Queens Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney speaks at a press conference outside the Ravenswood Generating Station to unveil environmental legislation on Monday, Jan. 31,
2022. Photo by Paul Frangipane
Queens Rep. Maloney introduces legislation to
prevent permitting of polluting power sources
BY JULIA MORO
Queens activists and community
leaders gathered outside
the Ravenswood Generating
Station in Long Island City
on Monday, Jan. 31, to support
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s
new legislation to advance
clean energy.
The Justice in Power Plant
Permitting Act would not allow
major pollution from sources
like the Ravenswood Generating
Station (also known as Big
Allis) that advocates say cause
indelible harm to the surrounding
communities. To replace
these power plants, the legislation
proposes the Just Energy
Transition Fund to support
clean energy projects. As the
bill is being introduced at federal
level, it would ensure that
the federal government act as
a partner with impacted areas
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and pollutants by 2030.
Maloney and others gathered
outside the New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA)
Queensbridge Houses to comment
on the harmful effects
power plants often have on underserved
communities.
“The air pollution coming
from Ravenswood has inflicted
asthma, heart disease and cancer
on this community,” Maloney
said. “This is a crisis of environmental
justice and it must
be stopped. These units are killing
my constituents and far too
often these units are placed in
communities of color. We can’t
stand by and let this continue.”
The legislation would not allow
major sources of pollution,
like fossil fuel-powered plants,
to accumulate in one area,
which Maloney said has drastically
affected the health of her
constituents due to the 28 units
in the city.
Bishop Mitchell Taylor, a
community leader and activist,
TIMESLEDGER | Q 2 NS.COM | FEB. 4 - FEB. 10, 2022
said that this legislation is a
first step in stopping the largest
polluters in the city.
“We are the host to a dirty
power plant that supplies 45%
of the power to Manhattan but
100% of the pollution to Queensbridge,”
Taylor said. “This
plant here is next to the largest
housing development in the
country. People are dying every
day because of pollution.”
Queensbridge Houses contain
96 buildings and have
3,147 apartments with approximately
7,000 residents, making
it the largest NYCHA development.
According to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Ravenswood
Generating Station has emitted
nearly 3,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide and .06 metric tons
of methane in 2020. The total
population within 3 miles of the
plant is 1,214,778, 45% of whom
are people of color.
The Ravenswood plant
changed its name to “Rise Light
& Power” last year in what the
owners called a rebranding
and reflection of their commitment
to New York’s transition
to green energy.
Raya Salter, a climate and
energy lawyer and a member
of the state’s Climate Action
Council, said that New York
is working to end pollution
from power plants like the Ravenswood
Generating Station,
but can’t do it without federal
help.
“The Justice in Power
Plant Permitting Act breaks
new ground for energy justice
in America,” Salter said.
“It recognizes the cumulative
harm to Black and brown communities
from power plant
pollution and prioritizes addressing
that. It will help end
the concentration of polluting
capabilities in Black, brown
and poor communities.”
Queens County has an
above-average rate of asthma,
specifically in adults, with
9.3% affected compared to the
national average of only 7%,
according to the CDC. Northwestern
Queens has been
deemed “Asthma Alley,” due
to the disproportionately high
rates of the disease.
Arif Ullah, the executive
director of the environmental
justice organization,
the South Bronx Unite, said
that no community should
have asthma as a defining
characteristic.
“The South Bronx and Astoria,
as different as they may
be, have at least one thing in
common, and that’s asthma,”
Ullah said. “Both communities
are known as Asthma
Alley because of the air pollution
we are exposed to. Many
of my friends growing up had
asthma because it was so common.
It seemed normal. That
is a tragedy.”
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