Tag Archives: energy

23 May

Energy Democracy Advocacy Day

[ New York Energy Democracy Alliance ]On Wednesday, May 29th, NYSBC and other members of the Energy Democracy Alliance (EDA) will be hosting a gathering in Albany, NY to advocate for a resilient, localized, and democratically controlled clean energy economy in New York State—the unifying purpose of the 25 member organizations of the EDA. We see tremendous potential this year, so we are pooling our efforts around this one powerful day in Albany.  We hope you can join us!
 
  • 10am — Orientation
    • Energy Efficiency policy overview
    • Renewable Energy policy overview
    • How to advocate
    • Developing your personal story for Energy Democracy
  • 12pm — Lunch Break
    • Healthy food provided by the EDA
    • Small group discussions
  • 1pm — Legislative Meetings
    • Facilitated meetings with legislative offices
  • 3pm — Report Backs & Debrief
Your voice is critical. As outlined above, we will learn about relevant policies and hone our personal stories before meeting with legislative offices to present our case. Each of us brings an important story to these meetings, and this will be your opportunity to convey your story to the very people who make the laws in New York State.

We are finalizing a shortlist of bills that have the best chance to further our goals for energy democracy.  In the energy efficiency arena, we are working on a bill that would codify the state’s energy efficiency standard with a focus on environmental health and would mandate equitable building energy efficiency work and jobs training.  On the renewable energy front, we are evaluating several bills that aim to increase solar energy and make solar energy more equitable.  To address the broader and more long term impacts, we will be advocating for the Climate & Community Protection Act (CCPA), which would rapidly transition the state’s economy off of fossil fuels, invest 40% of the state’s climate fund into low-income communities and communities of color, and set high wage standards to make green jobs good jobs. 

Do these issues resonate with you?  If so, we hope you can join us in this important fight.  Please RSVP and we will hold a seat at the table for you.
 

As many of you know from our previous email, we will be in Albany Tuesday through Thursday of next week.  If you wish to lend your support on any or all of those days, please follow the links below for details, RSVP, and share with others.

Your business voice is critical to this advocacy work.  Together, we bring a much needed counter narrative to debates dominated by the largest profit-driven corporations that claim to represent businesses—including yours.  NYSBC can help you explore how you and your business relate to the above issues and hone your story to have the deepest impact. 
22 Mar

Economic Analysis of CCPA Predicts Triple Bottom Line Wins

Yet another example where doing right by our people and our environment will strengthen our economy.  That’s how the triple bottom line works, folks!

Summing up… A recent economic analysis predicts that the Climate & Community Protection Act (CCPA), which is again before the NYS legislature, “will support… an average of about 150,000 [jobs] in each year over the first decade.” What’s more, these would be well-paying, mostly working class jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The fossil fuel industry continues to claim that the CCPA will kill jobs, but they represent only “about 13,000 workers” in NYS and the CCPA includes funds for transitioning those workers to clean energy jobs.Table 1. Job Creation and Employment-Years from NYS Clean Energy Investments to Achieve 50 Percent Reduction of CO2 Emissions Over a Decade (2021-2030)

I’d like to add that — if done right — the new renewable energy and energy efficiency jobs should be mostly with NYS businesses, which would further strengthen our economy. In contrast, our ongoing investment in the fossil fuel industry diverts money out of our economy through those predominantly out-of-state corporations.

Fascinating stuff that could transform New York State. This article covers a lot of the findings from research conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute (PERI).
Read the article in full here.

09 Mar

New Community Solar Regulations are Bad for Small Business

The verdict on VDER is in and a new fight for EQUITY and RENEWABLE ENERGY begins.

New York’s Public Service Commission (PSC) regulates the value of distributed energy resources (VDER) such as community solar. The PSC — which has 3 people plus 2 empty seats — voted today to approve the regressive VDER regulations, which they claim achieve “a major milestone in the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative by beginning the actual transition to a distributed, transactive, and integrated electric system.”

The problem is the new regulations place greater power in the large utilities and grossly undervalue the energy created by community solar systems making those systems even more difficult for YOU to finance. Most small businesses and low-to-middle income people NEED the community solar option if they want to invest in clean renewable energy. We need a regulatory framework that sparks a revolution of shared solar across the state. We are ready for it!

More to come on how we can push for incentives that help level this playing field. How else will we achieve our Clean Energy Standard of 50% by 2030? The true path is FORWARD.

Check out the NY Energy Democracy Alliance’s response here: http://bit.ly/2lLOSKN

01 Dec

Reckless Advance of Spectra AIM Pipeline

The time has come for our state and national leaders to step in and put an immediate stop to the further development of the Spectra AIM (Algonquin Incremental Market) gas pipeline — recklessly located within 105 feet of vital structures at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant and not much more than 1,000 feet from the reactor itself.

It is surprising — to say the least — that approvals were granted for a commercial enterprise that puts an aging nuclear facility — already considered an environmental risk — in unnecessary danger. For if the pipeline were to explode, as Spectra’s line in Pennsylvania did last April, the entire plant could be engulfed — with catastrophic consequences — according to Physicians for Social Responsibility.

The $876 million AIM expansion of the existing Algonquin pipeline system, which runs through New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island to eastern Massachusetts and transports close to 3 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day, will move some 342 million cubic feet more. It calls for adding a 42-inch pipeline that will traverse the Hudson River between Stony Point in Rockland County and Buchanan in Westchester County, home to Indian Point.

Had we understood the implications sooner, we might have had more leverage with state and federal authorities in arguing to stop further development of the pipeline. However, while it is late in the game, it is not too late. It can’t be, because public safety is at stake, particularly among more vulnerable populations. That’s why so many members of the New York State Sustainable Business Council have joined the struggle against the pipeline.

Gas pipelines have a spotty track record for safety, at best, and the consequences of a rupture at Indian Point are horrific to contemplate (there were 143 gas transmission line incidents in the United States in 2015, according to the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration). Of course, there ought to be extensive emergency protocols, safety and evacuation plans in place before Spectra AIM goes into operation. There are not.

The nuclear plant’s required evacuation plan covers a 50-mile radius and includes much of New York City. It makes no provisions for a gas explosion. Residents as far west as Port Jervis, as far north as Rhinebeck and as far east as Danbury, Conn. would be affected.

The Spectra AIM fracked gas pipeline epitomizes federal regulators’ ongoing disregard of the risks to climate, public health and the economy associated with the gas and oil industry’s fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure. These regulators have routinely ignored the continual protests of ordinary citizens, elected officials —including our own governor, national organizations such as Physicians for Social Responsibility, New York’s Riverkeeper and others calling for thorough independent risk, safety and health assessments.

So far, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has not listened, and plans to allow the AIM pipeline to be operational in a matter of days or weeks.

The time has come for our state and national leaders — including U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Barack Obama — to amp up the pressure on FERC by speaking out loudly and without delay, demanding a stop to the AIM pipeline now and an immediate implementation of a national energy policy that expresses an undeniable commitment to clean, renewable energy and rejection of further fossil fuel development.

We must avoid the temptation of further fossil fuel development: Its economic gains are proving to be short-term and its losses infinite. This is imperative to our survival.

Ajax Greene is president of On Belay Business Advisors and chairman of the New York State Sustainable Business Council.