Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown.

An offshore wind turbine project off the coast of Long Island will move forward — but not before Republicans questioned whether or not the state was properly accounting for local concerns.

Assembly members passed A.7764 during its extra two days of work last week. The bill, the Planned Offshore Wind Transmission Act, requires the New York State Energy And Research Development Authority to establish a plan for improved transmission planning and coordinating systems for an offshore grid; requires NYSERDA conduct a benefit-cost-analysis and ratepayer impact study to determine the overall costs of implementing planned transmission and coordinated systems for an offshore grid. A secondary condition in the bill is temporary alienation of parkland in Long Island that will allow the Empire Wind 2 project to be built 14 miles off of Jones Beach State Park.

Alienation of the parkland was one of the sticking points for Republicans, who questioned why there was no home rule request for the public park abandonment as is typically required. Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, was the first of several Republicans to question the lack of home rule request.

“As I said previous to that there are issues that are not just minor issues,” said Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, D-Corona and Assembly speaker pro tempore. “There are longer, bigger issues impacting the whole state and it’s under those circumstances the home rule request is not required in this instance.”

Goodell appealed Aubry’s ruling dismissing the home rule requirement, but it was voted down by Democrats in the Assemly majority. Goodell argued the home rule requirement is absolute and should have been required from local elected officials before the Assembly was allowed to approve it.

“There is no quantification as to whether it has larger implications,” Goodell said. “So how is it we can take the position that it’s a larger implication that somehow the constitutional requirement no longer applies?”

Goodell said the lack of a message of necessity was particularly important since one had been sent by the Long Beach City Council but deemed defective. According to the Long Island Herald, the Long Beach City Council’s home rule resolution was a request to maintain control over the portion of Ocean Beach Park after concerns were raised Equinor, the energy company building the Empire 2 offshore wind project, wants to construct underground power lines from the shore to the turbines. The Long Beach City Council approved the home rule request unanimously. That meeting prompted a lengthy discussion among Long Beach residents of the Equinor project, with many in attendance criticizing the project — in particular the idea of underground transmission lines.

A.7764 didn’t make it to the Assembly floor before the end of the regular legislative session, which prompted environmental advocates to push for the legislation to be considered during the extra session. Failure to do so this year, they said, could create a domino effect delaying several future projects as well.

Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, D-Valley Stream, agreed with the environmental groups, particularly with the idea that the state’s climate goals shouldn’t be held up by local opposition she termed “felonious.”

“Creating a dynamic that would have communities look at these felonious excuses to approve some of these projects is really a dangerous game that we’re playing,” Solages said. “I support the local government and I really encourage all parties to come to the table and have a conversation. … The state wants to achieve its 70% goal of energy efficiency by 2030 and delaying this bill would put us back. So we need to come together and we really need to work together for the good of this state and the good of this country.”

Equinor is building two offshore wind farms. Empire Wind 1 will supply 816 megawatts of electricity to the Brooklyn area when it comes online in 2026, according to NYSERDA, while Empire Wind 2 will generate 1,260 megawatts of electricity when it comes online in 2027. Stations housing the wires that will transmit energy from the wind turbines to land will be built 15 miles to 30 miles offshore. A total of 147 turbines, each 886 feet high, will be stationed between 3 to 5 miles from shore.

Goodell voted against the Planned Offshore Wind Transmission Act, which passed the Assembly by an 85-50 vote, with some Democrats crossing party lines to vote against the legislation.

The Jamestown Republican took particular issue with the $3 billion construction cost for the two Equinor projects, notably what that cost does not include.

“I think it’s abundantly clear that this bill is about big money, helping big corporations make a big profit by building massive wind farms that create energy at three times the cost of energy created on shore,” Goodell said. “All in an effort to value signal that we’re concerned about the environment and not about taxpayers, ratepayers or local residents. Apparently we have the belief that if we create 6 gigawatts of power that we somehow will save the taxpayers money when we know that we have to have 6 gigawatts of replacement power available for those cold, still nights when no power is being produced. So in addition to the billions of dollars that will be spent on this offshore wind farm we have to spend a corresponding amount for on-shore backup power or the lights will go out when the wind stops blowing.”

Companion legislation had passed the state Senate in late May by a 42-21 vote along party lines with Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, also voting against. Borrello took issue with the bill’s requirement requiring additional NYSERDA studies.

“This bill says that NYSERDA is going to conduct a study to see impacts on marine impacts, on local municipalities and streamline the process,” Borrello said. “All of those things sound good but here is the deal — here is the dirty little secret. NYSERDA spent a year, over a year doing a study on placing industrial wind turbines in the waters of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. And we were told by my colleagues, and the Environmental Conservation Committee that we have to wait for this study. It is very important. because I had a bill that would stop that, that would be a moratorium on placing wind turbines in fresh water, which in case of Lake Erie, the drinking water for 11 million people. So we understand that but we trusted the process and we let NYSERDA do their study. The study came out and lo and behold the study said, ‘Don’t. The risks are too high. the costs are unknown. the impacts are unknown. There we go, there is the study. I brought my bill back to the encommittee It’s response? We don’t know about this NYSERDA study and the Department of Energy may disagree … So that same thing will likely happen with this NYSERDA study on Long Island. If they don’t get the results they want, they’ll change the rules.”