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With the help of Sunrise Wind, New York plans to operate with 70% renewable energy by 2030. Photo courtesy Shutterstock

By Serena Carpino

Sunrise Wind, an offshore wind project dedicated to powering thousands of Long Island homes through the use of clean energy, received federal approval on March 26. Specifically, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has granted a Record of Decision. This is an important milestone in the development of offshore wind projects across New York. 

The project, which is set to begin operating in 2026, is located about 30 miles east of Montauk and will bring an estimated 800 jobs to Long Island. In addition to the $700 million in investment the project will bring to Suffolk County, it will also power around 600,000 homes with clean energy. 

Aside from receiving federal approval, Ørsted and Eversource, the two companies that have partnered to create Sunrise Wind, also announced that they took the final investment decision on the project, ensuring their commitment. 

By 2030, New York plans to operate with 70% renewable energy, and Sunrise Wind will play a key role in achieving this goal. Project managers recently negotiated an offshore wind renewable energy certificate agreement with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to provide clean energy to the state for 25 years through an offshore wind farm with a maximum capacity of 924MW. 

​​“These milestones achieved by Ørsted and Eversource on the heels of South Fork Wind entering full operation demonstrate New York’s leadership in building the U.S. offshore wind industry with Sunrise Wind and future projects on their way to generating clean wind energy to power the grid,” said Doreen Harris, president and CEO at NYSERDA. 

The project will bring many financial benefits to New York. According to Harris, “As the onshore supply chain work moves forward, we will continue to see the economic investments in communities from the Capital Region to Long Island come to fruition in the form of good paying jobs and community benefits that are a critical part of our clean energy transition.”

Harris is not the only official who highlighted the economic benefits that wind projects bring to New York. David Hardy, group EVP and CEO at Ørsted North America, explained that the South Fork Wind project has already provided great benefits to the state economy through its production of renewable energy. The efforts of Sunrise Wind will continue and build upon this project. 

Furthermore, Hardy said, “With the federal Record of Decision in hand and our final investment decision having been made, we can continue to create hundreds of local union jobs and set up a vibrant supply chain. We thank the Biden administration, our state partners and the congressional delegation for their continued leadership to advance this important project.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also weighed in: “Today’s announcement that Sunrise Wind has flown through another critical milestone, combined with the recent announcement that South Fork Wind is officially online, shows that the sky is the limit for offshore wind.”

In addition, U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY20) said, “I have always believed in the potential for New York to play a leading role in our nation’s offshore wind and clean energy development, and I have pushed hard at the federal level to drive investments that grow out this industry.” 

Tonko added, “Today’s milestone announcement will help build on our region’s leadership in this field while supporting good paying jobs and securing our clean energy future.” He also remarked, “I’m grateful to Ørsted and Eversource for their partnership and investment in our region, and I look forward to seeing the impact of these projects for our state, our economy and our environment.”

 

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Sunrise Wind. Photo courtesy Sunrise Wind

By Serena Carpino

Several Suffolk County elected officials have gathered in support for Sunrise Wind, an offshore wind project dedicated to using clean energy to power thousands of Long Island homes. 

Sunrise Wind is operated under a 50/50 partnership between Ørsted, a Danish international climate action leader, and Eversource, a national leader in clean energy. The project has been ongoing since 2019 and organizers aim to have it completed by 2026, with the farm generating about 924 megawatts and supplying energy to nearly 600,000 homes across the Island. 

Sunrise Wind is located approximately 30 miles east of Montauk. Developers plan to run cables through Smith Point Beach that will connect to Long Island’s electricity grid in Holbrook. Officials intend to use the wind farm to provide Island residents with 70% renewable energy by 2030, and 100% by 2040. Eventually, they hope to make Sunrise Wind a national energy hub. 

The project has received bipartisan support across the county, with members of both parties agreeing to look toward a more renewable future. Officials supporting Sunrise Wind include County Executive Ed Romaine (R), state Assemblyman Joe DeStefano (R-Medford), Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico (R), and other business and labor leaders. 

