Pete Sikora
@petesikora.bsky.social
The climate crisis & inequality. Married, two kids. Lifelong NYCer, diner guy. With nychange.bsky.social, directing climate/jobs campaigns 9 years. Previous: 10 yrs CWA D-1, 7 yrs NYPIRG. On climate only, my takes are NYCC “official”. 🇵🇸
It’s great to have moderates in the Democratic Party b/c even if progressives, socialists and liberals disagree with them a lot, they’re an important part of a winning coalition. 😀 El-Sayed’s win over huge $$$ is another opportunity to unite Dems and win big in November! 💪
If progressives lose, it’s bad for progressives. If progressives win, though, it’s also bad for progressives. Gotta love narrative setting.
Politico@politico.com · 10h agoProgressives didn’t get the big election night they wanted
I keep refreshing the NYISO’s page tracking the power grid’s status b/c a huge new clean energy project recently went on line. It’s called CHPE. It brings hydropower from Quebec to NYC. Right now, it’s delivering 1,250 megawatts. That’s a lot! Lower prices, less pollution 👍
Kinda starting to think the politicians who represent us should act before all this gets vastly worse.
Met4Cast@met4cast.net · yesterdayMany parts of southern England recorded 0mm of rainfall in July, a first since records began in 1871. No sign of meaningful rainfall in the next 2 weeks either as high pressure re-builds, the drought continues. 📷 Blackheath, London
One more interesting point: this spring I sat down with Sharyn Alfonsi of 60 Minutes for an extensive interview about my Epstein investigation. Subsequently, CBS pulled the segment and fired the reporter. The MAGA buyout of media has unquestionably aided the Trump administration’s cover up here.
Senator Ron Wyden@wyden.senate.gov · yesterdayBombshell new report out from my investigators this morning spanning our four year investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records. This report shows exactly how Wall Street protected Epstein and enabled his sex trafficking for decades. Mega thread following with some key points:
It's a shame that all we offer someone facing a psychotic break, depression, or trauma is punishment. New Yorkers deserve treatment, not jail. It's time we invest in mental health courts and pass the Treatment Court Expansion Act! nysfocus.com/2026/08/04/m...
In New York, Mental Health Diversion Depends on Your County
Half of New York counties lack mental health courts, limiting treatment-based alternatives to jail.
nysfocus.com
Another documented success for NYC’s “Green New Deal” law, Local Law 97.🎉 ✅ lower energy bills ✅ less pollution ✅ good jobs Via energy efficiency. Here, a building in battery park city upgrades to heat pumps for hot water, finding space to do it using this tech: www.phcppros.com/articles/238...
Veritus Heat Pump Water Heater Solves Space, Cost and Efficiency Challenges in New York Retrofit
The owner of a high-rise multifamily residential building in Battery Park, Manhattan, faced a pressing infrastructure decision: replace an aging, gas-fired domestic hot water (DHW) system that could n...
phcppros.com
Right now NYC is getting 1,164 megawatts of clean hydropower electricity from Quebec via the newly-built CHPE transmission project. 🎉 ✅ lower energy bills ✅ less pollution ✅ good jobs Two big offshore wind projects are under construction right now… coming soon! 👍
I'm happy to be quoted offering some of the other side of the case in this column. Some additions: NYC's grid has *plenty* of headroom for years to come for new heat pumps. (source linked below). That's largely b/c heat pumps add electricity use *in the winter* NOT the summer. 🧵
@erik-engquist.bsky.social · 4d agoWhen rolling blackouts become a regular occurrence in New York, don’t say we weren’t warned. therealdeal.com/new-york/202...
😢 Call me crazy, but I think Zohran Mamdani should make climate action, which also lowers energy bills and creates good jobs, a priority. …and for reasons that have zero to do with whether I think it’s good for him politically. (tho I also think it’s good for him politically)
Alexandra (Alex) Duggan@alexdugganreports.bsky.social · 3d agoMore than 600 (likely homes) burned in and around Spokane County yesterday. The devastation is incomprehensible www.spokesman.com/stories/2026...
