Greenport advances Island cable plan
PSEG got a boost Thursday, January 28 for its proposal to run cables between Greenport Village and Shelter Island to ensure electrical power to the Island.
The Greenport Village Board voted 4-0, with one absent member, to allow an electricity transmission and distribution company to conduct limited test borings at the southern end of Fifth Street where PSEG has proposed running cables to the Heights.
Under the agreement, the tests by Uniondale’s Long Island Electric Utility Servco would determine if the area is suitable to support cables on the Greenport side. The area would also have to provide for temporary parking of trucks, equipment and materials at the southern end of Fifth Street.
The tests are expected to take two days but the company has an end of February deadline to complete them.
If the tests prove positive and the Village follows through with an agreement to allow PSEG to move forward, the utility would still have to gain approval from the Heights Property Owners Corporation (HPOC) for similar test borings. Just where the project would start in the Heights has yet to be made public.
HPOC General Manager Stella Lagudis has said PSEG has spoken with her about the proposal and she’s keeping an open mind, but unless it becomes a formal proposal, she won’t comment further.
PSEG has been seeking a solution to ensure reliable power for the Island since an earlier Long Island Power Authority effort broke down in 2013.
A well-organized protest from Islanders — supported by a Town Board resolution — killed a PSEG proposal for an electrical substation here rather than cables to the North Fork. Southold Supervisor Scott Russell refused to allow a second try at a cable project since residents’ lives were disrupted by noise, dirt and other factors during the original attempt.
The new Greenport site is about two miles east of the original site.
“PSEG is eager to find a workable solution that will provide Shelter Island with the safe, reliable and resilient power that it needs while minimizing the impact to customers at both ends of the cable,” media coordinator Kristina Pappas said.
Negotiations are still ongoing, Ms. Pappas added.