“Here, this is not a Democrat or Republican issue,” Romaine explained. “Our focus is local and since we all live here, we want to solve the problems together to get this done. When I look at the future, I realize we’re going to need more energy than ever: Why not renewable?”

Other officials have commented how the project is already helping parts of Long Island with its $700 million investment in jobs, assets, and partnerships across Suffolk County. 

“In the Mastic-Shirley community, Patriots Preserve, we got our first million dollars from this agreement,” Panico said. “We used that money in the creation of a beautiful pristine park in the tri-hamlet community, one of the most densely populated communities that is underserved.”

Furthermore, Sunrise Wind has brought many job opportunities to Long Island residents. According to Meaghan Wims, a spokesperson for Sunrise Wind, the project will “deliver major economic benefits and local jobs to New York … while accelerating the state’s growing offshore wind workforce and supply chain.”

Many officials agree that Sunrise Wind will bring many benefits to Long Island. However, they have also addressed potential concerns about the effect on marine life and fisheries. 

“Climate change is an existential threat to the biodiversity of the natural world, and one of the best ways to protect that biodiversity is the development of clean energy,” Wims explained. That being said, Sunrise Wind takes “great care to ensure that offshore wind and wildlife coexist and thrive. We’ve taken a number of steps to ensure this coexistence, often by being directly responsive to requests from the fishing community.”

For example, officials at Sunrise Wind decided the boundaries of the wind farm after considering feedback from parties that could be affected. In addition, “we’ve set the industry standard by agreeing to uniform 1 x 1 nautical mile spacing across and gridded layout of our lease areas,” Wims said. “This is the widest spacing of any offshore wind farm in the world.” Because of this type of spacing, marine transit and fishery activity can continue to occur. 

In addition to Sunrise Wind, Ørsted and Eversource also have South Fork Wind and Revolution Wind in the works. South Fork Wind is estimated to provide 132 MW of energy to New York and is projected to become the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in United States waters. 

Revolution Wind will supply Rhode Island and Connecticut with 704 MW of power and offshore construction is set to begin in several months.

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New York State Sen. Mario Mattera speaks out against the state’s ban on gas-powered stoves, furnaces and propane heating during a rally in Hauppauge Wednesday, Oct. 18. Photo by Raymond Janis

New York State’s ban on natural gas is coming under fire.

Dozens of public officials, union workers and policy advocates rallied outside the Perry B. Duryea Jr. State Office Building in Hauppauge Wednesday morning, Oct. 18, protesting the state’s recent ban on natural gas, slated to take effect on Dec. 31, 2025.

News Flash:

Generated by ChatGPT, edited by our staff

  • Protest against New York State’s natural gas ban: Public officials, union workers and policy advocates rally against New York State’s ban on natural gas, expressing concerns about its impact on jobs, energy prices and the economy.
  • Legal challenge to the ban: Plaintiffs in the Mulhern Gas Co. v. Rodriguez lawsuit argue that the ban violates federal law, specifically the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
  • Calls for realistic energy approaches: Opponents of the natural gas ban advocate for a balanced and diversified energy portfolio, highlighting the challenges of transitioning to an all-electric system.

During the rally, attendees chanted, “We need a plan, not a ban.”

This natural gas provision was included in this year’s fiscal year budget, passed by the Democratic-controlled state Legislature and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in May.

The law bans gas-powered stoves, furnaces and propane heating, encouraging using climate-friendly appliances such as heat pumps and induction stoves in new residential buildings. It also requires all-electric heating and cooking in new buildings shorter than seven stories by 2026 and for taller buildings by 2029.

New York State Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James), ranking member on the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, offered several objections to the natural gas ban, fearing the measure would trigger layoffs and hiring freezes, spike energy prices and exacerbate the region’s unaffordability crisis and overtaxed electrical grid.

“We know that this is going to hurt not just our homeowners but our economy,” Mattera said. “We are here today to say stop with this unrealistic ban and come together to create a realistic plan.”

