Town officals meet with LIPA; temporary generators to go

Island officials met Friday with Long Island Power Authority representatives in the wake of the firing of the LIPA contractor that was constructing a new power source from Crescent Beach to Greenport.

Supervisor Jim Dougherty said at the meeting the LIPA reps told him that six of the 12 temporary generators, placed here as backup in case electric cables failed, will be removed next week and the remaining six will be gone on or after November 15, the official end of the hurricane season.

The LIPA reps said that based on a “load study,” the existing lines coming from the North and South forks “are quite good,” Mr. Dougherty reported.

The supervisor alerted Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Read of the decision to allow him to look at the load study and to meet with the Planning Department if necessary.

The LIPA reps said as “a doomsday scenario or contingency plan,” the power authority will be committed to return six generators to the Island by May and six more by Memorial Day.

One clue why LIPA has said no work will begin to finish the pipeline running under the harbor until January 1 is that PSE&G, a New Jersey-based energy holding company, has signed a 10-year contract to manage LIPA’s electric system. Mr. Dougherty was told that the deal was finalized only on Thursday and won’t take effect until the New Year.

That combined with the utility seeking new bids to complete the project has pushed any start date into 2014.

“I would speculate that management decisions maybe more difficult to secure during this interim period,” Mr. Dougherty said.

The supervisor said he was frank with the LIPA reps. “I emphatically stated, under any scenario, they have to be done by April 30,” M. Dougherty said. ”A second summer of high season disruption could not be tolerated.”

Mr. Dougherty said meetings with the power authority would be ongoing.