Local environmental activists have been fighting to get National Grid to permanently retire their Greenpoint energy facility. Now, they have the backing of several elected officials in New York state.
Our local state elected officials, state senators Kristen Gonzalez and Julia Salazar, and assembly members Maritza Davila and Emily Gallagher, recently signed a letter of support, as did mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani.
The elected officials called on Governor Kathy Hochul and the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to reject the energy conglomerate’s Long Term Plan Proposal. The PSC recently required National Grid to file a plan to justify the facility’s continued existence. The plan comes after a long fight to prevent National Grid from building two new vaporizers at the facility, which critics said were unnecessary and puts New York behind its mandated climate goals.
Though the PSC ultimately rejected National Grid’s bid to install the new vaporizers, they recently approved a rate hike, a process which opened up a larger discussion on the facility’s purported necessity.
National Grid has argued that they need the facility in order to maintain a standard of service and allow them to update their natural gas infrastructure.
“The time is now for New York State to adopt a 21st-century perspective on energy infrastructure and policy, not to continue to promote the outdated and dangerous reliance on natural gas,” the letter reads.
“National Grid’s gas network perpetuates racist and harmful legacies of polluting Black and brown communities, contributing to the climate crisis, and causing significant health crises for many who live in environmental justice communities,” it continues. “Prioritizing the maintenance and expansion of its gas business primarily benefits National Grid’s corporate shareholders at the expense of our goals and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect disadvantaged communities.”
The letter calls on the PSC to prioritize clean energy alternatives and to oppose other National Grid projects, such as its current Long Island facility and the expansion of the Iroquois Pipeline.
Local environmental non-profit Sane Energy Project recently highlighted what they felt was a lack of transparency from the state agency and said their requests for additional information have been rebuffed.