NYC Gazette

Calls on FEMA to Focus on Resilient Energy Projects Rather than Failing Centralized Fossil-Fuel Grid

Increasing Climate Disasters Leave Families Without Power for Weeks and Months

On-Site Solar, Microgrids, and Renewable Energy Technologies Provide Reliable Electricity, Bolster Puerto Rico’s Climate Resiliency

Read the Letter Here

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today joined Representative Nydia Velázquez (NY-7) and 21 of his colleagues in sending a letter to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell demanding the agency urgently redirect disaster recovery and mitigation funds in Puerto Rico towards reliable, climate resilient renewable energy technologies.  Puerto Rico’s failing fossil central grid regularly leaves Puerto Ricans vulnerable to increasingly frequent climate related disasters that often result in long periods without electricity. In the letter, the members outline alternative investment projects such as resilient renewable energy sources and microgrid projects that will better protect Puerto Ricans in the future.

“Puerto Rico is currently at the epicenter of the existential threats posed by climate change,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “It is critical that we invest in infrastructure that will protect our most impacted, underserved, and vulnerable communities. We have an opportunity to reimagine energy infrastructure in coastal communities and there is no time for half measures in Puerto Rico.”

Currently, disaster recovery and mitigation efforts in Puerto Rico focus on rebuilding and repairing Puerto Rico’s outdated and failing fossil-fuel centralized power grid. The fragility of this system leads to a cycle of repairs and destruction that often leaves Puerto Ricans without power for weeks and months, contributing to excess deaths following climate disasters.

The members urge FEMA to invest in resilient renewable energy technologies such as rooftop, onsite and community-sited solar, storage, and microgrids as principal sources of electric power for Puerto Rico. These resilient technologies will create a more reliable micro power grid, keeping the lights on in Puerto Rico even with increasingly frequent climate disasters.

Congressman Dan Goldman understands that climate change is the most pressing danger to our future and is committed to ensuring that the United States fights to create a clean energy future.

Congressman Goldman recently joined the Disaster Equity and Building Resilience Caucus to ensure equality is at the forefront of disaster mitigation.

During his first month in office, the Congressman filed the Green Equity Amendment to replace the special interest fossil fuel giveaway requirements of the Republican Big Oil Bill with requirements that meet President Biden’s greenhouse gas reduction and climate justice goals. This amendment would have overturned the Republican fossil fuel giveaway and required certification that the Paris Climate Accords and Justice40 Initiative Targets were being met before tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He also cosponsored the Energy Resilient Communities Act to maintain critical infrastructure in the aftermath of extreme weather events.

Congressman Goldman offered the Coastal Communities Amendment to the Republican ‘Polluters Over People’ Act to prevent the polluter handout bill from going into effect if it would harm coastal resiliency, pollution levels, and coastal communities.

In March, Congressman Goldman cosponsored the Big Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act to claw back windfall profits to the largest oil companies while lowering consumer costs with relief rebates.

Original source can be found here.