Source: A giant clean-energy transmission line to New York… | Canary Media
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Upstate New York and neighboring Canadian provinces produce ample amounts of renewable energy, including from hydropower, wind and solar projects. But downstate, New York City’s 8.5 million residents still get most of their power from fossil fuels. About 85 percent of the city’s electricity supply comes from oil- and gas-fired power plants, many of which are built in disadvantaged communities that suffer from disproportionately high levels of air pollution.
As utilities retire polluting facilities, they’ll need to replace that dirty power with cleaner sources. At the same time, efforts to heat more homes and buildings using electricity — not gas-fired boilers or heating oil — will further boost clean-energy demand, as will the shift to using electric cars, school buses, delivery vans and e-bikes.
Governor Hochul said the Champlain Hudson Power Express is “a monumental step toward protecting our environment and creating family-sustaining green jobs in both upstate and downstate New York.” She spoke from a groundbreaking ceremony held in Whitehall, New York, a town near the Vermont border where some 17.6 miles of the transmission line will be buried.
The 339-mile transmission line is expected to deliver enough electricity to power more than 1 million homes and to reduce carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons statewide, according to the governor’s office.
Even so, the project has faced opposition from some environmental groups in the state. Earlier this year, the nonprofit Riverkeeper asked regulators to reject the Champlain Hudson Power Express project, arguing that Canadian hydro dams and reservoirs are “far from emissions-free” and have a “long, devastating history of destroying rivers and damaging Indigenous communities.” Riverkeeper also warned that burying transmission lines beneath the Hudson River could tear up habitat “in one of the world’s most productive estuaries.”
Other environmentalists, however, voiced strong support this week. “Delivering clean energy 300 miles to New York City — and delivering 1,400 union jobs in the process — is an Empire State–size feat we should all be proud of,” Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.
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