In November 2009, Council Member James F. Gennaro was re-elected to a third term as the representative for the 24th Council District located in Queens.

Since taking office in January of 2002, Gennaro has established himself as one of the New York City Council's most thoughtful and effective legislators, bringing over twenty years of public service and city government experience to the job.

Gennaro has received numerous accolades for his work as Chairman of the Council's Committee on Environmental Protection, and has authored many of the Council's most progressive environmental bills. Gennaro has spearheaded efforts to cut the city's global warming pollution emissions, protect and restore Jamaica Bay, put more "clean air" vehicles on city streets, reduce pesticide use, make the city's electricity more reliable, clean, and affordable, protect the city's remaining natural areas, and promote "green buildings". He has also led the fight against unjust increases in water and sewer rates. In addition to his environmental work, Gennaro has authored legislation that protects consumers against unscrupulous bankruptcy counselors, and improve workplace health and safety conditions for City workers.

Gennaro has always been a relentless advocate for the 24th Council District. He has funded a major capital project in every public school in his district and delivered over a million dollars for computers and technology in 2006 alone. In addition, he has funded over 100 youth, senior and other community-based programs and initiatives. Most of all, he takes pride in being "one-stop shopping" for the thousands of constituents from every corner of the district who come to his office for help.

Before being elected to the Council, Gennaro served as a Senior Policy Advisor to former New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Sr. and as an adjunct professor of political science and environmental public policy at Queens College. He also served as President of the Jamaica Estates Association and as a member of Queens Community Board 8.

Gennaro and his wife, Joanne, have two children and live in Jamaica Estates.

Councilman James F. Gennaro was interviewed by legendary journalist Dan Rather about protecting New York City's water supply from the dangers of natural gas drilling. The interview will air on “Dan Rather Reports” in January on HD Net. On November 16, the Council passed Resolution 1850-A which calls on the state to ban the drilling for natural gas within the New York City watershed.  The resolution also calls on the federal government to regulate the practice of hydraulic fracturing in order to give greater protection to water supplies everywhere from this process and calls on the State government to take a more proactive stance in protecting water supplies from the impacts of drilling. Sign the letter to Governor Paterson and tell him NO to gas drilling in the NYC watershed.

Entered City Council: 01/01/2002
Current Term Expires: 12/31/2013

Represents: Briarwood, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Hillcrest Estates, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica Hills, Kew Gardens Hills, Utopia Estates, and parts of Forest Hills, Flushing, Jamaica and Rego Park

Committees: Civil Service & Labor; Consumer Affairs; Environmental Protection, Chair; Public Safety; Sanitation & Solid Waste Management

Statement by Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Council Member James F. Gennaro

Re: State Decision on Natural Gas Drilling

Statement from Speaker Quinn:

I want to thank the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a common sense decision that will make it a harder for companies to drill in the Catskill/Delaware Watershed, the source of most of New York City’s drinking water. The watershed provides clean drinking water to over 8 million New Yorkers. Drilling for natural gas in the watershed using a risky technique known as hydraulic fracturing could have widespread detrimental environmental and health effects for residents.

Throughout the past year, the Council has been diligently working on the issue of hydrofracking and how the state’s plans to drill for natural gas upstate could contaminate the city’s water supply. In November, of last year this Council passed a resolution calling for a ban on any natural gas drilling in the watershed.

While my colleagues and I are disappointed that the State did not ban drilling in the watershed outright, we applaud this decision as a good first step. We continue to call for the complete prohibition of drilling in the watershed. The risk is too great if we leave the area around the watershed unprotected. We will continue to advocate that drilling is rigorously monitored and regulated where it is allowed, I also join my colleagues in urging Congress to include hydraulic fracturing in the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Statement from Environmental Protection Committee Chair James F. Gennaro:

Today’s announcement is the culmination of two years of advocacy by the City Council and other critical stakeholders that the purity of New York City’s priceless and irreplaceable drinking water supply should never be placed at risk for a short-term infusion of natural gas revenues or for any reason. When the City Council started this crusade, precious few understood or cared about the threat to drinking water from hydrofracking. This Council is proud of the role it played in elevating this issue to the national stage and creating a body of work that will be used by local governments throughout the country struggling to preserve their own drinking water supplies. We are pleased that Gov. Paterson and his Administration have done the right thing by putting drinking water purity above gas company profits and we pledge to work with the Paterson Administration to resolve successfully the remaining issues associated with hydrofracking.

Fighting to Prevent Gas Drilling in NYC’s Drinking Water Supply

For two years, I and other elected officials and environmental advocates have to called upon New Yorkers to prevent natural gas drilling in any part of New York City’s million-acre upstate drinking water supply that provides drinking water for more than nine million New Yorkers.

In Novemver, 2009 the City Council passed my resolution that calls upon the State Legislature to pass a law to ban gas drilling in New York City’s drinking water supply and within other sensitive water supply areas within New York State. We also called upon all residents of New York State to sign an online petition, available at http://citizenspeak.org/node/1436, which calls upon Governor David Paterson to implement such a ban.

