Not so fast: A bill to free up land for wind farm cable stalls in Assembly

ALBANY — Some senators called it unprecedented and improper. Some called it necessary.

And when it hit the Senate floor just before the chamber adjourned for the summer last week, all heck broke out.

At issue was a bill to free up land and clear the way for a power transmission cable to run from a wind turbine array off the shore of Long Beach to connect to New York’s power grid.

Equinor, a Norwegian company, has proposed one wind farm project 25 miles offshore with a transmission cable that would make land fall in Long Beach and run 3.3 miles to a substation in Island Park. Newsday previously reported construction was planned to begin next year.

To green light the transmission cable, the company needs Long Beach to “alienate,” or give up rights to, a piece of city-owned park land. The State Legislature routinely approves “alienation of park land” bills because they are rarely controversial and typically involve, say, a town giving ownership of a parcel to a county.

This bill was different.

Citing local concerns and “unanswered questions” about the proposed cable, Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Malverne) — who represents Long Beach — put a hold on the bill, meaning it wouldn’t likely be approved this year.

Citing a need for the state to reach its energy goals, Democrats who control the Senate sought to free up the bill by essentially tucking it into a separate bill governing offshore wind projects and approving it in the waning hours of the session early Friday evening.

That started a long skirmish on the Senate floor.

Multiple Republicans took the floor during the debate to denounce the idea of a senator taking over a land-use issue centered in another’s district.

Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick called "an extreme overreach that has sought to bypass local representation.” She said she favors “green energy” but contended Equinor hasn’t answered residents’ questions about safety and community benefits.

“I would not, under any circumstances, go into another senator’s district and take over a (land-use) bill because that’s not what we do here,” said Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola). “It just doesn’t seem right.”

That’s a hoot, Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) countered, considering many Republicans denounced him for opposing a proposed Amazon headquarters in his home district several years ago.

“There is no requirement that someone whose district is affected has the ultimate say in what happens,” Gianaris said, adding state takeover of what one might call a local issue “has happened many, many times despite the protestations of my colleagues because there are a lot of things that have implications beyond a local effect.”

Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Energy Committee, said the Equinor project was part a range of wind power projects the states needs to boost alternative fuel sources and reduce greenhouse gases.

“We saw that the needs of the state and the energy needs of Long Island take precedence over some of the objections we are hearing,” Parker said. He didn’t say if state energy regulators had weighed in.

In the end, Parker’s bill was approved in a straight party-line vote, 42-21.

But the saga isn’t over.

The Democratic-dominated Assembly adjourned Saturday without approving the bill because lawmakers had “concerns” about local sentiment for the project, a source said.

However, the Assembly plans to return to Albany as soon as next week to take up a slew of bills it didn’t get to last week. It’s unclear if the Long Beach will be part of the agenda.

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy