For Queens residents, climate change is not a future problem — it’s a clear and present danger. In the past decade alone, Queens has borne the brunt of several environmental and public health disasters induced or exacerbated by our climate crisis — from Superstorm Sandy to Hurricane Ida to Asthma Alley to the continuing repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of these crises has cost our borough dearly in lost lives, increased rates of illness, lost income, property damage and critical repairs.
Our position as a community so adversely affected by climate change also creates an opportunity for us to be a first mover when it comes to real climate action. Queens is already leading the charge for resiliency and sustainability efforts across the city — but we can’t fight this fight alone. Years of systemic disinvestment can only be reversed by systemic investment — and systematic, strategic change. We need real leadership if we’re going to turn lofty climate goals into real, actionable climate projects and solutions with impactful results.
One such project is Clean Path NY, which will generate new clean energy resources from New York’s own wind and solar assets and inject it into the heart of Queens — where our energy grid, like the city as whole, is still largely dependent on fossil fuels. The delivery of more than 7.5 million megawatt-hours of emissions-free clean energy will reduce fossil fuel emissions from our electric sector by 22% on average per year and avoid a projected 49 million tons of avoided CO2 — equivalent to taking nine million cars off the road. For Queens residents and New Yorkers recovering from the economic hardship of the past two years, it is hopeful to see a project like this that is expected to create thousands of clean energy jobs and train our young people for the critical green jobs of tomorrow.
The need for more homegrown clean power and a resilient electric grid has never been more urgent. This winter,…
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