About 100 New Yorkers joined elected officials, labor leaders and community organizers on Tuesday to call on Governor Kathty Hochul and the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to raise their plan for public sector renewable energy projects.
Speakers, including State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, former U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla, UFT Climate & Environmental Justice Committee Co-Chair Ryan Bruckenthal, and writer and activist Sumaya Awad said the governor should increase public renewable energy projects to total 15 gigawatts from 7 gigawatts.
During a meeting organized by Public Power New York, a climate justice organization, at the First Unitarian Church in Brooklyn Heights, the speakers said NYPA should fulfill its mandate to achieve New York’s climate goals.
“It was the hottest June 24th in New York City on record. Welcome to New York’s new classification as a humid subtropical zone," said state Senator Jabari Brisport. "It does not have to be this way. We have a movement behind us that is organizing for something better, that is organizing to save our communities from the worst of the climate crisis. We have the ability to make sure New York hits its climate mandate of 70% renewables by 2030.”
The crowd denounced Hochul's move to fast-track the revival of the Williams NESE pipeline, a project that was already rejected multiple times by the state, and for stifling major renewable energy projects like the Clean Path transmission line.
In addition, the activists did not like that NYPA only hosted two virutal hearings for public input.
“We must, at minimum, produce 15 gigawatts because that will give us 25,000 union jobs," said state Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, adding that it would help to shut down the state's polluting power pants five years sooner. "And 15 gigawatts means lower bills for New Yorkers.”
