Actions in both short and long term will help reduce flooding, safeguard infrastructure and better prepare City to withstand future storms
Quinn: “As we rebuild, we must rebuild smarter. This is the single most important infrastructure challenge of our time”
New York, NY – City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn today presented a series of proposals for better preparing New York City for the consequences of global climate change, including large-scale storms and flooding. The Speaker’s proposals ranged in scope from immediate to longer-term. She announced plans to strengthen New York City’s buildings, energy and sewer systems, mass transit and gasoline distribution. Speaker Quinn’s proposals, presented in a speech delivered before the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) included a plan to harden the city’s defenses against global warming and storm surges.
Two weeks after New York experienced the largest Atlantic hurricane in history, Speaker Quinn noted the reality of climate change and stated, “We stand in a unique moment that carries with it a unique opportunity. The future of our planet, the world our grandchildren inherit, depends on what we do in the months and years ahead. At this moment the need for action cannot be ignored – the cost of this enterprise cannot be dismissed as too great.”
In her speech, the Speaker detailed several proposals including:
An agreement with the Bloomberg Administration to accelerate the completion of two studies to analyze risks facing NYC and best protections. Both studies will be completed by April 2013
An announcement that Senator Charles Schumer will lead the effort to obtain an Army Corps of Engineers study that will conclusively analyze whether or not to build storm surge barriers or other protective structures to guard against flooding
Better preparing Con Edison and other utilities to handle future storms and emergencies, including burying power lines in vulnerable neighborhoods
Major changes to our region’s gasoline distribution network
Accelerating investment in NYC’s sewer system and related infrastructure
Seeking safeguards against flooding of the city’s transportation system
Convening Emergency Meetings of NYC’s Building Resiliency Task Force to evaluate potential building code changes
Speaker Quinn also announced that she secured an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile to provide access on their networks to customers of both companies in emergencies. This means that even when networks go down, customers can place calls just like they normally would, and their calls will be carried by whichever network is most operational in their area. This agreement will help ensure that New Yorkers in distress can get emergency help or reach loved ones.
Speaker Quinn announced at the Council’s request, the City has agreed to accelerate two studies that will assess the city’s flood risks and determine the best ways to protect communities from future flooding. Additionally, Speaker Quinn announced that Senator Schumer will lead the effort in Congress to initiate the process for obtaining an Army Corps of Engineers study to determine what structures the city can and should build to guard against flooding.
In today’s speech, Quinn demanded that Con Edison and all local utility companies take a series of actions to prevent outages such as those experienced following Hurricane Sandy. Specifically, the Speaker called for new protocols for when utilities cut power to vulnerable substations and for all utility companies to take immediate steps to protect at risk infrastructure, including erecting structures around flood prone power plants and substations to protect them from storm surges.
Speaker Quinn also proposed that the City require utility wires in vulnerable neighborhoods to be buried underground and better protected. She specifically stated, however, that the cost of this project should not be passed on to customers: “New Yorkers cannot be asked to pay more just to receive consistent and uninterrupted service.”
In addition to protecting the city’s landscape and infrastructure against future natural disasters, Speaker Quinn spoke about problems that must be addressed in services provided following an emergency. Long after Hurricane Sandy hit, accessing gasoline continued to be a major problem. Speaker Quinn noted the storm caused “major systemic breakdowns at almost every phase of the gasoline supply chain.”
In response, Speaker Quinn released a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy calling for a formal investigation of breakdowns in the gasoline distribution system. Additionally, she called for critical systems at refineries and storage facilities to be storm-proofed. She called on multi-national oil companies to secure backup generators and deploy them to gas stations in an emergency.
The Speaker also called for an analysis of the City’s building code in to consider stricter requirements for flood-proofing.
Speaker Quinn estimated that all of these proposals combined could cost more than $20 billion. Citing precedent, including Hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding and storm proofing of New Orleans, Quinn called on the federal government to cover the bulk of these costs.
Speaker Quinn delivered an expansive vision for better preparing New York City for a future that will be significantly impacted by global climate change. She declared, “There is no task too great for the people of the City of New York. They are ready to act. We in government must be ready to lead.”
###