By Sophia Chang
Group chapters at Queens College in Flushing and Queensborough Community College in Bayside hosted simultaneous events last Thursday at which members crafted homemade valentines for President George W. Bush and Gov. George Pataki. The posters blasted what the groups contended are “sweetheart deals” for power plants that the Bush administration conceals in its environmental policies. In the two-pronged campaign, NYPIRG targeted the state level, calling on the governor to save New Yorkers' hearts.”The Bush administration's policies provide great sweetheart deals for power plant owners instead of protecting our health,” said Charlotte Nunes, the Queens College NYPIRG coordinator, in a press release. “If implemented, their legislative and regulatory agenda would weaken key provisions in the Clean Air Act and create more pollution.”To counteract what they say are the negative effects of the Bush administration's policies, environmentalists at these colleges and in the larger activist community are pressuring Gov. George Pataki to impose strict regulations at the state level, said Toyin Ajasin, the NYPIRG coordinator at Queensborough.”Students at Queensborough felt that things needed to change,” Ajasin said. “The Bush administration has implemented the Clear Skies legislation, which lessens environmental protection policies on air quality.”The New York Public Interest Group maintains that the Clear Skies legislation, which is Bush's main environmental policy, will remove major pollution control regulations, minimize mercury and toxic pollution restrictions on power plants, and postpone deadlines for improving air quality. Research by a group called Clear the Air estimates that power plant pollution is the cause of more than 2,500 heart attacks in New York annually, in addition to non-fatal health side effects.A June 2004 Environmental Protection Agency report found that Queens was the most polluted borough in the city, with the majority of pollutants issuing from half a dozen power plants in Astoria and Long Island City. NYPIRG is urging Pataki to implement state-level power plant standards for mercury and carbon dioxide pollution as he had promised to in previous campaigns if the Bush administration failed to set such regulations.”We're trying to get the governor to say 'I'm not going to fail you as well,'” Ajasin said. “We have students here with asthma, and there are more than 200 of them who live in the Bronx near power plants.”While the NYPIRG chapter at Queensborough has only a handful of core members, the dedicated students said they wanted to be engaged with their local policy making.”I live in New York so I should be interested,” said Queensborough student Julia Atagoksen.And power plant pollution is a problem that has no borders, Ajasin noted.”Air travels,” she said. “Power plant pollution is a New York state issue, not just for towns and neighborhoods near the plants.”Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
