THE NEWSPAPER OF THE NEW YORK CITY INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER ONLINE AT NYC.INDYMEDIA.ORG THE INDYPENDENT THE REAL ENERGY CRISIS POWER PLANTS TAKE TOLL ON CITY’S KIDS by JOHN TARLETON Ray Berly is a polite, soft-spoken 10- blackouts this summer, NYPA is also Mothers on the Move, a South Bronx- year-old with short, dark hair and a sky- installing one power plant in based civic organization. Santiago’s 12- blue ribbon pinned to his neatly pressed Williamsburg, Brooklyn; two in Sunset year-old daughter suffers from asthma Catholic school uniform. He dreams of Park, Brooklyn; two in Long and has made repeated trips to the being a paleontologist and has a small Island City, Queens and one in hospital. “On any given day you library of dinosaur books. Basketball is Rosebank, Staten Island. can find the asthma wards in his favorite sport, but he gets red in the The neighborhoods within the Bronx hospitals full,” face when he tries to run around with a half-mile of the power Santiago said. other kids. plants are all poorer and NYPA spokesperson Joe “Most parents say to their kids, do you have higher percent- Leary said that site selec- have your lunch?’ when they leave for ages of minorities than tion was based on existing school,” said Ramon Marrero, 48, Ray’s the city as a whole, electrical hook-ups and stepfather. “We have to say, ‘do you have according to a NYPA that environmental New York City your nebulizer?’” assessment that was racism was not a factor. Ray’s asthma may get worse starting first made public by “These are the cleanest independent June 1 when the New York Power the New York Times. plants in the city,” Leary Authority (NYPA) brings ten new mini- The study also report- said. media center power plants on-line in poor, heavily pol- ed each site has, on However according to the luted neighborhoods along the East average, 100 other facili- same NYPA a s s e s s m e n t , River. Four of the new power plants will ties with air pollution per- each 44-megawatt, gas-burn- be installed in the South Bronx, which mits within one mile of ing turbine could produce as MAY 2001 has the nation’s highest asthma rate. They them. much 61 tons per year of pollu- will be just upwind from Ray’s school on “I feel like he (Governor George tants such as sulfur dioxide, carbon NO East 145th St. Pataki) is sending out a death warrant on monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen 7 Invoking the spectre of California-style our children,” said Darlene Santiago of oxides and (continued on page 9) Clockwise from top left: Construction of new INSIDE: WHITE HOUSE ENERGY PLAN RUNNING ON EMPTY - p.8, power plants goes forward at Port Morris in the Bronx. Young people protest in GOVERNOR PATAKI GIVEN ENVIRONMENTAL HONOR - p.9, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Ray Berly, age 10, breathes from his asthma inhaler. ROLL YOUR OWN BLACKOUT! - p.9, ENERGY NUMBERS CRUNCH - p.10 Photos by John Tarleton INDYMEDIA HARASSED BY FEDS by ANANOGUEIRA m e n t s ,” says Evan Henshaw Plath, a which has never been tried in open court The Independent Media Center (IMC) member of the IMC Tech Collective. “It is before. may be forced to hand over server logs, about the government’s ability to track While the ECPA ostensibly protects containing user information from 36 of users of IMC websites. It is like asking the electronic communications of private its websites, to U.S. government agencies for membership lists.” citizens from undue surveillance, it who subpoenaed them as part of two sep- The 48-hour nonetheless pro- arate criminal investigations. period coincided vides an opening The subpoenaed logs reportedly con- with the FTA A for gove rn m e n t tain over 1.5 million Internet Protocol protests, which gen- The sweeping inquiry agencies to moni- addresses, electronic data that could be erated unprecedent- leads many to tor the ex i s t e n c e used to identify visitors to the IMC’s ed traffic to IMC and patterns of online presence, which has quickly n ews coverage, a believe that the order that communica- become a leading international news por- total of three mil- has little to do with a tion. The Nation tal for the anti-globalization movement. lion hits that week- magazine called it New York City Via the first subpoena, the FBI and the end. criminal investigation “a wish list for the independent Secret Service say they seek information Lee Tien, Senior l aw - e n f o r c e m e n t regarding two posts to the IMC Montreal S t a ff A t