DEC DENIES PERMITS FOR NRG’S PROPOSED
GAS TURBINE POWER PLANT IN ASTORIA
BY JULIA MORO
After months of vigorous opposition
by lawmakers and activists, the
Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) denied permits for
NRG Energy’s proposed gas turbine
power plant in Astoria.
On Wednesday, Oct. 27, the agency
determined the proposed project
“would be inconsistent with or
would interfere with the statewide
greenhouse gas emissions limits
established in the Climate Leadership
and Community Protection Act
(CLCPA).”
“Astoria NRG failed to demonstrate
the need or justification for
the proposed project notwithstanding
this inconsistency,” DEC’s determination
stated.
Gov. Kathy Hochul applauded the
DEC’s decision to deny the Title V
air permits needed for the proposed
plant to move forward, as the state
transitions to clean energy.
“Climate change is the greatest
challenge of our time, and we owe
it to future generations to meet our
nation-leading climate and emissions
reduction goals,” Hochul said.
NRG’s proposal would have replaced
50-year-old power generators
in the Ditmars-Steinway area.
The DEC approved draft permits for
NRG’s gas-fired power plant in early
July. However, after holding public
hearings this summer and receiving
over 6,000 responses of opposition,
the DEC subsequently decided to
deny the proposal.
Many state and local lawmakers
opposed the project, citing the
potential violations to the CLCPA,
which is a state law requiring New
York cut greenhouse gas emissions
to net-zero by 2050. Anthony Rogers-
Wright from the Environmental Justice
Program at New York Lawyers
for Public Interest said that NRG’s
proposal clearly did not align with
the tenets of the CLCPA.
“Denial of the permit was, therefore,
warranted and in compliance
with standing law,” Rogers-Wright
commented. “That said, DEC must exercise
consistency as it pertains to Title
V Permits; Section 7 of the CLCPA
is lucid in its determination that no
permits should be granted that would
prevent emissions reduction goals
from being realized, nor should they
result in disproportionate impacts to
disadvantaged communities.”
State Senate Majority Leader
Michael Gianaris has been protesting
the proposal for nearly a year
and commended fellow activists for
their work in stopping the fossil fuel
plant.
“Our community drew a line
in the sand against new fossil fuel
infrastructure and won,” Gianaris
A rendering of NRG’s Astoria Replacement Project. Courtesy of NRG
said. “Let this be a statement
of what our policy should be as we
fight the ravages of the climate crisis.
No more fossil fuel plants should
get approved, period.”
Tom Atkins, the vice president of
development at NRG, said they are
reviewing the state’s decision but
feel that it’s “unfortunate” that New
York is turning down an opportunity
to reduce pollution. NRG claimed
the plan would have complied with
the CLCPA by providing “immediate
reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions and would have been fully
convertible to green hydrogen in the
future.”
“New Yorkers deserve both cleaner
air and reliable energy to ensure
the lights stay on for our small businesses,
homes, schools and hospitals
when they need it most,” Atkins
said. “While we’re deeply disappointed
with this decision, NRG will
continue to find ways to help New
York achieve its emissions goals.
In the meantime, our current Astoria
plant will continue to operate
to help ensure the lights stay on in
New York City, as that remains the
most important thing.”
Other high-profile lawmakers,
such as Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer have opposed this
plan, saying NRG’s plan would have
made New York reliant on fossil fuel
for years to come.
“For too long, the people of western
Queens have borne the brunt of
the consequences of being home to
far too many of New York’s pollution
belching power plants,” Schumer
TIMESLEDGER | Q 10 NS.COM | NOV. 5 - NOV. 11, 2021
said. “I am so proud to have
fought alongside great local leaders
and activists to stop this pollutionspewing
plant.”
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards agreed and said that
the borough has sent a clear message
that NRG’s plant is “antithetical to
our critically important mission to
eliminate our city’s dependence on
fossil fuels.”
“From Superstorm Sandy to
Hurricane Ida, Queens knows all
too well the catastrophic impacts
climate change has had on our borough,”
Richards said. “Time is of
the essence, and today’s decision ensures
Queens will continue to be a
global leader in the fight for a more
sustainable, resilient and healthy
environment.”
Despite NRG’s claim to comply
with the CLCPA, environmental
activists said that the Astoria plan
would not be clean energy. Gasfired
energy and the entire process
of extraction would increase greenhouse
gas emissions, the Bronx and
Queens Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez said.
“The entire process is prone to a
high degree of leakage, undermining
any potential gains that may be
touted,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Even
if every coal plant were replaced
by fracked gas electricity by 2030,
emissions would remain on track
to grow through 2050 due in part to
pervasive methane leaks that make
fracked gas as dangerous as coal.”
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani,
who actively protested NRG’s plan,
sponsored the Clean Futures Act in
March to ban all new fracked-gas
power plants across the state.
“When we organize against corporations
that put capital over the
collective, we can win a world where
we can all live with dignity,” Mamdani
said. “Stopping the Astoria
power plant is an amazing victory
towards a habitable planet and the
clean future we all deserve. Now, we
must take this momentum from Astoria
to Albany and codify this decision
by passing the Clean Futures
Act, enacting Public Power through
the Build Public Renewables Act,
and leading the country in our fight
against the climate crisis.”
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards commented that the
borough has sent a clear message
that NRG’s plant is “antithetical to
our critically important mission to
eliminate our city’s dependence on
fossil fuels.”
Environmental activist groups
like Food & Water have been fighting
against this plant in New York
and in Washington, D.C.
“Hochul’s decision strikes a critical
blow to the fossil fuel industry,
providing a huge victory for New
York’s climate movement,” Food &
Water Watch Northeast Region Director
Alex Beauchamp said. “She
is showing the nation what real
climate leadership looks like. The
next step is for Governor Hochul to
commit to halting all fossil fuel infrastructure,
including the north
Brooklyn pipeline and the Gowanus
power plant.”
/NS.COM
