City Council Member Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Homecrest, Midwood) yesterday urged the Cuomo administration to sit down with National Grid to break the deadlock, which has seen the utility giant issue a moratorium on installing any gas lines in New York City.
As KCP reported on Aug. 1, the deadlock is centered around the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s rejection earlier this year of a proposal from National Grid to build the 37-mile Williams Cos Inc’s Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline that would tap into an existing pipeline stretching from Pennsylvania to New York City.
According to National Grid, the pipeline has become an urgent need, as the economy in New York City is booming, and their current pipeline is at capacity. Thus, they imposed the moratorium meant to prevent a gas shortage during colder days which would result due to the lack of NESE.
Deutsch, like many of his fellow lawmakers, is getting an increasing number of complaints from constituent homeowners, start-up businesses and construction sites who can’t get gas lines installed due to the moratorium.
“The ongoing moratorium imposed on new gas customers is having a huge impact on New York City residents. Nearly 3,000 customers are waiting for gas connections – these are private homeowners, renters, building developers, and even owners of affordable housing. The repercussions of this are far-reaching, and over time, could have a long-lasting effect on New York City’s economic stability,” said Deutsch.
“I urge Governor Cuomo to sit down with National Grid and his Department of Environmental Conservation and work together to develop a solution that ensures that New Yorkers do not continue to fall victim to this moratorium. State legislators must make this a priority, before this crisis becomes even more widespread,” he added.
But despite Deutsch’s urging, it appears neither Cuomo nor National Grid is budging on the issue.
Cuomo’s press office referred the matter to the State Department of Public Service (DPS), which said it is investigating National Grid to determine whether it took appropriate actions to balance the need for reliability with customer impacts in declaring a moratorium on new natural gas hookups.
“We have also expanded our investigation to determine whether National Grid can safely accommodate projects that had expected to come online before the end of this year, and whether National Grid had approved these hook-ups,” said DPS spokesperson James Denn.
Meanwhile, National Grid is sticking to their statement made earlier this month in a press release that the company’s gas supply in downstate New York, which enables the company to provide service during the coldest months of the year, has reached full capacity.
“Our ability to provide this additional gas supply depends on New York State and New Jersey’s approval of NESE,” says John Bruckner, President National Grid New York. “Without approval of all permits, requests for additional load simply can’t be processed. To add additional service without NESE would pose a risk to the operational integrity of our system and compromise natural gas use for our existing 1.8 million customers in New York City and on Long Island.”
But the deadlock isn’t helping Brooklyn residents.
“I’m at the end of the three-year process of renovating my property and it’s affecting me because we need to have gas and the whole house has no gas. We’re really screwed over here. I don’t know what to do- it’s affecting me in every way,” said Sheepshead Bay Resident Issac Lati. “I’ve been a National Grid customer all my life and we never knew anything about this deadline. What am I supposed to do with the house now? Everything will crack over the winter without heat and the money I’ve spent will be wasted.”
Sruli Eidelman, operator of “Izzy’s BBQ” in Crown Heights said there is no excuse, in the largest and wealthiest city in the world, for a family business to be destroyed by the state’s poor handling of its gas lines.
“I have helped the New York City economy by hiring people and providing a space for tourists and New Yorkers alike to experience this piece of American culture. Several of my family members and friends have invested their life savings into this business, and now, just as we were about to overcome all the previous hurdles, we were told that our gas would not be hooked up due to a poorly managed system. National Grid has been given the power to hold my business hostage until the state gives them what they want. As far as we are concerned, this mess was built by the state’s mismanagement and the amount of power it has given National Grid,” said Eidelman.
The state is expected to complete its’ investigation in the near future.
“In addition to expanding our investigation to determine whether National Grid can safely accommodate projects, NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) stands ready to assist businesses interested in improving energy efficiency and installing clean energy technology. If interested in more detail, you should contact NYSERDA,” said an official state source.
