Environmental advocates are renewing the push to make Rikers Island a centerpiece of New York City's climate strategy as Mayor Zohran Mamdani commits to closing the jail complex there.

The jails currently house nearly 7,000 people and have been steeped in controversy for decades. By law, the complex is scheduled to close by August 2027 and be replaced by four smaller borough-based jails. The city will miss this deadline due to construction delays on the new facilities, officials have said.

As part of the mandate to close Rikers, the city was required to generate feasibility studies on renewable energy and wastewater treatment options for the island. The study presented different scenarios, with a preferred option of solar, large-scale battery storage, an offshore wind connection and a new wastewater treatment plant.

Local environmentalists are suing the city over a plan to address sewage pollution in Flushing Creek that they worry will bring negative impacts for the Queens waterway.

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the City Department of Environmental Protection over a plan that aims to address decades worth of pollution in the water through a process of chlorination and dechlorination. However, the groups argue that the procedure could bring its own harm to the local environment and doesn’t actually solve the problem.

His successor, Zohran Mamdani, will face his first deadline immediately when he assumes office in January — the local Renewable Rikers law mandates that the mayor transfer dormant facilities on Rikers Island from the DOC to the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) every half-year, ensuring the building’s decommission and repurposing the land for environmental causes.

The election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s 111th mayor is expected to usher in significant policy shifts at City Hall. One area certain to receive fresh attention is the fate of Rikers Island — the 415-acre land mass situated in the East River between the Bronx and Queens and home to one of the nation’s largest and most notorious jail complexes.

After waiting a year and a half, the NYC Department of Corrections provided a series of pictures and a spreadsheet of more than 700 complaints. A majority of the complaints, 380, were about jail flooding and 277 complaints about sewage.

Mayor Adams’ purported attempt to abandon the plan to close the jail on Rikers Island would be a step backward for all New Yorkers. In addition to ending the history of violence and mistreatment of incarcerated people and improving conditions for Department of Correction staff, the jail’s closure — which is mandated by law — will open the door for the single most transformative project of the 21st century for New York City’s air and water.

Renewable Rikers coalition tells DEC that Rikers power plant permit conflicts with both city law mandating closure of Rikers jails by 2027 and state climate law.

The Council-approved directive to turn the notorious lock-up into a renewable-energy hub has mostly been stuck in the mud.

Wastewater treatment and green energy generation are both feasible where troubled city jails now stand, new city studies conclude.

This community-developed plan could serve as a model for how to simultaneously decarcerate and decarbonize.

As Rikers Island awaits a decision about a possible federal receivership, community members in the South Bronx are calling for control of the jail complex to be transferred to agencies responsible for renewable energy.

The plan to transform Rikers into a green energy hub has missed two key deadlines, leading City Council members to question the mayor’s commitment.

The plan to transform Rikers into a green energy hub has missed two key deadlines, leading City Council members to question the mayor’s commitment.

The plan to transform Rikers into a green energy hub has missed two key deadlines, leading City Council members to question the mayor’s commitment.

Promising to clean up New York’s electricity grid, while providing jobs for former inmates, the proposals bring new meaning to climate justice.

A new 30-page report released by the Regional Plan Association (RPA) offers a restorative, sewage treatment plant–anchored vision of redemption and renewal for an island long populated by—and synonymous with—New York City’s troubled main jail complex.

Every six months between August 2021 and August 2027, the Department of Correction is required to transfer pieces of Rikers Island, be it shuttered buildings or vacant land, to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Last year, the transfers began and the DOC handed over what was the first-ever permanent jail on the island to DCAS.

As work continues on an $8-billion program to build four jails replacing New York City’s Rikers Island facility, plans are being developed to potentially transform the East River island for wastewater treatment and resource recovery.

In the most recent move to implement the Renewable Rikers Act, the city has authorized the transfer of 43 acres of vacant, unused land on Rikers Island away from the Department of Corrections.