Four Decades of Action.

In the early 1980s a group of aircraft owners, business people, and aviation companies came together as “Republic Airport Action” with one goal: keep Republic Airport from closing. They won — and the model plan they wrote was later adopted nationally by the F.A.A.

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Action lobbied in Albany and won the widening of Route 110 — the commercial spine of the region — easing traffic and opening the corridor to decades of growth.

Lobbied Washington and won $10 million for the Heavy Ion Project at Brookhaven National Laboratory, helping keep world-class research — and jobs — on Long Island.

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Fought and won in Washington to keep the T-46A trainer contract at Fairchild-Republic — defending local aerospace jobs at a pivotal moment.

Gave major support to passage of the 1988 New York State Transportation Bond Issue, unlocking funding for the roads and transit Long Island depends on.

With the Towns of Babylon, Huntington, Islip, and Smithtown, created the first Recycling Forum for the business community — and later started a recycling program for companies along Route 110.

Created the Long Island Energy Cooperative to pool demand and lower energy costs for local businesses — part of a decades-long push for affordable Long Island energy.

Formed the 110 Transportation Management Association and, with the M.T.A., L.I.R.R., and Long Island Bus, created a transportation program for the Route 110 corridor.

Implemented a program to bring day care to the Route 110 corridor, supporting the corridor’s growing workforce.

Successfully petitioned the NYS Department of Transportation to open the Long Island Expressway HOV lane to all drivers during non-peak hours.

Provided funding and assistance to Project Asphalt, an experimental program using ash from municipal incinerators in road building — saving taxpayer dollars otherwise spent shipping ash out of state.

Helped introduce and bring the 1998 Goodwill Games to Long Island, putting the region on an international stage.

Continued a long campaign pressing the Governor and LIPA over the LILCO takeover — fighting for a better deal, and lower rates, for Long Island ratepayers.

Helped organize the Long Island Museum of Science and Technology, advancing science education and tourism across the region.

Joined with the New York State Department of Transportation to create the L.I.E.–H.O.V. Lane Task Force, shaping how the lane serves commuters.

Lobbied for and won completion of Long Island Expressway service roads and 4th lanes, easing one of the region’s worst bottlenecks.

Hosted public forums — with civic and government leaders — on healthcare reform, the safety of Long Island’s water supply, and the future of the Island’s institutions of higher learning.

Formed the Long Island Economic Initiative — bringing 38 organizations together to confront the downturn in Long Island’s economy with one shared agenda.

For more than two decades Action Long Island has convened its Annual County Executive Update, bringing Nassau and Suffolk leaders before the business community.

More than forty years on, hundreds of volunteer members serve on issue-oriented Task Forces — keeping Action Long Island at the table on energy, infrastructure, and the quality of life across the region.

Brookhaven National Laboratory opened in 1947 on the grounds of the former Camp Upton, bringing federal science, Nobel-winning physics, and thousands of research jobs to central Suffolk County.

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Beginning in 1947 the Levitt family built thousands of affordable, mass-produced homes on former Long Island potato fields — creating Levittown, widely called the birthplace of the modern American suburb.

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Founded in 1957 in Oyster Bay and moved to its Stony Brook campus in 1962, the university grew into one of the State University of New York’s flagship research institutions.

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In March 1969 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority acquired Republic Airport in East Farmingdale, putting the historic aviation field — later the subject of one of Action’s earliest fights — under public stewardship.

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The Apollo 11 Lunar Module “Eagle” — designed and built by Grumman in Bethpage — touched down on the Moon in July 1969, a defining achievement for Long Island’s aerospace workforce.

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In 1972 the Long Island Expressway was extended to Riverhead, completing the spine that reshaped commuting, development, and daily life across Nassau and Suffolk.

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Hurricane Gloria made landfall on Long Island in September 1985, downing trees and power lines and leaving large areas without electricity for more than a week.

After years of safety and evacuation disputes, the completed Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant was abandoned in 1989 without ever operating commercially — leaving ratepayers with billions in costs.

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The Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act of 1993 placed more than 100,000 acres over Suffolk’s deep aquifer under protection, balancing growth with the region’s drinking water.

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In 1994 Grumman — for decades Long Island’s largest private employer — merged with Northrop to form Northrop Grumman, accelerating the decline of local aerospace manufacturing.

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In October 2012 Superstorm Sandy drove record storm surge into Long Island’s South Shore, destroying homes, flooding communities, and reshaping coastal resilience planning for years.

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In 2024 South Fork Wind became the first commercial, utility-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, sending power from twelve turbines east of Montauk into the Long Island grid.

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