Hochul announces billions for water amid debate over wind, affordability

Officials also discussed stalled plans for thousands of housing units, how inflation amounted to a sales tax hike and debated the merits and drawbacks of offshore wind power.

“We’re still the embodiment of the American dream,” LIA President and CEO Matthew Cohen said. “We’re really excited for the next 100 years and beyond.”

He was at the event with around 40 officials and at least 1,200 attendees, and added that “the affordability crisis is real,” calling for streamlined business regulations and diversified housing stock.

“Everybody’s been talking about these issues for decades,” Cohen said. “We have to work together to do something and attack this affordability crisis.”

Local, state and federal officials laid out varying views for where Long Island should be headed. “A lot of what we’re talking about is not necessarily new,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “We know what some of the solutions are. Getting there is difficult.”

Water works

Hochul announced what she called a “historic five-year, $3.75 billion commitment for water infrastructure” that “includes building the sewers.”

Hochul’s Long Island Press Secretary, Gordon Tepper, said after the event that it would be statewide funding with a “significant amount allocated for Long Island.”

“We’re going big, friends, so the towns and the villages can fulfill their dreams,” Hochul continued. “I’ll keep working with our localities and that’s on top of the resiliency that we’re building from Fire Island to Montauk (with) $1.7 billion being spent to protect that as well.”

Hochul has already supported billions of dollars statewide for water infrastructure, as New York State allocated $500 million for clean water infrastructure in its fiscal 2026 budget, totaling $6 billion invested in water infrastructure since 2017.

“If you had money for sewers, you can build,” Hochul added. “In the right places, the right way, protect the environment, but we have to stop holding ourselves back.”

Hochul earlier said the state has been helped by federal funding to the State Revolving Funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, through the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act and the Environmental Protection Fund.

The Environmental Facilities Corporation, the state’s water infrastructure bank, she said earlier, anchors most of the distributed funding. Hochul also noted the state last July announced $30 million in funding for homeowners to upgrade their septic systems.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)  said at the event the federal government had approved $54 million for Long Beach for water infrastructure and $39 million for Suffolk storm resistance.

Blowing in the wind

A debate over wind power prompted possibly the most heated rhetoric as Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called “off-shore wind turbines” expensive and  at odds with fishermen and others using the ocean.

“We have an energy deficit,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said. “We need all the above if we’re going to power our economy and lead this country forward.”

The federal government recently halted Empire Wind’s multi-billion-dollar offshore wind power project, creating a kind of energy crossroads.

“There’s a hostility to clean energy in this administration,” Hochul said. “And I’m counting on it as part of my all-of-the-above approach.”

Schumer said he “fought for millions for offshore wind” to provide “cheap electricity.” “Offshore wind provides that opportunity,” Schumer said.

“We really do have to have a priority on alternative sources, whether it’s wind or solar. I’m not a big fan of nuclear,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “We really do have to get off our reliance on fossil fuels.”

“A” is for Affordable

Blakeman said, “We have one of the strongest economies in the United States,” describing the region as “an economic engine” with a low poverty rate.

“There are two ways to look at affordability,” Blakeman said. “You can give people a free bus ride and have programs that throughout the decades have failed to create the affluence you need to sustain communities.”

He said “Long Island has created prosperity,” but there “is more we can do to make it affordable.”

Hochul, in what almost appeared like a gubernatorial candidate debate, once removed, addressed affordability, including an “inflation rebate” as inflation hiked sales taxes.

She said a large number of Long Island families got upwards of $400.

“That may not sound like a lot to you,” Hochul said. “But for most families, that was less stress at the end of the month when they’re having to pay all their bills.”

Blakeman faulted the state for funds that go to immigrants in the country illegally as “not putting New Yorkers first,” saying that “creating jobs and cutting taxes and regulations” are recipes for growth.

“You create prosperity by creating jobs and wealth,” Blakeman said, “making it more friendly for businesses. The people in this room create the jobs, the prosperity.”

DiNapoli said good performance by Wall Street and sales tax gains from inflation led to tax windfalls.

“We’re going into a budget cycle where revenues are higher than expected,” DiNapoli said. “But we are facing existing budget gaps exacerbated by federal cutbacks. We’re benefiting from a really good year on Wall Street.”

Readin’, Ridin’ and Residents

With transit as key to Long Island’s present and future, Hochul said, since she has been governor, the state invested $10 billion in the Long Island Rail Road, which has “hit post-pandemic riders,” including changes such as breaking ground on a new Yaphank station.

The state, she also said, had approved $150 million to “redo” MacArthur Airport and unlock the “economic opportunity that is going to bring and link that to our Ronkonkoma station.”

Rising home prices are both good news for owners and bad for buyers, fueled by a shortage of new construction. Romaine said the Town of Islip already approved 3,500 housing units for the property that once housed Pilgrim State.

“Affordable housing is not an issue by itself,” Romaine said. “You need the infrastructure, the sewers, the roads. That’ a good location that would not impact exiting communities.”

The state, Hochul said, set aside $750 million “on the table for downtown revitalization Main Street.” “We don’t want as a state our biggest export to be our youngest residents,” DiNapoli said.

Schumer noted that $25 million has been approved for Riverhead to “reimagine” its downtown. The federal government also approved hundreds of millions for Brookhaven National Laboratory’s technology.

“Let’s try to focus on where we can agree,” Schumer said, “where we can get good things done for our constituents.”