Those gathered Wednesday strongly supported the plaintiffs in Mulhern Gas Co. v. Rodriguez, who seek to invalidate the ban on the legal grounds that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempts the state law.

“New York State’s law violates the United States Constitution,” said Town of Babylon Supervisor Rich Schaffer (D), who is also affiliated with the Plumbing Contractors Association of Long Island, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “This law that was passed and signed is unconstitutional. So that means it’s an opportunity to go back to the drawing board.”

New York State Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Smithtown) endorsed a more diversified energy portfolio for Long Island to meet the demands of today’s modern economy. While he expressed support for promoting alternative energy sources, he suggested these alternatives are still not yet economically viable to stand alone.

“Consumers are not ready for what the radical environmentalists have planned for us,” the assemblyman said. “People want to turn on the electricity or turn on that gas and cook a nice meal for their families. They can’t do it all-electric.”

State Sen. Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury) said Long Island’s electrical grid cannot handle an electric-only transition. He noted the potential dangers of an electric-only energy economy, pointing to frequent outages due to downed trees and storms. “If we don’t have an alternate means of powering our homes, people are going to get hurt,” he warned.

Union leaders from across industries spoke out in opposition to the natural gas ban. Richard Brooks, business manager for Plumbers Local 200, referred to natural gas as “an essential transitional fuel that will help our nation as we move to greener energy sources.”

“New York’s natural gas ban will unnecessarily hurt New York workers by removing our members’ jobs at a time when we are already leading the nation in the expansion of alternative energy for New York residents,” he added.

To view a recording of the entire rally, visit www.facebook.com/senatormariomattera.

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Photo courtesy Peter Gollon
By Peter Gollon

I commend this newspaper for its thorough and balanced Sept. 14 and Sept. 21 articles on the proposed conversion of the Long Island Power Authority into a fully municipal utility that would directly operate the electrical transmission and distribution system that it has owned for decades.

LIPA, which is the country’s third largest municipal utility, is legally required now to outsource its operation to another entity. Right now that is PSEG Long Island. Before that, it was National Grid.

LIPA’s staff of 60 experienced utility professionals supervises PSEGLI’s performance according to metrics taking 207 pages to outline. Each year, LIPA pays PSEGLI $80 million for just 18 executives to plan and direct the 2,500-line call center and other workers whose pay is provided by LIPA. That’s more than $4 million for each PSEGLI-supplied executive.

There is considerable overlap between the top PSEGLI staff and the LIPA staff that supervises and grades PSEGLI’s performance. Both the Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority and LIPA agree that if LIPA hired a dozen more staffers, it could run the system itself, dispensing with PSEGLI’s management and saving about $75 million each year.

This savings would be real, even if PSEGLI were doing a good job. But it hasn’t been. Their performance in storm restoration after Tropical Storm Isaias in 2020 was so bad, and their reports on the causes of the failure of the outage management system were so dishonest, that LIPA considered PSEGLI to be in default of their contract.

Beyond PSEGLI’s shortcomings, the problem is the structure of the unique and convoluted “hybrid” system itself. Besides the extra cost, the inefficiency of this two-headed structure is why LIPA is the only large municipal utility in the country to be operated this way.

As a LIPA trustee for five years, I saw the difficulties, delays and expense that this structure results in. For example, it required three months and a resolution voted by the LIPA Board directing PSEGLI to develop and implement an accurate and modern asset management system for the billions of dollars of LIPA-owned assets before PSEGLI would take such action.

The delays and inefficiency of this management structure do not show up as a specific dollar cost in LIPA’s budget, but they are there and impede LIPA’s adaptation to the new reality of stronger storms and a faster transition to a renewable energy system.

LIPA needs the simple, common municipal utility structure recommended by the state’s Legislative Commission. The Board of Trustees should be reorganized so some trustees are appointed by both Suffolk and Nassau County executives, rather than now where all the trustees are appointed by the state’s political leadership in Albany.

