Urgent: Send Your Letter to Cuomo

Our friends at People, Not Pipelines are running a campaign right now that we URGE you to support. Please get your call, email or letter to Cuomo before New Year, as we are concerned the DEC may try to slip an approval of the last permit through over the holiday while they think no one is watching! EVERY DAY COUNTS! THIS TAKES LESS THAN 5 MINUTES!

A Resolution for 2016: KICK THE FOSSIL FUEL HABIT ONCE AND FOR ALL

If approved, the Constitution Pipeline will usher in more fracked-gas infrastructure to keep us addicted to fossil fuels for decades. And it will open the door to the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project, another pipeline proposed along Constitution’s hundred-mile corridor through New York. Recently we learned that NED plans to serve a massive new gas-fired power plant along this route, pumping five million tons of additional greenhouse gas emissions into the air every year. Those climate impacts double when you count methane leakage. And though the plant’s location is still secret, unsuspecting sacrifice communities will be exposed to toxins like benzene, nitrogen oxide, and formaldehyde. Perhaps most insidious, NED's compressor stations and power plant could be added to Constitution, even if NED isn’t built.  We need a swift transition to renewable energy, and we need it now!

1. CALL CUOMO:877-235-6537 Urge him to deny the Constitution Pipeline water quality certificate and protect New York from more fracked-gas infrastructure, now and in the future.

2. EMAIL CUOMO: Simply copy and paste the letter below into a new email and send to: gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us  and to basil.seggos@dec.ny.gov

3. MAIL CUOMO: Click on this link to download and print a ready-to-mail and editable document (or copy and paste the letter below):

TALKING POINTS:

• It will be impossible for New York to meet its renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals if the state permits more projects that burn fossil fuels, like a massive gas-fired power plant along the Constitution/NED corridor.
• A state that banned fracking should not promote fracked gas. The new power plant proposed along the route of the Constitution/NED would burn over 200 million cubic feet of fracked gas per day and spew 5 MILLION TONS of additional greenhouse gas emissions and toxic chemicals into the air every year.
• Approving more gas infrastructure takes us backwards. It's time to kick the fossil fuel habit and aggressively pursue renewable energy from wind, water, and the sun.
• Even if NED goes away, all of the dirty compressor stations, power plants, and other gas infrastructure proposed by NED could still be added to Constitution. There is only one solution, and that is for Governor Cuomo to Stop the Constitution Pipeline.

OR JUST COPY AND PASTE THIS LETTER:

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224

December 29, 2015

Dear Governor Cuomo,

Your administration recently announced a bold goal of dramatically cutting greenhouse gas emissions and meeting 50% of our state’s electricity needs with renewables in just 15 years. That won’t happen if New York becomes more dependent on fracked gas.

Approving the Constitution Pipeline would encourage more gas infrastructure—compressor stations, power plants, distribution lines, and storage facilities—holding us hostage to fossil fuels for decades to come. And it would pave the way for yet another pipeline, the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project, following Constitution’s proposed 100-mile route through upstate New York.

Most recently, the public learned of plans by NED to supply more than 200 million cubic feet of fracked gas per day to a massive new power plant somewhere along the Constitution/NED corridor. If built, the facility would spew four to five million tons of carbon dioxide into the air annually, along with toxic chemicals like benzene, nitrogen oxide, and formaldehyde that can cause respiratory and neurological problems, cardiovascular disease and cancer. And since the plant’s location is still secret, New Yorkers are left to wonder which community will be its victim.

With respect to global warming, we are all victims of gas proliferation. Taking methane emissions into account, natural gas is equal to or worse than coal as a driver of climate change. So touting aggressive climate goals while supporting gas is simply dishonest.

Finally, the public is painfully aware from projects like Minisink and its spin-off power plant in Orange County that if you approve the Constitution Pipeline, more will follow. Even if NED disappears as a separate project, all of the dirty compressor stations, power plants, and other gas infrastructure associated with NED could still be added to Constitution.

Governor Cuomo, that puts us at a crossroad. A state that banned fracking should not promote fracked gas. Deny Constitution’s water quality certificate. Let’s kick the fossil fuel habit once and for all, switch to renewables, and build a future of which we can be proud.

Sincerely,

Name 

Address