Opinion: Finish what we started – and stop making Long Islanders pay the price

On Long Island, affordability isn’t a slogan – it’s a rising electric bill. It’s small businesses trying to plan for costs they can’t predict. It’s families already stretched thin wondering what the next spike will bring.

At Haugland Group, we build energy infrastructure across gas, wind, battery storage, solar, hydro and nuclear because reliability and affordability demand a diverse fuel mix. No single resource can carry the system alone. When supply is constrained or overly dependent on one source, prices move quickly. We saw it again during Winter Storm Fern last month. When flexibility is limited, rate-payers pay the difference.

That’s why the completion of Sunrise Wind matters.

Sunrise Wind is a fully permitted offshore wind project already under construction, designed to power hundreds of thousands of Long Island homes. Contracts are signed. Workers are on the job. Supply chains are activated. Rate-payers are already invested.

At this stage, the question isn’t whether the project should exist. It’s whether shifting political winds in Washington, D.C. will drive up costs by stopping it halfway through.

Affordability must be the starting point.

Offshore wind is not a cure-all. Nuclear, natural gas, storage and renewables all play a role in maintaining reliability and long-term stability. But Sunrise Wind is one of the few large-scale sources of new electricity supply currently under construction in New York. Adding supply strengthens reliability and helps moderate price volatility. Walking away now would not lower costs. It would strand investments, weaken diversification and leave Long Islanders paying for infrastructure that never delivers its full value. Half-built projects don’t reduce bills – they increase them.

Sunrise Wind also represents something bigger: New York’s nation-leading strategy to build a local energy supply chain.

New York required strong local content and labor standards in its offshore wind procurements – policies designed to ensure these projects create real economic opportunity here at home. That vision is working.

At Haugland, we are building Sunrise Wind’s $200 million onshore transmission system, creating more than 400 union jobs and supporting local restaurants, suppliers and small businesses across Long Island. We are a second-generation, Long Island-based company. Because of the state’s framework – and Ørsted’s commitment to executing within it – local firms like ours are not spectators in the energy transition. We are participants. We are proof that when policy is structured correctly, investment stays local.

When projects are delayed or canceled midstream, workers lose certainty. Small businesses lose revenue. Communities lose momentum. And rate-payers shoulder higher costs caused by instability and uncertainty.

There is also a credibility issue at stake. Sunrise Wind completed years of environmental review and secured the necessary approvals. If a fully permitted, under-construction project can be derailed after the fact, it signals that long-term investment in New York carries political risk. That uncertainty drives up financing costs – and ultimately shows up in customer bills.

None of this dismisses legitimate concerns. Projects must meet rigorous environmental and safety standards. Community input matters. But there is a difference between oversight and obstruction.

The most responsible path forward for Long Island rate-payers, workers and small businesses is simple: finish what we started.

Reliability and affordability are not partisan values – they are economic necessities. The path forward isn’t to pause. It’s to build, baby, build – Long Island strong.