We Need Your Voice—New York Must Continue Progress on Offshore Wind!

Photo by John Lines from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/offshore-wind-turbines-against-clear-blue-sky-35007721/

Urge your Representative in Congress to oppose the Trump Administration’s halt on Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind—urge them to help get the wind projects started again! 

Last month, the Trump Administration abruptly and unjustifiably halted construction on five offshore wind projects, including two off New York’s coast—Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind.  Empire Wind is being built off the coast of Long Beach and would power 500,000 homes in NYC. Sunrise Wind is off the coast of Montauk and would power 600,000 Long Island homes. These projects are already under construction, creating significant investments in local communities and thousands of union jobs in support of the growing “wind-ustry” in NY. These projects will also allow us to transition off polluting fossil fuel plants and improve air quality in our communities. 

The first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in America, the South Fork Wind Farm, became fully operational in 2024. It is located 35 miles off East Hampton and generates enough power for 70,000 homes for the south fork of Long Island. It has not only been supplying consistent, clean power to South Fork homes, it has been performing better than expected! 

Here in New York, we have seen how offshore wind benefits our environment, economy, and local communities. We are pushing our Congressional Representatives to step up in support of offshore wind. We need our Congressional leaders to fight to reverse the Administration’s unjustifiable stop work order on these important offshore wind projects.

Email your Representative in the U.S. House today. Tell them you Support Offshore Wind and urge them to oppose halting the Sunrise and Empire Wind and ensure construction can continue on these crucial projects.

Thank you for taking action!

Sincerely,
All of Us at CCE

Whale Tales & Real Facts: 2026 Zoom Forum

Please join us for our free virtual webinar on January 26th and learn more about whale populations and whale data in the summer of 2026

Did you know several species of whales feed, breed, and migrate throughout New York’s waters each year? Join us to learn more about these remarkable marine animals and the threats these magnificent mammals face off our coast.

This unique virtual forum will feature whale experts that have decades of experience in tracking individual whales, conducting necropsies on deceased whales, and monitoring emerging threats to whales and other marine mammals.

In 2016 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an Unusual Mortality Event for Humpback whales, Minke Whales, and North Atlantic Right Whales. These endangered species are highly vulnerable to ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, plastic pollution and climate change. Scientists are closely monitoring whale populations while advancing solutions to better safeguard these important marine animals.

Whale Tales and Real Facts 2026:

DATE: Monday, January 26, 2026
TIME: 12pm – 1pm 
WHERE: Via Zoom – register here
WHO:

• Dr. Artie Kopelman, Co-Founder and President, Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island

• Rob DiGiovanni, Founder and Chief Scientist, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society

• Carl Lobue, The Nature Conservancy

Thank you for joining us!

Sincerely,
All of Us at CCE

Highlights and Happenings: December 2025

Help CCE build on our success, and support our campaigns to protect public health and the environment in NY and CT. 
Make a contribution today.

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Highlights

Victory! Governor Hochul Signs Bill to Save the Horseshoe Crab
After years of hard work, we successfully advocated for a NYS law that will phase-out the taking of horseshoe crabs over a three-year time frame—completely banning the antiquated practice by 2029. Horseshoe crabs are a keystone species in the food web that have walked the earth for 350 million years, but have become vulnerable to local extinction due to unsustainable harvesting. Thank you to Governor Hochul, our Senate and Assembly champions, and the thousands of you who signed petitions and sent emails in support of protecting the horseshoe crab!

Victory! New York State Bans Harmful Chemicals in Menstrual Products 
In December, Governor Hochul signed a nation-leading law that bans toxic chemicals in period products. Period products have been known to contain PFAS, lead, formaldehyde, parabens, phthalates, and more. These toxics are known to either cause or contribute to serious health issues such as infertility, cancer, and more. We thank the bill sponsors—Senator Nathalia Fernandez and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal—and Governor Hochul for signing it into law! 