A recent daily newspaper article called the proposal to drill for gas in New York City’s water supply “the biggest environmental issue almost no one in New York City is paying attention to.”

Natural gas drilling has resulted in contaminated water supplies in other states, including Wyoming and New Mexico. The drilling method used, called hydraulic fracturing, forces millions of gallons of a slurry of water, sand and toxic chemicals through the earth as deep as two miles underground and frequently keeps the resultant wastewater stored in open pits above ground. The lack of regulatory controls to ensure the safety of the process has been decried by numerous environmental groups.

Many advocates argue that the process is not just environmentally disastrous, but also fiscally unsustainable; for example, natural gas drilling in New York City’s drinking water supply poses the threat of forcing the City to build a filtration plant costing taxpayers anywhere from $10 to $20 billion. Even then, many scientists argue that it will be impossible to filter out the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process.

We can’t allow this to happen. Please contact my office or send an email to gennaroreports@council.nyc.gov if you wish to join our campaign to prevent gas drilling in our water supply.

Gas Drilling Doc Staring Gennaro Wins Sundance Award

For the second time in three years, Councilman James F. Gennaro, Chairman of the NYC Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, appeared in an award-winning environmental documentary premiering at the renowned Sundance Film Festival.

A Special Jury Prize for Documentary was presented to GASLAND, directed by Josh Fox this week.

“GASLAND has a critically important message that people need to hear – that hydraulic fracturing, the gas drilling technology that is sweeping the nation, is completely unregulated by the federal government and poses unacceptable risks to drinking water supplies throughout the country, especially New York City’s drinking water supply from upstate New York,” Councilman Gennaro said. “GASLAND puts this national issue into sharp focus and sears it into the public mind. This will lead, I predict, to the reforms and regulations needed to protect us from environmental catastrophe. I just hope we’re not too late.”

Robert Koehler of Variety wrote that “GASLAND will become to the dangers of gas drilling what ‘Silent Spring’ was to DDT.” And Mickey Rapkin of GQ called Josh Fox “Sundance’s new Erin Brockovich.”

GASLAND made its world premiere on Sunday, Jan. 24 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The movie, directed by Josh Fox, chronicles the largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history. Aided by an environmentally problematic method of drilling known as “hydraulic fracturing,” vast territories in 34 states could be opened to extensive high-risk drilling. This includes the Marcellus Shale, a vast geological formation that underlies most of Pennsylvania and New York, including the New York City’s unfiltered drinking water supply watershed.

Councilman Gennaro, a national leader in the movement to reform hydraulic fracturing and regulate it by the USEPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, was featured in the film for calling on the State to ban natural gas drilling within New York City’s drinking water supply watershed.  He argues that drilling in the City’s water supply could both contaminate drinking water and cost New York City taxpayers billions of dollars in filtration costs.

More information about GASLAND, including trailers and reviews, are available at www.gaslandthemovie.com.

In the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Councilman Gennaro was featured in FUEL, a documentary about America’s addiction to oil and the need for new and renewable energy solutions. FUEL won the award for best documentary at Sundance.

Councilman Gennaro Stands Up For NYC Water Consumers At Upstate Gas Drilling Forum

Councilman James F. Gennaro advocated on behalf of nine million New Yorkers’ water supply at SUNY New Paltz’s public forum titled, “The Future of Gas Drilling in New York State” last month. The forum was attended by close to 200 students and upstate residents.

“Drilling for natural gas is an activity that must not happen in New York City’s pristine drinking water supply upstate,” Gennaro said. “This is an industrial activity that is incompatible with the delicate watershed where 9 million New Yorkers get their drinking water. Not only is drilling likely to contaminate our water supply, but it’s also likely to force New York City taxpayers to pay for a $10 billion filtration plant. Between the environmental harm and the cost to taxpayers, New Yorkers cannot afford to let this happen.”

The event featured a panel discussion between Councilman Gennaro, chairman of the New York City Council Environmental Protection Committee; Kate Sinding, senior attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Scott Rotruck, vice president of government relations for Chesapeake Energy; Stuart Gruskin, executive deputy commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC); and Wes Gillingham, program director, CatskillMountainkeeper.

ScheinMedia founder and CEO Jonathan A. Schein served as moderator of the panel.

The panel discussion was followed by a town hall forum for the audience to ask questions of the speakers and a closing address by U.S. Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY).

The Council Passes Groundbreaking Green Legislation

Two years ago, the City Council passed a law I wrote – The NYC Climate Protection Act – to mandate that New York City reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2030.

On Dec. 9, the City Council passed four more bills that will move our city dramatically closer to fulfilling the vision of that landmark law. These new bills constitute the most progressive and comprehensive legislative package ever proposed by an American city to make its existing buildings more energy efficient.

These bills focus on the energy efficiency of buildings because nearly 80 percent of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants come from the heating, cooling and powering of the one million buildings across our city. And, I’m focusing on existing buildings because the New York City of 2030 will consist predominantly (approximately 85 percent) of buildings that already exist.

In advancing these measures, New York City will be creating a new green industry that will create 19,000 new jobs over a 10 year period and save New Yorkers more than $750 million in annual energy costs.

