Thursday, May 22, 2025
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and other elected officials gathered on the Long Beach bayfront on Wednesday to express their concerns about, and opposition to, plans to erect wind turbines off the coast, and the lithium-ion battery facilities that would store the energy they produce.
“These wind turbines are killing birds and killing whales and create environmental hazards,” Blakeman said at a news conference at the city fire station on West Park Avenue. “There’s oil and diesel fuel with each and every one, and that fuel could escape. There could be a collision, there could be a leak of some kind, and pollute all of our beaches. And then, on top of that, these battery storages, are the size of buildings.”
Blakeman claimed that if there were a fire at a storage facility, it could not be put out. Firefighters would be limited to monitoring the fire, and would have to allow it to burn out itself, which could take days, he said.
“There’s a lot of benefits with different technology, especially when we’re needing more energy,” county Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said. “The issue that we’re more concerned about is firefighter safety. It’s a huge commitment of the fire service to have to try to control these fires. If you drive here through Long Beach, you see what dense population and dense building looks like. We fully support, right now, hitting the pause on this until there’s better research done, better codes to handle that training.”
Joseph Saladino, Town of Oyster Bay supervisor, expressed concern the potential impact of the state’s Renewable Action through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act. The RAPID Act, enacted last year, would, according to Hochul’s website, create a one-stop shop for the environmental review and permitting of major renewable energy and transmission facilities in the Office of Renewable Energy Siting.The permitting process would balance transparency and environmental protection with the need for fast decision-making, the site states, while continuing to be responsive to community feedback and environmental considerations.
Saladino disagreed vehemently, arguing that the act made it easier for potentially dangerous projects to be constructed in municipalities, regardless of the will of the community’s citizens.
“When the RAPID Act takes hold, it ignores local control,” Saladino said. “When you ignore the will of the people, you begin to damage our democracy.”
Christina Kramer, a Long Beach resident and the founder and president of Protect Our Coast LINY, is among the many community members who are adamantly opposed to wind turbine projects planned by the international energy company Equinor. Rallies against the projects have been a seemingly regular occurrence in Long Beach and the surrounding communities.
“They are absolutely going to be devastating for our community,” Kramer said. “The fire suppression method is to let it burn, and that is not safe for our residents. (Gov. Kathy) Hochul says she’s not going to accommodate President Trump’s executive order, so she’s not listening to him. Will she listen to us? We have over 20,000 signatures against the RAPID Act, which takes away our local control. Please help us stop Empire 1.”
Equinor released a statement on Thursday announcing that it would be suspending all offshore construction activities for the Empire Wind Project.
“On April 16, Empire received notice from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, ordering Empire to halt all activities on the outer continental shelf until BOEM has completed its review,” the statement read. “Empire is engaging with relevant authorities to clarify this matter and is considering its legal remedies, including appealing the order.”
President Trump issued an executive order on the first day of his second term that paused all new wind energy projects that would use federal waterways.
Equinor originally planned two projects, Empire Wind 1 and 2, that would have a total of 147 wind turbines, each standing 886 feet tall, as well as the stations housing the cables that transfer energy from the turbines to land, all 15 to 35 miles offshore. Empire Wind 1 would supply power to the Brooklyn area, and Empire Wind 2 would deliver power to the grid in Nassau County and connect to the E.F. Barrett Power Station in Island Park.
Equinor and BP announced the agreement with the state Energy Research and Development Authority on Empire Wind 2 was scrapped in January 2024, but Empire Wind 1 received final approval by the state’s Public Service Commission that May.
Now with the project on indefinite hold, Equinor will be halting construction for the immediate future.
“Empire is complying with the order affecting project activities for Empire Wind,” the company’s Thursday statement continued. “Upon receipt of the order, immediate steps were taken by Empire and its contractors to initiate suspension of relevant marine activities, ensuring the safety of workers and the environment.”
