Selling it politically is the key phrase, and it really has nothing to do with the price of natural gas. This type of project is basically industrial and manufacturing oriented, where the price of this electricity would actually get diffused state wide, so no one would really know the difference. The difference between onshore and offshore were pretty much known from the start.... The same objections would apply if NYPA put in an RFP for 600 to 1000 MW of onshore Low Wind Speed Turbine projects (which would get about the same output as 500 MW of offshore), "it's too expensive".

I guess here is the money quote, or shot, depending on your degree of cynicism (which I would guess is pretty darn advanced these days):
http://www.artvoice.com/issues/v10n39/week_in_review/national_fuel_ceo_business_council

The CEO of our local natural gas monopoly, which is also busy becoming a natural gas producer via fracking in Pennsylvania (Seneca Resources subsidiary) is now the Gov.'s main economic development dude (right after his Wall Street pitch for equity investors in their fracking adventures bombed, possibly because some of the listed production costs were so low as to border on/delve into the fraud category). He needs more natural gas demand to boost gas prices to justify "swiss cheesing" the Appalachians for methane. And the only way to boost gas demand is to use more gas to make electricity (no way will he get to undercut the old, paid off coal burners and old, paid off nukes in price). And no way will gas demand get boosted in NY State if more of those freakin' wind farms get installed. Plus every one of those wind farms installed clobbers electricity prices via the Merit Order Effect, just for good measure, further depressing gas prices. Good for most of us, bummer for his overpaid self.

But "high electricity prices that might stimulate manufacturing and construction in environmentally friendly ways" is definitely verbotten these days in NY State. Odds are, the new Long Island project will suffer the same fate as the old one, even though it will be out of sight of coastal viewers (maybe they will still shudder under its out of sight presence). And it is so easy to kill it off, because a lot of the beneficiaries of this would be middle class types, who no longer seem to qualify as human beings. I guess you would call them people excluded from "The Serious People" contingent. Besides, odds are more money is going to be needed for our local Bankster contingent - who can never seem to get enough these days -  when the mule that is Greece either kicks back hard, or else collapses under the weight of the bond vigilantes greed.

Nb41