Locally appointed trustees should give LIPA needed credibility with its Long Island customer base and might make it more responsive to local concerns. In recent years, there has been significant hostility resulting from inadequate understanding by both PSEGLI and LIPA of the impact of changes in tariffs, and from the location and details of new facilities or even just taller and thicker poles.

Finally, one trustee should be named by the union — IBEW Local 1049 — representing the utility’s workforce to ensure that their interests are represented at the highest level.

The legal structure in which the workforce is actually housed is critical. Their transfer from PSEGLI to LIPA must be done in a way that continues their employment under federal labor jurisdiction and preserves their well-earned pension rights. Any proposal that might put them under weaker state labor jurisdiction and possibly jeopardize their pensions has no chance of passing the Legislature, nor should it.

Long Islanders should support this once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix a broken utility structure.

The writer served on the Long Island Power Authority Board of Trustees from 2016 to 2021.

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Public domain photo

The debate over the future of Long Island’s electrical grid picked up last week, Sept. 14, at the Nassau County legislative building, with officials, utility staff and members of the public offering competing visions.

The Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority is a bipartisan panel of state legislators from Long Island and the Rockaways formed in 2022 to consider the potential municipalization of LIPA after its management agreement with PSEG Long Island expires in December 2025.

Accountability

Chief among the concerns outlined during the hearing was public accountability by members of the LIPA Board.

Under the existing appointment structure, the New York State governor appoints five of the nine members, with the Legislature selecting the remaining four.

New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor) suggested this appointment structure could change. “All of those appointments are made by individuals that don’t live on Long Island,” he said. “There has always been the consideration that there should be more local say about the governance of LIPA.”

But achieving that degree of local oversight remains an open question. Michael Menser, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center, proposed creating a stakeholder advisory committee to make recommendations to the LIPA Board.

“We think a committee stakeholder board — possibly working with an independent research institute or observatory, supporting a fully public utility — could make this transition happen in a way that is speedy, democratic and beneficial both economically and ecologically,” he said.

Ryan Madden, sustainability organizer of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, suggested that the county and city governments within LIPA’s service area should make appointments to the board.

“In some ways, there is an argument that some state appointments make sense as it’s a state entity,” Madden said. “But there should be more input or appointments from local jurisdictions.”

“There could be a situation where the governor gets appointments, the Senate and Assembly get appointments, the Nassau County executive working with the Legislature gets appointments, and the same with Suffolk,” he added.

Governance/management

Thiele said the commission had explored an elective LIPA Board in its first round of hearings but backtracked on this idea, favoring an appointed board instead.

“Especially when you’re talking about [the] National Labor Relations Act,” an appointed board “would better serve to protect labor,” the assemblyman said.

Madden nonetheless supported greater local oversight over the appointment process.

“Our recommendations are just to ensure that there is robust community participation and more local decision-making in whatever appointment process that we determine,” he said.

Tom Falcone, LIPA’s CEO, had attended the Nassau meeting and pushed back on earlier testimony from PSEGLI vice president of external affairs Christopher Hahn, who suggested that the friction between the two utilities creates checks and balances. [See story, “LIPA and PSEGLI wrestle for control over Long Island’s electrical grid,” Sept. 14, TBR News Media website.]

“There aren’t supposed to be checks and balances in management,” Falcone said. “Checks and balances at the management level means a lack of accountability of the vendor. It means the vendor can check what the board wants,” adding, “I think, fundamentally, the problem is that you have one vendor, and they can’t be fired.”

Other input

Luis Vazquez, president and CEO of the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber does not support the municipalization proposal due to the commission’s perceived lack of public outreach and education.

“Half of the problem is educating our communities and chambers,” he said. “So, if we don’t get the message and we don’t know what we’re voting on, I’d rather just not take a position.”

Guy Jacob, an at-large delegate of the Sierra Club, said his organization’s national, state and Long Island chapters all support municipalization.

“This so-called public-private partnership is unique among municipal electric utilities in the U.S., and the time is now at hand to terminate this decades-long, failed anomaly,” he said. “The moment has come to terminate the tyranny of shareholders over ratepayers.”

