Wind-energy project faces uncertainties

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday cited interference with a "critical" wind-energy proposal in the Atlantic as a prime reason for vetoing the Port Ambrose offshore natural-gas terminal, but many uncertainties surround the long-delayed power project, which federal officials recently said still could be rejected.

On Long Island last week, officials from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management acknowledged the wind project could "could shrink, change shape or go away" entirely, depending on an ongoing assessment of impacts. A lease for the project has yet to be awarded, and that prospect is still at least a year away.

What's more, there are no guarantees that a state-backed collaborative that includes LIPA, the New York Power Authority and Con Edison will be awarded the lease. Federal officials noted that two private developers, Fishermen's Energy LLC and Energy Management Inc., also are competing for it.

The proposed LIPA-NYPA-Con Ed wind farm, with a price tag estimated in 2011 at between $2.34 billion and $4.67 billion, would be built in two phases of 350 megawatts each, with more than 200 turbines placed in the water starting at 11 miles due south of Point Lookout. Land-based upgrades alone would cost more than $800 million.

In a letter rejecting the Port Ambrose project, Cuomo argued that the liquefied natural-gas terminal, if built, would have impacted a vital squid and scallop fishery.

That's exactly the argument fishing interests up and down the East Coast made strenuously last week in urging federal officials to reject the wind farm. Bureau officials said impacts on fishing grounds would weigh "heavily" on whether an ocean lease for the project is ultimately granted.

To date, progress on the wind-farm has been slow. It was first proposed by NYPA chief Richard Kessel in 2008. Since then, work has been exclusively back office, involving studies and applications.

The collaborative's website says it expects to be in commercial operation no later than 2017. But federal officials say that even if a lease were approved and awarded by 2017, construction likely wouldn't start until 2022.

They noted that proposals in complex waterways like New York's, crisscrossed with vital shipping lanes, could take up to 10 years just for environmental studies to be complete.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.