The Environmental Fight in the South Bronx is Putting Pressure on NYPA to Retire 4 Bronx-Based Peaker Plants
Photo by Adrian Childress
“We need NYPA to be available to us about their timeline for retiring their peakers and that simply hasn’t happened yet.” South Bronx Unite executive director Arif Ullah said.
Bronx Times
By: Robbie Sequeira
South Bronx residents often describe the maritime industrial area in the Bronx, which stretches from Port Morris to Hunts Point, as a “toxic soup” of environmental hazards, including peaker plants, waste transfer stations and incessant traffic of diesel trucks that has led to severe environmental and health challenges.
When the New York Power Authority (NYPA) introduced four of its at-the-time 16 natural gas-fired peaker plants to the South Bronx — with dual units sited in the sections of Ports Morris and Mott Haven — it was only supposed to be temporary. Yet, 21 years later, despite calls from South Bronx residents and activists to close down the plant due to its deteriorative effect on the health of nearby residents and the state’s increased effort for mass decarbonization, NYPA is working to decommission the South Bronx peakers by 2035.
Activists and climatologists, however, believe there is currently enough renewable energy to replace the 10 NYPA-owned peakers, which NYPA states operate roughly 10% of the time “or less” when directed to do so by the New York Independent System Operator, a not-for-profit corporation responsible for operating the state’s bulk electricity grid, and Con Edison to meet energy demands.
