FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Contact: Michael Paulson, info@publicpowerny.org, 917-690-0520

COMMUNITY BOARD 1 CITES JOBS, HEALTH, AFFORDABILITY

New York, NY — Bronx Community Board 1 sent a clear message to New York’s elected leadership: the Bronx supports an aggressive buildout of public renewable energy. The Board voted to send a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and the New York Power Authority Board of Trustees calling for a 15 gigawatts of public renewables statewide, as well as 5 gigawatts downstate. The letter echoed and supported City Council Resolution 710, introduced by Council Member Sandy Nurse, which likewise calls for a 15 GW buildout to benefit New Yorkers.

The Community Board emphasized that a 15 GW buildout will benefit the Bronx through union jobs, improved public health, and more affordable utility bills. 15 GW of public renewables will create 20,000-30,000 green union jobs, protected by gold standard labor provisions approved by the AFL-CIO. The buildout will also ensure the closure of two NYPA peaker plants in Port Morris, within the CB1’s district. These plants contribute to disastrous health effects in the surrounding communities. Finally, a large-scale buildout will allow New Yorkers to save money through the REACH program, which directs revenue from public renewable projects towards utility bill credits–a crucial measure as utilities continue to demand increasingly unaffordable rates. 

This call from the Bronx comes as NYPA ignores a critical, legally mandated deadline set by the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA). BPRA mandated that NYPA produce a plan to phase out their peaker plants by May 3, 2023, but as of May 7 no report has been issued.

Alex Patterson, Coordinator of Public Power NY said, “From the Bronx to Buffalo, New Yorkers are demanding an energy system that creates union jobs, cleans our air, and lowers our utility bills. We have the tools to make it happen–the only thing standing in the way is Governor Hochul’s inaction.”

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The Public Power NY Coalition is a statewide movement of community and advocacy organizations fighting for an environmentally sustainable energy system that’s also racially, socially, and economically just. We believe energy and a habitable planet are human rights, and that we need to avert the climate crisis by eliminating the use of fossil fuels and transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy. We aim to accomplish these goals by taking over our for-profit energy system and bringing it under public, not-for-profit, local, and democratic ownership and management.