The more astute and engaged Long Island development leaders figured it out a long time ago. If you want to build anything, anywhere, for any reason on the Island, you need to speak to your neighbors. Early. And often. You need to be transparent about your plans, and you need to be prepared to communicate across a variety of mediums. And that includes anyone thinking of proposing energy projects necessary to meet the needs of the 21st century.
Successful examples of how to engage community stakeholders include redevelopment of the Long Beach “superblock,” where corporate property owners B2K conducted meetings across the length of that island, far beyond the project’s immediate neighborhood. The result is a game-changing development of upscale boardwalk condos and apartments that will add tens of millions of dollars to the Long Beach economy.
A far more comprehensive community outreach effort was undertaken prior to the multi-billion-dollar construction of the LIRR’s Third Track project that stretched from the Queens-Nassau County line to Hicksville. Elements included walking house to house along the right-of-way; engaging residents at “town hall” meetings; and keeping a database of issues, inquiries and resolutions. The construction team was economically incentivized to ensure minimal disruptions, and it clearly worked. In one instance, weekend construction at a particular location was suspended so that a wedding celebration could take place in a backyard adjacent to the LIRR.
But then there are failures. Most notable, the proposed Equinor wind turbine project off Long Beach died aborning amidst vociferous community opposition. The developer sought to engage the community but meaningful dialogue was never established, and the local congressman continues to condemn Equinor online, long after the project was shelved.
Another energy project planned for Long Island is taking a profoundly different approach. Propel NY Energy is a multi-year project designed to strategically improve our region’s electric “spine” by installing over 60 miles of underground transmission cables in Nassau County and a portion of Suffolk. There is little debate about the need, given the last major upgrades to our electric grid were during the Reagan Administration, an era before home EV charging stations, PCs, smartphones and every other electrically driven device we can’t live without.
The Propel NY team has already engaged in community meetings, had representatives walking neighborhoods, briefed elected officials and created an online information presence. Yet interestingly, this project is years away from literally breaking ground. The strategy appears to be “tell your story early, often, completely and then repeat it for months to come.” They have engaged on issues ranging from the obvious need for this upgrade to the far more granular issues of how and where they will dig cable trenches, connections to substations, and how the technology seeks to protect public health and safety.
Propel NY group has clearly done their homework regarding the complexity of proposing energy infrastructure projects on Long Island. The same cannot be said for a company called Jupiter that is proposing a battery storage facility in the Town of Oyster Bay. Streets surrounding their proposed Glenwood Landing site are peppered with home-drawn protest signs by homeowners who are opposed to this facility. Only now is Jupiter engaged in outreach at a time when Town Hall has implemented a moratorium on granting permits for these kinds of projects. Jupiter could take a lesson from Rhynland, whose application for a battery farm was approved by Brookhaven Town this spring, following a timely outreach effort by that company.
Much of our energy attention is usually focused on whether PSEG Long Island can quickly restore power after severe weather passes through. Yet the reality is that without a reliable, protected transmission system that brings electricity to key distribution substations, there is no power for PSEG to restore. Propel NY should get credit for not only connecting us to the state’s power grid, but with the Long Islanders who need to know who, what, how and when electrical progress passes by their neighborhood.
Joshua Liebman is a partner with Rosenberg Calica & Birney LLP in Garden City.
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