Dozens of North Brooklyn residents continued to demand the state reject National Grid's plan to expand operations at its Greenpoint Energy Center on Wednesday, as the Public Service Commission held an online public hearing on the issue.
Many clean energy advocates and residents said they want the state to reject National Grid's plan to construct two vaporizers at the Greenpoint Energy Center, which would help transform liquefied natural gas into gas. Residents said the utility's plan would undermine New York’s climate laws, prolong the state's dependence on gas and would lead to higher utility bills.
Kim Fraczek, the director of the nonprofit Sane Energy Project, said the PSC's online public hearing session on Wednesday was marred with technical difficulties, making it hard for residents to speak on their desire to have the Greenpoint facility decommissioned.
“Frontline residents with generations of cancer and illness came to demand the closure of National Grid’s dangerous fracked gas facility, and the state didn’t even have the respect to face them,” she said.
Vincent Vespole, a lifelong Greenpoint resident, said he believes the toxicity from this facility led to many members of his family to get cancer.
“For sixty years, I’ve lived a few blocks away from National Grid’s toxic and dangerous fracked gas facility," he said. "People don’t know what those white tanks are, but my father grew up in Greenpoint on Beadel Street right next to the facility, and he died from cancer. My mother grew up in Greenpoint, she died from cancer. My brother died from cancer. And now I’m being treated for cancer. What we need there at the site is renewable, safe energy.”
Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, representing Greenpoint and Williamsburg, said the state needs to stop paying to repair aging infrastructure and begin investing in implementing cleaner alternatives.
"National Grid's plan to double down on fracked gas infrastructure isn't just irresponsible and misaligned," with the state's clean energy goals, she said. If approved, National Grid's plan will only "lock us into decades of fossil fuel dependency," she said.
