City Comptroller John C. Liu today called for the issuance of Green
Apple Bonds to rid all New York City Public Schools of light fixtures
housing the known carcinogen Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) by 2015,
six years ahead of the Administration’s current schedule and at savings
of $339 million.
Liu’s plan would lower the City’s greenhouse-gas emissions to guard
against climate change, while at the same time create 3,000 jobs. Green
Apple Bonds are a green investment tool that will help the Big Apple’s
buildings become safer and more energy efficient, thus reducing New York
City’s carbon footprint.
“That the DOE ignores parent concerns for the health of their
children does not, unfortunately, come as a surprise. It is, however,
mind boggling that the DOE would ignore the formal warnings issued by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about PCBs. Our students should
learn about PCBs in class, but through their textbooks, not through
firsthand exposure,” said Comptroller Liu. “Green Apple Bonds will
finance the rapid cleanup of PCBs and the retrofitting of old schools
buildings. Moreover, this plan will save $339 million for our
taxpayers. It will even significantly lower our City’s carbon
footprint, something we must do immediately if we are serious about the
issue of climate change.”
PCBs are dangerous chemicals found in old light fixtures in many
City schools, a remnant of earlier construction codes. Given that the
average public school is over 60 years old, more than 772 school
buildings have been targeted for remediation.
The Department of Education (DOE) plans to remove PCB-carrying light
fixtures in these 772 school buildings by the year 2021. The federal
Environmental Protection Agency has deemed the Administration’s plan
unacceptable and recommended more urgent and comprehensive action.
Comptroller Liu’s plan is in step with the EPA’s opinion and the
$407 million raised by the sale of these bonds will achieve remediation
of the 772 school buildings by 2015. IN addition the timetable of this
plan would address a pending lawsuit against the City.
The DOE now consumes the most energy of all City agencies, with
bills reaching $291 million a year. In addition to the removal of the
toxins, schools also would receive green upgrades and retrofits such as
replacement lighting, new boilers, insulation, and smart-meter
technology in order to reduce the City’s carbon footprint and lower the
DOE’s drastically high energy bills. The jobs created through this
retrofit are estimated at 3,000.
City
Agency Energy Costs
|
Rank
|
Agency
|
Heat,
Light & Power
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
EDUCATION
|
$233,064,036
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
CITYWIDE
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
|
$110,843,543
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
|
$84,664,035
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
TRANSPORTATION
|
$63,228,498
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
SANITATION
|
$19,632,483
|
|
|
|
|
Other
|
|
$229,903,308
|
|
|
|
|
Total
|
|
$741,335,902
|
|
|
|
|
Fuel
Oil
|
Tota
|
|
|
$58,299,101
|
$291,363,137
|
|
|
$506,443
|
$111,349,986
|
|
|
$21,000,568
|
$105,664,603
|
|
|
$278,100
|
$63,506,598
|
|
|
$2,945,062
|
$22,577,545
|
|
|
$16,948,235
|
$246,851,543
|
|
|
$99,977,510
|
$841,313,412
|
|
|
%
of Total
|
|
35%
|
|
13%
|
|
13%
|
|
8%
|
|
3%
|
|
29%
|
|
100%
|
Internal
analysis of FMS data
Dollar
amounts and percentages are rounded
A third-party auditor would audit these projects to ensure eligibility and quantify cost savings.
Overall, Comptroller Liu’s plan would save taxpayers $339 million
through 2021. Under Liu’s plan, the estimated debt service would amount
to $380 million through 2021; that cost, however, would be more than
offset by an estimated $719 million in savings resulting from reduced
energy consumption, lower interest rates, and federal subsidies for
energy conservation.
In addition to making schools safer and saving tax dollars, Green
Apple Bonds would reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions by 1.4
million metric tons through 2021, 47 percent more than the City’s
current plan.
Reducing greenhouse-gases emissions, which contribute to climate
change, has become more pressing in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
“No
issue is more important that the safety of our students and staff,”
said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. “Getting
rid of the PCBs in the lights of hundreds of schools should be a major
priority for the system, and I want to thank Comptroller Liu for this
creative approach that will dramatically speed up this process, even as
it helps make schools more energy-efficient.”
"PCBs in old lighting fixtures continue to be a major problem in old
school buildings,” said Judith Enck, Regional Administrator, United
States Environmental Protection Agency. “The idea of utilizing new
green apple bonds is an innovative and smart way to finance much needed
energy efficiency improvements in public schools."
“Investing in a safer and better learning environment for students
and educators, and doing it in the most cost-effective way possible, is a
priority we in the unionized building and construction trades have long
supported. It is precisely this approach that led to project labor
agreements with the School Construction Authority that have improved
public school buildings and saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of
dollars in the last decade,” said Gary LaBarbera, President of the
Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York,
representing 100,000 members in local affiliates of 15 national and
international unions. “There is too much work to be done to ignore
innovative and fiscally responsible approaches like Green Apple Bonds to
make classrooms safer and more conducive to educational excellence for
students in our public schools.”
“Despite the huge challenges presented by Superstorm Sandy, we are
ready and able to get the job done within two years. Just give us the
green light for greener schools,” said NYC Central Labor Council
President Vincent Alvarez. “We fully support Comptroller Liu’s plan to
raise $407 million for eligible capital projects through the creation of
tax-exempt Green Apple Bonds. This initiative will allow the city to
speed up its removal of PCBs in school light fixtures, a vitally
important step to protect the health and safety of children and school
employees, and create an estimated 3,000 stable, good-paying jobs.”