Jacob pointed to a perceived lack of alignment between the profit interests of the electric service provider and the LIPA customers, adding that “redundant” management positions within LIPA and PSEGLI add unnecessary costs for utility power.

Conversations over the restructuring of LIPA remain ongoing. To view the commission’s meetings, visit totalwebcasting.com/live/nylipa. Written testimony can be submitted at nylipa.gov/public-input.

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Photo by Andrew Martin from Pixabay

Long Island’s two primary utility companies are in a tug-of-war over the region’s electric future.

A management contract between the New York State-owned Long Island Power Authority and the investor-owned utility company PSEG Long Island expires in December 2025, prompting uncertainty over the future management of the regional grid.

The Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority is a bipartisan panel of state legislators from Long Island, formed in 2022 to make recommendations to the state Legislature for future reorganization.

Conflict erupted during the commission’s public hearing at the William H. Rogers Legislature Building in Hauppauge Tuesday, Sept. 12, during which LIPA and PSEGLI reps offered disparate visions.

Municipalization proposal

The legislative commission is considering implementing a full-scale municipalization of utility power on Long Island, empowering LIPA to provide electric service independently without contracting with a third-party vendor, such as PSEGLI.

During the hearing, Tom Falcone, LIPA’s CEO, addressed the commission, noting the complications of overlapping responsibilities between the separate management hierarchies of LIPA and PSEGLI.

“There is not one best governance model … but there are governance models that could result in duplicative roles and responsibilities or unnecessary conflict,” he said. “Multiple overlapping bodies with similar responsibilities can frustrate customers with a lack of clarity and accountability, much like our hybrid management structure between LIPA and PSEG.”

Falcone advised that consolidating management positions within LIPA would enable the state to reduce total management personnel by roughly 13 senior positions.

Falcone added that municipalization would deliver greater accountability from the electric service provider, empowering the LIPA Board to replace senior officials who fail to perform.

“The board can fire me,” the LIPA CEO indicated. “I can’t fire PSEG,” adding, “If PSEG is not delivering, we litigate and we hold back money.”

Checks and balances

But PSEGLI refused to go down without a fight, countering Falcone’s assessment of the existing dynamic between the two utilities.

Christopher Hahn, vice president of external affairs at PSEGLI, advocated for the existing public-private partnership between LIPA and PSEGLI.

“There’s real, built-in accountability to the public-private partnership,” he said. “It is something that has been working for Long Islanders and will continue to work for Long Islanders.”

Hahn maintained that the public-private partnership gives Long Island “the best of both worlds,” maximizing the potential for each utility company while creating checks and balances between LIPA and PSEGLI.

“Having a municipally owned grid gives us the benefit of that low [interest] bonding and, of course, access to [Federal Emergency Management Agency] funds in the event that we have storms,” he said. “And then having the private company and being held accountable.”

He added that accountability for PSEGLI is built into its contract structure, which is only 40% guaranteed. He maintained that PSEGLI continues to rank highly in reliability and customer satisfaction.

“Those are things that came here because of the public-private partnership, because of the push-pull between PSEG and LIPA,” he said.

Conversations over the restructuring of LIPA will continue this week as the commission is scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 14, at the Nassau County Legislature in Mineola. To livestream the meeting, visit totalwebcasting.com/live/nylipa. Register on-site to testify. Written testimony can be submitted at nylipa.gov/public-input. Other September meetings are due to be held at The Rockaways, Southampton and Farmingdale State College.

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Kornreich clashes with Good Energy reps during Town Board meeting

Brookhaven Town Hall. File photo from the town’s website
By Samantha Rutt

Members of the Manhattan-based energy firm Good Energy LLC, the Town of Brookhaven’s Community Choice Aggregation administrator, were recently met with questions and criticism from within the Town Board.

The CCA program was designed to help Brookhaven consumers save money on energy by pooling the bulk buying power of Brookhaven residents and businesses.

The CCA’s fixed rate, however, is $0.695 per therm, more than double the August rate offered by National Grid, which is $0.339 per therm.

