Happy 2021, NYC-EJA family and friends!

In the first month of the year, NYC-EJA testified about solid waste, composting, waterfront justice, and resiliency. January also saw us moving full speed ahead in our projects, campaigns, and key appointments, including within the statewide Climate Action Council tasked with shaping the implementation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). We celebrated a victory that our member UPROSE ushered in, bringing green jobs and renewable energy to Sunset Park with a tremendous offshore wind project. And this February, NYC-EJA re-launches our annual Public Lecture Series with the Pratt Institute Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment.

Yes, 2021 is off to a roaring start. Last, but not least, President Biden issued the earliest and broadest executive orders on Environmental Justice in history, including - amidst so much else - a commitment of 40% federal clean energy funding for frontline communities. An ambitious, status quo-challenging goal modeled after New York’s own CLCPA - brought to you by the Empire State's environmental justice movement and allies.

Read below for more about our work in January and our upcoming lecture series!

The offshore wind industry is coming to Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Frontline community leaders, local and national climate justice activists, advocates for workers rights and good jobs applauded the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) commitment to invest in the necessary port infrastructure improvements to make ​Sunset Park’s industrial waterfront into an offshore wind energy hub, generating thousands of good, green industry jobs and hastening New York’s transition to a zero-carbon future.

The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) is New York City’s largest industrial waterfront and, according to advocates, is the only site in New York State suitable for assembly of offshore wind turbines without the long-term reconstruction other sites upstate would require in order to accommodate the vessel depth and large footprint needed to assemble the massive component parts of wind turbines.

New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) requires that 70% of the state’s electricity come from renewable resources by 2030 and mandates that at least 35% of benefits from the law go to frontline communities. To help achieve the law’s ambitious climate goals, New York State is working to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy in the next 15 years -- enough to power approximately 6 million homes.

“This is a climate justice victory - this is what the industrial waterfront of the future looks like," said Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE and Co-Chair of the Climate Justice Alliance​. "Addressing climate justice in NYC demands non-traditional partnerships ready to support frontline solutions and birth a frontline green new deal starting with our industrial waterfronts. Offshore wind is a necessary part of operationalizing our community-led Green Resilient Industrial District proposal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn to utilize our industrial sector to create thousands of well-paid clean energy jobs and to build for our climate future. This investment for offshore wind at SBMT will support implementation of NY's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a green re-industrialization of our waterfront, and a regional clean energy hub."

On January 25th, the NYC Council Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts held a hearing on climate change, resiliency, and adaptation. NYC-EJA testified recognizing that massive investments are needed to ensure NYC communities are resilient to impacts of future coastal storms, but that these investments must be made intentionally, centering equity and justice. Read our full testimony here.

On January 26th, NYC-EJA testified at a Department of Sanitation (DSNY) hearing for the first wave of proposed rules regarding the City’s Commercial Waste Zones (CWZ) law. We urged DSNY to support organics expansion, and urged that the rules ensure that carters demonstrate that the facilities they contract with are in compliance with health and safety laws, among other minor flags. As a whole, however, NYC-EJA and the Transform Don’t Trash Coalition are glad to see this law’s implementation thoughtfully moving forward. The CWZ law will bring rational zones to the City’s commercial waste collection system, reducing truck miles, improving worker and public safety, and improving air quality, among many other benefits. Read our full testimony here.

On January 28th, NYC-EJA attended the Queensbridge Baby Park Visioning Session hosted by NYC Parks, and spoke in support of the community composters Big Reuse staying in their current home, and NYC Parks providing more accessible recreational space guided by needs of local residents. Parks has recently attempted to pit recreational space and composting against one another, but there is enough room at this site that the uses can co-exist. Closing this composting site would cut green jobs and result in more waste routed to transfer stations, landfills, and incinerators in environmental justice communities. At the virtual event, Parks staff divided participants (community members & advocates) into 10 groups, and the report-back from every single group was resounding support for a sentiment also shared by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer at the top of the visioning session, which is that NYC Parks should keep Big Reuse and expand other forms of community access. Read NYC-EJA’s comments here.

Register here for the Pratt GCPE & NYC-EJA Lecture Series, An Equitable Recovery Agenda for New York!