ABOUT US > Environmental Justice

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What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice (EJ) is defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.

EJ efforts focus on improving the environment in communities,especially those with minority and low-income populations, and addressing any disproportionate adverse environmental impacts that may exist in those communities.

Why is Environmental Justice important?

EJ communities often have multiple sources of pollution in their neighborhoods. Sources of pollution can include wastewater treatment plants, power plants, polluting industries and over-stressed transportation networks.

Many residents of EJ communities face barriers to accessing government decision-making processes, often because of limited English proficiency and/or deficient understanding of notice and comment procedures.

What is NYPA’s role in Environmental Justice?

We are a member of New York State's Environmental Justice Interagency Taskforce, which is charged with developing policy recommendations and agency action plans for each of the participating agencies. As part of this taskforce, we have developed an Environmental Justice Action Plan which will guide our actions regarding any activity that may have an impact of EJ communities.

 

NYPA EJ Action Plan:

As part of the action plan NYPA will do the following:

• Give grant preferences to projects and sponsorships in EJ communities near our facilities; promote grant programs in these communities.
  
  
• Provide bilingual public notices, hearings and other outreach in print and on the Web.
  
  
• Hold public meetings and open houses, even when formal public hearings are not required.
  
  
• Provide a NYPA “point person” with EJ communities through whom all communications flow.

When planning any large project, NYPA will work to involve and inform the community in the following ways:

• Meetings to discuss potential barriers affecting communications with community stakeholders.
  
  
• Enhanced outreach before and during agency reviews.
  
  
• New procedures that detail how NYPA will listen and respond to EJ concerns.

recent progress:

Administrative Advances

• NYPA’s Sustainability Action Plan includes a goal of “stakeholder engagement” that specifically identifies EJ communities.
  
  
• A new Chief Diversity Officer now oversees NYPA’s ongoing efforts to hire and retain women and minorities, and also its supplier diversity outreach for goods and services.

Clean Energy Projects

• We are introducing green fleets and other clean transportation technologies to improve air quality in EJ communities.
  
  
• We’ve replaced almost 100 coal-burning furnaces at public schools in New York City, Buffalo and Long Island with cleaner-operating boilers.

Energy Education Initiatives

• NYPA support helped bring the Science Barge to the Yonkers riverfront.
  
  
• This floating classroom utilizes wind and solar energy technologies while demonstrating organic farming techniques.

We Want to Hear From You!

Whether to say hello, invite NYPA to a community event, arrange an in-person meeting, share your ideas or ask questions about our EJ activities, we want to hear from you!

Please contact:

Sobeida Cruz
Vice President
Environmental Justice Division
New York Power Authority
Sobeida.Cruz@nypa.gov
(914) 390-8184

About NYPA:

NYPA's mission is to provide clean, low-cost and reliable energy consistent with our commitment to the environment and safety, while promoting economic development and job development, energy efficiency, renewables and innovation, for the benefit of our customers and all New Yorkers.