At 8:44pm CHPE - the big transmission project that just got built - is delivering 700 megawatts of clean electricity to NYC. ✅ lower electric bills ✅ less pollution ✅ more good jobs Empire wind and Sunrise wind, two large offshore projects, are under construction now! 👍
Identical homes in Astoria, Queens. Old HVAC (a window a/c unit) and new: a heat pump. The heat pump is far more energy efficient, so it costs less to operate. It also delivers heat. It displaces use of oil or gas, reducing pollution. #GasFreeNYC
CHPE currently delivering 1,250 megawatts of clean electricity to NYC, lowering energy bills and reducing pollution. 👍
New York Communities for Change @nychange.bsky.social · 5d agoYears ago, we supported the huge CHPE transmission project to bring hydropower from Quebec to NYC. It’s great to see it’s now up and running, lowering both electricity prices and pollution. 🎉 800 megawatts of clean energy is flowing into NYC’s electric grid atm, enough to power 800k homes. 👏
I’ve been thinking a lot about the shamelessness of the USA’s elites, and more generally of Americans as a whole. I don’t have clear thought here, but the Sargent Shriver peace corps type thing where elites think it’s great to go help people for near-zero money… feels gone.
Pete Sikora@petesikora.bsky.social · 4d agoOne more point: I guess I can’t say for sure, but the openness of the giant egoism of rich people trying to play as VICTIMS in this seems uniquely American. I don’t think that in almost any other country a pretty big swathe of that (small) demo would feel like running to a mic is a good idea.
We had an internal debate, because no project like this has zero downsides. This was a good call.
New York Communities for Change @nychange.bsky.social · 5d agoYears ago, we supported the huge CHPE transmission project to bring hydropower from Quebec to NYC. It’s great to see it’s now up and running, lowering both electricity prices and pollution. 🎉 800 megawatts of clean energy is flowing into NYC’s electric grid atm, enough to power 800k homes. 👏
The electoral demise in primaries of Elizabeth Warren, Brad Lander and Mallory McMorrow to Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed says something. Liberal/progressive technocrats lose to economic populists. The game’s either corporate dems or economic populists.
The huge publicity in NYC from media-amplified whining wealthy homeowners with second homes saying they are middle class victims of the pied a terre tax makes 3/4ths of this city eye roll and identify with the Mayor and his agenda. He looks hard core, standing up to powers that be.
Years ago, we supported the huge CHPE transmission project to bring hydropower from Quebec to NYC. It’s great to see it’s now up and running, lowering both electricity prices and pollution. 🎉 800 megawatts of clean energy is flowing into NYC’s electric grid atm, enough to power 800k homes. 👏
Right now, the big new transmission line for hydropower from Quebec, called CHPE, is delivering 800 megawatts of clean energy into the NYC grid, lowering prices and reducing pollution. 👍👍👍👍
📣A shout out to Steve LaPointe at CBS6 Albany 🌊 For clearly explaining the role of #climatechange in the record rainfall and flooding in #hudsonvalley and #albany @katharinehayhoe.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvq7...
Historic Hudson Valley flooding: Nearly 10 inches of rain falls across Capital Region
YouTube video by CBS6 Albany
youtube.com
Statistically I’ll pass sometime a bit past 2050. I’d really like to see NYC, the city I love, not turn into a gentrified whitewash of rich people. I’d also really like it to be zero pollution by then. Mamdani’s Mayoralty is really the last moment to set that path into place.
Netanyahu is not the problem, it’s that the mainstream of the Israeli state and society think this is good. This horror wouldn’t be possible without US gov’t weapons and money. End ALL that support, apply sanctions etc. to stop the killing fields.
CyKoore 🇨🇦 🍉@cykoore.bsky.social · last wk.These fucking monsters are proud of this. This isn't some nobody, it's Israeli Defense Minister Katz.
😬😬😬budget cuts b/c Mamdani endorsed Hochul way too early for too little. Next year she will be way harsher b/c there’s no primary. We must get the legislature to tax the rich in the next budget (not a face-saving few hundred million/yr: big, multi billion dollar yearly money)
The City Reporter@thecityreporter.nyc · last wk.Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed every city agency to identify 2.5% in savings ahead of an estimated $6 billion budget hole next year, launching his first full cost-cutting initiative weeks after he and the City Council inked this year’s budget. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/07/29/m...
