Public Power Advocates Rally at North Brooklyn Power Plant, Urge Gov. Hochul to Accelerate Renewables Rollout (original) (raw)
NYCers rally at Grand Ferry Park in Williamsburg on Sep. 15 as part of the Stop Blowing Smoke campaign led by Public Power NY, which demands New York Gov. Kathy Hochul put into effect the Build Public Renewables Act. Katie Pruden
The rally was part of a larger campaign to get a reluctant governor to take bold action.
Luce Miyar-Mullan Sep 18
A crowd of around 100 environmental protesters rallied Sunday beneath the smokestacks of a North Brooklyn power plant, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to use a landmark law passed last year to ramp up production of publicly-run renewable energy sources. Outlining their demands for lower utility bills, improved air quality and more union jobs, the demonstrators called for New York’s power to be put in the hands of the people — instead of for-profit corporations.
“We need 15 gigawatts of public power, we’re at less than 1%,” Assemblymember Emily Gallagher (D-Greenpoint) told the crowd. “I am ready to push the state to make good on their promise.”
The Build Public Renewables Act could make power more affordable, create tens of thousands of union jobs and reduce air pollution.
The rally, held at Grand Ferry Park and Grand Street in Williamsburg, was part of the Stop Blowing Smoke campaign led by Public Power NY, a coalition of environmental groups that has fought the placement of dirty power plants in historically disadvantaged communities. Founded in 2018, Public Power NY also led a successful five-year campaign to win passage of the Build Public Renewables Act in Albany.
The BPRA authorizes the New York Power Authority to greatly expand its renewable-energy footprint. The NYPA runs several major upstate hydro-electric dams and is already the largest public-power authority in the country. The BPRA’s advocates say the law will make power more affordable, create tens of thousands of union jobs and reduce air pollution. To their frustration, Hochul and the NYPA have done little to realize the BPRA’s promise
“A bill is wonderful, but it is just paper. It has to be implemented. And the people have to be the ones to push for implementation,” said Nancy Romer of Public Power NY at the action.
One Brooklynite, Nicole Murray, held a sign depicting the Governor next to a speech balloon that read “I love giving kids asthma.” Expressing her distrust of the Hochul administration, Murray did not mince her words.
A child crushes a paper-mache smokestack with a bat at the rally.
Katie Pruden
“[Governor Hochul] has no plan. She doesn’t care,” said Murray. “She is not the person to get anything done.”
Assemblymember Gallagher was joined at the rally by State Senator Julia Salazar (D-Bushwick). They are both a part of a democratic-socialist caucus in the state legislature that played a key role in passing the BPRA.
“It is our task to put pressure on the governor to make sure that we actually meet our climate goals,” Salazar told the crowd.
Romer, co-chair of the environmental justice working group of the Professional Staff Congress, a union that represents 30,000 City University of New York (CUNY) faculty and staff, outlined the steps New York residents can take right now to pressure the Hochul Administration: “Let’s use this opportunity to educate … to be aware of the need for public power and to become a constituency on behalf of that public power,” she said.
Romer also encouraged other organizers to take action, highlighting the work her own union is doing with Decarbonize CUNY Town Halls, a campaign to use the Build Public Renewables Act to decrease carbon emissions in over 300 buildings across all CUNY campuses.
New York State is currently failing to meet its climate goal of 70% renewable energy by 2030. According to Public Power NY, private-sector companies have not been able to meet this goal because they can’t make enough money from building out renewable-energy sources like wind and solar. Instead, advocates argue, a public entity like NYPA is best suited to get the job done — it’s not burdened by having to generate profits for corporate shareholders.
“We’re in a new era,” Gallagher said. “We are in an era of grassroots, people-power politics.”