3/21/2024 0 Comments National grid brooklyn login![]() ![]() ![]() They cite a section of the law that says that in making decisions, all state agencies must “consider whether such decisions are inconsistent with or will interfere with the attainment of the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits.” Activist groups like Sane Energy Project, as well as big nonprofits like the Environmental Defense Fund, posit that regulators have a duty under the CLCPA to bring utilities in line with the law’s greenhouse gas emission targets. The unclear mandate of New York’s climate lawĪt the heart of this two-year saga is a fundamental disagreement about New York’s climate law. “At this point sitting at that table is legitimizing a process by which the utility keeps building controversial infrastructure while parties talk behind closed doors for months on end,” Ziesche said in a statement at the time. They said the process was dragging on while National Grid was already spending millions building the MRI project, money that hadn’t yet been approved. The proposal released in May was a compromise reached after extensive confidential negotiations between National Grid and the Department of Public Service, environmental groups, unions, industry groups, the city of New York, and nonprofits that represent low-income residents.īut “compromise” belies the fraught process: Several of the parties, including the Sane Energy Project and Comptroller Scott Stringer, walked out of the negotiations in March. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images National Grid resumed construction on the MRI in May 2020 after a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ninety individuals and organizations officially joined the rate case to participate in negotiations, compared to 34 in 2016, and it received more than 8,000 public comments. People living near the pipeline’s path who had no idea it had been greenlit in 2016 were suddenly at home witnessing its construction and the growing protest movement against it. Those two events, along with the global pandemic that emerged in early 2020, led to a drawn-out proceeding that took place virtually and brought in much more public attention and participation than is typical. Later that year, Governor Andrew Cuomo threatened to revoke National Grid’s license after the company claimed it couldn’t serve new customers unless the state approved a major new interstate pipeline. Here's Howīut shortly after National Grid filed its request, New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, a major climate bill that requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 85 percent by 2050. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. It includes several other concessions the company would make to satisfy climate and environmental objectives. And National Grid’s decision to call off pipeline construction isn’t the only sign that activism influenced the proposal. Those terms are a direct response to public opposition to the project, according to a statement in support of the proposal written by the Department of Public Service, the agency responsible for ensuring New Yorkers have access to affordable, safe, and reliable energy. But it would drop the idea of building a fifth section, at least for now - with an option to bring the project back in the future. If it is approved by the New York Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, National Grid would charge natural gas customers $126 million to cover the cost of building the first four sections of the pipeline, which it has completed and are now in service. The proposal outlines which investments the company would be able to pay off and earn a return on through rate hikes to its customers over the next three years. In mid-May, National Grid, the gas utility building it, released a proposal to halt construction of the project. Now, the heated battle over the Metropolitan Reliability Project, or MRI, which was dubbed the North Brooklyn Pipeline by activists, may be nearing a close. Even current Mayor Bill de Blasio has come out against the pipeline. The movement grew to a coalition of 14 organizations, many of them community-based, and earned the vocal support of city council members, state legislators, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, and several of Stringer’s fellow mayoral candidates. Some chained themselves to the site to block construction, leading to 12 arrests last fall. They biked the route of the pipeline and told stories about the disproportionately polluted neighborhoods it cut through. Since early 2020, environmental and social justice activists have staged more than a dozen protests against a 7-mile gas pipeline being built in Brooklyn, New York. ![]()
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