In 2011, NYC-EJA worked with Governor Cuomo and the NYS Assembly to overhaul and re-authorize Article X (New York State’s power plant siting law, which expired in 2003).  Known as the Power NY Act, NYC-EJA worked with allies NY Lawyers for the Public Interest, NYPIRG, and Environmental Advocates of NY to ensure the new Article X bill provides the strongest protections for environmentally overburdened communities of color.  Power NY mandates – for the first time – the development of cumulative impact analyses that measure a community’s total environmental load before a power plant siting can be approved.  More importantly, Power NY mandates that the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation promulgate regulations for the State’s first ever “disproportionate burdens” analyses.  If a community is found to be disproportionately burdened, power plant applicants will have to commit to local, verifiable offsets of any projected pollution emissions before the power plant can be sited, thereby easing the burden on our most vulnerable communities.  The DEC expects to promulgate the rules for these innovative analyses in 2012.

NYC-EJA members such as UPROSE have also led efforts to defeat the siting of multiple large power plants in overburdened communities like Sunset Park.

Click here for more information

C.U.R.E.’s Key Issues For Article X Reform