republicans @nysenategop]

@SenatorOMara showcasing the Democrats’ complete lack of forward thinking, Democrats green energy mandates are driving up costs to meet UNREALISTIC and unattainable goals.⚡💸

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

🚨”There’s a long list of priorities to address that, if we get started on them now, could begin to provide real and meaningful short- and long-term relief to overburdened New Yorkers. A one-time, here-today-gone-tomorrow POWER check isn’t on that list.”
https://t.co/xLBhOUJjI6

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

🇺🇸

[NYS Senate Republicans @nysenategop]

Happy 251st Birthday to the United States Navy! Today, we celebrate our maritime accomplishments and give our thanks to the brave men and women who keep our great nation safe, from sea to shining sea. ⚓🚢

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

🚨”The swirling debate between farmland, landfills, forests, rooftops and parking lots is a symptom of a failed idea. When policy starts from a deadline and warnings of disaster, every choice becomes a choice between bad options…“ ⬇️

[New York Energy Alliance @NYEnergyAllies]

Every time a solar farm goes up on a field or a forest, someone says it should go on landfills, parking lots and rooftops instead. The argument is rarely about whether the solar should be built at all. That part is taken as given. Andrew Cuomo signed a target into law in 2019 while closing Indian Point, the target needs about 65 gigawatts of solar by 2050, and every fight is only about where to put it.

Working backwards from an extremely flawed policy for seven years has led New York to where it is now: and so we hunt for any surface that will hold a panel.

Landfills are one of the places where they end up being installed. Landfill arrays aren’t cheaper than field arrays: since 2019, NYSERDA’s own records put both at about $1.38 a watt. They aren’t faster either; both took close to three years from application to finished. Parking-lot canopies cost about double. Smaller rooftop and commercial projects cost about 55% more. Forest is the cheapest option, which is why the woods keep getting cleared.

The landfills that don’t pencil out never show up in the numbers at all. In New Paltz, the grid connection for a 2.6 MW array on the town landfill came in at $7.3 million, $2.81 a watt before a single panel. The town shelved it.

Even if every one had worked, it wouldn’t add up to much. Cornell’s study of every suitable closed landfill in the state puts the ceiling at about 5 gigawatts, under a tenth of the plan. At the 15% capacity factor New York’s landfill arrays actually ran last year, that’s less round-the-clock power than one large nuclear reactor. In January they ran at 3.6%.

The swirling debate between farmland, landfills, forests, rooftops and parking lots is a symptom of a failed idea. When policy starts from a deadline and warnings of disaster, every choice becomes a choice between bad options, a little more expensive or a lot.

Nobody asks whether this is the power New York can actually build a future with.

The question should be “what does a New York with abundant, reliable, affordable power look like, and what builds it?”

What power will run in January? What power is dense enough to sit on a few hundred acres instead of tens of thousands? What power cheap enough to bring factories back to life instead of pricing them out?

New York has built that kind of system once, at Niagara and on Lake Ontario, because people had a picture of the future they wanted to live in, not just one they were afraid of. It wasn't perfect, and some of it has lasted all the way to today.

Energy policy should start there. Solar may have a small place in it, where it makes sense on its own merits. It can be fun to charge your phone and run your refrigerator off of energy that came from the sun.

But that's not the basis for a policy that can determine the future of the entire state. A plan built on Malthusian dread will keep sending us to the landfills, the farms and the forests.

[Tom O'Mara @SenatorOMara]

✅ “...the lawmakers receiving the award have supported efforts to address those challenges…supported legislation aimed at reducing taxes and regulations, providing mandate relief and encouraging private-sector and manufacturing job growth.”
https://t.co/xwPmVOf8uf