NYC Shows Up to Support Phase Coal Out of the State by 2020

Long Island City, N.Y. -- Local residents and various health leaders and religious and environmental organizations gathered on Wednesday to urge the administration to quickly finalize a proposed plan that would phase coal out of the state by 2020. Advocates contend that a statewide framework must include a glidepath for communities and workers affected by this transition and to ensure full retirement of the affected plants - barring the way for these plants to burn other dirty energy sources like fracked gas, waste or biomass.

Last month, Governor Cuomo and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)  announced the power plant pollution protection plan to put the dirtiest, most dangerous and inefficient power plants on a clear pathway to retirement. This rule sets a national example for how to responsibly retire coal-fired power plants while ensuring safe, reliable and affordable power to the community. Additionally, the plan is an important step in ensuring the state achieves its goal of reducing climate pollution 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050 all while cleaning up New York’s air and water and protecting public health.

The below individuals and organizations provided the following comment:

“Climate change is an existential threat to our planet and raises the possibility of immediate, catastrophic harm to our communities -- including the low-lying neighborhoods I represent in Lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn. We must take decisive action here in New York to reduce emissions and invest in green energy, and this proposed regulation is a step in that direction,” State Senator Brian Kavanagh said. “Coal is too dirty and too harmful -- and it’s long past time New York went coal-free. Eliminating this poisonous fossil fuel is a meaningful step forward. I will continue to work with my colleagues in government and the advocates who have fought so hard for this regulation, to do everything we can to ensure New York leads the way to a greener future.”

“It’s time to move New York beyond coal in a responsible way. That means protecting workers and communities associated with these plants, and replacing this power with renewable energy -- a cornerstone of our 21st century economy,” Shay O’Reilly, New York City Organizing Representative at the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, said. “As the Trump administration doubles down on dirty energy, New York must lead -- and this regulation sets a precedent for the nation to do that.”

‘It’s great New York is recognizing the devastating impacts of coal fired power plants on local communities and the climate, but converting them to fracked gas power plants is just switching out one dirty fossil fuel fuel for another,” Lee Ziesche of Sane Energy Project said. “Our state showed tremendous climate leadership by banning fracking. We need that kind of leadership now to halt the expansion of fracked gas infrastructure and build the clean, renewable energy future we all deserve.”

"These regulations are an important step toward making New York coal-free, reducing emissions, and meeting our currently unenforceable State Energy Plan goals,” Stephan Edel, Director of the New York Working Families Project said. “We join the Sierra Club and New Yorkers across the state in calling on the Governor to prioritize further actions and legislation to codify the equitable transition to a just energy economy that our communities have been fighting for.”

"Pope Francis reminds us that in all religious traditions, compassion and action for the vulnerable is required of us for a truly just and holy society. ‘The Earth itself is the most vulnerable of the creatures of God,' is how he puts it another way,” Father Mark Genszler from St Francis Episcopal Church said. “Clean air and water for our children are not just for the wealthy.”

“Cutting toxic power plant pollution is good for New Yorkers’ health and our children’s future,” Donna De Costanzo, Eastern Region Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate and Clean Energy Program said. “This rule paves the way for the state to continue ramping up the clean power sources that are creating jobs and fueling local economies. New York is demonstrating that we don’t have to wait for our leaders in Washington to deliver all of these benefits to us—we can start right here at home.”