Years from now, people will look back at this legislative package as the moment when city government, critical stakeholders and concerned citizenry came together to transform our buildings into centers of environmental innovation, showcases of engineering excellence and engines of economic revitalization. These bills are transformative for our environment, a boon to our economy and a beacon to other cities on the journey to environmental sustainability. I am honored to partner Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn in shepherding these bills through the legislative process.

Mayor Supports Ban On Natural Gas Drilling in NYC Watershed

This month I was overjoyed upon hearing the latest report by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, which, among other things, called for an outright ban of drilling for natural gas within our city’s watershed.

At risk is the fate of the State’s most valuable and irreplaceable asset, the New York City Drinking Water Supply Watershed, an unfiltered water supply which provides drinking water to half of the State’s residents. This scientific data supports my position of the last eighteen months and the work of the City Council, including numerous hearings and the passage of a Council resolution earlier this month, in bringing attention to this critical issue. I’m grateful to the Bloomberg Administration for commissioning this report and for taking this strong stance on the issue.

However, Gov. Paterson’s Energy Plan released this month still contains many an enthusiastic, almost giddy, embrace of unconventional gas drilling in upstate New York is environmentally problematic in the extreme.

As a geologist and environmental policy-maker who worked on watershed protection issues for more than 30 years, I regard the Governor’s desire to open this water supply to the inherently polluting process of hydraulic fracturing gas drilling as sheer folly. If this ill-advised policy were to advance and this water supply opened to this type of gas drilling, it would, in my opinion, rank among the worst policy decisions in the history of the State.

It is beyond unacceptable to imperil the New York City Water Supply Watershed, the crown jewel of big-city water supplies in the country, for the sake of some short-term economic benefit from natural gas revenues. I will do everything in my power as Chairman of the NYC Council Committee on Environmental Protection to get Governor Paterson and his Administration to appreciate the disastrous and irreversible consequences of this proposed policy and reverse course before it is too late.

NYC Unveils Hybrid Excavator

I attended the unveiling of the General Contractors Association’s first hybrid heavy construction equipment designed to reduce pollution and save energy on Dec. 1.

The Komatsu Hybrid PC200LC-8 excavator is the first mass production hybrid excavator for heavy construction equipment designed to go “green,” by reducing greenhouse gases and the energy required to rebuild New York’s roadways and infrastructure.

The Hybrid excavator will be used in the reconstruction of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn beginning this year and Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Queens.

Panel Discusses Future of 'Biofuels'

On Dec. 2, I was one of five panelists discussing the growing role of biofuels in the United States.

More than 100 attendees converged on the site of METRO Biofuel’s 110-million-gallon biodiesel production facility located on a reclaimed stretch of Brooklyn’s working industrial waterfront.

The facility, planned to open in the first half of 2010, will be among the country’s largest and will be equipped to process biodiesel from multiple feedstocks including recycled restaurant grease, soy, canola, animal fats and algae. METRO, which is already the largest independent marketer of biodiesel in the New York Metropolitan Area, will be creating more than 50 green collar jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs throughout New York State.

The panel for “Fueling a Sustainable Future” consisted of Dr. Roger Conway, Director of Energy Policy and New Uses at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); Barbara Glickstein, Director of the Hunter College Center for Health Media and Policy; Miquela Craytor, Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx; Michael Seilback, Vice President of Public Policy and Communications for the American Lung Association of New York; and myself. The panel was moderated by Leah Archibald, Executive Director of EWVIDCO, a Brooklyn-based business trade association.

Newtown Pippin for Official Apple

Last month I urged my colleagues to pass a Resolution to name the Newtown Pippin New York City’s official apple during a press conference today held on the steps of City Hall.

The Newtown Pippin, the pre-eminent apple of Colonial America which has delighted apple-lovers for almost 300 years, was first bred and grown right here in Queens. There can be no better choice than the storied Newtown Pippin as the official apple of the Big Apple. And, as the Environmental Chairman of the City Council, I love that the Newtown Pippin is green. Let us all aspire to have a greener lifestyle, and let the green Newtown Pippin inspire us to do that.

Holiday Food Drive Is A Success

I kicked off my annual Holiday Toy, Coat and Food Drive Dec. 1 benefiting Eastern Queens residents in front of my Fresh Meadows office.

Food, coats and toys were collected and donated to local organizations. The food was donated to both St. Nicholas and Samuel Field Y; collected toys were given to the local chapter of Toys for Tots and coats were donated to NY Cares.

Report Graffiti

Thanks to a budget allocation and the help of City Solve, a graffiti-removal business we can continue to clean the 24th District. Graffiti is a plague on the community and I’m happy to do my part in removing it.

This service is free to businesses and residents, which otherwise would pay between $500 and $1,000 for a private company and is based on resident complaints. To make a complaint, call my district office at (718) 217-4969.

Expense Funding FY 2011

The applications and instructions for FY 2011 funding are linked below. Submitting an application does not guarantee a group will be funded.  All groups are subject to the Council's vetting process.

Organization Qualification Form (doc | pdf)
For frequently asked questions, read here.