During a TOB meeting Thursday, Aug. 17, Good Energy’s managing partner Javier Barrios and senior business development manager Edward Carey described the program as a “state initiative that allows municipalities to be empowered.” 

The program’s primary aim, Barrios said, is to provide residents with greater control over their energy sources and present a more cost-effective alternative to default utility rates from National Grid, which fluctuate monthly. 

Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) scrutinized these appeals, suggesting a lack of public outreach regarding the CCA.

“I have never met anybody who understood what it meant that we were starting a CCA,” Kornreich told Barrios.

The town handled preliminary outreach and education efforts before the program’s launch, according to Barrios, who added that there was a mandatory subsidy outreach and education initiative undertaken to ensure a clear understanding of the CCA program.

“I’ll just say that from where I’m sitting, it was not effective at all,” Kornreich responded. “I think that there’s been a lot of confusion.”

After the initial enrollment of all residents who use natual gas, the program makes residents responsible for opting in or out of the program. For Kornreich, residents must understand how the program works compared to the default energy supply.

“I think that to the extent that people understand it, [the residents] understand that, at the moment, they are overpaying for natural gas,” he added.

Barrios said the weather significantly affects the domestic natural gas market. In the temperate climate of the shoulder months, when the demand for natural gas is lower, Brookhaven residents should unenroll from the CCA’s program, paying only for their independent household’s usage at the market rate.

Kornreich also centered around resident complaints regarding issues with the program’s opt-out feature. Complaints were consistent with long delays, confusion with billing and the feature “simply not working,” he stated during the discourse.

“I would just like to urge [Good Energy] here in this public setting to honor those requests as quickly as possible,” Kornreich continued.

Since the rollout of the CCA in May, all Brookhaven residents have been automatically enrolled in this program. It still remains up to their discretion whether to opt in or out. 

“I do support this initiative because I think that having this choice for consumers is going to, at some point, give us the ability to save money,” Kornreich concluded. “But our residents have to be educated, and we’re all trying to figure out how to do a better job.”

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Kornreich: 90% of customers ‘paying well more than double’ the rate for natural gas

Cartoon by Kyle Horne: @kylehorneart • kylehorneart.com

The Town of Brookhaven’s Community Choice Aggregation program has drawn opposition within the Town Board.

Brookhaven launched the CCA program in May, pitching the initiative as a way to stabilize energy rates on natural gas and help residents save money. 

Through a two-year partnership with Manhattan-based CCA administrator Good Energy, all natural gas customers were automatically opted into the CCA, receiving natural gas at the fixed rate of $0.695 per therm.  

The partnership allows residents to opt-out free of charge at any time, choosing the default energy supply from National Grid, which fluctuates monthly. This month, National Grid is offering natural gas at $0.278 per them, according to its website.

Now the promise of cheaper gas has met with scrutiny from Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), who is urging customers to opt out of the program.

“The [National Grid] price has been going down every single month and, of course, the CCA rate continues to hold steady for two years,” Kornreich told TBR News Media. “You’re paying well more than double [the rate] at this point if you’re still opted in.”

National Grid’s “recent supply rates” have been $0.32 per therm or less since the CCA’s launch in May, according to a chart on the town’s website. Meanwhile, 90% of Brookhaven’s natural gas customers remain opted in, according to Doug Donaldson, media representative for Good Energy.

Despite the higher costs, Donaldson maintained that CCA offers a discount when assessed over a 12-month interval.

“The customer would have to study each month’s rate and know the billing cycle, and then change according to the rates to be able to get the lowest rates,” he said in a phone interview.

“But if they stick within the CCA program, they’ll know that over a 12-month period they’ll get a historically lower rate.”

The town’s CCA landing page — brookhavencommunityenergy.com — enables residents to opt in or out of the program. The page mentions “competitive pricing” as one of the program’s goals. 

“Brookhaven Community Energy aims to produce savings for customers compared to basic utility rates,” the webpage reads.

