Long Beach PSEG Pole Project New Hot Topic
Government officials in North Haven and Noyac have two decisions to make; whether to green-light a PSEG-Long Island plan to erect taller utility poles as part of federally funded project to strengthen the electric grid across Long Island and whether to continue to explore the idea of burying the lines along Long Beach, one of the most scenic vistas in the area.
After a million Long Island residents lost power in Hurricane Sandy, a $730 million, three-year project using money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was developed. PSEG-Long Island identified the 300 poorest performing circuits along 1,000 miles of overhead mainline distribution circuits across the system. Work on a circuit in North Haven and Noyac would begin soon with completion expected in May, Chris Hahn, a director of external affairs, told a crowd that gathered at North Haven Village Hall on Friday for an informational session.
Vulnerable poles, about 20 to 25 percent of them, would be replaced with ones that meet post-Sandy standards and can withstand up to 135-mile-per-hour winds. They are not the 65-foot poles that other communities have railed against, but rather 40 to 45-foot poles. The new poles will be about three to five feet taller and about two to three inches wider than existing poles and will be installed deeper into the ground, Mr. Hahn said.
The poles are to be pressure-treated with a wood preservative, chromated copper arsenate, not pentachlorophenol or penta, a controversial preservative used on poles recently installed between East Hampton and Amagansett.
In 2001, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission received petitions to ban the use of C.C.A. in playground equipment due to potential health concerns, largely centered around arsenic. It was never officially banned, but manufacturers voluntarily stopped using it on outdoor residential structures, like playgrounds.
North Haven Village Mayor Jeff Sander said he understood that C.C.A. was no longer allowed in bulkheads and docks. Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said when he was a county legislator, the county passed legislation that prohibited C.C.A.-treated wood from being used in water, but he said it is a very common material used in outdoor lumber.
Left untreated, Mr. Hahn said, the poles would only last four years, even less in wetland areas. The treated poles are expected to last 45 years.
While the meeting was held on North Haven, the Long Beach causeway between North Haven and Noyac, outside of the village limits, was a major focus of the discussion on burying the lines. However, after the meeting, PSEG officials confirmed that three-quarters of the 1.4-mile road along Foster Memorial Town Beach would not get new poles at all. New poles would be installed along Ferry Road and portions of Noyac Road.
April Gornik, an artist and activist who lives on North Haven, asked the PSEG representatives why they would not consider burying the lines instead of installing new, larger poles.
Mr. Hahn said, and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., also in attendance, confirmed, that FEMA does not allow the funding for this project to be allocated toward a project to bury lines underground, even along the same circuits. He estimated that it costs between $4 and $6 million per mile to bury the lines, and it was not clear whether that figure includes burying other utilities that use the same poles or not.
The average cost to strengthen the electric grid in this project has been about $625,000 to $650,000 per mile, PSEG officials said at the meeting.
"It's one of the most beautiful vistas in the area. It's the gateway to North Haven and Sag Harbor," the mayor said of his concerns.
The mayor said that with the help of Representative Lee Zeldin's office he thinks he could negotiate allocating the FEMA money to burying the lines instead. "I may be optimistic — I don't know," he said.
"I wouldn't overstate my optimism of that bearing fruit," he said, adding that in his experience FEMA will not budge.
Mr. Thiele and Senator Kenneth P. LaValle have proposed special legislation that would provide a legal mechanism by which funds would be available to bury the lines. Once that legislation is passed, the Southampton Town Board could approve burying the lines, subject to a permissive referendum, which means voters could petition for a public vote.
"We're not here to force this project on you," Mr. Hahn said. "We'll do everything we can to keep you having reliable service . . . but if you don't want us to do this we'll go down to another circuit on Long Island."
The mayor finished up the meeting by saying he felt a decision has to be made in the next week or two. "I think we all want to improve the service; we don't want to necessarily stop an improvement to the line," he said, adding that "long-term, we need to really drill down these numbers," on how much it would cost to bury the lines and see "if the sentiment is strong enough to bear the responsibility to really make it happen."
"This community has over and over again been willing to tax themselves to preserve what they love," Mr. Schneiderman said.