Could Rikers Island Rehabilitate New York City’s Dirty Energy Grid?
Grist
By Greta Moran
New York's dirty gas plants were supposed to be temporary. Years later, here's the city's plan to replace them with renewables.
In the southernmost peninsula of the Bronx, a pair of faded yellow gas-fired turbines release a stream of pollution. Just a few blocks away, there sits another pair of turbines, adding to a waterfront already crowded with industry. These “peaker plants” are designed to kick in when New York’s energy is in high demand, like when the AC is blasting on a hot summer’s day.
When the plants were installed in 2001, the public was told they were temporary. But 18 years later, they remain a standing source of toxins in what is the country’s poorest congressional district, according to the 2010 census.
“You’re basically consigning the community to a health crisis” by installing peaker plants in a place that’s already heavy with sources of pollutants, said Eddie Bautista, the executive director of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. On New York’s hottest days, air quality is already at its worst due to higher ozone levels, he explained, so “you turn a peaker plant on the absolute last day you’d want to spew a lot of toxins in the air.”