Kornreich indicates that his proposed rate-switching method — opting into the cheapest energy supplier for a given month — better accords with the program’s stated aims.

“I think the way to really create savings is to opt out of [the CCA] for now and to opt in when it makes sense to do so,” he said.

Donaldson noted that natural gas rates tend to be lower in the summer and higher in the winter. For this reason, he suggested there is a certain degree of accountability on ratepayers to monitor their energy bills and choose accordingly.

“The program offers a very easy way through the website to opt in or out,” he said. “It offers that flexibility, but it is on the customer to keep track of the rates.”

Asked whether he would advise customers to opt out during these summer months, during which the National Grid price is lower, Donaldson referred to the CCA as a “no worry” option for ratepayers.

“I sort of think it’s like a no-worry situation if you stay in it,” the Good Energy media representative said. “When the winter months come, you don’t have to worry whether you’ve switched over or about getting a super-large energy bill.”

“I think the convenience of it is worth the price difference, easily,” he added.

Given the gradual changes in National Grid’s supply rates month to month, Kornreich said customers would likely be switching just a few times a year.

“This is not something that you need to be opting in and out of every month,” the councilmember said. The price “doesn’t change that fast.”

While the National Grid rate remains lower than that of Good Energy, Deputy Supervisor Dan Panico (R-Manorville) concurred with Kornreich’s assessment of the situation.

“We encourage residents to check the price and opt in and out to their maximum benefit … to get the best rates that they can,” he said. “That’s the beauty of the program, that you can opt in and out. And I’m working with Jonathan to make sure that we get that message out.”

Kornreich stressed the matter of choice in consuming utility power, maintaining that residents must stay educated on the cost differences between National Grid and Good Energy and choose the lower rate.

“Ninety percent of people are currently paying more than they need to,” he said. “The question is: Do they not care and maybe have confidence that over the long run [CCA] will work for them? Or do they simply not know?”

He concluded, “I don’t know what that mix is, but we have to make sure that our consumers and residents are informed.”

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New proposed EPA regulations may affect the Port Jefferson Power Station, pictured above. File photo by Lee Lutz
By Aidan Johnson

The Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed regulations requiring most power plants fired by fossil fuels to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent between 2035 and 2040, or shut down.

This climate rule would likely affect the Port Jefferson and Northport power stations, since they are both fossil-burning plants.

Under consideration for the new standards are carbon capture and storage, or CCS, a method of capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, though this is still not widely practiced.

“CCS has not reached a widespread commercialization stage,” Gang He, an assistant professor in the Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook University, said in an email. “According to the Global Status of CCS 2022 report by Global CCS Institute, there are only 30 operational projects with a total capture capacity of 42.56 million metric tons — about 0.1% of the total carbon emission in 2022.”

As the global climate crisis continues, the World Meteorological Organization announced May 17 that world temperatures are “now more likely than not” to cross the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, recommending policymakers act promptly to reduce carbon emissions and help mitigate the mounting concerns.

Another proposal being explored is hydrogen, a low-emission fuel source which produces power through a process called electrolysis that could move Long Island’s toward a greener future, according to former Port Jeff Village trustee Bruce Miller. 

Miller said hydrogen could play a major role in reshaping Long Island’s economic and energy futures as some companies have already started acquiring and selling hydrogen. 

“It is hoped [hydrogen] will be an important part of our economy in the near future, and there’s a lot of money being allocated for that,” Miller told TBR News Media in an interview. “I believe that National Grid has the capacity to do this in Port Jefferson.”

National Grid did not respond to a request for comment.

Miller said local plant operators would probably need to modernize the existing power stations to accommodate hydrogen in the future.

Also factoring into this hydrogen equation would be energy demand. While a lot of energy is expected to be received from the Atlantic, where offshore wind turbines are currently being developed, these represent intermittent energy sources, Miller indicated.

Given Port Jeff Harbor’s deepwater port, Miller suggested that hydrogen could be feasibly captured, pumped and stored along existing maritime commercial routes and transported via cargo ships. 

