The Long Island Progressive Coalition is a far-left organization based in Long Island, New York State. The organization works to organize left-of-center activists to promote liberal policy issues on both Long Island and statewide.

The organization has campaigned on various issues such as raising income tax rates for those making over $250,000. It has also campaigned to increase subsidized and rent-controlled housing, raising the minimum wage, and publicly financed elections requiring taxpayers to fund candidates and campaigns they oppose. It also played a role in passing New York State’s climate change legislation in 2019 which mandates reduction in greenhouse gas levels in the state. ¹ The organization singed on to sponsor the Green New Deal and has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ²

Climate Change Related Work

The biggest issue the Long Island Progressive Coalition is working on climate change related legislation. The organization supports replacing the conventional energy supply with environmentalist-approved sources, a goal some observers argue is impossible. ³ It works to pass new legislation to mandate the reduction of greenhouse gases while working on the ground to expand the use of renewable energy. ⁴

The Long Island Progressive Coalition was a steering committee member of NY Renews, which was an umbrella organization of climate change activist organizations which pushed for reduction in the state’s greenhouse gases. After 4 years of lobbying and activism, New York State passed legislation in 2019 that mandates the state be completely “carbon neutral” by 2050. It also mandates that 70% of all electricity in the state must come from environmentalist sources by 2030. ⁴

NY Renews commissioned a study from the far-left think tank Demos that showed that New York State’s climate change legislation would create 100,000 new jobs. The legislation that New York State passed mandated that all jobs created by the legislation’s increases in state funding must include prevailing wage standards and other labor standards. ⁵

In addition to working to pass legislation, the organization works expand the use of solar and other renewable sources of energy. The organization works to expand the use of “community solar” which is solar power projects owned by communities instead of private investors. It sees solar as a way of eventually creating government-run utilities to replace privately owned utilities. ⁴

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

In May of 2021, Long Island Progressive Coalition was one of 715 groups and businesses listed as a co-signer on a letter to the leadership of the U.S. House and Senate that referred to nuclear energy as a “dirty” form of energy production and a “significant” source of pollution. The letter asked federal lawmakers to reduce carbon emissions by creating a “renewable electricity standard” that promoted production of weather dependent power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, but did not promote low carbon natural gas and zero carbon nuclear energy. ⁶

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ⁷ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ⁸

Long Island Progressive Coalition was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy.” ²

Other Issues

As a part of its economic agenda, the organization works to expand the use of worker-owned businesses. The groups sees the worker-owned businesses as a way to build wealth for workers and to steer companies to make more ostensibly “sustainable” business decisions. ⁹

The organization also focuses on education. It supports more funding for public schools and a 5 year moratorium on new charter schools. It also supports financial aid for illegal immigrant college students who attend college in the state. ¹⁰

The organization works on campaign finance reform. It supports publicly funded elections, which force taxpayers to fund candidates and campaigns they oppose. It also supports lowering contribution limits. ¹¹

Long Island Progressive Network

The organization runs the Long Island Progressive Network. The network is a coalition of dozens of left-wing organizations on Long Island that meets regularly. The groups coordinate and work together. ¹²

Leadership

Lisa Tyson is the director of the organization. She has been with the organization since 1995. She is a founding member of the far-left Working Families Party. ¹³

Funding

According to the Long Island Progressive Coalition’s 2016 tax returns, the organization raised $575,647 and spent $598,146.

1. “Making A Difference With LIPC”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. Accessed November 3. http://lipc.org/accomplishments-long-island-progressive-coalition/.
2. “Group letter to Congress urging Green New Deal passage.” Earthworks. January 10, 2019. Accessed July 27, 2023. https://www.earthworks.org/publications/group-letter-to-congress-urging-green-new-deal-passage/
3. Mills, Mark P. “The ‘New Energy Economy’: An Exercise in Magical Thinking.” Manhattan Institute, March 26, 2019. https://www.manhattan-institute.org/green-energy-revolution-near-impossible.
4. “Climate & Energy”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. Accessed November 3. http://lipc.org/issues-change-long-island-organization/climate-energy-efficiency-community-solar/.
5. “New Report Shows Climate And Community Protection Act Would Add 150,000 Jobs To New York Economy”. 2019. Demos. https://www.demos.org/press-release/new-report-shows-climate-and-community-protection-act-would-add-150000-jobs-new-york.
6. Letter from Center for Biological Diversity et. al. to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Rep. Frank Pallone. “RE: CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT A FEDERAL RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY STANDARD AND REJECT GAS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS.” May 12, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2021-5-12_600-Group-Letter-for-RES.pdf?_gl=1*1c9h3t8*_gcl_au*MTc3NjM3MTM1Mi4xNjg5OTU1MzAz
7. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
8. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
9. “Worker Cooperatives Low Income Communities”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. Accessed November 3. http://lipc.org/issues-change-long-island-organization/worker-owned-businesses/.
10. “Education”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. Accessed November 3. http://lipc.org/issues-change-long-island-organization/issue-education-reform-long-island/.
11. “Election Reform”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. Accessed November 3. http://lipc.org/issues-change-long-island-organization/fair-election-reform-government-corruption/.
12. “Long Island Progressive Network”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. Accessed November 3. http://lipc.org/issues-change-long-island-organization/li-progressive-network/.
13. “Staff”. 2019. Long Island Progressive Coalition. http://lipc.org/lipc-staff/.