In 2019, New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a bill setting major goals on climate and racial justice.
Yet in 2021, New York is stuck at 6% wind and solar energy while fossil fuel companies push toxic power plants and pipelines on Black and brown neighborhoods with impunity.
New York’s Democratic leadership has blocked every major climate bill.
We learned why:
Analysis of campaign finance data shows that since the passage of the CLCPA, utilities like ConEd, energy companies like NRG, and fossil fuel giants like ExxonMobil frequently donate money directly to New York’s Democratic leadership. And they often time those donations to counteract community protests against fossil fuel infrastructure.
Fossil fuel and energy companies know that fighting climate change means fewer profits for their shareholders and CEOs. So they’ve decided to “invest” in the New York Democratic Party leadership and create a “Climate Corruption Committee” who have blocked climate action for two years straight.
The timeline below illustrates just how, and when, corporate polluters buy our legislators:
new York’s climate corruption committee, a timeline:
July 18, 2019: New York passes the CLCPA.
November 6, 2019: ExxonMobil donates $5,000 to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s Democrat slush fund, the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee (DACC).
December 10, 2019: IPPNY, a major energy trade group that includes NRG and PSEG as members, donates $1,000 to the NY Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (NY DSCC), the Senate counterpart to Heastie’s slush fund, operated by Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
January 28, 2020: IPPNY donates $1,000 to the DACC.
February 17, 2020: Residents march against the North Brooklyn Pipeline.
February 25-27, 2020: National Grid donates a combined $1,500 to the DACC and the NYDSCC.
September 9, 2020: IPPNY donates $3,000 to Senate Energy Chair Kevin Parker.
September 12, 2020: Hundreds march against a fracked gas power plant in Astoria.
October 8, 2020: NRG donates $10,000 to the NY DSCC, their first ever donation to the group.
October 9, 2020: IPPNY donates $1,000 to Assembly Corporations Chair Amy Paulin.
October 16, 2020: Residents chain themselves to North Brooklyn Pipeline in protest.
October 20, 2020: ExxonMobil donates $5,000 to the DACC.
October 23, 2020: National Grid donates $500 to Assembly Energy Chair Michael Cusick.
November 3, 2020: Zohran Mamdani, who made opposition to the Astoria NRG Plant and support of Public Power a key plank of his Assembly campaign in Astoria, wins the general election.
November 10, 2020: NRG donates $10,000 to the DACC, the largest energy donation to the group in 6 years.
May 19, 2021: Key members of the Assembly say major climate action in New York is “all but dead” for the year.
June 2021: The NY Build Public Renewables Act gains momentum in the legislature, but is stonewalled by the same legislators listed above, who instead prefer no climate legislation at all.
That means New York, a trifecta blue state with Democratic supermajority in both houses, has blocked every real climate bill for three straight years.
NEw york’s climate corruption committee
The CLCPA set national leading goals on climate and racial justice, which New York is nowhere near on track to meet.
Since the CLCPA became law in 2019:
The DACC has received $22,000 from energy and fossil fuel companies and groups.
The NY DSCC has received $14,500 from energy and fossil fuel companies and groups.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has received $2,000 from energy and fossil fuel companies and groups.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has received $2,000 from energy and fossil fuel companies and groups.
Senate Energy Chair Kevin Parker has received $8,700 from energy and fossil fuel companies and groups.
Assembly Energy Chair Michael Cusick has received $5,225 from energy and fossil fuel companies and groups.
Is that all our future is worth to them?
it’s time to take our power back.
We need an energy system that puts people over profit, and a political system that priotizes our health, safety, and futures over thousands of dollars from ExxonMobil.
We need to pass the Build Public Renewables Act, a no-brainer bill that will enable the New York Power Authority, the nation’s largest Public Power provider, to Jumpstart a mass renewable energy buildout
Bring billions in green stimulus to frontline Black and brown neighborhoods damaged by corporate pollution, and create up to 51,000 new jobs–without raising taxes a cent
And we need it now.
So tell your reps–no more excuses. It’s time for Public Power, and to pass the Build Public Renewables Act NOW.
THE GRAPHIC DETAILS:
Detailed data available HERE. Data compiled from the National Institute on Money in Politics.