OFFSHORE WIND AT RISK

 OFFSHORE WIND AT RISK: Another measure pending in the Assembly has big implications for New York’s offshore wind targets. The bill, A7764, includes a parkland alienation for a cable landing in Long Beach for the Empire Wind 2 project being developed by Equinor and BP. “Without passage of this bill this session, the Empire Wind 2 project will not stay on its timeline, jeopardizing not only this critical initiative but also creating a domino effect delaying and potentially derailing other crucial projects currently in the pipeline: the Empire Wind 1 project, the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and the Beacon Wind 1 project,” wrote environmental groups including NYLCV and Sierra Club in a recent letter to Speaker Carl Heastie and members of the Assembly. The issue has also gotten a coveted Mark Ruffalo tweet endorsement. The Long Beach City Council passed a home rule message supporting the alienation, but the Republican sponsor in the Senate of the original standalone measure withdrew her support.

Equinor, which has also told the Public Service Commission its projects are no longer viable without larger subsidies, also sent a memo backing the bill. Delaying passage of the parkland alienation provision for Long Beach to next year “materially increases the risk for the project’s failure,” Equinor wrote. The company also notes that the bill doesn’t give Equinor any rights for development of the project and that it would still need local, federal and state approvals.

Labor groups are also pressing the Assembly to pass the measure. “The environmental future of New York and the future of thousands of union families is riding on the passage of this bill,” wrote labor leaders in a letter to Heastie and lawmakers on Sunday. “We cannot allow that to be jeopardized.” The letter is signed by Building and Construction Trades leaders, IBEW Local 3, Vincent Albanese with the New York State Laborers’ Organizing Fund and John Mooney, CSEA President for the City of Long Beach.

The measure also requires NYSERDA to conduct more planning around shared offshore wind transmission infrastructure if the state increases its target beyond the current 9 gigawatts by 2035. — Marie J. French

 

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