City Council hires law firms to look into Equinor project

The Long Beach City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire three law firms and an engineering company to help study a proposal by the Norway-based energy company Equinor to build a wind farm off the South Shore that would include electrical cables running beneath city streets.

The 5-0 vote came after a lengthy an often acrimonious discussion about the $3 billion proposal by Equinor, which must receive a host of governmental approvals to move forward with its project. A number of council meeting attendees raised strong objections, saying the cables might well pose environmental and health threats to the community.

In response, several council members said they did not yet have enough information to support or reject such suggestions.

The council voted to hire the following law firms:

Certilman Balin & Adler, of Hauppauge, at an hourly rate of $467.50 to $510 for partners, $225 to $403.75 for associates and counsel, and $127.50 to $216.75 for paralegals.

Bee Ready Law Group, of Mineola, at a rate of $400 an hour for partners, $350 for senior associates, $300 for associate attorneys and $200 for paralegals and law clerks.

Eli D. Eilbott, of Arlington, Virginia, at an hourly rate of $400.

The council also voted to hire Nelson Pope & Voorhis, of Melville, an engineering company, at a cost not to exceed $51,000.

The expenses are to be covered by taxpayer-generated funds.

Residents raised a serious of objections, to both the project and the hirings, as they had at a council meet that also focused on the Equinor project on March 9.

Christina Kramer, of Long Beach asked council members what they were looking for from the law firms and the engineering company.

“It’s not about finding out something,” said Ron Walsh, the city’s police commissioner and its acting city manager. “It’s about understanding. These are experts.”

Equinor has filed for a “certificate of environmental compatibility and public need” from the New York State Public Service Commission. The voluminous document needs to be studied and reviewed by attorneys and engineers, who will present a report on their findings to the City Council.

Resident Kevin Martinson also objected to the project, saying it would mean “industrializing our ocean.”

Council President John Bendo noted that the idea of wind farms is not new, and that they already exist off the Northeast coast of the United States as well as in Europe. They are seen as an alternative to the continued use of fossil fuels, which is a major contributor to climate change. On the other hand, some residents and environmentalists believe the wind turbines present a health hazard to whales and other marine life.

Equinor’s Empire Wind 2 project would be located 15 to 30 miles offshore, and would, according to the company, generate enough electricity to power up to 700,000 homes when it comes online, perhaps as early as 2027. The cables be routed beneath Long Beach and extend 3.3 miles to a substation in Island Park, which in turn would connect with the E.F. Barrett Power Plant.

At its March 8 meeting, the city council adopted a resolution — called a home rule measure — that it would maintain control over a portion of Ocean Beach Park in the event that Equinor is granted approval to lay the underground power lines.

Without the measure, council members said, the state could simply seize the property with a claim of eminent domain, a process by which a government can seize property without the owner’s consent, but with compensation.

Councilwoman Liz Treston said the measure would give Long Beach some bargaining power with the state.

“We are going to bring in the experts,” Bendo said. “Our job is to represent the 35,000 people in the city.”

Equinor has offered a $264 million package of “community benefits” to host the project. Company officials told the Herald that the package was “a starting point” in negotiations, and that it would include $55 million in payments to local communities and between $8 million and $9 million a year in property tax payments over 25 years. Equinor said that it would work with Long Beach, Island Park and Oceanside to decide how best to spend the $55 million, even before work on the project would begin.

In an email last week, Bendo wrote, “We look forward to seeing Equinor begin to more meaningfully engage the community. There are many questions and concerns that need to be addressed before anyone will be comfortable with this project.”

Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty, asked last week for a comment on the project, emailed, “While I would relish the opportunity, I must forgo any interviews at this time. Village counsel has indicated the mayor and the board of trustees should keep their own counsel. It is imperative that we offer no fodder in light of possible litigation.”

Equinor also said also that its two proposed projects — Empire Wind 2 and another wind turbine development that would deliver energy to New York City, Empire Wind 1 — would contribute an estimated $2.5 billion to New York state’s economy, and create thousands of jobs.

Crystal Lake, a longtime Long Beach resident and a board member of the North Park Civic Association, offered suggestions on how the city could use some of the money earmarked for the city. “Equinor and the city,” Lake said, “could consider funding for firefighters and first responders who were called on to perform their duties in the event of any type of construction accident in the laying of the electric lines that are to go through Long Beach.”

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said there has been “a lot of misinformation” in South Shore communities about the environmental impact of the project, which has led to angry outbursts at meetings against Equinor and the wind turbines.

“The majority of concerns are based on misinformation,” Esposito said. “Fears that the electrical lines will injure fish, children and adults (are) unfounded.” She noted that for the past 20 years, electric power lines have been operating from the New Jersey shoreline to Jones Beach, without any reports of such issues.