Our purpose is to educate Long Islanders and local and state government about the inherent risks in the continuing pursuit of wind and solar energy as the 'sole source' solution for our energy needs

New York has a stated goal of being 100% renewable by 2030, to be achieved by relying on wind and solar energy. Those technologies may have a place in the drive toward renewables, but the proposed overreliance on these technologies is just plain dumb. Here's why:

Environment - On the surface, wind and solar look very appealing, but when you dig deeper, numerous environmental damages can result. 

• High voltage cables contain hazardous, cancer causing chemicals. Over time leaks will occur (as they have in the past) and more toxins will flow to our aquifers.

• High voltage cables emit EMF radiation. Although generally considered safe, recent studies suggest there is a link between high EMF exposure and childhood leukemia. Despite this, cable projects are not required to have the Dept. of Health weigh in on the potential impact. 

• Windmills also contain hazardous chemicals, that can (and do) spill into the ocean when turbines fail. That poisons our oceans and harms marine life.

• Windmill construction appears to be highly disruptive to marine life, with whale beachings now a regular occurrence. In addition the ongoing noise from operating turbines may also play a role in these mammals 'losing their way'. 

• Windmills will only work for about 25 years, what happens to the at the end of life? Do we just dump the in the ocean? Do we haul them back onto land and dump them? If so where? They are not recyclable, so landfilling would appear appropriate, unless of course you want to burn them, but then you have CO2 and toxic emissions being emitted and that sort of defeats the whole purpose, right?  BTW, solar panels have a similar problem They contain toxics and need a safe place to go when pulled frm service. 

Economics - Offshore windmills only operate about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, they produce nothing. So if you want to power NYS with wind, you need to have 'duplicate capacity'. Here is how it works... 

• Let's say you have a 100% reliable generator that produces 100 MW. Over the course of a year it would produce 100X365x24=876,000 MWh of energy. A typical home (without electric heating or electric vehicle charging) will use around 8 MWh in a year, so our 100 MW of power could theoretically supply 110,000 homes. Obviously, if wind only functions half the time, you'd need AT LEAST 200MW of wind power to replace the 100MW reliable generator, and that assumes that at least half the windmills are working and any one time. That is highly improbable. In order to generate reliable wind energy, you need multiples of new capacity compared to what is being replaced. All that costs money.

• The Offshore Wind industry really took off following the Great Finacial Crisis of 2008 (subprime housing crisis). Why is that? becasue onetrat poloicy took interest rates to near zero. When money s esssentiually free, it is easy to make project economics look attractive. But then interest rates normalized and the poor economics of offshore wind were made obvious. (It's only when the tide goes out that you find out who is swimming naked.) 

• But then the federal government began to increase subsidies for offshore wind and it was back to the races. Now those subsidies are phasing out and there are no new 'solutions' to follow. 

• And even if you over multiples of nameplate generating capacity, battery storage is required to even out the loads. And it's not just a little battery storage, it's a lot. All over Long Island, and all over NYS. Batteries with a lithium electrolyte are simply not safe becasue the lithium is highly flamable  and when they go on fire, it is nearly impossible to put them out. In fact, the standard when a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) goes on fire is to let it burn. You read that correctly, just let it burn, let it spew out toxins into the air and heavy metals onto the ground. That seems reasonable, doesn't it? Well not to fire departments. In general, volunteer fire departments do not have the manpower to babysit a battery fire 24/7 that could burn for days, anymore than they have the manpower to effect an evacuation of the surrounding areas. 

• The problem is that if don't want batteries near you, you have to keep out the cables. High voltage cables invite battery storage. 

Health & Safety - the Moss Landing (CA) battery fire back in January of 2025 s now the poster child for BESS risks. Contamination and personal injuries from the fire have been reported from more than 20 miles away! We invite you to draw a 20 mile circle around your town. If a battery facility is built within that circle, you are also at risk. 

• Size matters: EMFs from overhead power lines are minimal because they are relatively low voltage. Overhead transmission lines around Nassau County are generally 69,000 volts (69kv). The Propel Project is looking to run 828kv through the streets of Glen Head and Glenwood Landing. and 345kv through numerous parts of Nassau County (see the map). Higher voltage implies higher levels of EMfs. As we mentioned earlier, although EMFs are generally considered safe, recent studies suggest there is a link between high EMF exposure and childhood leukemia. Despite this, cable projects are not required to have the Dept. of Health weigh in on the potential health impact.

• Size Matters – We see a lot of ink being wasted that we had a battery facility fire on Long Island and it wasn’t a big deal. There’s a reason for that… It wasn’t a big battery facility! The east end fore was at a 5MWfacility. Oyster Shore in Glenwood Landing was going to be 275MW, or 55X the size. A facility that size typically has well over 1 million individual batteries. All it takes is one to malfunction for any reason to start a fire that cannot be contained. Size Matters! 

• Fire Dept’s have enough trouble addressing EV fires, BESS facilities are orders of magnitude larger. The threat far outstrips their ability to manage it. These batteries use an inherently unstable battery chemistry and the risk that psoes is the incentive for dozens of companies racing to find more stable battery chemistries that can support widespread battery usage, but we aren’t there yet! Fire codes have changed, but that does not address the basic instability of lithium batteries.

National Security – This might seem like a stretch, but it isn’t. Offshore wind requires offshore substations. A few well-placed torpedoes fired by an adversary could take those substations out and leave NY in the dark for an extended period if we are reliant on wind for our power. Don’t think it can’t happen, there were U-boats sinking ships off the off the eastern seaboard during WWII.

So What Are We Supposed To Do? 

Windmills and batteries and high voltage cables are not the only possible solution. Nuclear is making a comeback despite the somewhat checkered history, and we will see how far that goes, but there are also other new technologies that hold tremendous promise for truly green energy, reliable energy. All we have to do is not rush to judgment and allow these technologies to develop. 

The reality is that GHG emissions form NYS are actually quite modest and whether we go green now or in 10 years, will have no appreciable impact on climate change. Don't believe it?, Well here is what the Biden EPA stated about climate change in the final environmental impact statement for the Vineyard I windmill project in 2021.

"In context of reasonably foreseeable environmental trends, the combined GHG

emissions on air quality from ongoing and planned actions, including the Proposed Action, would likely result in a minor beneficial impact from the net decrease in both GHG emissions and criteria pollutants, including ozone precursors such as NOx, as fossil-fuel-type facilities reduce operations as a result of increased energy generation from offshore wind projects. Overall, it is anticipated that there would be no collective impact on global warming as a result of offshore wind projects, including the Proposed Action alone, though they may beneficially contribute to a broader combination of actions to reduce future impacts from climate change."

Translation: What NYS is attempting will have no appreciable impact on climate change. So why are we continuing to push uneconomic and dangerous technology so hard? Essentially it is to 'fell good' that we are 'doing something'. When it backfires, we will have to live with the consequences. That is just dumb.