Senator Kristen Gonzalez Responds to Senate Passage of the Building Public Renewables Act
February 16, 2023
For Immediate Release:
February 16th, 2023
Press Contact: Dan Kaminsky, Director of Communications
dkaminsk@nysenate.gov
STATEMENT: Senator Kristen Gonzalez Responds to Senate Passage of the Build Public Renewables Act
Albany, NY (February 16th, 2023), Senator Kristen Gonzalez (SD-59) issued the following statement following the Senate’s passage of the Build Public Renewables Act (S4134):
Senator Gonzalez said, “Yesterday, the New York state Senate took decisive action on climate justice by passing the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA). This legislation will transform the energy sector in New York by allowing the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to own and build new energy-generating projects, which they cannot currently do. The BPRA requires NYPA to be the sole electricity provider for all state and municipal buildings and mandates that NYPA provide 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. These provisions are essential in ensuring New York meets its goals set out by the CLCPA.
For low-income New Yorkers struggling with exorbitant energy costs, NYPA would be authorized to sell energy at a price 50 percent below what private utilities charge.
My constituents sent me to Albany with a mandate to deliver on climate justice. District 59 is a waterfront district home to generations of New Yorkers who have suffered at the hands of fossil fuel companies. My district produces a significant portion of New York City’s energy and contains what is known as “asthma alley” in Astoria. In addition, my district is home to Newtown creek, the site of the largest underground oil spill in the country, which generations of Greenpointers have had to live with the consequences of.
For years, neighbors in my district have been fighting back. Mere blocks from our district, the community has been organizing against the North Brooklyn Pipeline. Over the last few years, neighbors in Astoria and Stuyvesant Town have organized and defeated proposed new power plants. District 59 is demanding that we transition our energy sector off fossil fuels. The BPRA takes important steps to accomplish that transition, while simultaneously creating good green jobs with strong labor protections.
I want to thank the advocates who have been relentless in demanding Albany pass this bill, and I want to thank my colleagues for their hard work to get us to this point.
Senator Gonzalez is available for comment