‘NO FRACKING WAY!’
Astoria community protests proposed NRG power plant upgrade
Astoria Assembly candidate Zohran Mamdani and Astoria residents march in protest of NRG Power Plant on Sept. 12.
Photo by Dean Moses
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | SEPT. 18-SEPT. 25, 2020 19
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
More than 200 people
marched through Astoria in
protest of the NRG power plant
on Saturday, Sept. 12, calling
for Governor Andrew Cuomo
to reject NRG’s proposed plans
for the site and implement a
Green New Deal.
NRG, a large fossil fuel
company involved in energy
generation and retail electricity,
is seeking approval from
the State’s Department of Environmental
Conservation
(DEC) to replace and upgrade
existing generators at 31-01 20
Ave.B
ut some community members
and elected officials believe
NRG is attempting to
bypass more up-to-date environmental
review process due
to their plant that was previously
approved in 2010 and
community approval.
Protesters of all age groups
met on the corner of 19th
Street and Ditmars Boulevard
in Astoria Park, where
they created signs that read
“Green Energy, Not Dirty
NRG,” “No fracking way!” and
“Public utilities under public
control.”
The march was organized
by a public power coalition that
included New York City Democratic
Socialists (NYC-DSA),
350.org, Sane Energy, Food &
Water Action, New York Communities
for Change, Sunrise
Movement, New York Youth
Climate Leaders and Queens
Climate Project.
Astoria residents were
also joined by local lawmakers,
state Senators Michael
Gianaris and Jessica Ramos,
Comptroller and 2021 mayoral
candidate Scott Stringer,
Astoria Assembly candidate
Zohran Mamdani and Astoria
City Council candidate
Tiffany Cabán.
Stringer previously penned
an open letter to the DEC in
opposition of the plant, aiming
to protect the health of Astoria
residents and the environment.
He called on the DEC to
require the project undergo a
full environmental review.
“The state should not allow
NRG to advance this new
project under the auspices
of regulatory permissions
granted nearly a decade ago
and should instead insist that
the project account for the
profound harm fossil fuel infrastructure
poses to our communities
and our climate,”
Stringer wrote. “This proposal,
just as any further expansion
of fossil fuel infrastructure,
is incompatible with our
climate goals.”
At the march, organizers
asked seniors and children to
lead the march, so they could
dictate the speed. Chants included
“Whose air? Our air!”
“Hey, hey, Cuomo! Fossil fuels
have got to go!” “They get rich,
we get sick, NRG is full of it!”
At one point, a little boy
led the march, chanting, “No
more gas, no more oil! Keep
the carbon in the soil!”
The march ended at the
proposed location of the proposed
NRG Power Plant.
Mamdani, who is endorsed
by NYC-DSA, echoed Stringer’s
comments.
“We cannot let our community
continue to pump more
carbon into the atmosphere
and contribute to more of this
devastation in the future,”
said Mamdani. “The state
must reject the proposal to
lock in continued carbon pollution
at NRG’s Astoria facilities,
implement a moratorium
on all new fossil fuel infrastructure,
end all fossil fuel
subsidies, and make whatever
investments are necessary to
fully decarbonize our economy
and transition to 100 percent
renewable energy,”
Gianaris and Ramos were
among the speakers who spoke
about the importance of green
energy.
“Whether people know it
or not, anyone that supports
fossil fuel production today is
a climate change denier,” said
Gianaris. “All you have to do
is turn on your television, look
what’s happening in California,
for God’s sake. The skies
are orange, the entire west
coast of the country is burning,
and that is because we
have not moved fast enough to
get off of fossil fuels and onto
renewable energy.”
The march comes months
after the public power coalition
held a town hall in which
Gianaris, Astoria Councilman
Costa Constantinides and Assemblymen
Ron Kim and Brian
Barnwell expressed their
support of bills that would enact
a public power utility.
Ramos said NRG has “no
business being in our district.”
“I cannot believe that they
are allowing this to somehow
continue knowing how bad
of an actor NRG is,” she said.
“We have to organize, organize,
organize.”
In response to the march,
NRG Spokersperson Dave
Schrader said they are looking
to replace the existing
power plant.
“Queens residents can’t
wait for solutions that are 10
years away – they need cleaner
air as soon as possible. That’s
why NRG expects to achieve
net-zero emissions by 2050, in
line with New York’s nationleading
climate goals,” said
Schrader. “The project will
replace 50-year-old turbines
with state-of-the-art technology,
which will reduce onsite
air emissions by up to 99
percent per hour — meaning
cleaner air, lower emissions
and reliable power when New
Yorkers need it most.”
He added that there is “no
combination of renewable energy
that exists today to meet
the growing energy needs of
New York City,” and that if the
project doesn’t go through,
they risk “California-style
rolling blackouts, which
Queens and New York City
simply cannot afford.”
NYC-DSA Ecosocialist Organizer
Sarah Lyons said the
time for public power is now.
“NRG has spent decades
poisoning Astoria with fossil
fuel emissions, and now
that environmental laws have
forced them to shut down
their old plant, they’re trying
to replace it not with the
renewables we need, but a
fracked gas peaker that would
make them more money,” said
Lyons. “It’s planetary suicide
to build more fossil fuel infrastructure.
It’s time to take
our energy system out of the
hands of corporations whose
best offer is to poison us a
little more slowly, and create a
public power system that puts
people and planet over profit.”
/QNS.COM
/350.org
