Locals and Elected Officials Express Unanimous Support for New York State’s Rejection of Astoria NRG Gas Plant Air Permit

New York — On Tuesday night, New York residents and elected officials made it clear: the public stands behind the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s denial of NRG’s proposed gas-fired power plant in Astoria, Queens.  

NRG’s appeal of the DEC’s October 2021 decision established a virtual public hearing attended by over 100 people. The No Astoria NRG Coalition, which includes Sane Energy Project, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, NYPIRG, 350Brooklyn, Queens Climate Project, and NYC-Democratic Socialists of America, joined with local residents and elected officials to express unanimous support for the agency’s decision.

The DEC initially denied the permits on the grounds that the plant violated the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a 2019 law that established a legal mandate to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize frontline communities like Astoria. Hearings on the scoping plan drafted to help the state meet these mandates will take place later this year.

“Governor Hochul and her Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) made the right decision in rejecting the Astoria NRG fracked gas plant,” said Laura Shindell, Senior NY Organizer with Food & Water Watch, on behalf of the No Astoria NRG Coalition. “More fracked gas in Astoria will force an increase in asthma-inducing toxins onto a community already overburdened by fossil fuel pollution and fly in the face of our state’s climate law. NRG’s appeal of the DEC’s rejection is a fool’s errand — Astoria residents and our elected officials have made it crystal clear that we are adamantly opposed to this project. Governor Hochul must side with people not polluters, and once again reject Astoria NRG’s profiteering at our expense.”

“The climate crisis is the biggest risk facing New York City and we can't wait to address it,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “We must prioritize the clean energy transition and say no to projects that prolong our dependence on fossil fuels. The proposed NRG fracked gas plant in Astoria would undermine our efforts to meet our climate goals and burden the community that surrounds it for generations to come. We thank the Department of Energy Conservation for upholding New York's groundbreaking climate law and rejecting this proposal.”

“The DEC was right to deny a permit for a destructive fossil fuel plant in Astoria and should reject their appeal as well,” said NYS Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris. “Our community drew a line in the sand against new fossil fuel infrastructure and won. Let the DEC issue a strong statement that “no new fossil fuel plants” is the policy of New York as we fight the ravages of the climate crisis.”

“When NRG’s proposal was rejected initially by Governor Hochul’s administration, she said firmly that she was ‘with the people on this one,’ and cited the project’s lack of compliance with the CLCPA,” said Senate Labor Chair, Jessica Ramos (D, WF - SD13). “Now NRG is wasting our time and resources by appealing, prioritizing once again corporate profits for climate deniers over the health and futures of frontline communities. We say ‘no’, not just to NRG, but to all new fossil fuel infrastructure. The one-house budget resolution passed by the Senate last night earmarks almost $75 million for climate workforce development efforts and a prevailing wage in the Environmental Bond Act. Peaker plants are not New York State’s climate future, a union climate workforce is.”

“Every day, I see my neighbors across Astoria suffer from some of the worst air quality in our city and we have the asthma rates to show for it,” said Assembly Member Zohran K. Mamdani for District 36. “Enough is enough; we are sick and tired of investments being made in dirty fossil fuels when we can build clean energy today. I’m proud to stand with my neighbors to demand that DEC stands by its decision to reject NRG’s proposal to build a new fracked gas peaker plant in our neighborhood. We need to invest in a healthier, green future for all of us.”

“The developer of this proposed plant, NRG, wants to keep polluting Astoria, an area already known to local residents as “Asthma Alley” where people have higher rates of asthma, emphysema and other lung diseases,” said Tiffany Cabán, New York City Councilmember for 22nd District. “Astoria is a historically polluted community, home to lower-income families, immigrants, and public housing tenants that must be at the center of a just transition away from fossil fuels and towards equitable clean energy, housing, and transportation systems that address the harms caused by the fossil fuel industry. This plant proposal must not be revived.”