Opinion: It’s time to end fossil fuel reliance in Astoria
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Sara Foster is a member of Food & Water Watch and a resident of Astoria Photo courtesy of Foster
By Sara Foster
Energy company NRG has a long history of deceptive practices in New York, and, frankly, we’re tired of it. At a time, when state law mandates we transition to renewable energy, and when Governor Cuomo himself has committed to a replacement of fossil fuel infrastructure, why go backwards?
No matter what NRG’s well-paid lobbyists say, we in Astoria know the company’s proposal for a new fracked gas power plant in our neighborhood will be more of the same: dirty polluting energy infrastructure that keeps asthma rates high and keeps us locked in the past.
NRG frames their fracked gas proposal as a cleaner alternative to the current peaker plant in operation, but this framing presents a false choice between two bad options. The truth is, Queens residents like myself don’t need to pick between a new fracked gas power plant and the current one. There is a third option, one that I’d like to see our Governor support.
Let’s choose the cleaner, greener path. The path that transitions us off our addiction to dirty fossil fuels. The path that will create thousands of green union jobs. The path that will not add even more poisonous gases to our air. Let’s choose a renewable energy future for Queens.
That renewable energy future is already here. Battery storage is being built at the Ravenswood plant in Queens, and just last week Governor Cuomo announced that one of the two offshore wind projects will interconnect to the Astoria grid, creating an opportunity to replace the current fossil fuel generated energy.
We don’t need another dirty fracked gas power plant in Astoria. We need cleaner air, green union jobs, and energy infrastructure that moves us into the future.
We won’t let ourselves be fooled by a multi-billion dollar company’s greenwashing marketing. We’re ready for the energy transformation Governor Cuomo has outlined.
Governor Cuomo are you with us? Let’s stop NRG in Astoria.
Sara Foster is a member of Food & Water Watch and a resident of Astoria