While decisions over local power stations remain ongoing, National Grid needs to determine whether it would be worth it to use hydrogen, or whether the electricity generated in the Atlantic would be enough. The municipalities would also need to be on board with repowering the plants.

“We call ourselves a welcoming community,” Miller said. “If that’s the direction that National Grid would want to go in, the village [should] support that.” 

While there is a market to extract and sell hydrogen, it needs to be at an affordable price. Although the amount that hydrogen will play in creating a sustainable future is unknown, questions over local plants remain ongoing with the subsequent detrimental effects on the Port Jefferson and Northport tax bases.

Editor’s note: See also letter, “The reality of closing local generating plants.” 

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New proposed EPA regulations may affect the Northport Power Station, pictured above. File photo
By Aidan Johnson

The Biden administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced new proposed regulations on May 11 that would require most power plants fired by fossil fuels to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent between 2035 and 2040. Plants that do not meet these requirements may have to close down entirely, according to the new plan.

Starting in 2030, the EPA guidelines would generally require more CO2 emissions controls for power plants that operate more frequently, phasing increasingly stringent CO2 requirements over time, an EPA statement said.

If passed, the new requirements would likely impact the Port Jefferson and Northport power stations, both fired by natural gas.

The EPA projects the carbon reductions under the new guidelines would help avoid over 600 million metric tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere from 2028 to 2042, “along with tens of thousands of tons of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and fine particulate matter,” the statement reads.

This new proposal comes over four years after the Long Island Power Authority, which buys all of the Port Jefferson Power Station’s power, settled its tax lawsuit with the Town of Brookhaven and the Village of Port Jefferson. 

“The terms of settlement shelter us from having to pay back taxes (taxes collected during the 6-year-long court battle) while also providing a glide path moving forward over the next 8 years, during which the 50% reduction of tax revenue can be absorbed,” Village of Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant said in a 2019 statement.

The new EPA standards represent a step toward alleviating the climate crisis, according to the Biden administration. Their impact, however, will likely be felt locally given that a sizable portion of PJV’s budget is subsidized by the plant. This applies to other local institutions, such as the Port Jefferson Fire Department and school district.

Bruce Miller, former Port Jefferson Village trustee, said in an interview that it is technologically feasible to remove carbon dioxide and other polluting gasses from the smoke stacks. He also maintains that the possibility of using hydrogen, a clean fuel source, remains an option. 

“The thing that I’m talking to National Grid [the owner of the plant] about is hydrogen,” Miller said. “Will they be thinking in terms of possibly a combined cycle plant in Port Jefferson? That would be our hope.”

These talks are still preliminary as the proposed regulations are still subject to a public comment period. “Whether National Grid and LIPA would want to make the investment to put some hydrogen-powered combined cycle plants — redo the Port Jefferson plant — is a huge question mark,” Miller indicated. “I don’t have an answer for that or even a projection.”

The former trustee added that the impact to local budgets could be “substantial,” noting, “It’s going to be a major adjustment if that plant goes offline.”

While the long-term plans for the plant remain unknown, Garant maintained that the village’s finances would not be hit all at once if the plant were to shutter.

“The community wouldn’t be on a cliff,” she said in a phone interview. “The norm is like another 10-year glide path to give you a chance to settle into another loss of revenue.”

While the potential loss of public revenue remains a critical policy concern for local officials, the impact that climate change has had on the village cannot be ignored either. The past few years have brought both droughts and flooding, likely the consequence of intensifying storms and rising tides due to climate change.

“Projections for sea-level rise over the coming decades are nothing short of staggering,” said trustee Rebecca Kassay, Port Jeff’s sustainability commissioner, in a statement. “If the global community does not work together — from individuals to villages to states to nations and every agency in between — and climate change is not slowed from its current projections, [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] confidently forecasts that Port Jefferson Harbor will engulf Port Jefferson Village’s downtown Main Street within a century’s time.”

The EPA will host virtual trainings on June 6 and 7 to provide information about the proposed regulations.

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