Thursday, October 1, 2026
For many Long Islanders looking ahead, a major cause for concern is the lack of economic investments that bolsters financial opportunity for the next generation. This looks like great paying jobs with benefits while keeping everyday necessary expenses affordable so they can afford to buy homes and raise their families where they grew up.
Long Island sits at a crossroads, having the opportunity to build an industry that can provide that economic investment, train an entire generation of skilled workers, and give our kids the chance to obtain great paying jobs, all at the same time as stabilizing energy costs. Long Island faces environmental pressures tied to stronger storms, flooding and an aging electric system.
Offshore wind, solar power and battery storage are solutions to those challenges.
Starting with affordability
Energy costs matter everywhere, but especially on Long Island, where household budgets are already stretched.
John Durso, President of the Long Island Federation of Labor, said battery storage can help by leveling demand and reducing expensive peak pricing.
“When there is a heavy pull, it evens out the energy so you don’t have highs and lows,” Durso said. “You don’t have to pay the higher rate because of the great demand.”
Experts say renewables can also reduce dependence on volatile fossil-fuel markets, offering more predictable long-term pricing.
For residents balancing mortgages, rent and grocery bills, even modest stability can matter.
Jobs, careers and local investment
Clean energy is already reshaping the labor market.
Construction of offshore wind transmission, solar installations, battery facilities and supporting infrastructure requires electricians, engineers, ironworkers, laborers, marine crews and technicians — all of which will provide economic stability to the next generation of Long Islanders.
Durso highlighted that the opportunity extends well beyond temporary work.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity here for our environment, for jobs, for the future,” Durso said. “We want to create careers.”
He said apprenticeship programs tied to these industries can require years of training and provide workers with wages, benefits and long-term stability.
Those earnings often circulate locally.
“The caterer, the deli, the dry cleaners, the grocery store, people all benefit because of these millions and millions of dollars that are being invested locally,” Durso said.
Keeping young people on Long Island
Economic opportunity is another recurring concern.
Long Island has long watched younger residents leave for more affordable regions or larger job markets. Clean energy advocates say emerging industries can help reverse that pattern. Offshore wind has made considerable investments in training a local workforce, skills that can sustain long careers with transferrable skills.
Durso said the sector offers a chance “for the sustainability of being able to keep young people here on the Island.”
He added that these are “not jobs but careers.” High paying jobs with good benefits. Some of them are in the construction trades but many are full time jobs working within the clean energy sector maintaining, monitoring and shaping the future of clean energy.
In addition to the tradespeople, other opportunities in this space are based in law, math and science, and operations of power generation facilities.
For one family, that may mean their child staying close to home. For another, it could mean pension-backed work that supports the next generation. It all adds up to creating a job base that can help turn back the tide of the “brain-drain.”
These are your neighbors doing the work
Supporters often stress that the people building this infrastructure are not distant contractors with no local connection. They are residents who shop in the same stores, attend the same schools and live in the same communities where projects are being built.
Durso made that point while discussing battery storage facilities.
“This is being built by Long Island workers who are highly trained,” he said. “The codes and the workforce together are what make these projects safe.”
That local connection can foster accountability. The electrician wiring a system today may be coaching Little League tomorrow. The laborer on a jobsite may be the person next to you at the grocery store.
Safety and reliability matter
Battery storage projects have drawn public scrutiny in some communities, but industry officials say safety standards have significantly evolved.
Paul Rogers, a retired FDNY lieutenant and founding principal of Energy Safety Response Group, said modern facilities are shaped by strict codes, testing and emergency planning.
“These systems are being developed with safety in mind from the start,” Rogers said.
He said New York’s updated fire code includes requirements designed to prevent failures, limit spread if an incident occurs and improve coordination with first responders.
Beyond project safety, supporters say grid reliability is also a community issue. Blackouts can disrupt homes, businesses, traffic systems and emergency response.
Building the next Long Island economy
Long Island has reinvented itself before, from aerospace manufacturing to healthcare, research, logistics and education.
Supporters believe clean energy could become another major chapter — one that combines infrastructure investment with local employment and community stability.
These projects, they argue, are not only about power generation.
They are about whether families can afford to stay, whether young workers can find careers, and whether Long Island can preserve the shoreline and quality of life that define it.
For many residents, that future would be measured not in megawatts, but in whether Long Island remains their home.
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