t o rn ey for and more to do with community.” media center “open publishing” new swire, wh i c h the Electronic the surveillance of Under the law, describe police infiltration of protest Frontier Foundation the government is groups and tactics to contain anti-free (EFF) says “this a growing political b a rred from WHAT IS THE IMC? trade protests. The information wa s kind of fi s h i n g accessing the con- With autonomous chapters in over 40 cities throughout movement. the world, the year-old Independent Media Center has allegedly stolen from a police car during expedition is anoth- tent of a priva t e quickly grown into an international network of volun- protests of the Free Trade Area of the er in a long line of email message, for teer media activists. Americas (FTAA) treaty in Quebec City overbroad and onerous attempts to chill example, but it can use computer pro- The IMC’s mission is to create a new media ethic by last month, which drew 60,000 people. political speech and activism.” He says grams to analyze communication patterns providing progressive, in-depth and accurate coverage The second subpoena was served on this order, “even without the ‘gag,’ is a “that illuminate invisible social networks of issues that affect us daily. We are a community- based organization using media production and distri- May 8 after a cryptic death threat against threat to free speech, free association and and identify key members,” say critics. bution to support and facilitate communities’ political a Cincinnati police officer was posted to privacy.” These logs could “provide a virtual and cultural self-representation. We seek to illuminate the Ohio Valley IMC site. The EFF stands alongside other well- who’s who of people associated with the and analyze local and global issues impacting individu- But unlike the Ohio subpoena, where k n own communication law ex p e rt s IMC and its political views,” said Nancy als, communities and eco-systems by providing media police asked for one IP address relevant including the Center for Constitutional Chang, Senior Litigation Attorney for the tools and space to those seeking to communicate their issues to the world. to the post in question, the other subpoe- Rights (CCR), the Electronic Priva cy CCR. Unlike corporate media, we do not pretend to be na casts a far wider net: it covers a 48 I n f o rmation Center (EPIC), and the Technical experts say that the request- unbiased. Subjectivity comes with the human package. hour period, with a log record 1.5 million Perkins-Coei law firm, who are all repre- ed “user connection logs” could reveal Rather, we espouse open dialogue, and the importance IP addresses long. It also contained a gag senting the IMC pro bono. personal information about Intern e t of placing the means of communication and creativity order forbidding the IMC to announce or So far the government has not received surfers, but they are unreliable as sources back in the hands of the people, and away from the drive of profit. discuss the existence of the order, which any of the subpoenaed logs. IMC counsel for identifying suspects in almost any The IMC’s work in cyberspace –please visit the local was challenged and later lifted. is considering a legal challenge that will crime. For one, with the use of common website at www. n y c . i n d y m e d i a . o rg or the global site at “This is obviously not about tracking strike at the heart of the 1986 Electronic w w w. i n d y m e d i a . o rg for up-to-the-minute re p o rts on the identity of people who stole docu- Communications Priva cy Act (ECPA ) , (continued on next page) actions and news near and far – features self-pub- lished stories as well as a wide sampling of photos, videos and audio clips. The New York City chapter’s print publication, the Indypendent, looks to bro a d e n the IMC’s reach through the written word by literally putting the news in people’s hands on NYC streets. WHAT CAN I DO TO GET INVOLVED? In aiming to tear down the walls between media pro- ducers and consumers, we encourage you to take part in this growing media (r)evolution. The options for L AT E S T involvement are numerous: write for the Indypendent, film events and rallies, self-publish art i- cles to the web, take photos, etc., or just help us ru n the office. As an organization relying entirely on vol- unteer support, we encourage all forms of part i c i p a- t i o n . ON THE Stop complaining about the media and all of its shortcomings – take action by voicing your insights and analysis.