Jerry Kann

Funding for renewable energy sources to replace the polluting power plants in Astoria and Long Island City

The oil, coal, and natural gas industries currently receive about $20 billion a year from the federal government in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, and other give-aways. Why can’t we spend a similar sum of money on energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, and fuel cells? This is energy that creates no pollution at all and won’t run out someday, as fossil fuels will.

New York City does not need the "temporary" generators recently built by the New York Power Authority (NYPA). Many environmentalists have said that energy conservation could make up for any shortage of power that exists now. NYPA should take down the generators they have built on Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City right now.

Astoria and Long Island City are taking the brunt of new power plant construction— these two neighborhoods alone produce about half of the power used by all of New York City. But NYPA has no justification for building any of the ten generators they’ve put up around the city, because they have never demonstrated that we need them.

If elected, I would call for:

• * democratization of the approval process for new power plant construction in New York City by way of public referendum
• * hard and fast deadlines from the power companies on closing down the older, dirtier plants, as well as immediate steps to bring them up to code
• * a legally binding commitment from the power companies to hire a significant number of workers from the community.

Jerry Kann has been an active opponent of the New York Power Authority's plans to construct pollution-generating power plants in Long Island City.