Thursday, October 1, 2026
More than 200 people attended the Long Island Association’s Energy and Environment Committee meeting on Feb. 5 at LIA headquarters in Melville. The highlight of the program was a discussion with the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Amanda Lefton.
“Long Island’s environment is our economy,” Matt Cohen, LIA president and CEO, said. LIA is a nonprofit association that works to ensure Long Island’s economic vitality.
Lefton previously served as the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the Department of the Interior. She has over 15 years of experience working on energy and environment in both the public and private sector.
“As Long Islanders, we know that things like water quality and our natural resources are critical to our livelihood,” she said. “We know these things aren’t in competition, but actually complement each other if done correctly. That is the perspective that I bring to the department.
“We continue to move forward,” Lefton added, “to make sure that we’re not just delivering on our mission of protecting the state’s environment, protecting water quality, delivering on clean air, protecting our natural resources, but also doing so in a way that there’s transparency.”
Billy Haugland, vice chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, who led the discussion, praised Lefton’s ability to bring government and industry leaders together, leading to productive outcomes, increased collaboration, and reliable environmental stewardship.
Lefton discussed aspects of the state’s policy proposals and 2026 executive budget, and highlighted its steps to reduce pollution, its transition to clean energy and investments in infrastructure and transportation. She contrasted state actions with federal efforts to dismantle environmental protections. “The jobs and benefits that could be lost on Long Island through the stalling of offshore wind projects are one of the many causalities of this chaos,” she said.
Lefton pledged to continue communicating with stakeholders around New York. The DEC is prioritizing accessibility, streamlining its processes and improving data navigation, supported by investments from Gov. Kathy Hochul to modernize its website and technology.
Hochul’s 2026 budget proposal also supports a robust environmental agenda, and Lefton complimented the tangible results for New Yorkers. The governor’s “Let Them Build” agenda includes a series of reforms to speed up housing and infrastructure projects and reduce costs. The initiative includes adopting common-sense reforms of the State Environmental Quality Review Act to speed up construction of zoned and permitted housing while preserving environmental safeguards. It also aims to reduce delays in building critical infrastructure, including clean-water projects.
“The governor’s common-sense approach to securing more certainty in environmental review timelines,” Lefton said, “will help advance more critically important projects.”
She discussed Hochul’s investments in water infrastructure, a commitment of $3.75 billion to clean-water projects over the next five years, including improving sewer infrastructure. “We can ensure that we’re continuing to tackle urban contaminants, protecting clean water, and delivering on the funding for our municipalities,” Lefton said.
The Hochul administration has authorized a critical resiliency project on Long Island, with a $1.7 billion investment in protecting the expanse from Fire Island to Montauk against storms and erosion. Additional investments have been made for various other Army Corps of Engineers resiliency projects in the Rockaways and Long Beach.
Lefton also mentioned a state grant award to Freeport, supporting the expansion of its advanced stormwater system, which is designed to reduce chronic flooding of the village’s low-lying streets.
“We have strong programs in place to protect our air and water while encouraging investment in our communities,” Lefton said. “We’re ensuring that we have these programs available specifically to deliver for Long Islanders.”
