MEDIA ADVISORY: HICKSVILLE, NY – Monday March 9 – 5:00 pm
Before corporate utility National Grid holds its first 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.
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: Monday, March 9 at 5:00pmET
WHERE: Hicksville Community Center, 28 W Carl Street, Hicksville NY
WHO: Long Island community members, Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition, Long Island Progressive Coalition, South Shore Audubon Society, All Our Energy and Green Party of Nassau County.
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 becoming investments in stranded assets for which ratepayers will be stuck footing the bill. National Grid is also currently seeking a rate hike to expand Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) facilities and build multiple new transmission mains on Long Island without community consent.
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:
The Stop the Williams Pipeline Coalition will also be holding press conferences before info sessions in Jamaica Queens on March 12 and 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