4.11.22 - Flip the dam switch: The greenest power is from water, so let it flow
'Anyone convinced that elements of the progressive left have lost their minds needs look no further than the fight over laying a transmission line bringing hydropower from Quebec dams to electricity-hungry New York. The project, in the works for more than a decade, would channel energy from one of the lowest-emission renewable sources on Earth to the five boroughs, where we’ve got lots of lights and air conditioners and electric heaters and, someday soon, electric cars and buses — but, after the unwise closure of Indian Point nuclear plant, currently get an embarrassing 85% of our energy from burning oil and gas.
Bringing lots of hydro to the mix is an absolute imperative to produce lower emissions in an era of global warming, which environmental groups continually remind us is an existential threat, not to mention one of the only ways for the state to hit ambitious emissions reductions targets in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Yet two environmental groups have splintered off from the rest, absurdly claiming that Quebec hydropower isn’t environmentally friendly enough for their tastes. One of the groups is Riverkeeper, which helped draw the cable route and get the permits in the first place, ensuring it was all minimally disruptive to Hudson River ecosystems. Their objection is that when dams are dug, they release unacceptable amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
That may be true, but this dam has already been dug. The project is already producing loads of energy. The only question is whether or not to let New York access these 1,250 megawatts. (Meanwhile, if New York wants to take some new sweeping stand against hydropower, it’ll have to reject about a quarter of the energy it already consumes.)
The state Public Service Commission could vote as soon as Thursday on this and another transmission line. It must, must, must say yes. If New York buckles to people for whom one of the cleanest energy sources isn’t clean enough, we’re truly sunk.
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