Celebrating the 2025 South Shore Estuary Reserve Awards 
In December, we hosted the South Shore Estuary Reserve 2025 Stewardship Awards at the Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center. This year we had the pleasure of honoring Mrs. Tara Schneider-Moran, Senior Conservation Biologist with the Town of Hempstead and Veolia—North America for their contributions to the protection and restoration of the South Shore Estuary Reserve! Thank you to NYS Deputy Secretary of State Kisha Santiago, NYS Senator Steve Rhodes and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages for their thoughtful remarks and leadership in championing the SSER! 

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Happenings

Great Lakes Restoration Bill Takes Important Step Forward 
In December, the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee advanced a critical bill that will reauthorize the successful Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for another five years. The GLRI has helped to clean up the toxic “area of concern” in the Rochester Embayment, fight invasive species, and support the cleanup of the Buffalo River, all while creating jobs and supporting economic development. While we’ve made progress, we still have a great deal of work to do to restore the lakes, which is why the GLRI must be extended. Now we need the full U.S. House and Senate to pass this legislation as soon as possible! 

Helping Long Island Communities Access Environmental Bond Act Funding 
We gathered at the historic Cedarmere Estate for our second NYS Environmental Bond Act Roundtable of the year on Long Island. Huge thanks to Suzanna Randall, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Chief Resiliency Officer, for returning to lead an informative presentation! We welcomed Nassau County municipalities, NYS Assemblymembers, and nonprofits to discuss Environmental Bond Act programs and funding pathways. Together, we’re working to identify and elevate project ideas that will help Long Island secure critical funding and strengthen our communities for the future. 

Fighting to Get PFAS Out of our Drinking Water 
We headed to the NYS Drinking Water Quality Council meeting last month to urge New York to move ahead with implementing more protective drinking water standards for PFAS “forever chemicals”. In May of 2025, U.S. EPA announced a plan to rollback drinking water limits on six PFAS chemicals that were finalized by the Biden administration. This federal rollback will mean that 1.3 million New Yorkers will continue being exposed to toxic PFAS in their drinking water. We testified at the Council meeting and urged NYS to implement the stronger federal PFAS standards originally adopted by EPA in 2024, in order to protect public health. 

Federal Judge Strikes Down Halt on Offshore Wind Permits 
Big news for clean energy and climate progress! A federal judge ruled last month that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it froze permitting for new offshore and onshore wind projects — calling the halt “arbitrary and capricious” and fully vacating it. This ruling is a major win for states, workers, and communities who are counting on offshore wind to deliver clean power, lower energy costs, and thousands of family-sustaining jobs. It reinforces what experts and advocates have said all along: efforts to block offshore wind have no legal or scientific basis and only threaten economic growth and energy reliability. 

Shortly after Federal Judge Stops Unlawful Halt of Wind Permits Nationwide, Trump Moves to Recklessly Halt Offshore Wind Leases for 5 Projects Under Construction 
Two offshore wind projects are nearly completed off Long Island: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1. These projects would power over a million homes, employ thousands of New Yorkers, and bring billions of dollars in benefits to local communities. Thousands of Americans, including New Yorkers, woke up with their jobs terminated when President Trump decided to halt 5 projects, including two off of NYS. We will fight against President Trump’s petty personal attacks on these projects, which jeopardize a growing, thriving industry that can deliver needed clean energy within the year. 

Fighting for Battery Energy Storage 
As part of NY’s transition to renewable energy, especially offshore wind, we will need to use battery energy storage systems (BESS). BESS systems store energy from renewable energy sources and deliver it when electricity demand is greatest, helping to create a more reliable grid. This month, New York implemented the most stringent, protective fire code in the country for BESS to ensure they can be built safely and sited responsibly. However, several Long Island towns persist with moratoriums on BESS. In December, the Town of Babylon unfortunately voted to extend their moratorium. We were there to urge them to work quickly to create codes allowing BESS in the town as soon as possible. 

Thank You Nancy Seligson for 30 Years Protecting Long Island Sound 
After more than 30 years of dedicated service to the Long Island Sound Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), Nancy Seligson retired as New York Co-Chair in December. We were proud to celebrate her at the December LIS CAC meeting. Her unwavering commitment strengthened collaboration across CAC member organizations in New York and Connecticut, supported the development of the new Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), and advanced advocacy efforts in Washington, DC, where she met with federal leaders to sustain momentum in protecting Long Island Sound. We proudly recognize Nancy’s exceptional leadership and lasting contributions to the restoration of the Sound, leaving a meaningful legacy for the communities throughout the Long Island Sound watershed! 