"For too long, the city has made investment in our school facilities
a low priority," said Hector Figueroa, President of 32BJ SEIU, which
represents the 5,000 cleaners and handypersons in the city's schools.
"Now we see results of that neglect, including hazardous and aging PCB
light fixtures that in some cases have leaked toxins onto children or
floors or furniture in schools. The city must speed up its timetable,
and remove these light fixtures from our schools as soon as possible. It
must invest in our schools to ensure they provide an environment that
is safe, healthy and conducive to learning."
"The members of Local 891 support any initiative which would speed
the removal of dangerous toxins from the public schools,” said Robert J.
Troeller, Business Manager/President, I.U.O.E., Local 891.
“Unfortunately, Custodian Engineers and their staffs must at times work
with potentially hazardous materials and equipment but there is no
reason to wait ten years to remove a known threat. All light fixtures
containing PCBs should be removed as soon as quickly as possible.”
"In 2008, PCBs were discovered at PS 199, a public school in my
district. Since then, nearly 800 public school buildings have been
identified as potentially containing toxic, PCB-laden lighting ballasts,
and I have been outspoken in my advocacy and my opposition to the
City's ten-year timeline to remediate all public school buildings,” said
Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan). “Given the City's
recalcitrance to prioritize PCB remediation, I introduced legislation
that would require remediation of all schools within two to three years.
All options should be on the table when it comes to removing PCBs from
public schools, and Comptroller Liu's creative funding approach should
help move the City closer toward full PCB remediation.”
“It is most important to protect students and staff from known
hazards. Removing all PCB light fixtures in a systematic and timely
fashion throughout the school system will go a long way in providing a
safer environment for everyone,” said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, Chair of
the Department of Population Health for the Hofstra- North Shore LIJ
School of Medicine.
“Our goal has always been to safeguard children and school staff
from the toxic and highly dangerous PCB light fixtures currently in New
York City schools,” said Christina Giorgio, Staff Attorney, New York
Lawyers for the Public Interest who is representing parents in
litigation to shorten the 10-year remediation timeline. “We applaud
Comptroller Liu for introducing a remediation plan that, if implemented,
will not only protect children and staff from PCB exposure but also
will save taxpayers millions of dollars in energy costs while reducing
our City’s carbon footprint.”
“We are thrilled that, unlike the Mayor who is more concerned about
the dangers of soda than toxic chemicals in our schools, the Comptroller
is coming through with a plan that would eliminate toxic PCB-filled
lights from our schools in 2 years,” said New York Communities for
Change member Regina Castro, parent of a child who went to PS 56 and now
attends PS 77 in Brooklyn. “Considering that we started the school
year with PCBs dripping onto our in children and teachers in Staten
Island, Queens and Brooklyn, it is encouraging to parents like me that
something might be done sooner rather than later. Instead of wasting
time on sugary drinks, it is a pleasure to know that a really terrible
health issue is closer to being addressed.”
"Bringing our infrastructure up-to-date is essential to the health
of the economy. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, that couldn't be
clearer,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, a sustainability
advocacy nonprofit that works with investors, companies and policymakers
to advance sustainability initiatives. “Comptroller Liu's plan will
put people to work saving energy and money, while also protecting the
safety and health of children in New York City's public schools.
Investors must play a role in improving New York City's environmental
performance, and Green Apple bonds are another way to encourage that
process
Background:
The EPA has found that PCBs cause cancer and a
number of non-cancer health effects in animals, including damage to the
immune system, reproductive system, and nervous system. Studies in
humans have suggested that PCBs also can cause learning deficits. In
addition the EPA has stated that the City’s current plan is inadequate
and too long of a process.
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/tsd/pcbs/pubs/ballasts.htm#ballast01 In
February 2011, then-Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, then-Deputy Mayor
Dennis Walcott, and then-Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith announced a plan
to raise environmental quality in 772 school buildings over the next
decade at a cost of $843.9 million.
http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/mediarelations/NewsandSpeeches/2010-2011/energyeffandenviroqualityrelease22311.htm
On July 20, 2011, the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest filed
a federal lawsuit against the DOE and the School Construction Authority
(SCA) under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. The lawsuit was
filed on behalf of New York Communities for Change (NYCC), an
organization whose membership includes thousands of parents across the
city. The suit alleges that thousands of light fixtures across New York
City are leaking highly toxic PCBs in violation of federal law and are
thereby endangering the health of NYC schoolchildren.
http://www.nylpi.org/images/FE/chain234siteType8/site203/client/TSCA2011Complaint_Release.pdfLast
month, Comptroller Liu joined Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn to
announce the acceleration of capital projects throughout the City. As
part of the plan, roughly 100 schools would receive expedited PCB
removal. The issuance of Green Apple Bonds would ensure that all City
Schools have their PCB lighting fixtures removed by 2015.
http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/press/2012_releases/pr12-10-110.shtmAs
was the case with Capital Acceleration, Comptroller Liu stands ready to
work with the Administration to expedite the issuance of Green Apple
Bonds.
Left - Assemblyman Dinowitz addresses the crowd.
Left - Old pole is still attached to the new pole in front of 2550 Independence Avenue. 
Left - A new pole is standing where the old one was taken down by a tree that recently fell. The sign lying on the ground has not been replaced yet.
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