Assemblymember Emily Gallagher

05/19/2022

Tonight!

Join the Greenpoint Library, New York City Commission on Human Rights, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, and others for a bystander intervention and de-escalation training on Zoom. Bystander intervention is built on the idea that we all play a role in creating safe public spaces for each other when we...

04/21/2022

"Citing the Pandora Papers and other reports, lawmakers in New York last month introduced legislation requiring limited liability companies to publicly disclose their owners. The proposal goes one step further than a new federal law requiring LLCs to provide ownership information to a government database. That information will not be made public.

'I do have a say in how we govern the world’s financial center in New York, and I see it as my responsibility to ensure our city isn’t a haven for tax evasion, money laundering, or political corruption,' said New York Assembly member Emily Gallagher (D), who sponsored the bill.

Gallagher said she initially took up the issue to pursue anonymous landlords who listed only post office boxes as addresses. Then Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
'So much money is hidden in New York State and New York City — in particular, real estate — that it just really seemed like it was the right moment and the right move,' she said."

Amid the hunt for Russian assets, reformers say financial transparency in the United States is long overdue.

03/30/2022

Experts say the state needs to spend at least $1 billion a year to cut pollution from buildings. Legislators are trying to get the governor closer to that figure.

03/08/2022

01/19/2022

An energy transformation movement is underway in New York. Two years ago, we committed to...

01/18/2022

Inside Rikers Island (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office) In 1894, the framers of New York’s most recent constitution created the State Commission of Correction. With eight members, the Commission was empowered to visit and inspect all penal institutions in New York State and to pr...

01/13/2022

FRIDAY: Stop by our office at 685 Manhattan Ave between 12-5pm for two free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests and KN95 masks per person, while supplies last. Please wear a mask when arriving. Masks and tests generously provided by NYS Governor Kathy Hochul—we’ll have more giveaways as additional supplies come available!

01/12/2022

“These are huge breakthroughs in loosening the death grip of burning carbon on our lives, our communities, and our future,” Gallagher said at a press conference on Tuesday morning. “But the timeline that they each laid out fails to meet the reality of the climate crisis.”

“Buildings account for one-third of New York’s greenhouse gas emissions. There is no path for meeting our state’s climate goals without tackling this industry.”

12/24/2021

12/24/2021

New York will become the nation’s largest city to enact a ban on gas heat and stoves in new buildings. It’s a major step away from fossil fuels that is expected to influence wider markets.

12/14/2021

“'I think our city is really in a leadership role here. If we can pass this bill to electrify buildings at New York City’s level of government, it’s going to demonstrate to the entire state and the entire country that this is absolutely achievable,' Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, representing Assembly District 50, said about the bill."

The bill banning gas hookups in new buildings is supposed to pass this week, all while local Bushwick residents continue to fight against the North Brooklyn Pipeline.

12/06/2021

Behind the Newtown Creek Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility are four flares where “excess” methane generated from the digester eggs is burned off- putting CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. People often ask us what’s happening here, because the story isn’t clear...

In 2012, NYC Water New York City Department of Sanitation Waste Management National Grid began a project to add food waste to the digester eggs and generate larger amounts of methane, adding the upcycled gas into National Grid’s local supply (displacing fracked gas)*. As designed, the project aims to process up to 250 tons per day of food waste, generating enough gas for 5,200 customers.

The original completion date for the project was January 2016. Then it was February 2020. Then it was August 2021. Now it is March 2022**. To date, none of the gas generated by the eggs is being fed into the system, or used by New Yorkers. In fact; it’s being burned into the atmosphere. Every day. For the last 6 years.

The flaring of viable heating and cooking gas is a hugely wasteful problem, and definitely not worthy of accolades. National Grid continues to champion the project as an example of their commitment to renewable energy without actually supplying us the energy. This project is 6 years behind schedule and $33 million over budget***. This false achievement was even championed during this past year’s rate case hearings with the Public Service Commission, where the PSC sided with National Grid’s commitment to clean energy (while hypocritically also raising rates to pay for new fossil fuel infrastructure).

We stand with local allies in fighting against new fossil fuel infrastructure. We support new renewable energy infrastructure. But we need to all acknowledge the realities of a project that is seriously behind schedule and adding to local climate emissions as a result.

*According to figures provided by National Grid, the system processed approximately 120,000 tons of food scraps from June 2016 to December 2020 - and continues to receive between 50 to 200 tons per day. This is extra organic material added to the existing sewage sludge within the eggs, all being burned off and creating extra Greenhouse Gas emissions.

** With the exception of the most recent, all of these milestone dates have been stated in public meetings and in public documents, assuaging the community of the project’s viability.

*** The original 2012 budget was $14.6 million; actual expenses as of February 2021 were $47.8 million.

Sane Energy Project No North Brooklyn Pipeline Greenpointers Stephen Levin Lincoln Restler Assemblymember Emily Gallagher