Dougherty: PSEG mulling new power cable from North Fork

Supervisor Jim Dougherty said PSEG is leaning toward revisiting a tunnel project from the North Fork to the Island for “enhancing future power capacity for Shelter Island.”

Mr. Dougherty said at the Town Board’s work session Tuesday that in discussions he’s had with PSEG, the power company is moving away from a concept of building a substation here — the last choice of location seemed to have been at the Recycling Center — and returning to the idea of an electrical cable under the bay.

Mr. Dougherty said PSEG officials would be visiting the Island later this month.

The New Jersey-based power company abandoned a proposal to spend $10 million last year to build a substation in a residential neighborhood at the Old Highway Barn site on Route 114. PSEG axed the substation idea after a coordinated and vocal campaign of outrage by residents.

The substation proposal came on the heels of a disastrous attempt by LIPA to drill a cable tunnel under the bay from the North Fork for back up power when the contractor failed to complete the job.

Mr. Dougherty said a PSEG official had told him that “the top thing on their list was to start having conversations, or continuing conversations, with Southold and Greenport folks on acceptance that doesn’t benefit them but benefits the region.”