[again-- thx tons to Francena, Hannah, Kari, and Craig for signing my letter here!]
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Governor Andrew Cuomo;
NYSDEC Commissioner Basil Seggos;
Senate Leader John Flanagan;
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie;
Senators Terrence Murphy and Sue Serino;
Assemblymembers Didi Barrett, Kevin Cahill,
Kieran Michael Lalor, and Frank Skartados:
Dear State Leaders:
We, the undersigned members of the Dutchess County Legislature, urge you strongly to stop the toxic, frack-gas Cricket Valley and CPV power plants from becoming operational now. Dutchess County property taxes go up when air pollution issues are exacerbated for some/all of the 35,000 Dutchess County residents with asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema who may be on Medicaid--
that is a simple fact.
It is also a simple fact that, as far as emissions from the frack-gas Cricket
Valley power plant in Dover are concerned, we're talking at least: Over 200
tons of nitrogen oxides. Over 100 tons of particulate matter. Over 60 tons of volatile organic compounds. Over a dozen tons of sulfuric acid mist. Over 50
tons of sulfur dioxide. Over 10 tons of hazardous air pollutants. Over a ton of formaldehyde. 4 million tons of carbon dioxide (even more from the gas
That is the pollution that will come out of the emission stacks of Cricket Valley every year right into the air we breathe every year unless we stop it (the 650-megawatt CPV plant in Orange County has two gas-fired turbines and a steam generator; Cricket Valley will have three gas-fired turbines and a steam
generator if we don't stop it). It doesn't have to be this way-- there is an alternative-- a clean-energy future through wind, water, and sunlight. As a
2013 Cornell/Stanford report found, extrapolating for our county, right here
in Dutchess our county could create literally 67,000 new green construction
jobs each year, 800 new green jobs each year, saving $537 million annually
Dutchess County and New York State would do well, instead to follow the amazing example of GOP San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who, working together with the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, just agreed to make the entire city fossil-fuel-free by 2035-- to create green jobs, save on energy/electricity, clean local air, and cut carbon emissions (along with 1400
other mayors across our country this year working with Sierra Club's Ready
for 100 campaign).
Governor
Mario Cuomo knew Shoreham nuclear power plant was fully constructed
and shut it down anyway in 1984 before it went fully online
because of the massive, justified outcry against it and public health concerns. It's time to
kill both Cricket Valley and CPV-- there are better ways to create jobs--
far
more of them, in fact-- without killing all of us.
