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Pols Call on Hochul to Revisit Rate Hike Tied to Controversial Bklyn Pipeline

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By: Samantha Moldanado

A group of 31 state and local officials on Friday called on the governor to review a state commission decision that will result in customers paying for fossil fuel projects, including parts of a controversial pipeline in Brooklyn.

Representing Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island, the signatories of the letter — including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, and State Sens. Julia Salazar, Jabari Brisport, Liz Krueger and Diane Savino — ask Gov. Kathy Hochul to uphold the state’s climate law, which mandates cuts of greenhouse gas emissions in a way that provides substantial benefits to “disadvantaged communities.”

“At a time when we are seeing the impacts of climate change and New Yorkers owe nearly $2 billion in unpaid debt to corporate utilities it is unconscionable to force 1.9 million customers to pay for new pipelines and other fracked gas projects,” the letter reads.

The missive follows the state Public Service Commission’s August approval of a gas bill rate increase averaging about $5 per month for National Grid customers in New York City and on Long Island.

The hike would pay for some of the embattled Metropolitan Reliability Project pipeline and other infrastructure upgrades, as well as programs for energy efficiency, electrification and to encourage less demand for gas, according to the approved settlement.

The natural gas pipeline is slated to run nearly seven miles, from Brownsville to Greenpoint, with four of five phases already operational. The final phase is awaiting further review and approval before it’s built.

Karen Young, a National Grid spokesperson, defended the plan, saying it allows the company to ”prioritize energy affordability while investing in programs necessary to maintain the safety and reliability of our natural gas networks and implement new programs to accelerate decarbonization.”

She added the plan includes “an unprecedented set of commitments to advance the state’s climate goals and reduce emissions.”

In approving the rate hike, the PSC’s commissioners, who oversee regulated utilities, determined that the projects do not pose a disproportionate risk to disadvantaged communities, nor do they run counter to state mandates for emissions cuts.

James Denn, a Department of Public Service spokesperson, noted that the commission’s rate-hike decision instructed Natural Grid to halt construction of the pipeline’s final stage and “meet metrics on demand-reducing initiatives” before it could seek to recover costs for that portion.

He added that the commission applied the state’s climate law to the rate case and will continue to be applied to rate cases in the future.

But the elected officials contest that notion in their letter, writing that the commission approved the rate case without conducting assessments to account for the projects’ greenhouse gas emissions or impacts on communities that already shoulder disproportionate pollution burdens.

(www.TheCity.nyc)

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