Jamaica, Queens, NY – Thursday March 12 – 5:00 pm
Before corporate utility National Grid holds its second in a series of public meetings to present their long-term energy supply proposals for downstate to the public, New Yorkers will rally to oppose any proposal that incorporates fracked gas infrastructure, including the twice-denied Williams NESE Pipeline.
Members of the Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition called the first public meeting held by National Grid in Hicksville, New York on Monday a “sham” and New Yorkers interrupted National Grid President John Bruckner with chants of “The people have spoken! Renewables now”.
New Yorkers are calling on Governor Cuomo, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Public Service Commission to reject National Grid’s false fossil fuel “solutions” like the Williams pipeline and fund 100% renewable solutions instead.
WHAT: Rally and press conference opposing National Grid’s fracked gas proposals
WHEN: Thursday, March 12 at 5:00pmET
WHERE: YMCA, 89-25 Parsons Blvd, Jamaica, New York
WHO: Queens community members, Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition, NYC Democratic Socialist of America, Rockaway Beach Civic Association and Rockaway Women for Progress.
WHY: In 2019, New Yorkers submitted tens of thousands of comments opposing the Williams NESE Pipeline and grassroots movements passed ambitious climate legislation at both the city and state level. Despite the clear mandate from the people to get off dirty fossil fuels, National Grid has released proposals to end their widely condemned moratorium that include 1) off-shore liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) 2) on-shore LNG import ports 3) fracked gas trucks 4) the Williams NESE pipeline.
Any proposal that includes fracked gas goes against the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and risks creating stranded assets that ratepayers will be stuck paying for. A new white paper from Energy Futures Group, for example, shows that 95% of the Williams NESE pipeline’s gas would need to be avoided in order to achieve state climate goals. The paper also finds that 88% of the gas from the pipeline could be offset by implementing energy efficiency, demand response, strategic electrification, and other non-pipeline solutions. In other words, renewable solutions can handle the job.
In November 2019, the PSC ordered National Grid to pay a $36 million penalty for their widely condemned moratorium, leaving many New Yorkers questioning why Governor Cuomo and the PSC handed the reins back to the company to come up with a long-term plan in the first place.
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NOTES TO THE EDITOR:
Contact: Lee Ziesche, lee@SaneEnergyProject.org, 954-415-6228
Robert Wood, rjacksonwood@gmail.com, 585-261-2795
Lindsay Meiman, lindsay@350.org, 347-460-9082
The Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition will also be holding a press conference before the info sessions in Downtown Brooklyn on March 24.
MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Members of the Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition, and the author of False Demand report, are available for interview upon request.
See our Media Pack on the pipeline for more context and information.
The Stop the Williams Pipeline coalition is organized by 350Brooklyn, 350.org, Food and Water Watch, New York Communities for Change, Rockaway Beach Civic Association, Sane Energy Project, and Surfrider NYC Chapter