Cheers to a Successful 2025!

Thanks to our members, we had a successful 2025! With the challenges ahead of us in 2026, we’ll need your continued support!

In 2025, we celebrated our 40th anniversary with a series of major victories. Here’s what we’ve been up to this year:

• Saving the horseshoe crab—After years of advocacy, NYS passed a law to ban harvesting of horseshoe crabs, helping to ensure that this critical species is saved from local extinction.

• Moving offshore wind forward—We worked to put an end to the stop-work order on the Empire Wind offshore wind project, and supported a successful legal challenge to an illegal halt on all federal permitting of new wind power projects. 

• Fighting cuts to federal environmental funding—Despite efforts to slash federal clean water funding by as much as 90%, we’ve worked to build strong bipartisan support to maintain critical clean water infrastructure funding.

• Protecting our Great Lakes and Long Island Sound—We led the charge to maintain full federal funding for restoration of these essential waters.

• Fixing our sewage and drinking water infrastructure—We helped to secure $500 million in NYS to prevent sewage spills into waterways and to remove dangerous emerging contaminants from drinking water.

• Setting an all-time high for the NYS Environmental Protection Fund: We successfully advocated for a $425 million NYS EPF, which will help restore the Great Lakes and Long Island Sound, build community parks, save family farms, and so much more in every part of the state.

While we celebrate all the success we’ve achieved with your support, we recognize there is so much more work to do in the year ahead. At the federal level, the administration is working to roll back drinking water standards for dangerous PFAS chemicals, stop the advancement of clean, renewable energy, slash critical environmental funding, and more. We’re fighting back.

At the state level, we’ll work to get dangerous PFAS chemicals out of products like cookware, fix the state’s solid waste crisis, advance wind and solar power, and maintain nation-leading investments in protecting clean water.  

We’re grateful to our members and need your continued support to get this critical work done. Please consider making an end-of-year donation today!

Happy Holidays,

All of us at CCE

Christmas Comes Early for Horseshoe Crabs! Governor Hochul Signs Landmark Legislation to Protect Horseshoe Crabs

CCE applauds Governor Hochul for signing the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act which will phase out harvesting horseshoe crabs from New York waters.

For immediate release: December 20, 2025
For more information, contact:
Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, 516-390-7150, aesposito@citizenscampaign.org

Albany, NY – Governor Hochul has signed the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, which prohibits the taking of horseshoe crabs from state waters for commercial and biomedical uses.  The bill will phase out taking horseshoe crabs over a three-year time frame and completely banning the antiquated practice by 2029.  Horseshoe crabs are a keystone species in the food web that have walked the earth for 350 million years, but populations are in decline in the Northeast. This decline also threatens many species that depend on horseshoe crab eggs for food including several bird species and fish such as striped bass, weakfish, flounder and more.   The Senate and Assembly passed legislation for the last two years that would prevent the taking of this crucial species for commercial or biomedical uses. The Governor vetoed the bill last year. This year, recent data shows further declines in horseshoe crab populations specifically in Long Island Sound.  By signing the bill, New York has joined efforts with both New Jersey who banned harvesting in 2008 and Connecticut who banned it in 2024. 

Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment, issued the following statement:
“Christmas came early for the Horseshoe Crabs! This is an amazing holiday gift, and Governor Hochul has given us a big reason to celebrate! Horseshoe crabs have walked the Earth since the time of the dinosaurs, and we want to make sure they don’t go extinct. The Horseshoe Crab Protection Act will prevent the taking of horseshoe crab for commercial and biomedical purposes, allowing horseshoe crab populations to rebound and New York to protect this historic species for future generations. This is an incredible holiday gift to our ecosystem and to the communities who love this important species.   CCE applauds Governor Hochul, Senator Holyman and Assemblywoman Glick , for working together with environmental stakeholders, and scientific experts to ensure that the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act was signed into law this year.”

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