Government

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Monday that an expansion of New York’s $175 million Workforce Development Initiative would include the launch of the Offshore Wind Training Institute at the State University at Stony Brook and Farmingdale.

While a challenge to the State Department of Environmental Conservation concerning the Sand Land mine in Noyac makes its slow way through the courts, Acting Supreme Court Justice James H. Ferreira has been asked to intervene in a dispute between the two sides.

Funding for a project on the East Hampton Town Board’s wish list was not among the nearly $7.7 million in New York State economic development money earmarked for the South Fork last month, but officials insist that the relocation of the town’s shellfish hatchery from Montauk to Gann Road in Springs is still the goal.

On Dec. 20 President Trump signed a bill into law temporarily halting the sale of Plum Island via auction for at least one more year. The legislation received bipartisan support from both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Two Suffolk County laws intended to reduce the use of plastics went into effect on Jan. 1.

The environment — including preservation, mitigation, and adaptation to a changing climate — was the dominant topic of East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc’s State of the Town address Tuesday at the town board’s annual organizational meeting.

Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional District was among 168 members of the House of Representatives, all but two of them Republicans, who asked the Supreme Court last Thursday to consider overturning landmark rulings establishing a woman’s right to an abortion.

Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, which together with Eversource Energy is developing the proposed 130-megawatt South Fork Wind Farm and the 880-megawatt Sunrise Wind, will be busy in 2020, a spokeswoman predicted last month.     

Construction of a new electrical substation to replace the antiquated substation on Industrial Road in Montauk is to begin next week, PSEG Long Island announced on Monday.     

Manifestations of climate change multiplied in 2019, with record air and water temperatures, wildfires, and floods occurring in multiple regions around the globe.     

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has vetoed legislation that would have allowed residents of the five East End towns to vote on imposing a .5-percent real estate transfer tax to create the Peconic Bay Community Housing Fund.     

At its final meeting of 2019 last Thursday, the East Hampton Town Board made several moves aimed at improving environmental conditions.