Trump, Kushner buildings rank among top polluters in New York
New York luxury towers owned by President Trump and his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are reportedly part of the 2 percent of buildings that produce half of the city’s carbon dioxide pollution.
HuffPost, citing a study by environmental nonprofits, reported Thursday that Trump International Hotel and Tower, Trump Tower and the Kushner family’s 666 Fifth Avenue buildings are some of the biggest contributors to pollution.
New York Communities for Change, the People’s Climate Movement NY and other environmental groups compared public data on the buildings’ electrical use and how much fossil fuel was burned at each site based on 30-year average temperatures.
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The median energy use for office buildings in New York used 186 kBtu — kilo British thermal units.
However, Trump International Hotel and Tower reached 267 kBtu and Trump Tower hit 208 kBtu.
The Kushner family property soared to 285 kBtu, according to the data.
The Baccarat luxury hotel in Manhattan topped the list at 386 kBtu.
“It’s the Trumps and the Kushners that are polluting this city,” said Pete Sikora, the senior adviser at New York Communities for Change. “We’re not a factory town in New York City, but if we were, our smokestacks would be buildings like Trump Tower.”
Other ritzy buildings that made the list include 15 Central Park West, were Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein lives, and 157 West 57th Street, according to HuffPost.
The environmental groups are calling on city lawmakers to order an 80 percent emissions and energy cut by 2050.
The luxury buildings need to be outfitted with updated boilers, water heaters, roofs and windows to help conserve energy, they added.
Seventy percent of the city’s CO2 emissions come from buildings, according to the city.
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