Organized labor, environmental advocates, elected officials, and their constituents have rallied together in response to the federal stop work order against the Empire Wind 1 offshore wind farm, which had already put 1,500 people to work in the early phases of construction. Located 15-30 miles off the south shore of Long Island, Empire Wind 1 would be the first offshore wind farm to deliver electrical power directly to New York City via onshore substations in Sunset Park and Gowanus, Brooklyn. The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which started construction last summer under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), would be the staging and pre-assembly site for Empire Wind and future wind energy projects in New York and neighboring states.
All of that work, infrastructure, and renewable energy are threatened by the stop work order issued on April 16th by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) as directed by U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. It was preceded earlier this year by Trump’s executive order halting any new federal licensing and permitting of onshore/offshore wind projects, while doing the opposite when it came to oil and gas production in the outer continental shelf.
The morning after the news broke, Local 3 electricians and leadership joined Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10), the League of Conservation Voters, and elected officials from Brooklyn to take a stand at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Then, on Earth Day (April 22nd), more than 25 active members, retirees, and business representatives from Local 3 participated in a rally organized by the Climate Jobs NY coalition outside the Nassau County Executive and Legislative Building.
"We were ready to take a bold step in New York State with the offshore wind," Business Manager Christopher Erikson told CBS News. "Long-term work opportunity for the members of the building trades to put those turbines out there and so, yeah, we're angry."
