2021 marks NYC-EJA's 30th year of organizing and advocacy to improve living conditions and good job opportunities in NYC's communities that have been historically marginalized and disproportionately burdened. We look forward to celebrating this milestone with you all later this year; if all goes well, NYC-EJA’s 30th Year Gala will be all the way live! This year, as every year, we will lift up the tremendous work of our members and staff, bringing education and tangible benefits to their communities, and to the city and state at large.
In light of the horrific shootings in Atlanta last month, NYC-EJA members including CHHAYA CDC ( statement) and UPROSE ( statement) issued statements bringing to attention U.S. histories of anti-Asian racism which has only been amplified during the pandemic, and has been painfully evidenced by the recent murders. We stand with Asian friends, families, activists, and communities against white supremacy, misogyny, and xenophobia in all forms.
Read more about what we've been up to in March below. We also welcomed a new staff member to the team, Shravanthi Kanekal, who will serve as NYC-EJA's Resiliency Planner!
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New York Introduces Transformative
Climate and Community Investment Act!
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After years of advocacy by the NY Renews coalition, on March 22nd, NYS Senator Kevin Parker introduced Senate Bill S4264A, the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA).
New Yorkers from Brooklyn to the Bronx and beyond continue to grapple with environmental, health, and economic inequities. The CCIA offers a plan to strengthen our state’s economy by creating hundreds of thousands of good, green jobs, while aggressively combatting the climate crisis and investing in community-based climate solutions led by frontline environmental justice communities. The CCIA will reduce hazardous pollution, improve public health, and take steps towards ensuring a more sustainable present and future for New York.
“Mainstream climate solutions ignore the leadership and needs of communities of color, who are most impacted by climate change and pollution,” said NYC-EJA's Executive Director Eddie Bautista. “The people closest to the problems are closest to the solutions. The CCIA would make billions of dollars specifically available to communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis for locally-designed renewable and resiliency programs.”
Next week, we will be co-organizing a Climate, Jobs, and Justice Action Week to make a just transition a reality.
- Annel Hernandez
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PEAK Coalition Report Lays out Roadmap to Shut Down Polluting Peaker Plants
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The PEAK Coalition report entitled The Fossil Fuel End Game: A Frontline Vision to Retire New York City’s Peaker Plants by 2030, is the first detailed strategic and policy roadmap to retire and replace an entire city’s fossil fuel peaker power plants. It lays out a community-led strategy to replace about half of NYC’s existing fleet of polluting peaker plants with a combination of offshore wind, distributed solar, energy efficiency, and battery storage by 2025. The remaining peaker plants could be reliably and cost-effectively replaced with the same mix of resources by 2030.
The report lays out a plan for NYC focused on local, distributed solutions. This decentralized approach creates a more resilient power system than the current grid, which depends on centralized fossil-fuel power plants. The report also highlights the alarming economic, environmental, and social costs of NYC’s existing peaker plants, expanding on the findings of the PEAK Coalition’s previous report Dirty Energy, Big Money. This report was prepared by Strategen Consulting on behalf of the PEAK Coalition: NYC-EJA, UPROSE, THE POINT CDC, NYLPI, and Clean Energy Group. You can follow the PEAK Coalition on Twitter to learn more about our ongoing work!
- Annel Hernandez
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CW4A Mayoral Candidate Forum!
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The NYC mayoral election is upon us, and addressing our climate crisis and unemployment are top priorities for New Yorkers.
NYC-EJA’s Energy Planner Carlos Garcia co-organized the recent Climate Works for All Mayoral Candidate forum, featuring NYC-EJA members and allies posing long-form and short answer questions to a wide range of candidates, giving them an opportunity to share their plans for advancing racial, economic, and climate justice in NYC. Watch the full recording here!
- Carlos Garcia
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NYC Council Sanitation Budget Hearing
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On March 4th, NYC-EJA testified at the preliminary budget hearing alongside many allies in the Save Our Compost and Transform Don't Trash coalitions, offering powerful testimony to advance zero waste and waste equity goals. Budget requests included $14.75 million to partially restore and expand city composting programs, and funding for Commercial Waste Zones implementation, among other asks. Read our full testimony here.
- Tok Oyewole
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Fordham Environmental Law Review’s Annual Symposium
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Three NYC-EJA staff members spoke at Fordham Environmental Law Review’s (ELR) Annual Symposium on March 4th, titled "Urban Climate Change and the Law." Research Analyst Jalisa Gilmore presented on NYC-EJA’s Waterfront Justice Project, Energy Planner Carlos Garcia spoke on a panel about NYC-EJA’s various energy campaigns, and Policy/Communications Organizer Dr. Tok Oyewole gave the keynote address for the symposium, detailing projects of NYC-EJA members and offering advice for policymakers and practicing attorneys who wish to implement environmental and climate justice solutions in partnership with communities. A full recording of the event can be found on the Fordham ELR webpage here!
- Tok Oyewole
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Visions for NYC Composting Panel
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On March 23rd, NYC-EJA’s Policy and Communications Organizer Dr. Tok Oyewole spoke on a panel alongside other members of the Save Our Compost coalition titled, “#SaveOurCompost Visions for NYC Composting” during NYC Circular City Week 2021. Tok's presentation centered around NYC's waste equity policy history and the advancement of climate and environmental justice solutions in NYC’s waste system, with a spotlight on community composting efforts.
- Tok Oyewole
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Introducing Our New Resiliency Planner!
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We are excited to welcome Shravanthi Kanekal as NYC-EJA's new Resiliency Planner!
Shravanthi is an urban planner with experience in climate change adaptation and sustainability strategies. Her interests lie in collaborative civic engagement, the intersection of design and policy, and its effect on social equity within communities. She has contributed to plans addressing sea level rise, carbon emission reduction and disaster management for municipalities and a large university. She previously worked as a policy planner with a consulting firm specializing in hazard mitigation planning. She also has four years of experience as an architect working on commercial, residential, and historic preservation and restoration projects. Shravanthi received a Masters of City Planning with a concentration in Land Use and Environmental Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from R.V. College of Engineering.
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Be sure to check for more exciting news from NYC-EJA about our 30th Anniversary and ongoing work, on our website and in future newsletters! And if you like what you read, please consider making a tax-exempt donation to support our work.
Sincerely,
Eddie Bautista
Executive Director
New York City Environmental Justice Alliance
Content/Editing/Compiling Contributions by Tok Oyewole
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