On December 20, Uniondale, NY on Long Island saw 250 union workers, community members, and environmentalists join forces and rally to show support for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2016 offshore wind strategy. In an area that demands higher electricity prices than elsewhere in the state, this 39 gigawatt, 15-turbine project could provide power to an estimated 2.5 million homes in the New York City metropolitan area and Long Island.
This month, The Long Island Power Association (LIPA) is set to vote in favor of purchasing power from New York’s first-ever offshore wind farm. Energy harvested from wind turbines planted in the Atlantic Ocean is clean, renewable, and greenhouse gas free. Additionally, this project would provide significant investments to New York City’s waterfront and deliver the area with an influx of much-needed jobs to support the construction and maintenance of the wind farms—a win-win situation for both the environment and the local economy.
Shay O’Reilly, New York City’s organizing representative of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign confirms that this project offers the cheapest strategy for providing power to the east end of Long Island along with many other New York locations. O’Reilly was a co-organizer of the rally, along with Lisa Dix who is a Senior New York Representative for the Beyond Coal Campaign. Her excitement about the event was apparent as she expressed her astonishment at the unexpected turnout. “We expected 100 and got 250,” She said. The event claims the title of the second largest wind power rally on Long Island.
Post-rally, a diverse mass of eager supporters which had gathered outside of LIPA headquarters crowded into a meeting room and were granted a special testimony session to voice their positive feedback on the project. Rally attendees were joined by Senators Phil Boyle and Todd Kaminsky and union leaders from the Nassau and Suffolk Building Trades, the Long Island Federation of Labor, ironworkers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), dock-builders and painters.
Tim McCarthy of IBEW expressed his support of offshore wind and commented on the multiple spheres that were working together to push this particular project forward. “It’s not often you have business, labor, environmental, and political communities coming together on an issue,” he said.
McCarthy’s statement rings true as we look at the Sierra Club’s New York Beyond Coal team’s efforts to build relationships and strengthen collaboration with local labor unions to emphasize the high-quality jobs that this project could bring to the state. Additionally, a Sierra Club-chartered bus brought 38 New York City residents to the rally site. Sierra Club volunteers from the Long Island chapter made turn-out phone calls in the crucial days before the rally to energize and motivate individuals to show up and speak out. It is this enthusiasm, teamwork, and sincerity that drove the event’s success.
“We can no longer be fossil fools and deny the consequences of climate change,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “Long Islanders are ready for offshore wind. We have assessed the science, the economics and the societal benefits and we concluded that wind works as an important mainstream energy source.”
The use of offshore wind as an energy source has been a prominent practice in Europe for decades and more recently, New York’s neighbors: Massachusetts and Rhode Island, too, have jumped on the clean energy bandwagon. As pressure builds for Governor Cuomo to meet his goal of providing 50 percent of the state’s energy from renewables by 2030, the time appears to be ripe for New York’s governor to commit to a large-scale, long-term wind program in the State of the State address.
Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island, shared his confidence in Cuomo’s efforts and the plausibility of his 2030 projections at the LIPA hearing by stating, “With bold leadership from Governor Cuomo on New York’s offshore wind master plan and decisive action by LIPA on two proposed offshore wind projects east of Montauk, New York State will be positioned to reach its 50 percent renewable energy mandate by 2030 while creating jobs and attracting significant investments from the offshore wind industry.”
Offshore wind turbines work similarly to their land-based counterparts but they are typically larger and generate more power. This advantage works in the favor of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as it seeks to reinforce the expansion and improvement of both distributed and large-scale renewable energy resources to meet the ambitious clean energy standard set by Cuomo. Due to their significant distance from the shoreline and the efforts that NYSERDA has made to reduce the visual impact of the turbines through siting and technological choices, the wind farm should not be visible to Long Islanders. The benefits that wind power will offer includling significant reductions in carbon dioxide, air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide far outweigh the potential warm glow that could emanate from the offshore farm’s evening-time lights.
Rally organizer Shay O’Reilly claims that for the most part, Long Islanders have been fully supportive of this clean energy initiative. She says that apart from some backlash from local fisheries, the red tape that has surfaced is due to a lack of pre-established systems and methods to accommodate the purchasing and use of wind power. “It’s sort-of a wild west situation,” she says, “the idea is new enough that people still don’t know how to adjust to it.” The offshore generating facility will be connected to the New York transmission system via an undersea cable. Problems arise in relation to the constraints and limitations of the pre-existing grid. To fully utilize the new power, energy distribution systems will need transmission upgrades that will allow them to integrate large quantities of the new renewable resource into the system without lowering energy quality.
New York will need to work closely and collaboratively with federal and state agencies, fishery management councils, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body, environmental groups, and other experts to ensure that negative impacts on wildlife, maritime commercial and economic activities, and offshore aquaculture are kept to a minimum. The Port of New York and New Jersey is the nation’s third-largest port. On a daily basis the bustling harbor receives large ocean-going vessels bringing goods in and out of its three major corridors. New York’s offshore wind development and planning must incorporate strategies that will not hinder the safe and efficient navigation of these vital trade routes.
O’Reilly’s co-rally-organizer, Lisa Dix, who spoke at the LIPA hearing said, "We applaud LIPA for continuing to move the process forward for New York's first offshore wind project. This project is a critical first step in putting NY on the map as a regional hub for offshore wind, creating hundreds of jobs and building an offshore wind program at scale." With Donald Trump soon to occupy the White House, it is essential that front-runner states such as New York take a proactive approach and a leadership role in transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy. It is time for Governor Cuomo and New York to move forward with the nation’s largest offshore wind farm in order to combat the worsening effects of climate change.