Rachel Hynds, rachel@team-arc.com
NEW YORK, NY – As Climate Week kicks off in New York City, the private equity firm Blackstone has ignored calls to retire America’s deadliest coal plant – the Gavin coal plant – and instead is working to pass off their responsibility to Energy Capital Partners (ECP) with no plans to retire the plant or fix its outdated pollution controls.
On Sunday, images of Gavin and its pollution were projected onto the front of Blackstone’s headquarters along with calls for the private equity company to retire the polluting coal plant. The coal plant is responsible for 244 deaths per year and emits an annual average of 13 million metric tons of CO2 into the air.
Following the projection, today, the Sierra Club began an ad campaign targeting Blackstone with digital ads geofenced around New York City helipads and the Teterboro Airport to reach Blackstone executives on their way into the city for Climate Week. Tomorrow, the digital ads will be accompanied by a digital billboard immediately outside of Teterboro Airport. Blackstone has made climate commitments for its investments despite Gavin’s massive pollution.
Earlier this month, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and the Sierra Club released joint letters to Blackstone and ECP strongly urging them to condition the sale upon plans to retire Gavin by 2028, take accountability for their years of environmental destruction, and follow through on their plans for a clean energy transition:
“You cannot undo the damage from pollutants emitted during Blackstone’s nearly eight years of ownership of Gavin. But you have the opportunity to announce a retirement date of no later than 2028, which could lend Blackstone some credibility in its pledges of emissions reductions and an energy transition and avoid the perception that Blackstone is incapable of shepherding assets through an energy transition and is simply interested in passing the buck.”
As climate leaders and advocates gather in New York City for Climate Week, Blackstone must listen to calls to shut down the plant instead of trying to wipe their hands clean of the damage they have already caused by passing the buck to ECP.
You can read the full PESP and Sierra Club letter here.
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.