CNY Solidarity members & supporters:
Please find below the weekly legislative ACTION ALERTS from Indivisible NY24.
Nationally, our key focus remains the For the People Act (HR1/S1). That bill must pass in July to prevent Republicans from gerrymandering electoral districts. Action on this bill may move forward in the month of June, so watch for updates related to S1/HR1. We’re also tracking a number of related democracy reform bills, including DC Statehood and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
At the state level, the session is coming to a close this month so we have a few actions to take this week.
And now on to the Action Alerts.
Today (June 7)
#PassNYHealth
While hundreds of people are arriving in Albany this morning to let our elected officials know that we cannot go back to business as usual after the COVID-19 pandemic, we must help #PassNYHealth and implement truly universal, guaranteed healthcare.
But if you can’t make it to Albany in person for the BIG mobilization, no problem! You can be part of the action by amplifying on social media. We will be live streaming to Facebook, live tweeting and sharing healthcare stories — and you can share these important messages to fight back against the insurance-funded opposition that is fighting tooth and nail to stop us from winning universal, guaranteed healthcare. RSVP here to receive the social media toolkit first thing on Monday morning.
Support A. 7768/S.7006, banning transfer of pre-2012 plant permits to new owners, and A. 7389, to place a moratorium on any new or expanding Bitcoin operations in the state of New York until a comprehensive study of the industry and its impact can be fully evaluated.
Take action on June 7 or 8 to help pass.
Bitcoin mining uses a method called proof-of-work authentication to validate blockchain transactions. This creates new Bitcoin (a type of cryptocurrency) by solving computational puzzles. The more machines working on the same puzzle, the greater the chance of profiting. Although not all cryptocurrency is the same, Bitcoin mining consumes a tremendous amount of electricity, so operators search for areas with cheap power or power plants that are not operating at full capacity for their Bitcoin mining machines.
The Greenidge facility on the shores of Seneca Lake is a “test case” for Bitcoin in New York. This mothballed coal-fired plant in the heart of the Finger Lakes was allowed to be repurposed in 2017 to burn fracked gas, supplying electricity to the grid in times of high demand. The DEC merely reissued the old coal-fired power plant permits (pre-dating the Clean Water Act) to the gas facility without doing an Environmental Impact Statement. The Greenidge gas plant, however, proved unprofitable (there wasn’t much demand), so the owners installed 7,900 Bitcoin machines which increased their greenhouse gas emissions tenfold. If the owners now expand mining to full capacity,1 million metric tons of CO2 would be emitted annually.
A similar facility has cropped up near Buffalo, and, in an April 2021 letter to Governor Cuomo, environmental law group Earthjustice and the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club warned that nearly 30 other upstate New York power plants could be converted to run full-time as data centers! This would cause catastrophic increases of statewide GHG emissions. The Greenidge plant, already one of the largest cryptocurrency mines in the US, is about to get bigger, and it could spur other fossil fuel plants in NY that have been shut down (because they are SO polluting) to be purchased for more Bitcoin work at a time when burning fossil fuels for energy-intensive crypto mining during a climate emergency is propelling us toward the climate change cliff.
Three easy steps to take from your home June 7 & 8 to help pass two very important bills that would protect NYS:
- Call your NYS Assemblymember and ask them to support Bill A7389, which would place a moratorium on any new or expanding Bitcoin operations in the state of NY until a comprehensive study of the industry and its impacts can be fully evaluated and support Bill A/7768/S7006 which bans the transfer of pre 2012 plant permits to new owners. And call your NYS Senator to ask for their support of A7768/ S7006 (to ban the transfer of pre-2012 plant permits to new owners).
- Call Governor Cuomo: (518)-474-8390. Tell him that unregulated Bitcoin operations would compromise NY’s mandated greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and that he must direct his DEC to deny Greenidge’s Title V air permit renewal in order to comply with the CLCPA.
- Sign on letters to the NYS Legislature:
If you are an individual, please sign on to this letter:
https://forms.gle/rNxL6iqSBLkXku2e6
If you are a business, or an organization, please sign on to this letter:
https://forms.gle/1xG9Vrhq5cLmE2Uq8
NOTE: You can sign on to BOTH letters, once as an individual on the first letter, and again as a business owner and/ or authorized signatory of an organization.
Calls to Republican Legislators are extra important. These facilities do not create many jobs, but they have the potential to ruin recreation, winery, farming, and other jobs, decrease property values, and harm public health.
Watch Assemblymember Dr. Anna Kelles (at 1:00:00-1:24:30) explain the issue and the importance of passing these bills here.
Tuesday (June 8)
7-8 pm: Indivisible NY24 meeting, via Zoom. Zoom information to follow.
Wednesday (June 9)
Take action on the Climate and Community Investment Act
You can choose an appropriate action here to help secure the funding to reduce New York’s carbon emissions and support renewable energy.
Saturday (June 12)
People’s Public Hearing on Lead Poisoning in Children and Lead Abatement
12pm – 2pm, in front of Syracuse City Hall, 233 E. Washington Street.
Why this hearing? Why now? Syracuse suffers unequally from childhood lead poisoning. Syracuse has 31% of the County’s population, but 88% of the entire County’s childhood lead poisoning.
Sign and Share the Petition:
End Childhood Lead Poisoning in Syracuse, NY!
We demand our elected officials prioritize the following:
1. TESTING NOW.
2. OPERATE THE ORDINANCE (STOP THE HARM).
3. RENTAL REGISTRY IN PLAIN VIEW. &
4. SHARE THE DATA ON RACE AND PLACE. (See link for additional).
Save the Date for These Upcoming Events
June 12-20: In-person early voting for primary election.
Tue., June 22: Election day (2021 primary).
June 27: CNY Solidarity Meeting, 3-5 p.m. via Zoom with Breakout Sessions.
Sat., July 10: Democracy reform visibility action. 11am on sidewalk outside Wegmans Dewitt. Bring a sign, and bring a friend.
July 13: Indivisible NY24 meeting, 7-8pm via Zoom.
July 18: CNY Solidarity Meeting, 3-4
Aug. 15: CNY Solidarity Meeting, 3-4
Sept. 12: CNY Solidarity Meeting, 3-4pm
Sept. 26: CNY Solidarity Meeting, 3-4pm
Oct. 8: Voter registration deadline for 2021 general election.
Oct. 23-31: In -person early voting for general election.
Tue., Nov. 2: Election day (2021 general election). In addition to important races for Onondaga County Legislature, the ballot will include state constitutional amendments to authorize no fault absentee voting and same-day voter registration.
Today and every day, be sure to follow us online and on social media. Check out our Website and our Instagram. Follow us on Twitter: @CNYSolidarity and @IndivisibleNY24 and Facebook: www.facebook.com/cnysolidarity/ and
www.facebook.com/groups/IndivisibleNY24
You’re receiving this email because you’re subscribed to the CNY Solidarity Coalition announcements list. This is a low-volume list (typically no more than 4-6 messages per week), which now has more than 2,000 subscribers. We also maintain higher-volume listservs as venues for discussion of general Coalition-wide issues (discussion-cnysolidarity), key state and local action team organizing priorities (stateleg-cnysolidarity), and key Indivisible NY24 organizing priorities (IndivisibleNY24). The latter list includes more frequent action alerts and information about local electoral campaigns supported by Indivisible. If you’d like to be added to any of these lists, please reply to me and let me know which ones.
In Solidarity,
Chris