Environmentalists on Long Island are worried that two proposed offshore wind energy projects off of Montauk and Long Beach could be canceled or delayed under Donald Trump’s administration.
Adrienne Esposito, with Citizen’s Campaign for the Environment, says the president-elect objected to similar projects proposed at Jones Beach, and another by one of his golf resorts in Scotland, because of their visual aesthetics.
“The last thing we need is to have a coastline that's filled with oil tankers and oil rigs, and perhaps even oil spills. You can’t have a wind spill, but you can have an oil spill.”
A memo sent by President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team laid out his energy plans. Based on that memo, Esposito says she thinks Trump will put a stop to clean power programs, and support offshore oil rigs instead.
“It is the wrong choice to take us back to the days of coal and nuclear and continuing to mine new areas for oil and natural gas. Those are the antiquated addictions to fossil fuels of the past,” Esposito says.
Last month, 35 environmental groups in New York and Connecticut sent a letter to Trump’s transition team condemning his pick to lead the EPA, Scott Pruitt.
The groups are worried that Pruitt has a long record in government of opposing clean energy and water initiatives and denying climate change.
