By Megan Norcross
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi led a panel discussing global warming, its effects on New York, particularly Long Island, and steps being taken to counter the situation, ending a week-long symposium at the University addressing climate change.
“Everybody has started to accept global warming as a reality,” Suozzi said. He added that while it is now seen as a major problem, individuals are often too busy to do anything about it, or the options are too expensive or inconvenient.
The panel included Kevin Law, the president and chief executive officer of the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), Don Clavin of Hempstead Town and Wayne Hall, the mayor of Hempstead Village, in addition to Suozzi. After a brief introduction to LIPA, which is a state public authority and not-for-profit, Law said, “I want to make LIPA a leader.”
Law said the company is working on numerous projects including re-powering, smart-metering and a new energy master plan. Re-powering would cost billions of dollars, but it would be cheaper in the long run and would have less pollution, Law said.
Smart-metering would be extremely beneficial to the everyday homeowner as it would show the individual how much they are being charged by LIPA, and help the individual to make energy-saving decisions, Law said. The new energy master plan is currently in the drafting process, but Law is optimistic about its implication.
Suozzi spoke about ideas from the scientific realm to the business realm. He cited the Bethpage Grumman site in Bethpage that is planned to be recycled and reused. Under Suozzi, Nassau County has taken environmental initiatives such as Green Levittown, a national model for a suburb “going green” by giving the entire community a make-over with private companies to reduce the carbon footprint by 10 percent in a year.
“We want to move from Green Levittown to green Long Island,” Suozzi said.
Clavin stressed that Hempstead Town has the largest municipal fleet of hybrid cars, and that they are testing the first hybrid garbage trucks. He also invited students out to the town board hearing in March when he said that all buildings will have to meet Energy Star standards. “Ladies and gentlemen, we live on an island. We know it’s going to effect us,” he said.
Hall said that two-thirds of Americans live in cities and this disruption in the environment is affecting many coastal cities. As for Hempstead, Hall explained that the town is waiting for a $350,000 grant; once the grant arrives, it will continue to come on an annual basis for five years, and they will then begin to make progress on the environmental front.
“We will be doing more things in the future once the money is released from the federal government,” Hall said.